Small But Mighty Agency: How to Grow Your Agency

Have you hired somebody into your business before and felt burned because it didn’t work out? Michael did, and it cost him $60,ooo. In this episode, we explore the hiring and leadership insights gained from the costly mistake and how the mistake he made 6 years ago informs his approach to  hiring and building his team today.On this episode of Small But Mighty Agency: How to avoid making $60,000 in hiring mistakes The leadership skills that are necessary for team building Creating KPI’s to help team members see how their salary and role can grow with the company The necessity of creating additional time to train people and the payoff Rebounding from losing over $250,000 in four days in the covid pandemic Michael Tighe is the co-founder and managing director of SOLID, a creative design and marketing agency that launched in 2010. Mike has a long-standing success record in agencies, before co-founding SOLID he worked at Critical Mass, and started up his first design company before co-founding SOLID. Mike is now the leader of a team of 14 with 5 full-time staff and 11 contractors. His quotable, "People think you have to be this otherworldly strong person to start a business, to build a business, and that's not true, To me, what it really means is your ability to bend and not break."Show LinksSolid Website: https://asolidsite.com/ Michael Tighe Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miketighe/  Thanks for listening to the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review on iTunes or send a screenshot on Instagram while tagging me  @audreyjoykwan

If you’re a service-based solopreneur bumping up against capacity, what might feel scary but necessary is to de-prioritize business-building activities like marketing and visibility for business-stabilizing activities like systems, process improvements, and building your team. If onboarding two more clients in your business with the current structure you have now creates anxiety about servicing them with excellence, it's time to look at your operations and team. Karen Seymour was a solopreneur who started her digital marketing business four years ago. Over the past four years she’s gone from wondering how to get her next client to now bumping into a capacity challenge. This year, she’s deciding to put her clients first by focusing on business-stabilizing activities like systems, processes and team to better serve her current and future clients. On this episode of Small But Mighty Agency: What’s growing her business right nowHow to know it’s time to focus on streamlining operations and team What a team can really do for your businessWhat’s working on social media this yearWhy networking is more important than ever Karen Seymour is the Founder & Social Media Strategist at Karen J Seymour - Digital Marketing, LLC in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She started her business in 2017, after a 10-year career as a consultant and project manager.  Karen specializes in growing audiences and creating communities of loyal, raving fans and customers on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. When she’s not working, you can find Karen shopping online, brunching with friends, or spending time with her husband Geoff and 2 adorable fur babies, Roger and Eboni. Show LinksFacebook: @kjsmarketingInstagram: @kjs_marketing Email: hello@karenjseymour.comWebsite: https://www.karenjseymour.com/ This episode is brought to you by the FREE Strategic Connections RoundtableJoin the free Strategic Connections Roundtable where creatives, consultants, and service-based business owners can meet new business connections without the awkwardness of traditional networking. It's a curated experience where the group fit is curated so that connections and conversations thrive.That means that every month, a strategic connections roundtable will bring together a group of service based business owners in similar stages of business who can benefit from knowing each other SO that you canMake connections easierShare what your business offersDiscover new resourcesAnd have an opportunity to mastermind a challengeSave your free seat right hereThanks for listening to the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review on iTunes or send a screenshot on Instagram while tagging me  @audreyjoykwan

While partnership in a business isn’t for everyone, it has its benefits. Darian Kovacs started his agency from a storage closet in the start-up days and now has a thriving agency of 80 clients. Jelly Digital Marketing and PR who serves clients like La-Z-Boy and Splash Down Waterpark went from an agency of one owner -- Darian Kovacs -- and towards his vision of an agency owned by a team by bringing in business partner, Sarah Clark. In this special episode we speak with Darian and Sarah about what makes a partnership successful and we get an inside peak of the systems and processes that make running 80+ clients possible in their business. On this episode of Small But Mighty Agency: What makes partnership in an agency successfulWhat systems and processes make running 80+ clients possibleThe Standard Operating Procedure that is working for Jelly Digital Marketing and PR to help the team prioritize their workHow Jelly Digital Marketing and PR plan and track capacity so that budget and people are balancedWhy launching their own podcast isn’t the marketing strategy most people think it isShow LinksJelly Digital Marketing and PR (https://jellymarketing.ca/)Jelly Digital Marketing and PR (https://www.instagram.com/jellymarketing/)Marketing News Canada (https://marketingnewscanada.com/) You Are Special, Max Lucado (https://www.amazon.ca/You-Are-Special-Max-Lucado/dp/1581342195)This episode is brought to you by the FREE Strategic Connections RoundtableJoin the free Strategic Connections Roundtable where creatives, consultants and service-based business owners can meet new business connections without the awkwardness of traditional networking. It's a curated experience where the group fit is curated so that connections and conversations thrive.That means that every month, a strategic connections roundtable will bring together a group of service based business owners in similar stages of business who can benefit from knowing each other SO that you canMake connections easierShare what your business offersDiscover new resourcesAnd have an opportunity to mastermind a challengeSave your free seat right hereThanks for listening to the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast, if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review on iTunes or send a screenshot on Instagram while tagging me  @audreyjoykwan

Having a full service agency was not a business that Jenn Ennis planned for when she started offering graphic design services as a freelancer back in 2014. Jenn credits a series of small pivotal moments in her journey adding up to the business she has now.In this episode we explore the small but mighty moments, including a lesson in pricing that set her up for success, and how one project can change your confidence and the trajectory of your business. Jenn is the proud wife of an actor, and mom to three boys. A graphic designer by trade, and over 15 years of working in brand development and design, Jenn founded Jennis Design Co. in 2014. JDCO is a full-service creative agency specializing in practical brand strategy and cohesive design solutions for print and digital marketing. Jenn is also the co-host of the Raising Mom Podcast.On this episode of Small But Mighty Agency: 9:58: Starting out as a boutique graphic design services and becoming a creative agency11:25: How new hires helped her expand her scope of services 12:29: Landing her first 5 figure client and how it changed the business15:19: How to price your services18:08: When increasing your prices does and doesn’t make sense21:47: Why transform a creative agency into a digital agency26:51: What does it mean to switch to a leadership mindsetShow LinksGraphic Artist Guild HandbookJDCO WebsiteJDCO Instagram This episode is brought to you by the FREE Strategic Connections RoundtableJoin the free Strategic Connections Roundtable where creatives, consultants and service-based business owners can meet new business connections without the awkwardness of traditional networking. It's a curated experience where the group fit is curated so that connections and conversations thrive.That means that every month, a strategic connections roundtable will bring together a group of service based business owners in similar stages of business who can benefit from knowing each other SO that you canMake connections easierShare what your business offersDiscover new resourcesAnd have an opportunity to mastermind a challengeSave your free seat right hereThanks for listening to the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast, if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review on iTunes or send a screenshot on Instagram while tagging me  @audreyjoykwan

Do you feel like delegation is a struggle and you have a hard time trusting the people you’ve hired, BUT you still have hope that you can build a team that doesn’t rely on you to function?When that happens, you know you will regain time freedom and bandwidth. Yes, it's possible.Tune into this episode to hear the four things that might be holding you back from having a self managing team On this episode of Small But Mighty Agency Podcast, you willRecognize the hazards of the self employment mindset trap to growing a businessGain clarity on how communicating a strategic plan helps to build a self managing team Learn what needs to come before your hiring process in order attract A+ people Hear why processes and systems are not enough to set others up for successThis week's episode of the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast is a solo episode. From time to time, I’ll be covering questions and challenges that I see my clients experience to support business owners like you to set up their teams and operations to be strategic. Show LinksWebsiteInstagram LinkedInThis episode is brought to you by the FREE Strategic Connections RoundtableJoin the free Strategic Connections Roundtable where creatives, consultants and service-based business owners can meet new business connections without the awkwardness of traditional networking. It's a curated experience where the group fit is curated so that connections and conversations thrive.That means that every month, a strategic connections roundtable will bring together a group of service based business owners in similar stages of business who can benefit from knowing each other SO that you canMake connections easierShare what your business offersDiscover new resourcesAnd have an opportunity to mastermind a challengeSave your free seat right hereThanks for listening to the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast, if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review on iTunes or send a screenshot on Instagram while tagging me  @audreyjoykwan

How is this Leader of the Year named by Marketing News Canada making the competition irrelevant? While most people know that consultant-type businesses don’t scale, this marketing agency owner isn’t too concerned with scaling right now, instead he’s focusing on what he calls building a defensible model. In other words, he would rather be in an uncontested marketplace solving a unique challenge for his clients than compete in a crowded one solving the same problems as everybody else. He’s carved out a healthy portfolio of B2B clients in travel, tech, and retail but scaling isn’t his focus right now. Conner Galway is the President of Junction Consulting – a digital consultancy in Vancouver, BC. Junction Consulting’s recent work includes helping to create a digital learning platform for Destination BC, and training for Lululemon. Conner was most recently named Leader of the Year by Marketing News Canada for his support of Canada’s tourism industry through the COVID-19 pandemic.  Conner is one of Canada’s premiere digital business educators, teaching and developing curriculum at schools like Brainstation, Simon Fraser University, and Capilano University. He shares his latest thinking in a weekly email called The Brief that’s read by leaders at many of North America’s most respected brands.On this episode of Small But Mighty Agency: 2:41: How Conner started his first agency4:45: Why the marketing consultant agency model over a traditional marketing agency that does implementation8:50: The team structure he uses to run his marketing consultant agency11:14: Why say “no” to the execution and implementation of marketing strategy and what to focus on instead12:44: The “bias” and why it may not best serve clients best interest14:39: What is the concept of digital from the inside out19:15: What is Junction doing to productize and systematize a consultant-agency business21:22: Why scaling is over-glorified and what is more important than scaling for Conner 26:41: What is and isn’t working to grow the business? Show LinksWebsite: wearejunction.comTwitter: @Conner_GLinkedin: linkedin.com/in/connergalwayThe Brief weekly newsletter: brief.wearejunction.com This episode is brought to you by the FREE Strategic Connections RoundtableJoin the free Strategic Connections Roundtable where creatives, consultants and service-based business owners can meet new business connections without the awkwardness of traditional networking. It's a curated experience where the group fit is curated so that connections and conversations thrive.That means that every month, a strategic connections roundtable will bring together a group of service based business owners in similar stages of business who can benefit from knowing each other SO that you canMake connections easierShare what your business offersDiscover new resourcesAnd have an opportunity to mastermind a challengeSave your free seat right hereThanks for listening to the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast, if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review on iTunes or send a screenshot on Instagram while tagging me  @audreyjoykwan

If you can set yourself up to avoid the Self Employment Trap of owning an agency in the first few years of business, the result is a business that sets you up for more time freedom. What’s the Self Employment Trap? It’s when you the business owner become the chief of everything by day juggling all the responsibilities and firefighter by night fixing all the problems, and feeling like you don’t have a team that you can trust. Meet Shannon, she is a consultant turned agency-owner. We explore why she started an agency, the things she would do differently if she were to start again, and what she is doing to pave her way forward to building a bigger team to get out of day to day operations Shannon DeSouza’s boutique digital marketing agency is based in Vancouver, where she leads all initiatives on web design, social media coaching and launch campaigns. Her professional experience comes from the software industry, where she spent 10 years working alongside CEO’s. For the last 5 years, her digital marketing agency has helped clients become more profitable by gaining more visibility, driving traffic, and increasing their sales online.On this episode of Small But Mighty Agency: 4:10 Why positioning herself as a consultant first was the right first step8:20: Who she doesn’t want to be in her business and what was holding her back9:32: What is the first system and process she invested in for her business 10:31: What she would do differently in her first year of business12:43: Insights about her clients behavior before they buy and how that has changed her service offerings15:22: What she is doing in her own social media to warm up cold audiences24:03 The exact mindset block on money that she had to overcome to get to the next level 36:20: Why men and women are different when it comes to the selling Show LinksMarketing 4 Moms WebsiteMarketing 4 Moms on LinkedInMarketing 4 Moms on InstagramThis episode is brought to you by the FREE Strategic Connections RoundtableJoin the free Strategic Connections Roundtable where creatives, consultants and service-based business owners can meet new business connections without the awkwardness of traditional networking. It's a curated experience where the group fit is curated so that connections and conversations thrive.That means that every month, a strategic connections roundtable will bring together a group of service based business owners in similar stages of business who can benefit from knowing each other SO that you canMake connections easierShare what your business offersDiscover new resourcesAnd have an opportunity to mastermind a challengeSave your free seat right hereThanks for listening to the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast, if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review on iTunes or send a screenshot on Instagram while tagging me  @audreyjoykwan

Making a pivot in business can be extreme or it can be very natural. Hear how Christine pivoted her mom blog to provide services that her advertisers didn’t know they needed until she naturally connected them to her digital marketing service-offerings.And then faced with an opportunity to change a competitive environment. Christine shares why  she evolved her service offerings again to offer CMO for hire services. PLUS  if you’ve ever thought about bringing your significant other into your team, Christine and I have a conversation about her decision to  bring her husband into the business, what happened and why it ultimately didn’t work.  Christine Pilkington has been consulting in digital marketing and product development for so long she can remember a world before content marketing, social media and mobileHer client roster includes some of the world’s biggest brands like AOL, BMW, MINI, Chevrolet, RadioShack, and Canada’s top media brands like Maclean’s, CityTV and Today’s Parent.On this episode of Small But Mighty Agency: 3:20: From corporate job to moving across country and starting a mom blog8:47: The anatomy of profitable service offerings for a mom blog12:30: Adding new services to the agency and the value of the “learn it” approach15:23: Having her husband join the business, what she learned and why it ultimately didn’t work out19:04: How do CMO for hire services work?21:03: Why Christine doesn’t see her company as an agency23:03: How the definition of agency is evolving Show LinksVancouvermom.ca Crisp MediaThis episode is brought to you by the FREE Strategic Connections RoundtableJoin the free Strategic Connections Roundtable where creatives, consultants and service-based business owners can meet new business connections without the awkwardness of traditional networking. It's a curated experience where the group fit is curated so that connections and conversations thrive.That means that every month, a strategic connections roundtable will bring together a group of service based business owners in similar stages of business who can benefit from knowing each other SO that you canMake connections easierShare what your business offersDiscover new resourcesAnd have an opportunity to mastermind a challengeSave your free seat right hereThanks for listening to the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast, if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review on iTunes or send a screenshot on Instagram while tagging me  @audreyjoykwan

How do service based business owners miss opportunities for bigger plays in sales calls? You’ve been there and I’ve been there. It happens when the stakes are high and your nerves get the best of you. That’s why we’re talking about sales calls today and how to spot opportunities to close bigger deals with two ways of thinking. Hint: my favorite is: “peeling an onion”. Allison Davis is a sales trainer and coach. With nearly 20 years of sales experience, Allison's contributions have elevated the revenue of companies like National Geographic, Time Out North America and Gabrielle Bernstein, Inc. Allison now focuses on sharing her empathic and human approach to selling with business owners who desire a fresh, modern sales process that feels organic and aligned — not stale and prescribed.On this episode of Small But Mighty Agency: 5:41: Two common mistakes people make on sales calls8:33: what happens when we approach sales conversations with a script9:17: How to hit “beats” in a sales call using the ALIGN framework10:54: Using the concept of “peeling an onion” in a sales call to get to the bigger pain points and therefore the bigger sale15:35: Tap into the power of drilling down and sticking to one big pain point in a sales call16:05: The difference between being good and being great in a sales call19:14: Storytelling as a superpower and how to marry storytelling and presentation decks in sales Show LinksALIGN Download: https://allison-davis.com/align/Follow Allison on LinkedInFollow Allison on InstagramClubhouse: @allison-davisThis episode is brought to you by the FREE Strategic Connections RoundtableJoin the free Strategic Connections Roundtable where creatives, consultants and service-based business owners can meet new business connections without the awkwardness of traditional networking. It's a curated experience where the group fit is curated so that connections and conversations thrive.That means that every month, a strategic connections roundtable will bring together a group of service based business owners in similar stages of business who can benefit from knowing each other SO that you canMake connections easierShare what your business offersDiscover new resourcesAnd have an opportunity to mastermind a challengeSave your free seat right hereNow it’s time to build your Small But Mighty AgencyThanks for listening to the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast, if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review on iTunes or send a screenshot on Instagram while tagging me  @audreyjoykwanListen on AppleListen on Spotify

Discover why identifying the missing processes for other businesses is an opportunity that service-based business owners can miss and how Joel invested his time to build a delivery process that set him and his team up as the go to experts in an uncontended niche. Joel Klettke is the Founder of Case Study Buddy a specialized team who help B2B brands capture, share and cash in on customer success stories. He is  also a sought after conversion copywriter for SaaS and B2B, having served clients like Hubspot, WP Engine and Scott’s Cheap Flights. On this episode of Small But Mighty Agency: 10:08: What is the the value of being in a deep niche and why it’s the opposite of limiting14:46: Using one simple marketing strategy to grow both his businesses 16:44: The power of defining and articulating his process to exponential growth19:53: Why he thinks of his company as a powerful process masquerading as a company 20:43: How he went through “the muck” to figure out what works30:13: The catastrophic failure of hiring 10 people into his business and why it failed32:10: Why people who are good at their craft have a difficult time stepping into the manager role and building a team for their business 34:57: How he decided on the right partner for his business and perspectives on partnerships Show Links:Case Study Buddy WebsiteLinkedIn: Joel KlettkeTwitter: Joel KlettkeThis episode is brought to you by the FREE Strategic Connections RoundtableJoin the free Strategic Connections Roundtable where creatives, consultants and service-based business owners can meet new business connections without the awkwardness of traditional networking. It's a curated experience where the group fit is curated so that connections and conversations thrive.That means that every month, a strategic connections roundtable will bring together a group of service based business owners in similar stages of business who can benefit from knowing each other SO that you canMake connections easierShare what your business offersDiscover new resourcesAnd have an opportunity to mastermind a challengeSave your free seat right hereNow it’s time to build your Small But Mighty AgencyThanks for tuning into the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast! If you enjoyed today’s episode, head over to Apple Podcast to subscribe, rate, and leave your honest review. Connect with me on Instagram, LinkedIn or visit my website for even more detailed strategies, and be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media.Listen on AppleListen on Spotify