Reflections of a CEO

For three years, my agency Jakt hovered around $1.5M to $2M in revenue.

From 2017 to 2018, we jumped from $1.7M to $4M. That’s a 134% increase.

How did we suddenly break through after a three-year dry spell?

You see…

There’s no silver bullet, just as there’s no “ONE thing” that I did to finally grow past the threshold we were stuck at.

It was the opposite in fact.

From changing the type of customer we serviced and the type of engagement we had with them…

… to varying the type of projects we accepted from short to long-term...

I realized Jakt couldn’t grow past the $2M if we kept things the same. 

And in this podcast, I’ll be sharing with you the exact steps we took to do just that.

I’ll be touching on…

 Someone asked me two questions on Twitter the other day. 

He said:

“Anthony, what’s the greatest lesson you’ve learned at Jakt? 

And two - knowing what you know now, what would you have done differently?”

You see…

I don’t believe there’s “one greatest lesson.” 

If anything, what I’ve learned throughout seven years while growing a multimillion-dollar agency is the opposite:

There are a TON of lessons, and I haven’t even yet scratched the surface. 

Business wouldn't be a game with a constant amount of learning involved otherwise.

From the financial engineering principles I’ve used to stay profitable every single year…

… to creating a culture of high-performers and accountability at Jakt...

In this podcast, I’ll give you a rundown of a few lessons I’ve learned and what I’m doing differently moving forward.

Here’s what I’ll touch on:

 In the last episode of Reflections of a CEO, I covered the topic of the three big systems that every service-based business/agency has…

...and how you must make sure there isn’t an imbalance between the growth of each three.

Because if you don’t, your business might break.

This episode is meant to be a Part 2 of that topic,and I go in-depth on what you should do as an agency owner when you feel that things start breaking.

This is a very important episode that, if you run an agency, will be helpful as you grow and scale your business. 

I’ll touch on:

- Why you need to understand how an agency works to address the problem (2:12)

- Taking a step back and diagnosing the root cause of the problem(3:07)

- Why you need to look at your business and ask how can you replace yourself (3:52)

- How new agency owners might not have a 10,000-foot view of the systems, and what to do about it (7:18)

- What to REALLY expect from your employees as you grow (8:31)

- The difference between working ON the business VS IN the business (10:17)

- Why the News Business system is the last system you want to replace yourself from (12:24)

- Removing yourself too prematurely (13:48)

 As you agency grows, stuff can start to break.

Over the years at Jakt and through the questions I’ve received from many other agency owners in our community, I realized why this happens.

It means you’ve reached the breaking point of the systems that worked for you before.

And they need adjusting.

In this episode, I’ll dive into the role each system plays in your business, how growth will cause an imbalance between them…

...and how you must constantly keep them evolving to not break.

I’ll also touch on:

- Why stuff starts to break in your agency as you grow (and why that’s okay) (1:06)

- The three main systems that compose your agency (2:13)

- The imbalance that falls on the systems as you grow (2:50)

- What you have to do to keep them from breaking (4:34)

- My experience with a Back-Office system that wasn’t evolving fast enough (7:04)

What do you do when you lose a big customer?

This is a question I was asked at servicebasedbusinesses.com, a community of agency owners I moderate who are looking to grow and build their business.

A member of the group recently lost an important client. 

And they’re now in a kind of situation where they have to evaluate letting some people go or other alternatives like getting rid of their office space.

I’ve been there myself. And not just once, but multiple times in my career while running an agency.

If you run an agency, I hope this podcast helps you be more prepared if this ever happens to you.

I’ll touch on…

- My personal experiences with losing big customers (2:15)

- Why these are the moments when you get to see what you’re made of (3:31)

- Taking the time to process the loss (but not too much) - (5:03)

- Learning the lesson and adjusting (6:42)

Very recently, I got asked the question if would I ever bring an equity partner in Jakt, and why or why not would I bring someone on-board.

If it was the case I did, what would be the requirements or the situation needed to be?

Now, I’ve found out that looking for the right business partners is a lot like dating and trying to find the person you want to be with.

I had to go through several people to figure out what is important to me over the course of seven years.

And I want to share the lessons I’ve learned with you today.

I’ll touch on…

 In the early days of Jakt, when things were getting off the ground, I wasn't thinking about anything but work.

And then, sometimes I got the feeling of...

“Where am I going with this? Why am I doing this? Why am I spending so much time working? What’s the point?” 

It can really block you if you don’t understand where you’re going or why you’re doing some things.

That’s when I realized I didn’t have a clear enough vision for my company.

In this episode, I’ll touch on the importance of setting a yearly company vision, how to remind yourself of it on a consistent basis, and finally act on it.

Here’s what I’ll cover:

- Why not having a full clarity of your vision could block you (1:20)

- The two components for making a vision (2:58)

- How we do it at Jakt (5:10)

- How to keep score of your progress for that vision (13:46)

 Ninety-five percent of any action you take during the day is dictated by your subconscious.  And only five percent of the time, you are actually conscious of your decisions.  Which is kinda crazy. It means that almost everything you’re doing is preprogrammed through your subconscious.  So how can we go about rewiring it?  How can we go about using it to our advantage to progress our financial growth?  In this episode, I dive into the importance of reprogramming limiting beliefs around money and your life, just as the how-to process involved. 

 I’ll touch on... 

 - The science behind belief systems and reprogramming the brain (1:34)

 - How should you approach this (7:14)

 - The importance of repetition (8:46) 

- Getting your facts straight (11:02)

 - Why you shouldn’t get tied to a specific solution (12:10) 

- The importance of developing skills to start rewiring your beliefs (14:07) 

 People ask me all the time: How do you get new business? 

And I wish I could tell you there’s some magic trick or a super awesome FB Ads formula… 

But it’s actually really simple: referrals and partnerships.

In today’s podcast, 

I dive into the strategic approach for channel partnerships we used at Jakt to funnel new business, 

and the steps you should take to build your social capital.

I’ll touch on:

- How I got new business when I started Jakt with no money (2:14)

- Why time and cost constraints lead to creativity in finding new customers (3:35)

- How we applied channel partnerships as a software agency to funnel new business (4:55)

- How referrals allow you to draft trust from the beginning and increase close rates (8:18) 

- The different types of people that you can partner up with (9:09)

- The downsides to referrals (12:11)

- One of the best ways to form a partnership with someone (15:05)

 Some people don’t understand how lonely and difficult it can be when you’re the head of the company. 

If you’re a business owner, you might know what I’m talking about. 

No matter if they are friends, family, or employees... 

...a lot of them might struggle to grasp the difficult challenges you’re facing: 

How you’re feeling, the risks you are going through, the stress...

In this episode, I dive deep into discussing how lonely it can get when you’re the CEO.

I’ll touch on…

- Why don’t most people understand how it feels to run a business (2:05)

- The need for empathy between you and others for not understanding it. (2:40)

- How inherent risks leverage the rewards for CEOs disproportionately to employees. (3:17)