Do you lack a clear vision for your agency? Communicating the vision is the best way to empower your agency team. An unclear vision leads to a lack of direction and makes it more difficult to scale your digital agency. Today's guest has grown his agency to nearly 8-figures and admits only recently things have become more clear. He expands on how a lack of direction was one of his first mistakes with the agency and how he has been getting through rough times thanks to the support of other entrepreneurs.

Ryan Kutscher is the founder and CEO of Circus Maximus, an advertising agency focused on brand narrative and content creation. They are entrepreneurs, branding, and advertising specialists led by a constant team of proven professionals. As an entrepreneur, Ryan’s passion is building brands, telling unique stories, and creating scalable systems that help brands grow long-term.

In this interview, we’ll discuss:

How to be the beneficiary of your own hard work.
An unclear vision leads to a lack of direction for the team.
2 ways to stop being the problem solver and empower your team.
Finding the right support to get your agency through hard times.

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Sponsors and Resources

E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.

How to Be the Beneficiary of Your Own Hard Work

Prior to starting his agency, Ryan had freelanced and worked at several good agencies as a creative, so he knew the industry. At some point though, he felt he had to at least try to have the American dream of owning his own business. This way he would be the benefactor of the hard work he’d been putting in. Additionally, at that point his career was about smaller goals like selling ad campaigns, being a Creative Director, and becoming a CEO. It seemed all those goals were leading to him wanting to own the business that generates the ideas.

Initially, Ryan had a business partner who specialized in strategy. They figured a strategist and a creative would make a great agency partnership. However, it wasn’t as successful as they’d thought because they didn’t create a pipeline based on their specialties. Instead, it felt like they were running two separate businesses under the same name. This wasn’t the vision he had for his agency and he wasn’t able to do the things he enjoyed and is good at. He realized he needed to give it a try on his own.

An Unclear Vision Leads to a Lack of Direction

The first couple of years after starting the agency Ryan had no real vision. When you go into a market you should have a clear message, target audience, and specific offer. Ryan didn’t have any of this and just jumped in knowing he is good at advertising.

He realized in order to build the agency he wanted, he needed processes, pipelines, and people that would bring his vision to life. The first step was clearly defining the vision, followed by communicating that vision to everyone in the agency. He found that communicating the vision led to attracting the right people for his team.

He’s made a lot of progress since taking that first step. However, as the owner, he still felt he was constantly making adjustments and imprisoned by the agency.

Defining lack of direction. Making so much progress but still feeling trapped in the business is a sign of a lack of direction. For Ryan, having a lack of direction felt like the agency was running him. He had no way to identify what was going right or wrong and had no clarity on all the moving parts. If you don’t know what’s going wrong, what to do to improve it, and how to measure it, you don’t have a clear vision. Good or bad, you should know why certain things at happening at your agency.

2 Ways to Stop Being the Problem Solver and Empower Your Team

A lot of agency owners make the mistake of solving their team's problems rather than empowering them to make decisions. To prevent this, start showing your team how to be more proactive in looking for solutions. For instance, Jason recommends using the 1-3-1 rule. That is, when an employee comes to you with a problem, they should prepare three possible solutions and the one option they like best. Practicing this enough will help them learn they already know the right answer and they can stop coming to you for it.

The Socratic Method. Ryan uses this method which basically consists of asking questions. The idea is that, through these questions, you can guide someone to see they already know the answer. It's a way of walking them toward it on their own rather than providing it for them. For this method, you have to fight the instinct to just give your team the solution.

Once you empower your team, you’ll be free to start acting as the agency’s CEO and exit the day-to-day operations.

Where to Find Support to Help Overcome Hard Times

After ten years of being an agency owner, Ryan admits some things are just now becoming clear. It’s definitely not been a linear journey. In fact, this year has been difficult so far with things that were working very well last year but no longer work anymore.

So what is he doing to get through rough patches? Speaking with other CEOs has helped him feel reassured. Joining an entrepreneur group provides reassurance that you’re not the only one struggling. It can also provide you with different perspectives on ways to attack the problem.

Plus, these are conversations you wouldn’t be able to have with other executives at the agency. It also helps Ryan feel even more committed to his decision of becoming an entrepreneur. He could go back to working for somebody else but despite tough times, entrepreneurship is what he really wants.

2 Strategies to Get Your Agency Through a Rough Patch

Owning an agency and dealing with all the unpredictability can be all-consuming and overwhelming. However, Ryan advises that when you find yourself in a rough patch in your agency journey, take your time before making a big decision. It’s important to step back, take a breath, and assess instead of overreacting. This allows you to create a strategy and feel confident executing it. Outcomes are never guaranteed, but having a plan gives you a much better chance of success. And being proactive is better than just waiting for things to turn around.

Another good way to get through tough times is to ask yourself if your agency is bought tomorrow, what would the buyer change? That’s what you should be focusing on. Agency owners are often reactive to the concerns of the moment and forget to be proactive to get ahead. Growth and challenges come in phases that are often unpredictable but resourceful people will always figure it out.

Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset?

If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360. Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Empower Your Agency Team & Be the Beneficiary of Your Hard Work

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