Podcasts

It’s no secret that new business for agencies was brutal in 2023. And for some in 2024, it’s been equally difficult. So, for 2025, we want to challenge you to get unstuck from those difficult sales cycles and lay the groundwork for some new energy as we come to the end of this year.

With more agency owners wanting to step out of the agency’s day-to-day operations to focus more on being the company’s visionary leader, there are many areas of the business that can sometimes go overlooked.

This is a topic we’ve covered many times before, but it’s an important one. When was the last time you checked in with yourself about what agency growth really means to you? It can be more than just adding more team members and physically growing and expanding the agency.

As agency owners, we’re perpetual change-makers, striving to affect real and sustained transformation not just in our clients’ lives, but also in our own. But as we all know, creating transformational, lasting change within the agency can be an uphill battle.

Your business should serve your lifestyle — not the other way around. Many agency owners got into the industry because it affords them a lifestyle and freedom most people dream of. But it’s easy to lose sight of that when the business gets overwhelming and we fall into agency owner fatigue.

Agency leaders have some of the most important roles in the agency. They’re key team members supporting the agency owner in the agency’s day-to-day operations and taking on roles that allow the agency owner to focus on business development and other key tasks.

Agency owners and leaders are no strangers to proposal writing. But despite our vast experience, there are things we still get wrong, and there is always something we can improve — especially as the industry shifts and changes so quickly.

When I was an agency employee, I admittedly hated being told what to do or how to do it. So naturally, systems and processes really rubbed me the wrong way.

Finding right-fit clients is one of the never-ending juggling acts of agency ownership. We need to keep the pipeline full, but we don’t want to rely only on referrals or say yes to clients who don’t fit our niche or values.

Every agency should be able to run at 20% profitability on a consistent basis. But as agency owners, sometimes we get in our own way and become the bottleneck to our agency growth.