Running an agency often feels like you’re running uphill, through jello, with somebody throwing rocks at you. It’s really hard, and it’s exhausting because you’re trying to build something in a chaotic world.
Many agency owners get trapped because they think they have to run uphill all the time, but company growth is not linear. It’s not a straight line. It’s actually a bunch of steps. When you hit a point of success, it’s okay to take a breath, admire the view from where you are, for a week, or a month, or a quarter, or a year, and then make the decision to grow again.
There are seasons of growth. There’s springtime, where everything starts growing, and that’s awesome. Then there’s harvest time, where it’s time to reap the rewards of what you’ve done.
Setting incremental milestones allows an agency owner to catch their breath, and not feel like they’re running uphill all the time. You can say, “Great, when we hit $63,218 a month in recurring revenue, what we’re going to do is we’re going to take a month, and we’re going to fix our internal reporting.” You can take your foot off the gas. From the growth perspective, you’ve got a sales team that’s not stopping, but you’re not dragging everybody uphill.
You’re going to have other people that can take on responsibilities. You don’t have to lead, and carry everybody on your back, and take care of all the kids, and fend off the rocks that people are throwing at you. You can say, “Wow, I really need for you to own the internal reporting because I’ve got to go work on sales.” When you’re able to do that, when you’re able to elevate yourself a little bit and realize that not everything has to be done by you, that’s how agency owners can stop killing themselves. It’s too much to do by yourself, so don’t.
