You know the drill. Client or prospect calls. They have an urgent need and you drop everything to figure out how to help them. About a third of the way in — when you need something (copy, assets, information, etc.) from them, suddenly there’s a grinding halt and you wait. And wait. It’s part of [...]
When I meet struggling creative agency owners, one of the first questions I ask is: what kind of agency do you want to run? Their answers typically involve the deliverables their agencies produce, or who their agencies serve, but that’s not what I’m asking. No, I’m really asking whether their agencies are artisanal bakeries or [...]
It’s annoying and expensive when clients pull the plug on a project before you can recoup all of your upfront investment. And yet it happens all the time. So much of our work requires a huge investment on our part on the front end and when a client stalls or does a 360 and cancels [...]
Production managers, also known as traffic managers, used to be everywhere in the agency world. They were responsible for plugging the gaps between departments and ensuring that creators, managers and clients all knew what to expect and when to expect it. Their timelines and budgets kept agencies running smoothly for years. And then computers replaced [...]
In my mind, as you read that sentence, you were thinking “Are you kidding? I just paid THIS year’s taxes. Why are we talking about 2019 taxes already?” Which of course is my point. If you’d like to pay less tax than you did this past year, you can’t wait to until late December to [...]
You and your team are good at what you do. You’re smart, you work hard, and you’ve excelled in your professional skill area. But you’re not salespeople. Since money doesn’t grow on trees, and there’s usually a correlation between effort and earnings, something needs to keep the lights on at your agency. Conversations Are The [...]
In December 2018, Wired published a shocking account of Elon Musk’s infamous firing sprees during Tesla’s Model 3 production struggles. According to the article, Musk’s frustration with low productivity and failure to meet standards led to the firing of some 700 employees -- many of whom never knew why they got the boot. Tesla hit several [...]
It's the end of the 1st quarter — are you happy with where your agency is standing? It’s so easy to get caught up in the flurry of clients’ needs, demands of the day and the all mighty To Do list. All the while, you’re treading water and your agency is much like it was [...]
Most agency owners don’t have backgrounds in finance. Agency owners who shy away from responsible financial management typically run into unnecessary challenges come tax season (if they even make it that long). By following a few simple tips, agency owners can master administrative tasks that come with running a company, especially in today’s changing tax [...]
The recession damaged a lot of agencies a few years ago, but one of the most damaging aspects of the financial crisis was that many agencies and their owners had to scramble just to keep the doors open. They were cutting deals, taking work they shouldn’t have and getting by on less for a long [...]
