10 Lessons I Learned During My First Two Years As A Marketing Agency Owner

In November of 2017 I jumped headfirst into the entrepreneurial world and started my own digital marketing agency, Think Pro Social. Then in February of 2019 I quit my main job as an Architectural Engineer of 5 years, and went off on my own.   I had a handful of clients and a strong determination that I was going to do whatever it takes to make this a successful endeavor. Now after 2 years, here is what I have learned.

Never Stop Selling!  I started my business by selling myself and my skills to prospective business owners.  After I gained a handful of trusting clients I took a break from sales and focused on operating my business.  A few months later, I started selling again and found a few more clients. At this point I was so busy that I thought there is absolutely no way I can handle anymore clients and I have to figure out how to make all of my clients happy.  So I took six months off from selling my services. I made my clients happy, I got them results, things were great. Then, my clients decided the results weren’t good enough, or they wanted to step up to a larger agency, and so they left.  I was stuck with fewer and fewer clients, but I didn’t have any new leads. It’s essential to keep selling because some clients will stay and some will go, but if there is no pipeline of new leads coming in, the business will struggle in the long run.

Surround Yourself With Incredible People And Outsource!  During the first few months of operating my agency I completed nearly every task possible.  I was prospecting new clients, creating social media content, managing social media communities, creating email newsletters, advertising on Facebook & Instagram, and I even attempted video editing.  After making myself entirely crazy and stressed out I decided to start building a team. At first, I was going as cheap as possible to maintain my profits and keep my prices low for my clients. I was hiring people from all over the world, but it felt like a lot of my freelancers came from Asia, specifically India and Bangladesh.  I had some success at first. Then the problems came up such as typos or grammatical errors, and then it was a hassle trying to get in touch because of the time zone differences. So I decided that I would keep a few of the best freelancers I was currently working with, and would move only toward hiring US based freelancers. This move turned out to be well worth the higher prices I had to pay because the quality of work improved, and I could call my freelancers over the phone with the worst time zone only being three hours behind on the West Coast.  The next step was to find local freelancers that I could meet with, on a weekly basis, to train and help manage my clients. Finding local, incredible people to work with has proven extremely helpful as they are able to take almost all of the daily tasks off my plate and allow me to focus more on client relationship management and sales.  

Social Media Changes Fast!  I started working for my first client in November of 2017.  At that point Instagram Stories was just over a year old, and was starting to gain popularity.  Music.ly was still a year away from becoming TikTok, and LinkedIn was a sleeping giant for the business world.  Looking back now I see that my posts on Instagram and Facebook had way better organic reach, meaning the amount of people that view posts without spending money, than today.  My ad budgets were $450/ month back then and now to get the same results $450 per month is getting harder and harder. Enter LinkedIn and TikTok. The incredible organic reach of TikTok and LinkedIn is unequaled in today’s current state of social media.  Comparatively, starting a new account on Instagram or TikTok today and posting 3 videos would get 5-20 views per video on Instagram, but 100-1000 views per video on TikTok. Granted, the demographic is far younger on TikTok than Instagram, however the users are getting older everyday as more people are experimenting and using TikTok.  LinkedIn also has a share of unmatched organic reach. Before I quit my previous job, my supervisors were seeing every single post I was making and then some. With all of that organic reach it’s important to push the right message, but is a great tool for reaching business oriented users at scale. I’ve learned that the only way to have a pulse on the quickly changing environment of social media is to get in the trenches and use the platforms.

Branding Feels Good, But ROI Matters!  Clients love when we create a great video or post content that gets a huge response from the community, but if nobody is coming in the door, none of it matters.  I learned this the hard way with one of my clients. My client and I had a great relationship, and we did a great job of branding them and creating content for them.  However, we couldn’t get enough people in the door at the end of the day and that client stepped up to a different agency with more expertise in that field. The best way to combat this has been to partner with other digital agencies that specialize in lead generation.  My company is great at branding, content creation and distribution, and I’ve partnered with incredible agencies to get the job done and find leads for my clients.

Always Dress To Impress!  This is another lesson I learned the hard way.  When I first started going to client meetings I would dress business casual.  As the seasons changed and the weather got hot I wore shorts and a polo. Well I’m thankful that one of my clever clients was nice enough to tease me for wearing shorts and a polo to a professional meeting.  I soon got the point of how important it is to dress professionally. Some people don’t care about attire, but if they do, then it’s a big mistake showing up to a meeting in shorts and a polo. Now I only wear a suit and tie when I meet with my clients or prospects.

Vacation Sucks!  My fiance, at the time, and I went on a two week vacation to Southeast Asia.  It was one of the most amazing trips I’ve ever been on and I would not trade the memories and photos for the world.  However, I did not realize how hard it can be to be a business owner and go away for two weeks with no connection to the outside world.  It took me months to recover from that trip and get back up to speed with several of my clients. If I were to go on another trip, I would make sure I put a team in place that can handle my absence and make decisions while I’m away.  If that team is not put in place before a vacation is taken, the outcomes are disastrous.

Sales Is A Rollercoaster Of Emotion!  Making a new sale is like a straight shot of dopamine to the brain.  The highs I’ve experienced after meeting with a prospect and turning them into a new client is only eclipsed by my memories of scoring a goal when I was a soccer player.  The rush of adrenaline and excitement is so thrilling that I might start jumping up and down just thinking about some of the sales I’ve made over the past two years. I’m sure many in sales can also relate.  On the other end of the spectrum is the lows of rejection and failure. As good as a new sale feels, a day of prospecting with no new leads can feel disastrous. I remember one of my first days prospecting I decided that it would be a good idea to try to sell my services to the most popular type of business in Manayunk, nail salons.  So here I am, classic friendly male walking into 21 different nail salons all in one day and getting rejected every single time. As I would hand them my proposal sometimes I would have to step over other people and then the smell was getting to me by the end. Needless to say I was totally out of my element. It’s important to enjoy the highs and also stay the course on the lows.  Bouncing back from the rejection is the only way to be successful.

Believe In What You’re Selling!  I took a stab at dropshipping for a few months, but ended up stopping because I didn’t believe in what I was doing.  Dropshipping is when I create a website, run Facebook or Instagram ads for a product so that users will buy the product from my website.  Then a “dropshipper,” typically from China, sends the product directly to the purchaser. It was great because I could sell products, refine my ecommerce skills, and I didn’t have to hold any inventory.  However, after selling hundreds of BPA free plastic water bottles for $9.99 a hit, I lost purpose. I didn’t feel like I was helping anything at all, and that I was just enabling a cheap manufacturer to sell products that I didn’t even really care about.  So I stopped and gave up. The positive part of this story is that I took those same skills and tactics and applied them to my Mom’s business and have generated thousands of dollars in sales for her. We sell her artwork which I have been a part of my whole life so it’s something that I believe in.  It helps my Mom grow her business, and the joy that each person gets when they purchase my Mom’s art is really rewarding. I found something that I believed in and was passionate about, and work became enjoyable.

Your Success Is Determined By Your Actions!  Working for a company on a salary killed my motivation.  It didn’t really matter if I worked extremely hard or if I took it easy.  I got paid the same and there was no incentive for me to work above my capacity.  Most of that is my fault for not having an open dialogue with my superiors, but that system of compensation did not work for me.  Now that I own my business it all falls on me. If I suck at this, well then I fail. If I don’t work, I don’t get paid. To me there is nothing more motivating than being my own boss and now experiencing this freedom and responsibility.  It seems nearly impossible for me to go back to a salaried position. Now every single minute counts. The more time I put into my business, the higher chance I have of getting a new client and then making more money. It’s not a lifestyle for everyone, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Enjoy The Journey!  Through the ups and the downs, take a perspective from 30,000 feet up in the air and appreciate everyday and every lesson.  Some of my best ideas and accomplishments were right after a mistake or a loss. I learn more when I lose than when I win. Sometimes when I win, I don’t know why I’m winning so I keep on doing the same thing.  However, when I lose, I know why, and I can make corrections to improve for the future. Everyday is a lesson, every mistake is an opportunity, and enjoy every minute of it.

Think Pro Social is a digital marketing agency based out of Philadelphia, PA.  We specialize in helping Doctors and Attorneys grow their businesses with social media marketing and digital advertising.  We offer a full service of branding and lead generation with a personalized touch. Feel free to reach out at (717) 476-6086 or [email protected] with any marketing questions.