A short tale of 2 founders
Two different agencies, two different business models and the crucial trade-offs between scaling efficiently and maintaining the flexibility to adapt and grow.
Take a moment to consider where you are heading.
Let me tell you about two businesses: Business A and Business B.
Both were agencies and both founders were equally talented and worked equally hard.
Business A did projects. They got leads, won the work, did the job, and finished.
Over time:
- They got known for their work
- Attracted more and more customers
- Built processes, hired people, and scaled out
Business B also started the same way. One of their first clients was demanding and took up a lot of their time.
They got leads but were too busy to take them on.
Business B liked their client and, through working closely with them, began to spot other gaps in how that client did things.
They started suggesting solutions.
Over time:
- They began to understand deeply the goals of their client
- Learned ways to be more valuable
- Won more work and raised their prices
Both businesses ended up making the same amount of revenue in their first year.
Those businesses today
Business A
Needs quantity, more new work, and more people. They build processes and automation.
It's hard for them to change, but easier for the founders to step back.
Business B
Needs high-quality work and people. They need to get results and to prove their value. They are winning bigger clients with bigger budgets and making bigger margins.
They are flexible, but their clients want to work directly with the founders because of their experience.
My business
My agency was both of these businesses at different times. Sometimes it was both at the same time.
Once you apply the people, processes, automations, and culture you need to scale like Business A, it's harder to change.
Business B can choose when to stop growing and start scaling but they have to be constantly learning, innovating and levelling up.
Scaling is about efficiently repeating the same thing.
Growth is about flexibility and change.
Your job is to find the balance.