I was able to start my own business because I knew how to design and code.

So why do I sometimes think I’d be better off if I hadn’t had a skill?

I’ve phrased that deliberately to avoid any kind of clever comeback that casts doubt upon my talent.

If you have an unkind comment to make, you can reply with it.

Anyway, I used to call myself a ‘doer’. And it got me far.

Being a doer is great

It can all come naturally when you’re a doer. You’ve got the skill, you understand the craft, and you can communicate the value of what you do instinctively.

This sells.

Buyers who talk to founders are more likely to convert.

Every conversation you have is lit up by your experience. You can pull out stories and examples of your wins and explain precisely why the prospect is feeling their current pain.

Your voice is authentic, which makes your marketing more powerful, even if you don’t think like a marketer yet.

It seems like every agency works like this at the beginning. And the reason for that is simple, agencies that don’t work like this often don’t survive.

You can also do it all on your own. Win clients, scope the work, deliver it. You understand what high quality looks like.

Fundamentally you are hard to stop. You can keep your overhead low. You can take on odd projects just for the cash with no one to push back. You can move fast and adapt easily.

If you weren’t a doer, how would you ever have made it?

The curse of the doer

Being a doer is a blessing and a curse.

When you’re doing the work yourself, you don’t have to be a proper business.

You don’t have to price in someone else’s salary. You don’t have to plan your pipeline months in advance. You can drop the ball with product management and make up for it with unbilled work. You can undercharge and allow scope creep. You can work the weekend to get it done. You can make payroll by leaving yourself out.

You can stay in business, despite being appalling at business.

When I look at founders I know who weren’t primarily billable, they’re often commercially much more savvy than I was at the start. Because they had to be.

They were forced to learn how to price profitably, build margin into their work, create systems they could rely on, sell with confidence, and make intentional, sustainable growth decisions.

Not that you can’t grow as a doer. The growth can be fast. And it can mask the fact that you aren’t growing in the right way.

It’s often a long time until that growth stalls and the doer realises they need to shape up.

There are many agencies that do amazing work but are stuck on that glass ceiling.

Can you have the best of both worlds?

It’s tempting to think you can. Be flexible early on. Do the work yourself. Then gradually shift into a more commercial model once you’re growing.

Do it calmly over time and impress your friends.

But….

This is much harder than just reading a few books on agency finance.

These responses become habit:

  • Deciding you should discount to keep the client happy
  • Saying yes to one more change and working the weekend
  • Avoiding the pricing conversion because it’s not the right time

And if you’ve got a team they’ll be playing follow the leader. Those habits will be your culture, and that’s tough to change.

But change you must, starting today.

What’s your biggest challenge here? Reply and I can help.

If you overcome it you can be more in control. You can grow or just become more profitable. Your choice.

You’ll still have that authentic voice that sells and you’ll have those doer skills to call on to get you out of a tight situation.

You’ll be unstoppable.