Three Ways To Do The Right Things, Not Everything

Running your own business grants you incredible power. Stumble across a cool new tool? You can sign up now without asking if it fits in this year’s budget cycle. Dream up a fun new campaign? It starts whenever you want, with the colors you like. Meet an interesting person at a bar? You can invent a new service offering, right there, to win new business.

This power, though, can quickly turn into problems. Months later, you’re staying up late debugging that cool tool because it’s not really tailored to your use case. Half a year later, you’re still throwing budget at the campaign that has yet to deliver any return on investment. A year later, after handling more and more custom requests from the new client, you realize the profitability for that off-the-cuff service offering is killing you. 

Now all you do is put out fires that you started. Some power, huh?

*Cue the entrepreneurial guilt*

Honestly, I've fallen for it too – the "shiny object syndrome." I've wasted time and money on tools that promised a business edge but delivered nothing sharp at all. I've invested hours training my team on workflows that never came to fruition.

Chasing every shiny object out there? It's a recipe for burnout, not success.

Want to know how I finally started getting traction? It wasn't by allowing my curiosity to convince me that it makes smart business decisions. It was by learning what really mattered and focusing on what really mattered. Here's three things that really matter, how I learned to focus on them, and how you can too.

1. Know Your Why

This might sound a bit "woo-woo," but trust me: Can you think of why you started your business in the first place? What gets you fired up? For Learn to Scale and me as its CEO, my Why is to help small businesses be great places to work and embed that caliber of excellence into their services to others.

Once you know your "Why," write it down. Stick it on your wall, make it your screensaver – whatever it takes to keep it top of mind. Use it as a filter for every decision you make. If something doesn't align with your core purpose, tell yourself it’s a future project..

I found that daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual reflections kept me focused on my ultimate Why. It forced me to be honest with myself when I got excited by a new idea. I had to really be clear as to how this new idea aligned with my business’s Why. By re-reading my own thoughts on an idea, it became blazingly clear when I was starting to stray away from that Why.

How do you know if it's working?

• Happy clients: Are they sticking around? Are they referring you to others? Do they describe you as you wish to be perceived?

• Strong team: Are your people engaged? Do they believe in what you're doing? If a stranger asked one of your teammates for your company’s Mission, would they give a consistent and accurate answer?

• Solid reputation: Are you known for something specific? Do people in your industry respect your work? Do you have an audience that follows you because of your why?

Don’t just trust me; learn more from other experts on how to find your why:

• StoryBrand: Donald Miller, the guy behind StoryBrand, talks a lot about the importance of clarity in your messaging. His framework helps businesses clarify their message so they can connect with customers. This stuff is gold for agencies. Check out his book "Building a StoryBrand" – it'll change the way you think about marketing.

• Simon Sinek's "Start With Why": This book is a classic for a reason. Sinek argues that people don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it. Figuring out your "why" is essential for any business, especially a small agency trying to stand out.

2. Say "No" More Than You Say "Yes"

This is tough, especially when you're small and every client feels crucial. But here's the deal: you can't be all things to all people. Figure out what you're really good at and focus on that.

Part of this is accepting that the market doesn’t care about you. People won’t buy your services simply because you’re good at something and you think they need that something. 

You have to let your ego go in order to say no with confidence.

I spent YEARS letting my ego go. I wanted to be known, rather than the impact of my work to be known. By letting my ego go and re-orienting my prioritization criteria to “What do people want and- out of those things- what can my business do really well” it became far easier to say no to a shiny object.

Need help prioritizing? I like rubrics as an objective way to prioritize your most important business variables. By visualizing Bad/Ok/Great examples in a rubric, you can easily identify if something new is aligned with your goals or a probable shiny object.

What to track:

• Administrative Time vs Billable hours: Are you spending your time on things that actually make money?

• Project profitability: Be honest, are you making money on your projects? Are you making enough money?

• Client acquisition cost (CAC): How much does it cost you to get and keep a new client? If it's more than they're worth, something needs to change.

Here’s a few sample rubrics to help you say no:

Time Investment

PROFITABILITY RATE

Client Acquisition Cost

There are other perspectives on prioritization and saying NO so you can say YES to the best things:

• Greg McKeown's "Essentialism": This book is all about doing less, but better. McKeown gives practical strategies for identifying what's truly essential and eliminating the rest. It's a game-changer for agency owners who feel overwhelmed.

• The Pareto Principle (80/20 Rule): This principle states that roughly 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts. 

• Apply this to your agency: Which 20% of your clients or services generate the most revenue? Focus on those.

3. Don't Be a Jack of All Trades, Be a Master of One

Trying to be everything to everyone? It's a losing game. Instead, pick a niche and own it. Become the go-to expert in your area. Don’t make your business a reflection of everything you could do but rather a finely-tuned machine that delivers what clients desperately want and need.

For small marketing agencies, the fragmentation across the industry of marketing services, the low cost to entry, the increasing customer sophistication/baseline knowledge of marketing, and the pace of change driven by AI means you can’t do a lot of things kinda ok. You have to be the trusted, knowledgeable, strategic partner to your clients that can deliver results and prove it: otherwise, you’ll be off the budget for next year.

For me, my Why (helping businesses be great places to work and deliver excellent work) helped me identify the right market and problem where I could use my 15+ years of learning and development expertise to transform businesses. I grew my business acumen, networked with the right people, and positioned myself as a thought leader. It took time, but it’s been paying off.

Metrics that matter:

• Market clarity: Do you have a specific Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)? Can you compare two leads side by side and objectively differentiate the two (“lead scoring”)?

• Market Share: Are people finding you online? Are they resonating with your message? Are they your ICP?

• Lead conversion: Are those ideal people becoming leads and then turning into paying clients, or is your process a mismatch for your ICP?

Dominating a niche is not a new idea, but it’s a hard one to accept. Here’s what other experts have to say:

• Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind: This marketing classic by Al Ries and Jack Trout explains why specializing is so crucial in a crowded market. It's a must-read for any agency owner looking to differentiate themselves.

• Examples of niche agencies: Look at agencies like Neil Patel Digital (SEO), Content Harmony (content marketing), or Directive (enterprise SEO). They've built their reputations by focusing on specific areas of expertise.

Look, building a successful agency isn't about chasing the latest shiny object. It's about focus, strategy, and good old-fashioned hard work. So ditch the distractions, get clear on your goals, and watch your agency thrive.

Need help clearing the noise? We’ve got an assessment to help you do that quickly and efficiently 👇