Over the past few months I’ve talked to a number of agency owners who have expressed concern at the level of effort required grow their inbound agencies and in two circumstances, I’ve spoken with owners who have thrown in the towel. Giving up the fight to return to something more comfortable.
I’m not judging anyone and in both cases I congratulated the owners for having the guts to admit they didn’t want to fight the good fight anymore and were going back to something that was easier. After all, we only go around this world once, you have to live the right life for you. Sometimes lifestyle businesses are just fine.
But these conversations got me thinking. For some of you trying to grow your agency might actually be the wrong move. Here are some signals that growth might be bad in your case.
You’re already making good money and you don’t need to make more
There are lots of good reasons to want to grow your agency, one of the best is to improve your financial situation. I’ve spoken with many owners who don’t pay themselves. If you don’t get paid, you’re not running a business—it’s a hobby.
If you’re already doing well, then why change. If you’re making good money, enough to live the kind of lifestyle you desire than you might not need to work through the turmoil and challenges associated with moving all in on inbound.
You’re not that into inbound and still find outbound to be effective
A lot of people are still unsure or not all in on inbound. Again, no judgements. I talk to people every day who still believe outbound tactics have a place in today’s marketing mix. If this is you, then keep doing what you’ve always been doing. Why change your agency’s story, delivery model, pricing, best practices, marketing and team just to follow a fad.
If you're providing outbound marketing to your clients and they're happy why change? Keep doing what you're doing and let everyone else worry about figuring out inbound.
You don’t’ want to be accountable for results, only the delivery of stuff
It’s hard to be responsible month in and month out for business results. It’s a thankless position to be in. No matter how well you do, most clients want you to do better. Ask any owner who’s been doing this for at least a few years and you’ll get a similar story.
When you create a website and turn it over to the client, it’s a party. Everyone is happy. Who cares if the site gets any leads. It looks nice, works well and was delivered on time. That’s so much easier than keeping an eye on the site to make sure rankings improve, leads come through, and the individual performance of the site gets better each month. If you love delivering stuff and moving on—keep on keeping on.
You’re not interested in a team of people, you’re more of a solo player
Not everyone is cut out to be a leader. Some people would prefer to be a solo player and work on their own, bringing in support services as needed but never being responsible for payroll, performance reviews, professional development, careers, or any of the baggage that comes with having team members. Knowing this about your own personality is important and crafting a business that supports your strengths and downplays your weaknesses is important to overall happiness.
I’m not kidding around here and I’m not teasing anyone who feels like any of the above situations reflects their feelings. I’m not judging. If these sound like you or these represent how you feel deep down, then I’m actually going to implore you to NOT grow your agency but focus on keeping your current and successful business chugging along.
Growing any business takes time, growing an inbound marketing agency takes time, energy, patience, education and constant tweaking, adjusting, and fiddling with the model to improve and take advantage of the changes going on in this community. It’s not for everyone. The most successful people are astute at identifying what they’re good at and what they’re not so good at and making decisions based on that internal reflection.
Before you jump into growing an inbound agency, make sure you’re up for the long, bumpy road ahead of you.
Start Today Tip – You have to look in the mirror and make sure you’re up for this. Moving any agency all in on inbound is going to take work. There’s nothing wrong with making the decision to remain a website design and development, PR or branding shop. The world needs this kind of agency too and businesses will always want this kind of help. But if you’ve made the decision to provide inbound marketing and inbound sales services to your clients then you have to make the hard decisions associated with clients, people, process and probably finance too. Finally, get help. You’re going to save months or years in trials and tribulations if you work with someone who’s been there and done that before.
Agencies 2 Inbound – Helping You GO ALL IN ON Inbound!
