Jason Swenk sold a very successful agency that worked with huge brands and now he helps Digital Agencies grow and scale their businesses. He started an Agency in 1999 so he has a huge wealth of knowledge to share from almost not making payroll, to crushing it and selling his Agency.
Using everything he learned throughout his work career, he gives advice to agency owners so that they can reach the same kind of potential he reached. You will be surprised the way he got to running his own agency, the way he did run it, and how he ended up getting to the point of being able to sell his agency.
Rather than putting the importance on how to START YOUR DAY, how about putting the focus on how you START YOUR SLEEP? Go over these questions: Did I help anyone today? Did I learn anything today? Am I ready for tomorrow? What am I grateful for? A lot of us have a hard time going to sleep. We want to prepare ourselves for tomorrow.
Know where you want to go and know what you stand for. Give your team the power. Figure out what you want to DO every day and what you DON’T. In this diagram Jason draws, you then figure out what you will say “yes” to and what you will decline. This was the turning point for him. The vision was clear and he was able to lead the team and assist in the areas he needed to.
Make better decisions by communicating with your team. You have to know where you are going so that it is easier to lead. There are no shortcuts. Listen for his boat analogy…
For an agency owner, it is good to focus on a specific niche. If you are starting out, you will have to experiment with a variety of niches. With experience, you will find out what you’re good at. If you are self-aware, then you will be able to run your agency with more clarity. Know what you are good at, and know what you should hire others for. This helps to maximize everyone’s abilities and makes work more efficient because you will have the best work come out.
Although it is ok to get ideas from others and make them your own, find your own voice. Be yourself, know who you’re helping, and be consistent with it. It’s so easy to get caught up in metrics about how many followers you have and the big numbers. Focus on just helping one person and you will succeed. For example, is it better to have 1,000 followers and 1 comment, or have 200 followers and 50 comments?
With entrepreneurship, there is a big fear of failure because you’re starting something new. It may be something people don’t totally believe in right away. When you have clarity about where you are going, and your team is also clear about what direction you are heading, that’s when goals are achieved.
Jason talks about how he almost didn’t make payroll, but he pushed through. It was mindset and perspective. As the leader, you often have to take accountability for EVERYTHING. You look at your scope of work and realize you have so much to do and you have so much to be in charge of. What he suggests is to step back and not stand so close to everything. Unfreeze the chicken!
He got help from outside in order to get clarity! You need to find people who already did it, who succeeded at it, and who can relate to what you are going through.
Sometimes all you need is another perspective to help you get through your bumps in the road. Schedule an appointment with my Calendly link here: https://calendly.com/customcreatives/30min. I would love to give you another point of view to run your business with more clarity.
Watch the full interview I did with Jason Swenk on Youtube: https://youtu.be/aBneRNW-52M
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