Create your very own Auto Publish News/Blog Site and Earn Passive Income in Just 4 Easy Steps
Why do we read books like Traction, Scaling Up, and The E-Myth and still struggle with implementing systems, defining processes, and training people in our agency?
These are incredibly comprehensive methods. And yet, digital agencies still suffer from feast or famine months, inconsistent deliverables and timelines on projects, quality checks, revisions, and more. This is not because they are not excellent at what they do. I
This is not because their service has no value. This is often because they haven't defined the three most important elements of delivery: the how, the when and the why.
Complicating our processes early on can lead to numerous implementation errors. Business owners overcomplicate their own processes, hesitate to write things down, and then create a huge operational burden on the business.
Combine that with divided attention and paper-thin resources, and you have an agency that spends most of its time putting out fires, responding to client issues, and generally building a culture where “the founder/creative director/leader does that solves the problem.” Mentality.
Before we discuss how easy this all can be, let's first go back to the beginning.
When we start our companies, we are told to hurry up. And try hard. We were taught that it takes a lot of effort to create momentum, close deals, hire people, and manage projects. And that is all true. There's a lot of work that goes into getting a business up and running.
The challenge is that we all develop the habit of burning the candle at both ends and in the middle just to drive business growth. And we take this habit to the next phase of growth when our business needs… you guessed it… the exact opposite.
In Mike Michalowitz's book, Profit First, he begins by asking the reader to understand and accept a fundamental truth: Our company is a money-eating monster. The truth is that our company is also a time-consuming monster. And only when we realize that as long as we continue to feed it with our time and resources, it will be all-consuming, leaving you with nothing left in your pocket and a lot of confusion about why you can't grow.
The truth is that financial problems are easier compared to operational problems. Money is everywhere. You can take out a loan or simply generate more sales by providing added value. What's more difficult is taking that money and creating systems that produce profitably. The next stage is to take this money to create profit and time freedom.
In my bestselling book, The Sabbatical Method, I show owners how they can fundamentally reduce the time they spend in their business doing everything and how professionalizing their processes can save them a lot of money, time and headaches.
The hard part about being a digital agency owner is that you probably started your business because you were great at something. Build websites, create search engine optimization strategies, or run paid media campaigns. And then you ended up running a company. These are two very different things.
How to get out of your own way and create a simple structure for your agency…
- Start working less
I know this sounds really bold and counter-intuitive, but I've seen it work wonders with clients and colleagues alike. I often say that you can't see the label from the inside of the bottle, and I haven't found a truer statement when it comes to things like planning, vision, direction and business setup.
Owners who stay in the weeds of their business while trying to build the structure are like hunters in the jungle, hacking through the undergrowth with a machete and getting nowhere with really sore arms. Instead, define your workday, create the boundaries of commitment, stop working on weekends and nights and jumping over other people's heads to solve problems.
It will help you gain a different perspective on your business and your team can build some autonomy in the meantime.
- Master the art of knowledge transfer
There are two ways to impart knowledge to others: learning and writing something down. Training began as a lifelong relationship and often the knowledge was retained by just ONE person who continued your method.
Writing things down used to be limited to the person holding the pages (before the printing press).
We are fortunate that today we have many opportunities to impart knowledge to our team. And establishing this habit early can save a company from becoming dependent on one person with a lot of “how” and “when” in their head.
While you take some time to get out of your daily routine, start writing things down and recording your screen (use a tool like loom.com) while answering questions.
Store these insights in a corporate knowledge base, a central location for company resources. Some of the most scalable and sellable companies I've ever worked with had this habit firmly in place.
- Define your processes
Sit back. No fancy tool or software will save your business. Every team I've ever worked with that came to me with a half-built project management tool has suffered tremendously because they didn't define their process first. This isn't easy, but it can be easy.
The thing that hangs most teams out to dry is simply decision making. If you can decide how to do something, when to do it, and why it happens that way, you have already won. I know exactly what you're thinking: our process is constantly changing, depending on the customer, depending on the order, etc. That's okay.
Small businesses should always find better and more efficient ways to do things. Developing your processes and creating a maintenance effort to keep them correct and up to date will be a life raft in choppy seas. You can hold on to it when the agency is busy.
“I’m so busy, how can I possibly work less and make time for it?”
You can't afford not to do this work. Burning the candle at both ends and in the middle will eventually catch up in one form or another. Be it burnout, customers leaving, a team member leaving, or a huge, unexpected tax bill.
I've heard all the stories and they all suck. It's easier than ever to start a business and harder than ever to keep one. This work may not be sexy, but it gives us the freedom we craved when we started our companies.
Start small and simple and watch your business become more predictable and your team more efficient.
Create your very own Auto Publish News/Blog Site and Earn Passive Income in Just 4 Easy Steps
