A recipe for agency success does exist…
And it’s almost SO SIMPLE that it borders on unrealistic…
BUT it exists…
I call it The Agency Timeline ⌛
When we narrow our focus onto things THAT MATTER, good things happen…
That’s true with anything in life but especially Digital Marketing Agencies.
So, by understanding the timeline, we can focus on what’s important.
What I found after speaking to agency owners making 7 figures+ was that there are 3 clearly defined phases in the agency journey…
Here they are…
1️⃣ Cashflow ($0k – $15k per month)
The important tasks in this phase centre around building authority and lead generation. Before you start hiring, creating systems or scaling, you need to know what you’re doing, get really good at it and establish trust within your niche.
✅ IMPORTANT: Define your niche (go micro), get REALLY good at serving them, begin creating content on social and get active in groups. The 🔑 here is to become a champion within your niche. For you to be seen and for you to be able to back up everything you’re saying in market.
2️⃣ Skeleton ($15k – $50k per month)
As you get to the $10k-$15k per month mark (and it’s stable), you make your first hire – an assistant. Not long after that, you make your second, a media buyer (or marketer/developer). This phase is all about building systems and turning your job into an actual agency. Up until now, all your leads have been organic too, but now it’s time to start working on a PREDICTABLE lead generation system.
✅ IMPORTANT: Turn everything you do into a system. Something that works without you having to be involved. Get yourself a PMS (project management system) and a CRM (customer relationship manager). I recommend Basecamp and ActiveCampaign or HubSpot.
3️⃣ Scale ($50k per month+)
Very quickly you will be able to scale to $50k once you get everything right in the Skeleton phase. Now, we have the luxury of cash flow and good systems, we can begin hiring more, spending more on ads and build the agency as big as we want.
✅ IMPORTANT: The people you hire and ability to lead (or delegate leadership) is important in this phase. Continue to show up for your team (probably around 10-15 people by now) and become the KING at problem-solving.
What phase are you in?