Boo! 100 Things for the 100th Issue

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Is 100 Issues Worth Celebrating?

I dunno if it is, but I want to - so here we go!

This is a completely random list of 100 things that I’ve learned as a C-level agency exec, a multi-time agency founder, a 2 time agency seller, a former tech startup dude, a client side CMO, a coach who has served over 300 agencies, a dad of 5, an ADHDer, and an old guy with bad jokes.

100 Things For The 100th Issue

1. If you think it’s about you, you are wrong.

2. The best way to make more sales is to know more about your prospect’s business and industry.

3. ROAS is a stupid metric.

4. Attribution is incomplete at best and fake at worst.

5. If your team drops the ball, it’s your fault.

6. Nobody will care as much about your business as you do (and that’s good).

7. Leading your agency/startup is job you do, not who you are.

8. Overnight success is fake (usually).

9. Going “viral” isn’t a plan.

10. SEO isn’t dead - its just different.

11. Economic and political issues do impact your little business - but it’s only about 2% as big a factor as you think it is…

12. Sales isn’t about “convincing” - it’s about trust and connecting.

13. Your team is your biggest asset - be nice to them.

14. Revenue growth does not mean agency growth.

15. My tagline “More Revenue. More Profit. More Happy.” isn’t a formula. They are 3 separate things to optimize for…

16. Your problems aren’t unique, but your circumstances are…

17. “Scaling” & “scale” don’t have any real meaning in the context of an agency. You should be thinking “better” & “more impact”.

18. If you started an agency to get rich, that’s the wrong reason & that’s why it isn’t going to happen.

19. Your job isn’t to make happy clients, your job is to make teams and systems that make happy clients.

20. As an agency founder, you aren’t a marketer, or an account manager, or a sales person - you are the person who runs the agency and often does many, if not all, of those other jobs in your free time.

21. You need to be asking yourself “Am I the right person to do this?” at least 2x a day.

22. There is absolutely nothing wrong with serving as part of the delivery team, or the sales team, or the account management team when you are the founder. Just remember that you can’t lead when you are doing those jobs - so better if you find a way to do fewer of them, because of #20.

23. SOPs avoid failure, they don’t create success.

24. As a founder, one of your biggest jobs is to coach.

25. If you aren’t on top of your financials, it will eventually kill your business.

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26. Read Profit First by Mike Michalowicz.

27. Follow these people on LinkedIn - they are smart: David C Baker (read his books, too - they are terrific), Peter Kang, Matthew Hunt, Jane Serra, Sarah Reece, Samantha McKenna, Pete Caputa & Max Traylor.

28. If you want to get a real masterclass in a way to thing about building an effective leadership style, read Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink - especially Chapters 6-10 on distributed decisioning.

29. Your primary job as the CEO is to insure that the team has the resources that they need to do what you ask.

30. Nobody works “for” you - you are lucky enough to work “with” them.

31. Pay people as well as you can. Saving $1000 on salary will not make your business any stronger.

32. You are going to have to fire people at some point. Do it kindly & be as generous with severance pay as you can - even if they were a terrible employee.

33. If you are afraid that your team is going to steal your clients, you are already f*cked.

34. Hiding mistakes makes everything worse.

35. Client reporting isn’t a spreadsheet driven thing. It’s a story about what is happening next.

36. The agenda for a client reporting meeting is simple: 1. This is what happened. 2. This is what we learned. 3. This is what we are doing next.

37. All client relationships are going to end. Understand that every client interaction either accelerates or delays that day.

38. If you don’t understand your client’s business (eg, how they really make money, what is important to them, the things that scare them, how your performance impacts their budget (or their bonuses)), you aren’t going to have a long relationship.

39. If you’ve never spoken to your primary contact’s boss, you aren’t building deep enough client relationships.

40. Know what metrics matter to your clients.

41. Results aren’t why you get hired or fired.

42. “We are an extension of your team…” isn’t a value proposition. (Neither is “data-driven”, performance-focused” or “brand-obsessed”.)

43. Everything in marketing is based around translating the promise that a marketer makes into language or emotion that is meaningful to their audience.

44. If you don’t understand your client’s target audience, there is no way you can be effective for them.

45. You can lose deals on price, but never win them.

46. If you focus on being the low-cost provider, you aren’t going to have high-value clients.

47. If you charge a % of revenue or a % of profit in your fee structure, eventually that number will get too high & you will be fired - even if your performance is amazing. Pay attention & stay ahead of this eventuality.

48. If you can’t remember the last time you showed gratitude to your team and/or clients, do it right now.

49. There is no right way to build a business - only the way that is right for you.

50. There is no “plug and play” system that will make you successful - because your circumstances are different than whomever built the system.

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51. No single growth channel will keep your business healthy. You need to think of at least two channels to be safe.

52. Referrals are amazing. But you can’t rely on them alone. You need other options.

53. Partnerships with other agencies, consultants, platforms, investors, etc. are an underutilized growth tool.

54. Running ads can be effective to grow your business…but please be careful. The learning curve for quality targeting and sales process is VERY expensive.

55. If you have a spouse or significant other, make sure they know that being the CEO can suck super hard sometimes. Apologize often & well.

56. If there aren’t some things in your business that you would do even if you weren’t getting paid, change some stuff up. This is too hard for you not to get some intrinsic joy from the work.

57. Sales isn’t a cost center. Not knowing how to set up a sales process and manage a sales resource is a cost center.

58. You don’t work for your clients - you work with them as peers.

59. Empower your team to do the right things for your clients, even if it isn’t “in-scope”. Clients aren’t going to remember the agreement scope, but they will remember that you helped them when they needed it.

60. Hiring is really hard - for both sides. Treat the people who apply for jobs with respect, and if you ask them to do a project or something to show their skills, pay them for it.

61. If you don’t have real questions prepped before you interview someone, there is no way that you can understand what you need to understand about them.

62. You have to sell potential employees on the company. They are investing in your vision - that takes a leap of faith.

63. If you don’t have a profit share or bonus structure, why the F not?

64. Working for you isn’t as awesome as you think it is. Remember that.

65. Whatever goes wrong, it’s your fault - even if someone else has screwed up.

66. The most expensive money you will ever make is from a client who doesn’t understand what you do well enough to appreciate how well you do it.

67. If you aren’t having fun, you are doing something wrong.

68. If you are involved with every client, with every sale, and with every decision, your agency has no enterprise value.

69. Your agency is a series of functions that you manage - not a list of tasks to knock off.

70. If your team doesn’t understand how their efforts impact client results, it is impossible for them to do a great job.

71. You and your staff aren’t a family. You are a team - and you are the coach. You work on different things and have a different perspective about EVERYTHING.

72. No one on your staff will ever think that they are getting paid too much.

73. If you aren’t tracking capacity, you are flying blind.

74. Never ask if your team is busy - they are. You need to know how busy they are. Their capacity to take on more work is a hard limit to your growth.

75. Don’t ever expect anyone to work late, or on the weekends. If they do, be appreciative of their dedication and ask what needs to come off their plate so they don’t have to do that anymore.

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76. It will be a long time before AI will have really good judgement. Remember that.

77. Using automations and AI is awesome - but if you don’t know what works, you can’t effectively leverage those tools.

78. AI & automations can drive enormous efficiencies - but make sure that you leverage those efficiency to get BETTER at what you do, not just doing more of the same “blah” work.

79. More leads is rarely the right answer. Better leads, sure, but needing more leads is generally a sign of poor positioning, poor understanding of your market’s needs & a poor sales process.

80. You should be leading your clients, not reacting to them.

81. Running a successful brand requires SO MUCH MORE than understanding marketing. Your clients aren’t dumb because they don’t know the difference between Andromeda and Apollo.io. That’s why they hired you. You probably know jack squat about product sourcing and international shipping. Don’t act like a big shot.

82. If you are doing cold outreach (which everyone should be in some way…), scale isn’t your friend. Relevancy is…

83. If someone isn’t ready to buy, don’t drop them like a hot potato. Good decisions take time.

84. When you are selling, if someone says "no”, it isn’t about you. They have their reasons - they may or may not share them with you…but it isn’t a judgement. You have to distance yourself from the outcome - just make sure that you did all the right things.

85. Read The Obstacle is the Way, Stillness is the Key, and Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday. I have yet to have someone tell me that one or all of these books weren’t valuable.

86. Try to talk to the most senior person in your client’s organization about what they think is happening in their industry at least 1x a quarter.

87. If you are selling project work (creative, web dev, etc) why aren’t you maintaining relationships after the project? That is the key to unlocking referrals and future business.

88. If your sales meetings start without you having done your research about the person, their business & their industry, what are you thinking?

89. If your client kickoff meetings start with someone on your team saying, “So tell me about your business…”, you have just wasted a business building opportunity. Be better - get my free sales to delivery handoff playbook (made in association with my friends at Copper).

90. You should set up a monthly newsletter for your clients. Being top of mind is a good thing.

91. When you eventually set up a referral network (#53), send out monthly communications to them, too. Being top of mind is a great thing.

92. No one is going to recommend you because you offer a rev share - they have to trust you first.

93. Always assume that you have been clear enough, and that misunderstandings are solely on you.

94. If your client is having a hard time with payment, be as generous as you possibly can be with time and patience.

95. Never be afraid to fire a client if they have been disrespectful to your team or withheld payment without an explanation.

96. You need to know which clients are driving profits, not just revenue.

97. Retaining a client for an additional 3-6 months is significantly more profitable than onboarding a new client.

98. Client retention starts during the sales process.

99. There is a direct correlation between your client’s happiness during the first 30 days of your engagement and how long they stay with you.

100. If you haven’t recently, give yourself a pat on the back for starting a business, believing in yourself and trying to make a difference.

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