Rob's Learning From 2020

In today’s episode, I share with you the lessons that I learned and the key changes I made to my business in 2020. Hopefully, you can take some things away and apply them to your agency as well.

In Episode 39 I spoke with Jim James about virtualising your agency. Before that interview, I held the strong opinion that you cannot build your agency using freelancers or virtual staff because it’s like building an agency on quicksand. 

To an extent, I do still believe that; however, both Jim James and John Ashton (who will be making an appearance in an upcoming episode) both talk about how you can build an agency using staff who are spread all over the world - some virtual, and some freelance. 

After talking to them I have definitely become more open to the idea and have realised that it is not necessarily so black and white. Using virtual or freelance staff allows you to be more nimble and adapt to changes as your agency grows.

I truly hope that this podcast has helped to change your thinking in some way too. Whether from something I or one of my guests has said. If that’s the case, then I am definitely achieving my goals for recording these podcasts. 

So without further ado...

Time Stamp

4:10 The 5 Key Lessons I Learned From 2020:

5:53 The pandemic differentiated three types of agency:

• Those who panicked and cut costs
• Those who did nothing as they thought it would just be a short-term challenge
• Those who were nimble and thought about how they needed to change and adapt

6:16 Pivoting doesn’t mean drastically changing what you do; but rather, tilting your axis to adapt to your climate. 

7:26 In order to pivot you need to really listen to your audience. Don’t just make assumptions. 

8:16 DON’T cut your prices!

9:09 2020 taught us that you need a plan, and that plan needs to be dynamic.

10:58 The 5 Good Habits I Put In Place In 2020: 

11:06 I learned to delegate more.

11:34 I learned to automate more.

12:39 Got more focussed - doing more of what works, and less of what doesn’t work.

13:13 I did more of what I enjoy, and less of what I don’t enjoy.

14:00 Paid more attention to my mailing list.

14:45 My 5 Bad Habits of 2020: 

15:00 I didn’t have good boundaries during the pandemic. 

15:25 I worked WAY too much. 

15:40 I headed towards burnout at the end of the year.

16:26 I said ‘yes’ to everything - need to learn how to say ‘no’.

17:10 Seduced by shiny new products that are irrelevant to my goals and audience. 

18:51 Finally, I’d like to talk about my goals and hopes for this year. Not necessarily ‘new year’s resolutions’, but at least some targets to strive towards in 2021. 

19:05 Delegate more. 

19:28 Use data to help me make better decisions. 

20:08 Focus on building my Facebook community - you can join here!

20:38 Focus on doing less, but doing it better.

21:50 Improve my work-life balance.

22:52 I think it’s a great idea to have a record of all of this. At least I can always go back to this podcast and see where I am at in regards to my goals, and how this year is different from the last. 

22:16 I hope that me sharing my experiences of 2020 will help you to approach this new year in a positive light, and encourage you to take control of your own destiny in 2021. Touch wood this year will be focussed, rewarding and provide us with a great work-life balance.

Useful links:

Download The Self-Running Implementation Book

Join my Facebook group ‘The Agency Accelerator’

Download the 'Creating A Sustainable & Profitable Agency' Book

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Thanks so much.

Rob