June 30, 2022

The 5 Keys to Gold Standard Agency Project Management with Gray MacKenzie

38 minutes

The temptation to get back into client work can be overwhelming for a CEO scaling their team - especially when it feels like your reputation is on the line. This means that too many CEOs are stuck overseeing project management that really should be delegated to other team members, leaving them with less time to actually run their business. In this episode of Hands-Off CEO, Mandi’s guest Gray Mackenzie, co-founder of ZenPilot, shares what CEOs need to do to get out of day-to-day project management once and for all.

Key Ideas:

Entrepreneurs are always the people who get left for better, easier or more lucrative opportunities - they never get to leave and that can be disheartening. Don’t get discouraged when key people leave your agency: you were part of their journey, and they were part of yours. For as long as they are a great fit and they stay with you, get as much value from them as you can. [9:20]

If you want to attract the best clients, and make the highest profits, you need to minimize risk and increase quality as much as possible as you scale. Gray talks about the 5 key elements you need to understand and be using them in all areas of your business. A trap to avoid is too much customization - custom doesn’t scale. [16:38]

If you take anything away from this episode, it's this: To continuously make your service better and more profitable, you need to look at it like a scientist would. Solve the same problem again and again by constantly imagining: what would make this better? How do we turn our standard service into all-star service, and then how do we level up from that?. [23:31]

When you know it’s time to make a change, it’s time to make a change, and the smartest move is often to hire experts to implement a new system, like ClickUp. It’s often not worth eating up your team's bandwidth when there are experts who can get you exactly where you need to be. That’s the foundation Graw has built his business on: breaking through “it’s how we’ve always done it” and into systems that are truly gold standard. [30:15]

When you’re starting a new initiative, you need to think about the costs of implementation - and also the cost of NOT implementing. You need to know your vision, and how different projects are going to impact it. When you take on projects internally that you aren’t equipped for, the opportunity costs can be extraordinary. Take the long view when considering your investments in your company. [34:30]

Resources

Gray MacKenzie on LinkedIn | Twitter

ZenPilot

Mandi Ellefson on LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook

Hands-Off CEO - Executive Briefing

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