Agency owners need pitstops

Hey, Drew McLellan here from Agency Management Institute. I'm coming to you today from beautiful San Diego, where I just wrapped up a meeting with a group of agency owners. And something we talked about made me think about a conversation I had very early in my career. There was a grizzled old veteran who was probably 40 at the time and seemed ancient. And he said to me, "You know what Drew? "Agency life is a young man's game." And honestly, I think he was wrong. I don't think it's about age. I think it's about energy. Working in or owning an agency is like going from zero to 60 in three seconds, all day, every day. And you can only go at that pace for so long. To survive and thrive in this business you need to know when it's time to refill your tank. I don't care how finely tuned you are, you can not run on fumes. And I think it's critical for every agency leader and owner to know what fills their tank and how often they need a pit stop. And it's going be different for each of us. I'm on over 200 planes a year and I consume a few hundred hotel nights every year. And I know for me, I need a pit stop about every six weeks. A hard stop to just refuel. I've been in here San Diego working all week, but today is just a pit stop day. No client calls, no meetings, I need to rest. I'm going to sleep a little longer, I'm going to go for a really long walk along the beach, and I might even read a book for fun. I want you to survive and thrive in this business. And that means you need to know how often you need to pull over for a pit stop. And here's the trick, you have to schedule it. Don't count on your memory or wait until you're on empty. Here's what I want you to do. Make a list of things that top off your tank. Maybe you're not running on empty, but you're running a little low. For some of you it might be a run in the morning, or a long lunch with friends, or maybe even playing a board game with your kids. And then I want you to make a second list. A list of things that fill your tank when you're really, really running low. And it might be a day at the spa, or for me, a day at the beach. Or a day on the golf course. Or it might be staying in bed all day just watching movies. Then figure out how long you can run on a tank of energy. I told you for me it's about six weeks. So inside a six week window of time I might top off my tank a couple times a week, and around week five I need to have a good part of a day blocked off for a complete refuel. How about you, what fills your tank and how often do you need that pit stop? Get it on your calendar, give yourself the energy you need to stay in the game and keep loving the game, It's not about age, it's about energy, so make sure you keep yours up. I'll be back next week, but for now, I'm going for a walk.