Take the risk
I think sometimes we, as agency owners and leaders, act as though every decision we make puts us in front of a lion or a hippopotamus. The reality is that, for most decisions we make every day, that is not true. We elevate the risk of decisions, I think, disproportionately to the truth of the matter. And I think we get frozen in time, particularly if things are not going well, if new business is slow, if you're having problems with an employee, if the you know all the things that are happening around us right now with the economy and the political environment and all of that, it's easy to feel like we're at risk and to feel paralyzed. So we act as though every time we turn around the corner, we will bump into a lion or a hippo. And the truth is, it's much riskier for us to stand still. We should keep moving, moving past the perceived risk, because for us, the risk isn't as real and the real risk for us is getting stuck and getting further and further behind in our decision making, in our progress, in our innovation, in our adoption of AI, whatever it may be, whatever, wherever you're stuck because it feels like a really weighty decision. For us, most of the risks are relatively small, and we just build them up in our heads, which paralyzes us. So my message to you for this week is whatever you're trying to decide right now, pick a lane, pick a direction, and start moving towards that decision, even if it's in tiny little steps. Forward is important. We have to keep moving forward. The risks and threats to us are not that great in most cases. The biggest threat of all is getting stuck, so don't let that happen to yourself. Watch »
Fieldtrips
You probably hear a woodpecker off to my right, and a warthog just walked by a little while ago. So this is a very unusual environment for me to shoot a video in. And actually, that's the point of this video is changing up your environment. We've been here just a couple of days and I have already had all kinds of interesting ideas that I'm not sure I would have had at home. The environment, the change of pace, the people, the scenery, and the people watching all of it give me new ideas. Back when I was a copywriter – both at other agencies and my own agency – one of the things I used to love to do is pair up with my art director, and when we were working on a concept, we would go somewhere. Now, this was back when we all were in an office together, but we would go to a toy store, coffee shop, park, or wherever we thought might give us some inspiration. And I think with all of us working in our houses or working hybrid, I don't think we do that anymore. I don't think we go on field trips, we don't go to art museums, we don't go to amusement parks. We don't go places that stimulate our imagination, our curiosity, our sense of innovation. Just giving us a fresh perspective. And so I want to challenge you to look for ways to create field trips for your agency, to create outings. I don't care if it's going to the latest animated film. I don't care if it's going to a Comic-Con. I don't care if it's going to a modern art museum or a nursing home to sing Christmas carols. It doesn't matter what it is. What it matters is that we're shaking things up, and that we are forcing ourselves into an environment that isn't the norm, isn't where we sit at our desk, trying to come up with ideas. And so I believe firmly, strongly that we have got to shake up our brains, that we have to give ourselves some fresh perspective. It's pretty hard to be curious. It's pretty hard to be innovative. And honestly, that's what our clients pay us to do. So here's your homework. Figure out a way for you and your team to go on more field trips. Watch »
3 ways to improve your presentations
One of the cool things about our profession, and certainly about the work that we do, is that we get to do a ton of public speaking. And when I say public speaking, I don't necessarily mean giving a keynote at a conference. However, there certainly is that opportunity – it doesn't necessarily mean we're on a stage in front of thousands of people. As agency leaders and owners, we get to give presentations every day. Maybe one-on-one conversations with an employee or a client, it could be in a small group setting or it could be that we step on a stage, formal or informal, and talk to a larger group. Regardless of the size of the audience, we want to make sure that our presentation is impactful and memorable, and that we get our key points across to our audience. So I want to give you three tips today on how to be a better speaker. If you apply these three practices to your speeches, big and small, I think you'll be thrilled at how powerful and effective they can be. Watch »
Cleanse your palate
Sometimes a thorny problem must work itself out in the background of our brain and then pop its answer to us in the foreground. It might happen when we're driving or in the shower – we're giving our brain that break to think in the background. It's like when we go out for a fancy dinner. The wait staff clearly states that we need a fresh palate to experience this next course. And I think sometimes our brains need that cleansing of the palate as well. So, one of the things I want to challenge you about is how you give your brain time to process in the background without actively working on a problem? Let me give you a couple of examples. So, do you go running and listen to music? For me, one of the things I do to cleanse my palate is – probably like you, I'm very curious, and I'm always reading business books. But I allow myself – and sometimes I make myself – read a mystery novel or some other fiction in between business books, so I won't let myself read two business books in a row. I give myself that palate cleansing so that I can process what I just read before going on and putting more new information in my brain. So, for every one of us, how we cleanse our palate may be different. It might be playing with Barbie with your kids. It might be going for a long walk, running, and listening to music or instrumental music. So, as odd as it is with a business tip, what I'm suggesting to you is that you identify 3 or 4 ways that you can turn the active part of your brain off and let the sort of background part of your brain do its job. So, 2 or 3 things that you can sort into your week, work into your routine, work into your everyday life, that give your brain that time to think in the way that it can only think when you're not paying attention to it. Watch »
A new revenue opportunity
We just came off the Build a Better Agency Summit, and one of the things we did at the Summit, like we always do, is that Susan Baier from Audience Audit and I unveiled the results of the Agency Edge research series. So this is our 12th year. This year, we focused on AI, how clients are using AI, how they feel about us using AI, and what they wish we were doing differently around AI. The results were startling, but there was also lots of good news and great opportunities. Let me give you a little overview of what we learned. If I were going to say there's a theme, one of the themes would be a huge opportunity. Why is there a huge opportunity? Because we are not meeting their expectations. They want more from us when it comes to AI, and there are revenue streams available to us that they're anxious to give us money to help them with, but we have to be able to offer it first. And not only revenue, but revenue with new kinds of clients inside the organization, not just the marketing department. So huge blue sky opportunities in this study for us. So join us and hear more about it. All right? But the bottom line is your clients want more from you when it comes to AI. And it's time for us to step up. Watch »
Be present
We spent three days on site with about 320 or 25 agency owners and leaders. For me, the big takeaway this year was being present. We've all got a lot going on. It's so easy, especially if you're on a Zoom call, to have other screens happening and check email or text or do all the other things, the multitasking things. But what I really felt for the last couple of days was just the power of being present. That everybody has a story to tell: our employees, our colleagues, our peers, our mentors. Everyone has a story they want to tell. Not just that they have to tell, but they want to tell us. And it may be about something that's going on with a client. It may be something that's going on with them personally. But when you are fully present and when you make that eye contact again, whether it's on a screen or in person or when you are in physical proximity of each other, and you can kind of feel each other's energy and you stay in that moment, what happens is it's almost like, implied permission to tell that story. And people – the connection is deeper. It is more meaningful, it is more nuanced and layered. But I think when we feel distracted, whether we think we feel it that way with others or not, then I think we get more of the perfunctory communication, like, tell me what you have to tell me, as opposed to tell me what you want to tell me. So, something I want to encourage you to try this week is just to be really present when you're in conversation, a real conversation with someone again, whether it's electronically or in person, and stay focused on them and let them feel that focus. Let them feel that they have your 110% of your attention. And I think you're going to be surprised at the stories that you hear, at the nuances you notice, at the intonations and facial expressions and all of that. I think you will get a much deeper story from the people who help you support clients or the clients that you serve. And that's going to serve you well. And it feels good. It feels good to be that connected to your people, whoever that may be. So full attention, full presence. Try that this week and see if it feels any different to you. Watch »
Let it ride
We're in Las Vegas with our two oldest kids. We decided to play a game. Everybody got $20, and we had 30 minutes. The goal was to see who had the most money at the end of 30 minutes, so you could keep your $20. You could play on a single bet or color at roulette. You could play one penny slots, whatever you want to do. But you had to cash out at the end of the 30 minutes. And then we are going to compare. It was interesting. Two of the kids crapped out and had nothing. I think Danyel had about $10 left. But I was playing dollar slots, and about 20 minutes into the 30 minutes, I hit. I hadn't won anything, and then I hit, and I won $130. So then the decision is, I have another ten minutes. Do I try and turn that $130 into something more, or do I cash out and call it a day? So I opted to cash out. The stakes were low. There was no big prize or contest, but it got me thinking about how we think about cashing out, how we think about ending something when we think it's gone as far as it has. And my experience is that most of you cash out too soon, that you decide to start something. And I find this ironic, because this is the conversation you have with your clients all the time. Like you have to let things simmer. You have to let them work. It's like planting a bulb and then digging it up the next day because it hasn't broken ground. But I find many agency owners don't have the patience and the discipline to let things ride for as long as they should. And so what I'm going to tell you is if you start a new initiative, unless it's incredibly expensive, you have to give yourself at least a year for that initiative to take root and to grow and to kind of break the ground and for you to see the fruit of that labor. So as you're thinking about the rest of 2025, especially as you're probably cutting some budget and you're looking for things to sort of trim down, if you're struggling with some of the economic conditions that many agencies are today, I just want to remind you that if you believe in it enough to start it, you need to believe in it enough to let it ride for at least a year. Watch »
Run your own race
Sovereignty was a horse in the recent Kentucky Derby and was in the middle of the pack in terms horses favored to win. And I think there was an interesting lesson for us all to learn from the way that horse and that jockey ran that race. So when the gates opened and 20 horses came barreling out, the pace was fast. It had been raining all day. The track was muddy. And so I am sure that everybody was concerned about getting through the race as quickly as possible, but also as safely as possible. But the pace was fast and our horse was about two thirds of the way back in the pack for about half of the race, and then started slowly coming up on the outside and ultimately actually won the Kentucky Derby. But the lesson here for us is that had Sovereignty come out of the gate as hot as a lot of the other horses did, and had run as fast as early as some of those horses did, that by the time they rounded the final bend and hit the straightaway, those horses were fading back. They had run out of gas. They had sort of burned through all of their energy too fast. And I think sometimes it's easy for us as agency owners to watch what everybody else is doing and think we have to do it their way. We have to lean in and we have to go as fast as they are. We have to go in the direction that they go as opposed to having a game plan. So in the post-race interview, they were talking to the trainer and the jockey, and what they saying is that they knew that they needed to go slower in the beginning of the race, because Sovereignty loves sloppy tracks, and he loves when he's behind and he can try and catch up. And so they knew their horse. Just like we know our agency and our clients. And they had a plan. And they didn't get distracted by what everybody else was doing. They just ran their plan. And for them, that was the winning game plan. And they put $25 million or so in their pocket. I think we have to be reminded sometimes that we know what we're doing. We know our agency. We know our clients, and we have a plan. And that what other people are doing around us is interesting and we can learn from it, no doubt. But it doesn't mean we always have to defer to what everybody else is doing, as opposed to sticking to the plan that we believe is the best course of action for our agency, for us to win the race. So little lesson from Sovereignty for all of us today. Watch »
Do what you can
I think we are in a season of making due, with the tariff, the stock market, and all the other things sort of reacting around us. Our job is to stay calm and make do. New business is not coming in as fast right now, and clients are not spending as freely right now. We have to just know that this is a season for us to weather and weather together. So lean in, take advantage of resources. Come to our Q&A every month. Let's talk together about this. We're going to be trying to provide as much guidance as we can through the newsletter, through the Build a Better Agency Summit, through all of those things. But it is a time for us to be wise about what we're doing, doing more with less and doing that for ourselves, our agency, and our clients. I want you to think about how you kind of batten down the hatches for your clients? How do you help your clients weather this. The agencies that help their clients weather economic uncertainty, just like we did in covid, those are the agencies that when we come out of this – because we always do – when we come out of this, those are the agencies that are going to be rewarded for showing up as a great business partner, a great business strategist, a great thinker who helps our clients do the right thing even in tough times. And so I want to encourage you to look for ways to do a little more for your clients right now. Watch »
It’s time to be bold
At this moment, there's a lot of pause, and there's a lot of fear that has caused everybody to freeze. What we're hearing from agencies all across the world, but particularly here in the United States, is that the pipeline has just dried up, that clients and prospects don't want to talk about more budget or a new budget. They're frozen in place as they wait for things to settle down, for the tariff talks to change, for some certainty to come into this great uncertainty. We're also seeing that same behavior showing up in agencies and agency owners that you, too, have paused. You're not initiating big new programs. You are not creating new things for prospects, clients, and team members. I want to challenge you in this: right now, while the world is watching and waiting, we don't have to watch and wait. We have all this control over our own business. We can't control what the economy is doing, our worldview, or what's happening politically, but we can control how we show up in our own businesses. Watch »
