Becoming robust

Every now and then you see an agency grow to 50-100k/mo or more in a very short time span, but then all of a sudden they stop growing?

It happens quite a lot actually.

They might grow to 100k per month in 12-24 months with little to no friction, then 6 months later they can barely book a sales call.

(this might even be the case in your agency)

There are a few reasons for this:

Reason #1: Using an ‘exploit’ as a crutch.

Most of the time in these cases, the first thing you will hear is:

“yeah ever since the Twitter algo changed, we can’t book calls. We used to get 20-30 inbound leads per month but as soon as it dried up, nothing would work”

AKA:

My business relied on one platform that was giving away traffic for cheap, and as soon as it went away, I didn’t know how to do anything else.

This is what I would call an ‘exploit’ which is kinda like when one move is super overpowered in a video game.

Most people when they get access to one of these exploits just spam it as much as they can until the exploit goes away.

The problem is that when that day comes, they are stuck in the mud because they never learnt the rest of the game.

If you have access to a platform that is giving away cheap traffic like Twitter around two years ago, FaceBook ads in 2014, or short form content in the last few years, by all means - use it as much as you can.

I understand the urge to focus on the one channel that generates most of your revenue…

But in saying that, when you rely on a single channel you open yourself up to more risk than you should.

It feels awesome while it’s happening, and not so good when it’s gone.

Reason #2: Coping

What makes it even worse, is that most of the time when these exploits go away, the business owner takes zero responsibility.

The reason is always:

“the algorithm changed”

And never:

“it became more competitive, and I am not skilled enough yet to win.”

Which of those do you think is the real problem?

It is bad because convincing yourself you know how to do something when you don't prevents you from actually learning how to do it and succeeding.

Some examples of this are cold email, ads, content, etc.

Another version of this is "I could just do this myself."

Yeah, you could. That's why you have been in business for eight years and haven't done it yet, right?

Just haven't gotten around to it?

For sure bud.

Reason #3: Lacking fundamentals

When you rely on one thing, and then never improve in any other area, you lack fundamentals.

Huge problem in a lot of agency owners.

They might learn how to write some tweets, or just exist during the cheap FB ad era, never get any actual skills, and then walk around as if they are God’s gift to society.

The truth is, if this is you, you absolutely must admit to yourself that you relied on an exploit, and that you now need to learn how to work in other ways.

Because like I said, it’s not a bad thing to grow your business during a bull run. In fact, I bet many people wish they could have grown more during that time (including me).

But, once it’s over, you have two options:

1. Become like the crypto guys during a bear market (work at McDonald’s and dollar cost average until the next market shift)

2. Get so skilled that you can win in any condition, then when an exploit arises you get silly rich.

Option #2 makes you robust, higher IQ, and richer.

Option #1 gets you a 50% discount at any local Macca’s chain.

Up to you.

Leo