To allow you to work on building your agency
- this ensures you are working towards something, rather than just working
To allow you to choose the role you want to perform in the agency
- this ensures you are working towards what you want, rather than having it dictated to you
To provide you with time off away from the agency
- this ensures that your growth is sustainable; we all need a break to recharge now & then!
I try to maximise my time by minimising it.
I do not work outside of normal office hours & accept Parkinson's Law as an immutable truth; namely that the amount of time you assign to a task is the amount of time it will take!
When you started your agency, chances are that you did everything
- you did all of the work & you made all of the decisions.
But in order to grow, you need others to do the work; that's the easy bit.
- you also need others to make more of the decisions; this is the hard bit!
To give you confidence to let go, you need to know others' decisions will mirror those you would make yourself
- this where detailed & documented processes come in
All of your internalised decision-making frameworks should be written down for others to follow
Less uncertainty, fewer questions for you to answer, greater team efficiency, more time for you to focus on GROWTH
To fund your lifestyle
- vitally important to remember that your agency works for you, not you for it
To directly invest in growing the agency
- growth in business means growth in costs too; people, tech, marketing & everything in between cost money
To de-risk the decisions you make
- no direction is without risk but with a solid financial foundation, you can pursue opportunities that others could not
Having accurate, up-to-date financial information for your business is an essential element in building sustainable, profitable growth.
So if you do not fully understand the numbers in your business, bring in someone who does.
Firstly, you need to fully understand where you are at financially
- this means that you can make decisions from a position of knowledge
Next you need to be pricing your services appropriately
- this means planning to make profit, not making it by accident
You will need to set aside time to scenario-plan for different possible outcomes
- this enables you to react to any adverse financial situations quickly should they arise
Lastly, you should look at your financial position daily, and review at least weekly
- you can test your competency here by asking yourself if you know key financial details without looking them up
Fewer surprises, greater confidence, freedom of decision-making, more scope to experiment to drive GROWTH