5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before Starting My Own Agency

I come from a working-class family in rural Minnesota. The town is actually called Pennock, which is also the name of our agency. Most adults around me ran their own local businesses, which grew organically because I was around a lot of amazing craftspeople and operators. My dad had an auto-body shop and did a bunch of custom paint jobs that were truly pieces of art! So becoming an entrepreneur was part of my DNA.

As I climbed the ranks of digital marketing in Silicon Valley, I knew I was really strong at the work I was leading for my teams. Paired with the itch to start my own shop, my frustrations with executive team decisions, and a recent lay-off, it prompted me to take the agency owner jump. Pennock started as a consultancy with a handful of freelancers, and we were doing great. Net profits were favorable, the outsourced team and our clients were gelling. We secured a hero client ($$$), which justified our transition to begin hiring full-time staff.

Then the pandemic hit. The hero client left and told us they would not be paying their past-due invoices, and the risks of being a business owner became really REAL. There were a lot of missteps from here, including:

  1. Hiring too quickly for misaligned skillsets.

  2. Haphazard processes – we had skeletons of standard operating procedures and playbooks, but they were hardly being implemented.

  3. We signed contracts for any and all parts of marketing our clients needed, operating in a state of desperation.

As I look in the rearview mirror, 3+ years after taking the leap to bring in the full-time team, there are a couple of glaring reflections, some of which I was guided to make early on but reluctantly chose not to.

  1. Niche - When you are talking to anyone and everyone, you are talking to no one.

  2. Build a solid foundation - It's not a problem to offer many services if you have strong SOPs and SLAs within the services. Our foundation wasn't solid, which leads to...

  3. Hire problem solvers - In the early days of the agency, every time we secured three new clients, we felt the need to bring on a new team member (due to our shaky processes). Though we were fortunate to have some incredible team members, whom I fondly remember and would eagerly rehire, we didn't always focus on hiring individuals with the primary competency we required: problem-solving for our clients. Our clients sought our expertise to address issues like lower sales or fewer customers than anticipated.

  4. Gratitude - Every team member and client is choosing this agency. Make sure the culture and atmosphere treat them with kindness and gratitude for making that choice.

  5. Remain at the helm - This is your business to steer. I was having a conversation with my business coach the other day where I said, 'I am letting the things I cannot control control the decisions I make.' I had to pause and say it again as I wasn't sure if I heard myself correctly. If you let the market dictate your business, the clients you get, and the industries you work in, you are a 'Jill of all trades.' And it feels pretty haphazard and out of control.

In summary, if you run a business, you find yourself in this position for a reason. Don't forget your purpose.