How to Grow Your Agency - Leap After Leap

How to Grow Your Agency

Lots of Leaps

Having just started an agency for the second time, I can confirm—it’s no easier this time around. In fact, it feels harder because I’m doing it on my own (Well, and the economy sucks, but that’s another story). What has become painfully apparent is how much my success depends on my own ability to overcome my stubbornness and face my fears and do the things I least want to do. And this has me reflecting on how the very act of facing our fears is necessary for all growth, personal and professional. But, more often than not, we deceive ourselves about what our fears actually are.

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Fears Hide The Most Important Issues


Our deepest fears are masters of misdirection. They’re like skilled magicians, constantly directing our attention to smaller, more manageable fears while the real show happens elsewhere. Your unconscious mind whispers, “Here, face this fear over here. See! You can do it. You got this, brave soldier!” All while carefully concealing the fears that truly hold you back.

I was recently chatting with Brad Farris, of Anchor Advisors who consults with agency leaders. He told me that when agency owners come to him, they always have a problem they want to solve—but it’s rarely the real problem holding them back. And he admitted how frustrating it was to see the deeper problem, and then encounter so much avoidance and resistance to the notion of addressing it.

That conversation hit home for me. One, because I’d been working with a business coach recently who had the annoying habit of pointing out how my fears are working against me. And two, because this pattern describes almost every agency client I’ve ever worked with.

Clients come to agencies looking for a new marketing strategy or a brand refresh, but it often becomes quite clear that what they really need is to fix a deeper issue or belief. Maybe it’s their perception of what marketing or branding can or can’t do or maybe it’s a festering issue in their product, operations, or core value proposition. Marketing teams will even admit to us privately that they know they’re avoiding the real issue—but it’s too sensitive to bring up with the CEO or owner. Instead, they ask us to work around it. And so, we end up working around a pretty major flaw in a less-than-ideal way and the end product often suffers.

The sad thing about some of these instances is the leader’s fear has actually gotten so big that his employees are actively trying to shield them from it. A leader may even install a narrative into his business that protects them from what they don’t want to do or face.

For Example:

“Costco will never stock our products” (Fear of rejection)
“The brand is flawed but our customers love it.” (Fear of change)
“Our website is fine the way it is” (Fear of investing)
“He’s not delivering, but you know Dillon. He’s been with us forever” (Fear of hard conversations)

The Cost of Avoidance

The truth is, fear runs the show more than we’d like to admit. As humans, we are wired to avoid what scares us—and business leaders are no exception. The problem is, avoiding fear doesn’t just slow business growth, it actively damages organizations.

There’s a common misconception that starting an agency (or any business) requires a lot of bravery up front, but less so once things are running. The truth? Facing fears and taking leaps is an ongoing requirement for growth and evolution.

What happens too often is that agencies become addicted to solving client problems because that’s easier than solving the big problems that are holding them back. After-all, facing someone else’s fears is easier than facing your own. This avoidance, unfortunately, only makes the problems worse and creates more suffering in the long run.

I don’t think any of this is particularly new territory. But I do think it’s always worth revisiting. Fear bends reality around it so we can feel better living with our fears without actually addressing them. Fear asks us to set our bar lower. It tells us to revise our goals and lower our expectations. It tells us that problems are not problems, they are impossibilities.

Step Into Your Fear

So how does one grow an agency? Well, you need to step into your fear as often as you can. Like a cold plunge when you’d much rather sit beside the fire. Don’t let avoiding your fears shape your strategies. And be sure to listen. Get a coach, but don’t expect that a coach is enough. Seek community. Ask your employees, your friends, and family to help you see your blind spots. Share your goals so you are forced to be accountable to them.

This is how to grow an agency.

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