• by Lindsay Rutherford , Op-Ed Contributor, December 17, 2024

Running an agency is hard. I hear it a lot in conversations with agency owners. And maybe you’ve said it yourself (or something like it).

It can seem that way especially when you’re feeling stuck in the day to day, hung up by things that aren’t going perfectly. People problems, client problems, financial problems–they can get so intense it’s hard to see beyond the immediate issue. Even thinking six weeks out seems like a conversation too far. 

That’s the grind. It’s a common story for many among the legions of agency employee ex-pats who have hung out shingles over the past three years. If you don’t get out of it, it’ll grind you up. First you lose sight of your agency’s true magic. You start chasing the wrong prospects, and team members disengage. Eventually you’re holding on to toxic clients to pay the bills. 

Ironically, the thing overworked owners fear they don’t have time for is the reason they don’t have time. Just as we tell our clients that the long-term anchors the short-term, goals aren’t luxuries to plan once the crunch is over; they’re the foundation for restoring vision. It’s tough to see the horizon when you’re focused one foot in front of you. 

How do you let go of some of those behaviors that may have helped you early on, when the agency depended on you being adaptive, responsive, and hands-on in real time? Start by defining what’s it all for. 

Imagine you’re writing an article 20 years from now about where you are. What would the agency look like? Who would you look like? Maybe you won’t own an agency, or you’ll own several. 

Then work your way backwards - pieces that are more ‘bite-sized’ and not as scary. Focus on meaningful goals. By that I mean not just growing bigger but growing better on your terms. That might be delivering a new service, or combination, or perspective that a select client population needs but doesn’t have yet. It might be fuller service at substantially higher fee levels. Or both. 

For example, say today you’re early in development, focused on paying the bills. You might be operating a bit of an odd-job agency. Your goal can be to translate that knowledge and ability into being a premier strategy and creative agency for specific types of clients in five years. 

The goal is a filter on today’s decisions. Once you know, the next steps become clear. The difference between what you’re carrying and what’s propelling you becomes obvious. So does who you’ll need to hire, and how; who you’re going to work for; and, importantly, who you aren’t going to work for. 

Imagine being so focused on where you’re going you can easily talk about it to your team, your clients, your bank…and you have a clear list of what to do next. What could it be like to hire amazing people around you that are locking arms together to win? When you let go of thinking that the burden is all yours, it instantly relieves the pressure. Business gets clearer, life gets simpler and running an agency ceases to be so ridiculously hard. You start enjoying work again. 

That’s better for your work, your life, your family, and your health. You reclaim influence in your destiny, and when you do you really understand clearly what your agency is about. Often for the first time.