Most people think that once you "niche down," you're stuck. It's not true. When you run a successful niche business, you can speak to an incredibly specific audience on topics they care deeply about. That kind of personalization is increasingly sought these days, as 71% of consumers say they crave individualization from their brand interactions. In this piece I recently contributed to Entrepreneur.com, I share a few recommendations on learning when to change trajectory and leverage your pivot into a world of potential abundance, not scarcity.

Sometimes, being the leader isn’t the only role you want to have in your agency or organization. Maybe you’re interested in being the creative director, the chief copywriter, or the guru of account services. That’s not unusual. Most leaders have other talents that give them enjoyment. The freedom to play any role in your organization is one of five that too many CEOs don’t take advantage of. In this piece I recently contributed to CEOWorldMagazine.com, I discuss how you need to start exercising the freedoms that come with being in charge.

The bottom line is that you can’t achieve success if you don’t foster a high-trust team. When people work in environments where they mistrust or fear leaders, they react based on the possibility of punishment. They’re stifled, not motivated. Over time, their commitment and enthusiasm will wane. If you want to retain high performers amid the current labor market shake-up, you need to assess your trust factor. In this piece I recently contributed to AdvertisingWeek.com, I discuss what steps to take to start thinking and acting like a trusted leader.

When you control your time, you control several other factors: your efficiency, your quality of work, your anxiety levels and your professional reputation. No one wants to be seen as a leader whose procrastination keeps putting the business at risk or leading to missed opportunities. In this piece I recently contributed to Forbes.com, I discuss four ways busy professionals can manage their time better.

Pinterest has evolved from a playground for hobbyists, wedding planners, and generalist creatives to a site that offers serious advertising advantages. However, many marketers do not realize they can leverage it for everything from brand recognition to direct sales. In this piece I recently contributed to SpinSucks.com, I discuss four key tips in how to use Pinterest in your next marketing campaign.  

You have a duty to everyone who trusts you. Part of that duty is making sure you don’t leave the legacy of your organization up to chance. In this piece I recently contributed to Forbes.com, I discuss how to to ensure the longevity of your agency by preparing your people for when and if the unthinkable happens.

Whether we like it or not, the end of the year is fast approaching and a new one is close behind it.  Have you started thinking about your agency’s new business plans for next year yet?  I’ve seen—and created—my fair share of annual new business plans. Some were good, some not so good. The good ones were more recalibrations than wholesale reinventions. They built on successes, plotted a clear direction, course corrected away from mistakes, and had just enough stretch goals to keep things exciting. Plus, they actually offered a plan, not just a statement of hopes and dreams, and everyone understood their role in the plan’s success.  The bad ones?  They were overly complicated, sank too much time in navel-gazing analysis of the marketplace and competitors, lacked clear direction, and were overly ambitious. And they were likely to be under-executed or not executed at all.  What a waste.  I sometimes wonder if agency leaders hide behind the activity of planning. It sure feels like you’re moving forward, but there’s a point of diminishing returns where the planning becomes an excuse to postpone the doing.  I’ve always been curious about why that is—I’ve seen this tendency in myself as much as I have in others. What holds agency leaders back from the doing part?  Time, or lack of it, is the usual suspect. There always seem to be myriad priorities that get in the way of those commitments to pursuing agency business development goals. But I think there are also some powerful mental blocks that we don’t consider enough but should.  Here are three that might be standing between you and those big, hairy, audacious goals for growing your agency next year (plus some strategies [...]

Everyone has different needs at different times, and your potential clients might not need you right now. There's nothing you can do about that. Remaining relevant by investing in business development initiatives, however, is something you can control.

Your employees are some of the greatest advocates for your agency, which means it is critical to help them understand your agency’s identity. From day one, new hires should get a sense of what your agency is, what its mission entails, and what sets it apart from competitors. In this piece I recently contributed to SpinSucks.com, I discuss how from the second a new hire joins your agency, you have an opportunity to educate them to serve as advocates.

Over the last three months, I’d been having a similar conversation with many agency owners.  The conversation starts something like this: “We can’t afford to hire anyone but we’re struggling to get the work done.” We do a little math and realize that they have the right number of team members.  As I ask questions, sooner or later the owner says: “Well, we have some people who are working 10+ hour days just to keep up and others who are less than 50% billable. I’m struggling to keep them busy.” Ah ha…now we are narrowing in on the conversation.  What it often boils down to is that they have the right number of people but some of those people are occupying seats on the bus that the agency doesn’t need any more.  The really tough part of this realization is that you have three options, once you see the truth. You can live with the bus seats as they are and continue to have under utilized team members while risking the burn out of your rock stars You can invite the team member in the wrong seat to add to their skill set and move to a seat you actually need on the bus You can ask the team member to step off the bus and replace their seat with someone with a skillset you need for the long run There’s nothing or easy about resolving this situation.  Often times the person who is no longer in demand at your shop is someone who has been with you for a long time, been a loyal team member and wants to contribute. But, if they haven’t invested in themselves to keep evolving their skills, they [...]