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Why hello fam, how we doin on this lovely Thursday?!
If you're not someone who cares to run an agency, I'm warning you, this email may not be for you, but hey - maybe these blog posts are!
➢ Creating Long Term Vision at The Beginning of Entrepreneurship
➢ Your First Steps as a New Entrepreneur
➢ Navigating the Transition from Solopreneur to Agency Owner
Ok back to agencies lol
In scaling Dial Zero Marketing the last 3 years, I've learned SO so much - the good, the bad, the ugly.
Over 100+ clients, 20+ branding projects, 15+ websites, and an unbelievable amount of social media / email, and whew. It's been a WHIRLWIND. In consulting agencies the last few years through my private services, I've seen firsthand that it's tough for some to scale to even $500k, and we've closed millions in revenue since we began.
That's not an accident or a fluke.
It also wasnt...hard...per se. But I say that with a level of privilege I'm aware of.
The thing is that it's taken a LOT from me, but it's also given me SO much.
And if you're wondering if you want the road of an agency, here are 3 major takeaways to consider:
3 MAJOR Lessons I've Learned as an Agency Owner
ps, click here if you want more of my agency-focused emails, and I'll make sure to send them your way in the future!
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You are only as strong as your legal systems (and I say SYSTEMS for a reason)
- I say this so seriously: Legal is backbone of a strong agency, in a multitude of ways. First, I BEG you to know what you legally can and can't do. This includes copyright law, trademark, employment, m+a, client relations, etc. The best thing I've done these past few years is truly understand my legal rights AND where the lines are. Navigating business is nervewrecking if you're always wondering "if you'll get in trouble". The good news is that the rules are right there, laid out in the law. A lot of my ability to make quick decisions is to know legally what I'm able to do, and for ANYTHING I have a question about, I go to my legal team.
- If you're in ANY sort of marketing, STAY UP TO DATE on FTC guidelines. You will get in trouble, they don't fuck around.
- Make your contracts benefit YOU ... almost unfairly lol Now I'm not saying this as legal advice and def bring it to a lawyer, but my contracts are SO SO written in my favor that I expect clients to push back. They basically say we can't get in trouble for anything and we can kind of do whatever we want lol You'd be shocked how many people just sign it - like ok thanks! lol
- Pay an upfront retainer > a monthly fee. Anytime we would get a website/brand/strategy project that I wasn't expecting, I'd pay that $5k-$10k into our legal retainer so if I EVER needed them, there was never a question of if I could pay. I have a bank with them that I still to this day chip away at from money I put in last year.
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It quite literally will suck the life out of you. But if done right, you'll get it back tenfold.
- "I don't say this to scare you" no I literally do though lol I say this to make it abundantly clear. If you want a true ass AGENCY (this won't apply to you if you want a small service based business that you contract out projects for, that's different), you will be working nights and weekends. Period. "No I'll have good boundaries" girl I'm the boundaries QUEEN and shit breaks. Things change. You can either ask your full time employees to do it, but if you don't have those or if you don't want to ask that of them, it's you. At the beginning at least, you are ON. DEMAND. And you want it to be that way. You have to see what's going on as much as possible so you can change it.
- So why would I do this it sounds terrible lol It kind of is idk what to tell you HAHA BUT!!! We were given a $4M valuation at the beginning of this year and guess who would get to keep all of that? You're lookin at her. Building an agency because you like the work? Lol gtfoh not a great move my queen. But doing it to have an asset? That's some boss ass behavior and I cannot BELIEVE how much I worked and stretched myself in those first 2 years. I also...don't really remember the pain of it. I'm just like ya it sucked but it's over now? We have better systems now.
- Which leads me to...
- You business needs someone running a) Admin - aka finance and legal b) Creative direction - aka the ideas c) Operations - aka project management. If you are not doing all of these, you have to hire for them. If you do not want to hire for Admin + Operations, it's worth finding a co-CEO or co-founder, and/or hiring a fractional CEO who either gets paid fully / partially in equity or fully in cash (aka the way you'd pay any contractor. You'll burn out fast doing all 3 of those, and speaking as someone who has those 3 covered now, it's the dream.
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Team structure is everything.
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And that's where we end, with team structure. I know with confidence that you're either going to burnout or close in your first year if you say any of the following:
- "I want to make a company that people like working for"
- "I only want to work with people I like and on projects I love"
- The reason being that you will take work that's boring and it's because it pays well. For 2 years, we supported 4 malls because their social budget was $20k/mo per location sometimes. You don't see them on the website, but because of those, I was able to offer services at a MASSIVELY low rate to some amazing opportunities because our bills were paid. Don't scoff at being bored or annoyed by clients, we're adults we can handle it. If it pays well, take the work and hire someone to manage it who has thicker skin to handle them!
- As someone who has had team members who I loved who plagiarized content (and thank GOD we caught it before it got to the client), team members who I poured DEEPLY into who were in essence stealing from me, team members who lied to me about what they can handle - I've worked with people I loved and believed in, and who have let me down. And I fired them FAST. You have to know when to draw the line. Loving someone and seeing them as a person and giving them grace does not mean they get to set your house on fire.
- Hire people who want to see the business CATAPULT and want to say "I helped do that" as a resume builder. And then make sure you like those people. Don't simply go to people who "have a good heart" and hope they care. Find people who care first and make sure you like them second.
- For me, I'm the one who wants them to have IVF coverage in their health insurance (working on this one!), unlimited PTO (we've got this one!), creative time off (this one too!), and to LOVE their work. I do want a team who loves their work, but I'm not making it my mission. My hope in hiring is that they love their work because they're ambitious people who want to climb a ladder. And that's who I tend to find.
And if you made it this far, I want to share that agency ownership will be easier for those who have:
- That people person energy. Move fast and aim for connection. Being a founder of something like this means being able to communicate to people, to quickly articulate what you do, to see people, to be vulnerable.
- Audacity. Be bold, be creative, ask for what you want. Tell people "I'll do anything for this". Tell partners "we need 3 more clients, can you help me find these in your network?". Tell your clients "Hey we want to try xyz and if it doesn't work we'll waive part of your next months payment". If you want to be the safe agency, you will be the one who closes.
- Fast energy. If you worry too much about what you say, or how to do something exactly right, it's indicative that you may need a bit more confidence first. That's ok but I'd start first with whitelabeling so you can watch someone else run an agency and almost have them as a mentor vs going out on your own. We do that at DZM and hire from The Do-ers Club often, it's a great way for people to see how our agency works, and allows me to stay in the mentor position I'm obsessed with.
If you made it this far, head to this post and leave a comment with any emoji that's blue and one of you can win a free call w/ me to ask ALLLLLL your agency questions!
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