Becoming a CEO: How to finally work ON the Agency, not IN it

2024, the year your agency gets the CEO it deserves

The curse of small agencies is a CEO that’s actually just a glorified employee.

So often, when clients come to us, we can see that the founder isn’t the CEO.

The founder is, in some cases, performing every single other role apart from the CEO role.

We see founders acting as account managers, designers, copywriters, bookkeepers (!!!) and many other roles that need to be outsourced. Many people call this, “working in the business and not on it”.

Before we go any further though... Why is this a problem?

Here’s the role of a CEO – to decide where the agency is going, set the correct strategy and hire the right people to execute the strategy.

To see the impact of an agency without a CEO, imagine a car where the driver, instead of setting the direction and driving there, was actually refuelling the tank and pumping the tyres.

What’s the outcome here?

Little to no progress at best, or a terrible crash at worst.

If you are to grow your agency in 2024, and to hit those targets that you're setting now, your agency needs a CEO – your agency needs You.

And don’t worry, I know you’ve tried. I know this isn’t your first year in business and that whatever measures you put in place, you keep finding yourself working In the business and not On it. That’s why we created this checklist for you. To make sure that 2024 is the year that you finally become the CEO of your own agency.

Let’s dive in.

#1: Hire the best COO you can find

Every agency I have been closely involved with has a top class COO.

In every case, the COO allows the CEO to separate themselves from never ending operational and administrative tasks, and this is essential.

I can keep this incredibly simple:

Until you have a great COO in place, you as the CEO, will never truly be separated from the day-to-day work of the agency.

A great COO will carry out some crucial strategic tasks for you.

They’ll help you to work out how to operate as a team, how to onboard clients, how to deliver great results for clients, how to communicate internally and externally, how to handle crucial HR issues and many other important tasks.

All of these tasks are essential, but notice something about them– none of them are focussed on the strategic direction of the agency.

None of those tasks are answering the big questions such as:

How can we truly differentiate ourselves?

How can we charge higher prices?

How can we double the speed we’re growing at?

How can we enter new markets?

How can we be seen as a true authority in our space?

Those questions are the CEO’s responsibility.

And you can only start asking those once you’ve got a rock solid COO in place to help take care of the essential internal workings.

Now, if you’re thinking... Olie, I can’t afford a COO right now, what do I do?

There are a couple of options.

Firstly, look fractional. There are plenty of Fractional COOs out there in the market, just do your due diligence before committing.

Your second option is to look internally. Many great COOs I've met are 'first-timers' who already worked at the agency and progressed to those roles.

Is there anyone in the team now that has COO potential? That answer could be right under your nose.

#2: Leave space for ‘chaos’

One of our most recent hires told me that he likes there to be structure so that he can ‘create chaos within the structure’.

This is a really creative way of talking about experimentation and innovation, and it’s a good point.

As we’ve discussed above, it’s crucial to bring in a COO.

Why? Because the COO is going to bring solid structures around the way you operate as an agency. This is important because that’s going to streamline everything and bring a level of consistency to the way you deliver and get results for clients.

That’s why you need to leave space for the ‘chaos’.

The only risk is that too much structure kills experimentation and innovation.

Innovation and experimentation, especially in the marketing world, is an essential part of the process. Without it, your delivery mechanisms will be outdated very quickly. Moreover, if your team isn’t given some room to experiment then there’s a big chance they’ll get bored.

Ensure you and your team know that there’s space for ‘chaos’ within the structure by rewarding innovative ideas and experimental strategies, even if they don’t produce the incredible results that you’re looking for.

Another crucial factor here is to be open to looking into and embracing failure. Don’t be overly precious about failure, be curious about it – that’s how you nurture a culture of innovation.

#3: Create and communicate mission and values

If you, as the CEO, are stepping back from the daily operations and giving yourself time to focus on the agency itself, then there needs to be a code that guides the team in how to act and behave – these are your values.

On top of that, there needs to be a reason why the agency is worth building and working for – this is your mission.

A lot of agencies that we work with haven’t got these in place, or they do but the team doesn’t know either.

Why is this a problem?

Simply put, when you step away to focus on the direction the agency is moving in the future, the daily activity is what is getting you there, and more importantly how you get there. If there’s no guidance on the way your team should act or the decisions they make then you could end up with an agency that doesn’t feel like yours, at best, or is misaligned with your values, at worst.

As CEO, part of your role is to show the team where you’re heading, why that destination is worth striving for and what values you want everyone to embody on the way there.

If you don’t have this down already, start with your mission and values.

Your mission is the big industry problem that you want to solve.

Your values are the key characteristics you want to guide your team’s decisions.

Start there, and then let the team know.

#4: Force yourself to develop perspective

Once you successfully carry out steps 1, 2 and 3, you’re in a great position – you can now act as the CEO.

There’s one last task on your list. Force yourself to take time to develop fresh perspectives.

The biggest asset of a CEO is the clarity of their ideas.

Let’s dig into that.

Firstly, the ideas. Your role, as CEO, is to develop ideas around the strategic direction of the agency and how you can get there are quickly and seamlessly as possible.

Second, clarity. The clearer you can see and understand those ideas, the better you can communicate them to the team and the more likely you are to reach those goals you’ve set.

So how do we develop ideas and achieve clarity?

For me it’s always been one thing, getting some perspective.

And how do you develop perspective?

Well here’s how not to... Spend all of your time stuck in client delivery, zoomed into the day to day operations or frankly doing any of the things we’ve mentioned not to do above!

Solid perspective, for me, comes in 2 different ways.

Firstly, daily habits.

Am I getting enough sleep, exercise and time away from work? Knowing that I have a schedule that will help me look after myself is the first port of call when it comes to developing perspective.

Secondly, what extra activities am I doing to inspire? This includes going to the theatre, or an art gallery, weekends away and weekends off work. This extra layer of inspiration is crucial to give you the perspective of other people’s creativity and ideas.

Here’s the point, don’t position yourself as the CEO only to rob yourself of all the good ideas that’s going to take your agency to the next level.

Your the CEO and your currency is your brain – look after it.

Becoming the CEO

Your agency needs a CEO, and you’re the best person for the job.

As daunting as it may feel, with extra investment needed for a COO, stepping away from the daily operations and placing a layer of separation between you and your clients, this is the cost of growth.

Without taking those measures you’re driving the agency with the handbrake on.

It’s time to release the brakes!

To your success.

Now is the time and 2024 is your year.

Becoming An Authority Agency

For those of you that don't know me, it's wonderful to meet you :)

I'm Oliver Duffy-Lee and I run a company called Authority Agency.

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ODL