Taking your agency global

Have you ever considered expanding to other countries, either by hiring help or signing up clients outside your current borders?

Chip and Gini share some of their experiences in working internationally as an agency, including things that you should consider before you take the leap and the benefits of doing so.

The co-hosts answer some common questions they get from agency owners, and they talk about some of the challenges that they have encountered along the way (and how they handled them).

Key takeaways

* Gini Dietrich: “You should be thinking about payments. You should be thinking about cultural differences. You should be thinking about paid time off, and all of those things that come with it so that you are ready for it.”* Chip Griffin: “Particularly if you’re doing international work, use shared calendar invites because that then handles issues like time zones and daylight savings time and it will move it around on your schedule.”* Gini Dietrich: “Be cognizant of the fact that many countries have much better family leave plans than we do, and they have better paid time off policies than we do.”* Chip Griffin: “You need to be thinking about regulatory things when you’re working internationally. You need to be thinking about things like privacy laws, particularly if you’re doing anything in the digital sphere and data collection. The rules are different in other countries. Make sure that you have some local advice on this so that you’re not just winging it.”

View Transcript

The following is a computer-generated transcript. Please listen to the audio to confirm accuracy.

Chip Griffin: Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Agency Leadership Podcast. I’m Chip Griffin.

Gini Dietrich: I’m Gini Dietrich,

Chip Griffin: and we’re going for a trip around the world today, Gini, right after this,

around the world in 18 minutes. That’s…

Gini Dietrich: That was not bad. That was not a bad segue at all. That was one of your better ones.

Chip Griffin: Wow, I’m, I’m disappointed in myself. I feel like I need to get under a much lower bar.

Gini Dietrich: Yeah. Well the bar was already pretty low.

Chip Griffin: I know, but that’s why I wanna go under it. When, when I clear that bar, I’m very disappointed in myself.

Gini Dietrich: Lying on the ground. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Chip Griffin: No. We are talking about agencies operating internationally, having international clients, having international employees. Partnering with agencies internationally, having an international office, all of those different things, because there are a lot of agencies in the world today that look around and say, Hey, everything’s global.

Maybe I should be too.

Gini Dietrich: Yeah. And it’s not, I mean, in today’s world with remote working and technology the way that it is, it’s not hard to do. There are some things you have to think about. There are some cultural differences, but it, it is something that can easily be done in today’s world.

Chip Griffin: Yeah. And I, and I think that it’s, it’s one of those things where you just need to, to figure out what you’re willing to do, what you’re able to do and then understanding what those impacts, as you say, are. What are the, what are the gotyas, if you will, of operating in different places and are you willing to do what needs to b...