Small But Mighty Agency: How to Grow Your Agency

How are creatives, consultants, and marketers making multiple six figures thriving in an increasingly crowded marketplace?

The great resignation left a door wide open for more businesses to consider working with freelancers, contractors and boutique agencies because employees were leaving like never before, which created demand in the marketplace. 

On the other side of that same coin, the pool of writers, designers, and animators either freelancing or starting their agencies widened, creating a saturation of sameness. 

There is one common key business decision I see solopreneurs make to get out of the sea of sameness and reach multi- six figures in their service business. 

This key business decision helps them grow more quickly and profitably.

In this episode, I share what I see contributes to the success of first-year multiple six-figure service businesses.

Show Links

Economic Innovation Group article on The Start-Up Surge

Audrey Joy Kwan 

Get my signature COMPASS method inside our Team Growth Roadmap 

This episode is brought to you by the FREE TEAM GROWTH ROADMAP

What if you didn’t spend all day, every day, in the weeds of running your business? 

More flexibility. More freedom. Less overwhelm. 

You’d scale your business with more ease

Gain clarity on the strategic systems and leadership actions to create a self-managing team that can support your clients and frees up your time.

My free Team Growth Roadmap will give you my COMPASS method to get you out of the weeds of running your business and help you build a small but mighty team that gives you more freedom and flexibility.

Click this link to unlock the COMPASS Method

Thanks for tuning into the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast! If you enjoyed today’s episode, head over to Apple Podcast to subscribe, rate, and leave your honest review. Connect with me on Instagram, LinkedIn or visit my website for even more detailed strategies, and be sure to share

Are you stuck in your business feeling like client work is dependent on just you, and you worry it will all go down the tank when you stop working? 

If you don’t know how to change that – or maybe you do, but it hasn’t turned out how you thought it would? Tune in to discover: 

• Why do some business owners remain the bottleneck even after getting systems and processes in place?
• Where do you start when documenting systems and processes and get it done without overwhelm
• The method to get processes in your service business done in less time and with less stress
• Access our free productized service workflow to leverage our approach of one service and one system at a time. 
• Which system to start with if you are at capacity and need to overcome revenue plateau 

Show Links

Get the FREE Productized Service Workflow.

Website

LinkedIn

Instagram

[email protected]

Where To Start When Documenting Systems for Your Business?

 Here’s our approach to get it done in less time and with less stress. 

Curb the overwhelm that stops most business owners from creating the structure and control they need to grow the business with systems and processes. 

 Most creatives, consultants and agency owners cherry-pick random systems to document and as a result, get buried in what feels like a never-ending list of processes that you just don't get done. 

 To get it done in less time and less stress, start with one service. 

Download our free productized service workflow to identify the different systems in one service AND then choose one system at a time. 

 I promise you, when you start with one service and then choose one system in that service, you'll get to leverage your processes to grow your business faster. 

USE THE FREE PRODUCTIZED SERVICE WORKFLOW TO GAIN MORE CLARITY TODAY

Thanks for listening to the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast, if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review on iTunes or send a screenshot on Instagram while tagging me  @audreyjoykwan

What makes a creative agency excel past its competition?

Nurturing and protecting the creative spirit in the team. 

The creative spirit is the secret sauce for an agency to do outstanding creative work. 

Some call it “strategic magic” or “zone of genius.” 

I like to think of it as the art that makes their craft possible. 

Let me explain 

The craft is the production, it's 80% of the work, but the creativity, the strategy, the zone of genius is the 20% that makes the 80% excellent. 

That 20% is the art. 

We chat with a seasoned creative agency owner on how he nurtures creativity in his team,  finds opportunities to help the team stay accountable and protects creativity from getting derailed by clients who don’t get the creative process.

Tune into this episode to explore: 

• How he inspires the creative spirit of his team in his creative agency
• What’s working for training and developing creative talent
• Identifying opportunities to transfer knowledge to his team 
• The power of teaching clients how to work with his agency
• What is the difference between clients who treat your agency as a vendor versus clients who treat you like a partner and say yes to only the latter?  
• Proactively educating clients to have a better partner relationship with their agency 

Show links

Website: https://www.pinwheelcontent.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddanthony/

The Delicatessen : https://delicatessen.substack.com/

Get my signature COMPASS method inside our Team Growth Roadmap. 

This episode is brought to you by the FREE TEAM GROWTH ROADMAP

What if you didn’t spend all day, every day, in the weeds of running your business? 

More flexibility. More freedom. Less overwhelm. 

You’d scale your business with more ease.

Gain clarity on the strategic systems and leadership actions to create a self-managing team to support your clients and free up your time.

My free Team Growth Roadmap will give you my COMPASS method to get you out of the weeds of running your business and help you build a small but mighty team that gives you more freedom and flexibility.

Click this link to unlock the COMPASS Method.

Thanks for listening to the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review on Apple or send a screenshot on Instagram while tagging me  @audreyjoykwan

When this seven-figure agency owner surveyed 50 of his clients about what they valued when working with a small agency, the response was a surprise. It wasn’t the price and it wasn’t even quality. 

The top three things the clients of this seven-figure agency want to see from an agency are experience, communication and processes. 

Yes, processes. 

Processes are like guardrails. By definition, a guardrail is a barrier placed along the edge of something such as a staircase to keep you from falling off the stairs

When your processes are guardrails and clients are educated on how your uniquely created guardrail supports them on the road to getting the results they want, your processes add a tremendous amount of value for your clients.

In this episode of the podcast, tune in to explore

• How processes can set you up for premium pricing. 
• Going from generalized marketing services to productized video and animation services 
• Intentionally building a business with value-added processes 
• How processes empower creatives to be more creative 
• How educating clients on processes supports making more money

Show Links

Website: tripwiremedia.com

LinkedIn: ca.linkedin.com/in/dougdarling

Get my signature COMPASS method inside our Team Growth Roadmap 

This episode is brought to you by the FREE TEAM GROWTH ROADMAP

What if you didn’t spend all day, every day, in the weeds of running your business? 

More flexibility. More freedom. Less overwhelm. 

You’d scale your business with more ease

Gain clarity on the strategic systems and leadership actions to create a self-managing team that can support your clients and frees up your time.

My free Team Growth Roadmap will give you my COMPASS method to get you out of the weeds of running your business and help you build a small but mighty team that gives you more freedom and flexibility.

Click this link to unlock the COMPASS Method

Is it worth the time to cross-train your team? 

Even the most talented people in your team can’t succeed if your entire team follows their own processes, and communication is a mess. 

Cross-training leads to better communication, and communication leads to a business that is less dependent on you. 

In this episode of the podcast, we’re exploring how this agency owner hires the right people, streamlines communication and cross-trains his team so that he can spend more time in creativity instead of project management. 

Including: 

• How he took one opportunity in college (10 years ago) and turned freelancing into an agency
• Why solving communication challenges grows the business  
• Cross-training team members is worth the time investment 
• What is the T shape model, and how it guides his hiring process for right-fit team members? 
• How he cross-trains his team to create more efficiency and less dependency on one person to know it all 
• Changing his org structure and why he restructured his agency model

Show Links

Suits & Sandals Website: https://suits-sandals.com

Work Association Podcast: Apple, Spotify, Google

Nick’s LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickdank/

Get my signature COMPASS method inside our Team Growth Roadmap 

This episode is brought to you by the FREE TEAM GROWTH ROADMAP

What if you didn’t spend all day, every day, in the weeds of running your business? 

More flexibility. More freedom. Less overwhelm. 

You’d scale your business with more ease

Gain clarity on the strategic systems and leadership actions to create a self-managing team that can support your clients and frees up your time.

My free Team Growth Roadmap will give you my COMPASS method to get you out of the weeds of running your business and help you build a small but mighty team that gives you more freedom and flexibility.

Click this link to unlock the COMPASS Method

Thanks for listening to the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast, if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review on iTunes or send a screenshot on Instagram while tagging me  @audreyjoykwan

These four concepts are how I’ve helped grow agencies to multiple six figures and beyond. 

I’ve supported an agency owner to grow, sell and exit his business, doubled the gross revenue of clients with small but mighty agencies and helped owners have more time off. 

To kick off 2022 on the podcast, here are the concepts that always show up. 

If you’re bumping up against capacity in your business, you can’t miss concept number one. 

Concept number one is the pillar to bringing in other people to do the work and free up your time in a service business. 

Maybe you’ve never thought about the agency model in this way – it can be small but mighty and sustainably grow your business to serve more clients, make more money and free up your time. 

Find out how we can work together to grow your service-based business, book a consult (https://calendly.com/audreyjoykwan/consult)  

Show Links

About Audrey Joy Kwan: https://audreyjoykwan.com/about

Connect with Audrey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kwanaudrey/

Get my signature COMPASS method inside our Team Growth Roadmap 

This episode is brought to you by the FREE TEAM GROWTH ROADMAP

What if you didn’t spend all day, every day, in the weeds of running your business? 

More flexibility. More freedom. Less overwhelm. 

You’d scale your business with more ease

Gain clarity on the strategic systems and leadership actions to create a self-managing team that can support your clients and free up your time.

My free Team Growth Roadmap will give you my COMPASS method to get you out of the weeds of running your business and help you build a small but mighty team that gives you more freedom and flexibility.

Click this link to unlock the COMPASS Method

Thanks for listening to the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast, if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review on iTunes or send a screenshot on Instagram while tagging me @audreyjoykwan

Is it possible to run an efficient agency with eight part-time contractors while working part-time? 

For this CEO mom, the answer is yes. 

Although this may not be a way of running a business for everyone, Kara demonstrates that how you choose to operate your business can 100% fit your priorities. 

Kara’s priorities are her three kids and her mission to employ young moms by providing as much flexibility as possible in her business. 

In this episode, you’ll hear how she makes it all work and how small but mighty agencies of today are changing. Including: 

• What it looks like to run an agency part-time and have three young kids 
• How she manages a team of 8 part-time contractors 
• Why she chooses to stay with part-time contractors (for now)
• How to build a business that values the needs of young moms 
• Thoughts on workplace improvements that can better support young moms

Show Links

LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/karahoholik) 

Website (https://socialforgood.co)

Instagram (socialforgood.co) 

Get my signature COMPASS method inside our Team Growth Roadmap 

This episode is brought to you by the FREE TEAM GROWTH ROADMAP

What if you didn’t spend all day, every day, in the weeds of running your business? 

More flexibility. More freedom. Less overwhelm. 

You’d scale your business with more ease

Gain clarity on the strategic systems and leadership actions to create a self-managing team that can support your clients and frees up your time.

My free Team Growth Roadmap will give you my COMPASS method to get you out of the weeds of running your business and help you build a small but mighty team that gives you more freedom and flexibility.

Click this link to unlock the COMPASS Method

Thanks for listening to the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast, if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review on iTunes or send a screenshot on Instagram while tagging me  @audreyjoykwan

What does it mean to streamline a business for growth? At its core, it means simplifying or eliminating unnecessary work-related tasks to make running the business easier. 

While eliminating things may sound simple, streamlining a business can involve hard decisions. 

In this episode, we connect with Kyle who streamlined his business by restructuring his remote team. 

In the case of this small business, restructuring involved removing one job role and as a result, navigating changing scopes of work for the rest of his team -- all the while maintaining their core value of relationship-focused servicing and a high-vibe team. 

Kyle shares his thought process behind the change, why it was necessary and the impact on his business. 

Together on the Small But Mighty Agency, we explore: 

• Driving agency change and building a lean team 
• Restructuring his team to better serve clients and be more effective
• Revising job functions and roles and empowering people to own the work 
• Acknowledging leadership blindspots and growing from mistakes
• Why a coaching first principle in the business brings out the best in his team
• Using culture surveys to build a high vibe team and encourage retainment 

Show Links

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyledoranra/

Website: https://www.ramarketing.com/

Get my signature COMPASS method inside our Team Growth Roadmap 

This episode is brought to you by the FREE TEAM GROWTH ROADMAP

What if you didn’t spend all day, every day, in the weeds of running your business? 

More flexibility. More freedom. Less overwhelm. 

You’d scale your business with more ease

Gain clarity on the strategic systems and leadership actions to create a self-managing team that can support your clients and frees up your time.

My free Team Growth Roadmap will give you my COMPASS method to get you out of the weeds of running your business and help you build a small but mighty team that gives you more freedom and flexibility.

Click this link to unlock the COMPASS Method

Thanks for listening to the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast, if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review on iTunes or send a screenshot on Instagram while tagging me  @audreyjoykwan

Today, we explore how Amisha Shrimanker started an online copywriting agency three years ago and has since worked with some prominent names in the industry.

Amisha shares the juicy details of her strategies that have landed her dream clients.

Together on the podcast, we explore:

• Her cold pitching strategy, the one she uses to get on dream podcasts and work with dream clients
• How she leverages results into case studies to amplify her competitive advantage
• How she uses project debriefs not only to serve clients better but meet a need that naturally increases the lifetime value of the client

Show Links

Copy Crew Website: https://thecopycrew.com/ 

Copy Crew Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecopycrew/

See the AJK Case Studies: https://audreyjoykwan.com/case-studies

Get my signature COMPASS method inside our Team Growth Roadmap 

This episode is brought to you by the FREE TEAM GROWTH ROADMAP

What if you didn’t spend all day, every day, in the weeds of running your business? 

More flexibility. More freedom. Less overwhelm. 

You’d scale your business with more ease

Gain clarity on the strategic systems and leadership actions to create a self-managing team that can support your clients and frees up your time.

My free Team Growth Roadmap will give you my COMPASS method to get you out of the weeds of running your business and help you build a small but mighty team that gives you more freedom and flexibility.

Click this link to unlock the COMPASS Method

Thanks for listening to the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast, if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review on iTunes or send a screenshot on Instagram while tagging me  @audreyjoykwan

What is the fastest way to grow a service-based business to seven figures? 

Not a trick question 🙂

It’s to help your clients get results faster. 

Meet Lisa Genovese, five years into building her marketing agency, Lisa discovered the 20% of activities driving results for her clients and decided to go all-in on the service offering,

In this episode of the Small But Mighty Agency, we dig into the 80/20 rule that helped Lisa catapult her business to a seven-figure agency and why getting support to discover her 80/20 was a wise decision. 

Tune in to hear:

• How she identified a new revenue stream that became her agencies signature service
• Finding her stride as an agency owner at the five-year mark
• Going all-in on the 80/20 rule despite the doubt 
• Why her agency won’t work with a client unless the client invests in the impact assessment offer and how she asks them to invests 
• Trusting that the fastest path to success is to turn down clients that are the wrong fit 

 Show Links

Lisa Genovese LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisamariegenovese/ 

Bottom Line Website: www.wearebottomline.com 

Women Presidents Organization: https://www.womenpresidentsorg.com/

Get my signature COMPASS method inside our Team Growth Roadmap 

This episode is brought to you by the FREE TEAM GROWTH ROADMAP

What if you didn’t spend all day, every day, in the weeds of running your business? 

More flexibility. More freedom. Less overwhelm. 

You’d scale your business with more ease

Gain clarity on the strategic systems and leadership actions to create a self-managing team that can support your clients and frees up your time.

My free Team Growth Roadmap will give you my COMPASS method to get you out of the weeds of running your business and help you build a small but mighty team that gives you more freedom and flexibility.

Click this link to unlock the COMPASS Method

Thanks for listening to the Small But Mighty Agency Podcast, if you enjoyed this episode please leave a review on iTunes or send a screenshot on Instagram while tagging me  @audreyjoykwan