Let’s put aside the inspirational vision exercises for a moment.

Here’s something you can do in five minutes that will cause you to think more practically about where you are going.

Write down 2 numbers

Pick a date in around 3 years time.

First question:

How many people are at your agency? Include contractors if you are imagining using them.

Second question:

How much revenue is your agency going to make that year?

That’s it.

Those are the numbers.

Now we need to do a small amount of maths.

To make this easierI made you a calculator in the same time it took to make a cup of tea.

You can change the ratio of billable to non-billable and the amount of time a billable person works in a year.

It works out your required average day rate.

Here’s the workings if you like to do your own sums: Required Average Daily Rate = Target Annual Revenue ÷ (Number of People x Billable Percentage x Average Days Working a Year) It’s not a groundbreaking calculation, but the question it asks could be:

How are you going to get to that day rate?

Look at how you are trending

You’re probably quite an optimistic person. “Somehow, I’ll find a set of clients that will pay that.”

Your historic data will provide you with some objectivity. What were you charging this time last year?

Is that rate of growth going to get you to your target? If so then you could be on the right road, this exercise may be telling you to now focus on the details and optimisations.

Or the numbers you are now looking at could be telling you that something is going to need to change.

What you can change

There are 4 things in your control:

  • Your rate
  • Your billable ratio
  • Your team size
  • Your target revenue

Your rate

You are currently either charging a rate that undervalues your work or you are charging the right amount.

If you are underpricing then you simply need a plan to raise your rates.

If you are correctly pricing then, to raise your rates, you need a plan to deliver more value.

If you are delivering the absolute maximum value you can then, ok. That’s not the sort of thinking I was expecting from someone who started a business. But maybe you have completely nailed it and there’s nothing left to do. Maybe.

In that case you can look at your other levers below.

Your billable ratio

This is either an optimisation where you take the industry benchmark and aim for it or this is a radical rethink of the agency model.

Your plan needs a target here and that’s a combination of

  • the ratio of billable roles
  • the utilisation of the billable roles you have

Maybe your vision is for just you as CEO and a bunch of 100% billable AI agents.

Maybe it’s for an agency where people spend some time on self development and internal projects, keeping skills sharp and innovation high.

Either way, deciding how you achieve it requires you to add some details to your vision.

Your team size

This will be your main lever if your day rate is good but you just need more of it.

The team that you need to deliver that revenue could be bigger than the one you imagined.

This one can stir up some feelings.

When you imagined your agency at the beginning of this exercise you may well have thought of the people in it.

Finding out your vision needs a higher day rate is one thing, but finding out that it needs a lot more people than you imagined can mean it’s not your vision any more.

Do you want a bigger team or were you hoping to always be able to all sit round one table, working with and mentoring each person closely?

Bigger teams are more stress but they are also more distant.

For some founders that’s a vision deal breaker.

Your target revenue

It’s fine at this point to realise that the revenue you are looking for isn’t achievable by a business you want to run.

Of course this comes with other questions around the business being profitable enough and meeting your needs.

There’s no shame in adjusting your target.

As long as you’re happy and profitable, your vision is valid.

Maybe the original number is the 10 year vision.

It truly is up to you.

A more practical vision

We’ve all done those vision exercises.

We’re going to be the number one agency thatforandthough notand only sometimeswhen we need the money.

They serve a purpose.

However there’s something quite powerful about putting yourself up against cold hard numbers.

We’re going to be a team ofpeople makingmillion pounds a year.

And working backwards to what you need to be to do that.

You can start businesses seemingly by accident.

Doing one piece of work leading to another, and suddenly here you are.

But you don’t achieve a vision by accident.

It’s going to take sustained effort to get from here to there.

You need to identify where “there” is, and you need to identify which part of how you’re currently operating needs to change.