I’ve been recording the video lessons for our new Foundations mini course (for agency owners in their first 5 years of existence) and I’m noticing there is a recurring theme woven into a lot of what I am teaching.
Choice. And for every choice, there is a consequence.
I think we forget how fortunate we are to have as much control as we do over our own destiny. We sometimes respond or act as though the world is whipping us around and we’re not able to get what we want, but often that is because of the choices we’ve made.
We decide:
- If our agency is back at the office or still working virtually
- Who our agency serves
- The kinds of people we hire
- How much money we make (are you going to enforce change orders or be overstaffed, etc.)
- If we’re closed for the week between Christmas and New Year’s
- How robust our 401K program is
- If we have enough prospects in the pipeline (never forget — this is a choice)
- Can we as owners truly disconnect from the business while on vacation
You get the idea. We talk about many of the above items as though they’re being done to us. I think it’s healthy to remember that we as agency owners actually control how things play out in our shops. If you don’t like an outcome — odds are you need to do or decide something different.
Now, choice does not come without its little sister — consequence. Every choice we make yields a new consequence and sometimes more than one. I am not suggesting this is simple or easy. But I am reminded you (and me too!) that if there’s something we’re not happy with inside our agency, odds are we are one or two different choices away from a better/new outcome.
Don’t let the news, the recession, politics, or anything else make you feel like you are not the master or mistress of your own destiny. It’s actually one of the biggest and most valuable perks of being an agency owner.
We get to decide.
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