{"id":2857,"date":"2023-07-11T06:26:15","date_gmt":"2023-07-11T06:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gothrive.uk\/?p=2857"},"modified":"2023-07-11T07:29:49","modified_gmt":"2023-07-11T07:29:49","slug":"agency-growth-first-critical-hurdle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gothrive.uk\/index.php\/2023\/07\/11\/agency-growth-first-critical-hurdle\/","title":{"rendered":"The first critical hurdle in agency growth: Letting go to pass \u00a31 million"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The first critical hurdle in agency growth: Letting go to pass \u00a31 million<\/strong><\/h2><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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11th July 2023 – by Paul Muggeridge-Breene,<\/a> Thrive CEO<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Hitting the first \u00a31 million of income is a huge achievement for every agency. The journey to this point is likely to have been exhausting and exhilarating in equal measure, and the lessons learned will stand the agency in good stead for the next stages of growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there\u2019s a critical hurdle to be cleared before those stages can be achieved. It\u2019s the first of four critical hurdles on the way to \u00a35 million income outlined in my earlier article<\/a>. In short, these are points when the challenges thrown up by growth are so significant that they block further progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This first hurdle is all about letting go, and is one of the hardest to clear. Many agencies fail to clear it, either flatlining at this income level or, even worse, dropping backwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The challenge<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The issue at the \u00a31 million mark is that the founder can no longer manage everything on their own. While the agency will almost certainly have a team of 10-20 at this stage, many founders will still be trying to stay across all of the detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, this just can\u2019t work any more. There\u2019s too much work, too many things to be across, and too many demands on their time and energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if managers have been recruited, properly delegating responsibilities can be incredibly hard. The founder has been involved in absolutely everything up to this point and – obviously – believes that nobody can do things as well as they can! The tendency is to continue trying to micromanage across the board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is largely human nature – especially for entrepreneurial types. But it means key tasks will be missed and focus will be spread too thinly, with nothing being done particularly well. Managers may well decide to leave rather than continue to be ineffectively micromanaged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, existing client work will inevitably suffer – as will the growth plan. New work may continue to be won, but it\u2019s likely to be offset by the loss of existing clients as service and quality suffers. Net result, a standstill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The solution<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To clear this hurdle, the founder needs to work really hard on understanding what letting go looks like, and how to do it. This may sound simple, but it really isn\u2019t. It\u2019s significant work, and not everyone will be able to accept the need to do it – which is the first and hardest step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once they\u2019ve done that, the rest is relatively straightforward. The founder\u2019s plan of action should look something like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n