I think that’s the ultimate joy in business is when we get to create relationships with our team and our clients.

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- Hey everybody, Drew McLellan here from Agency Management Institute. This week, yet again, I am coming to you from my house. And behind me, this wall... This wall is my legacy wall. This wall here are photographs of the people that I love the most, that I have poured myself into, the relationships that have lasted a super long time, and the people that I turn to, the people that I count on, the people that I would walk on glass for. And all of these people, this entire wall, every time I walk by it, it makes me smile because there's a lifetime of commitment and love because there's a lifetime of commitment and love and sacrifice in all of these photos. Why am I telling you that? Because I think we have a very unique opportunity right now. I think for all of us, again, whether your agency is super busy or you have lost half of your business, I think for all of us, this being at home, this moment of reflection, this forced slowdown is the perfect time for us to look at our business and say: Is that the legacy I want? Are those the relationships I want to pour myself into? Are we serving the industries that I care about? Are our clients people that I value and that I want to honor with our best work? And if not, now is the time for us to rethink our business, to rethink who we serve, how we serve them. Look at your team, are these the people that I want to go to battle with every day? One of the things that I know is true is that in a crisis, people reveal themselves to us, they reveal their true self to us. And I think you are probably getting all kinds of insights about the people in your world, clients, employees, everybody. And you get to sort of make some game day decisions about when we go back to work, when we go back into the office, when we start traveling again, when we gear up our Biz Dev effort, where do we want to pour ourselves into? Where do we want to invest, and who is worthy of that level of investment? And for some of you, you may have the good fortune, like I do, that when you look at your client roster, you go, "Yep, these are people that I love. These are people that I love to serve. I don't want to change a thing." And for others of you, you may say, "You know what? I don't feel appreciated. I don't feel valued. I don't feel like this is a two-way street. Maybe I do need to think differently about who we serve and how we serve them." And it's the same thing with the team, looking at the people that you have been working with for years, and now in this new sort of panic of crisis that we've gone through, now it feels a little more normal, but in the beginning, six, eight weeks ago, what was that like for you? And how did they show up, and what did it tell you about them in terms of how you want them around you, or maybe they're not the right team member for you moving forward? So use this time to think about the legacy of the relationships you want to build through your business with your team, with your vendors and partners, with your clients, and if you're going to pivot, now is a great time. Serve people that you love to serve. I think that's the ultimate joy in business is when we get to create relationships with our team and our clients, that we are so grateful that we have and we love serving them so much that we can't imagine anything else. Now is your time to imagine and build it the way you want it to be. All right? I'll see you next week.

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