Running an agency, regardless of the type, requires grit, determination, some serious smarts and of course, persistence. Without these ingredients, you will do well to survive, let alone thrive. But what if your ambitions are loftier than simply survival or running a lifestyle business? What if you want to grow your agency and achieve some scale so that you can exit with a high valuation?  That's a challenge that a lot of agency owners tackle and with varying degrees of success.

Burning the busy badge of honor promotes a better work environment and it has an added benefit…supporting your success. Warren Buffet is famous for advising, "The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything." Buffet isn’t the only (highly) successful individual to support the art of saying “no” more often. Steve Jobs, Tim Ferriss, Jim Collins and even Oprah have all gone on the record with similar points of view. So why don’t more of us listen to their advice? Why do we continue to accept more commitments, driving ourselves to the brink of burnout?

When to hire, who to hire and when to fire are some of the most challenging decisions a business owner or manager must face. All three elements are critical, but, in our experience, clients are most likely to get hung up on identifying the right time and pace to scale their staff.

There are countless articles, blogs and podcasts decrying the importance of sales and marketing team alignment, and the negative impact on revenues when these efforts aren’t aligned. Misalignment between sales and marketing can cost companies 10% or more of annual revenue.