3 Habits of a Great Agency Leader with Simon Severino

Running an agency doesn't have to be complicated or difficult. In this week’s episode I am joined by Simon Severino to discuss how to step into the role of CEO in your agency and the 3 habits every successful owner needs to develop and some that you need to let go of.

Simon also discusses why 90-day ‘sprints’ are the right length to plan, focus and deliver.

Time Stamp

[02:00] The typical journey of a founding agency owner - Phase 1 is up to £35k and the focus should be operations and sales (build a conversion machine), and phase 2 is beyond £35k where the focus switches to marketing and branding

[03:55] Simon’s dream of having a TED Talk and why that was the wrong focus

[04:45] Advice on getting through to phase 1 - there are two bottlenecks: 1. The ego of the founder. 2. Your sales approach (farming v hunting)

[07:45] Recognise your clients don’t come for you but they come for the solution (to their problem) and the process you offer

[10:00] The best sales strategy for phase 1. A simple strategy that never changes

[11:00] The 4 parts of a business: marketing, sales, operations and managing these parts

[12:50] Never charge for time at the end of a project but instead, for results upfront

[14:50] Derisking a client picking you to work with

[16:05] Why is 90-day the right length to plan for?

[17:07] Keeping each sprint simple - there should be 1 vision and 3 goals in each 90-day sprint

[18:07] What is the success rate of doubling your revenue in a 90-day sprint?

[18:54] What could stop someone from hitting this goal?

[22:15] The importance of keeping your plans agile and reacting to the data in the dashboard

[23:15] The 3 habits that a successful CEO must have

[25:54] If you could go back in time and give your younger self a piece of advice, what would it be?

Quotations

“You, the agency owner, becomes the bottleneck to growth because you are limited by your time.” - Simon Severino

“For every skill, the owner brings to get their agency started they quickly become the roadblock unless they can get out of the way.” - Rob Da Costa

“Focus on the 5% that is in your control and not the 95% that isn't!” - Simon Severino

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Useful links mentioned in this episode:

• Strategy Sprints Book
• Strategy Sprint Tools
• Simon’s YouTube Account
• The Self-Running Agency Implementation Group