If a plant has the right environment and soil, it will grow.
When you put a plant in a pot, it gets as big as it can, given the size of the pot. Eventually, if you want it to get bigger, you have to change that pot.
We can stumble upon, through circumstance or design, an environment in which our business thrives. And then we can scale it, until we hit the edge.
Scaling: Growing in the Same Pot
Scaling is working out how to do more of what you’re already doing. The business gets bigger, but fundamentally it’s the same.
If you want to scale your billable team, to keep doing the same work but more of it, you might need layers of line management. You might need to tend more to people and culture, and training to keep their qualities, but it’s not a fundamental shift.
Or you might get your leads through ads, and you can scale by doing more ads. Same tactic, higher volume.
You’ll get bigger and it’s not easy. The business will look a bit different, but fundamentally it’s the same business, on the same course, doing more of the same thing.
The Edge of the Pot
The limits aren’t just related to team size. Any measurement of size you care to use - be it capacity, reach, impact, or financial performance - will hit a limit eventually.
Scaling those things will get harder and no longer make sense. The investment in scale will outweigh the benefit. And eventually it will stop.
Sometimes the edge of the pot is practical. The numbers stop working.
But sometimes the edge of the pot is just a feeling. You don’t want the business to run like it is. You’re more excited by an opportunity to be a different business. You don’t want to makethisbigger. You want to change.
That’s a great realisation. It’s time for a new pot.
Re-potting: Growing Something Different
Changing pots is more than just working out how to deliver more of what you understand. It’s understanding something new.
A new type of customer or service. A new way of billing. A new way of growing your reputation or a reputation for something new.
Re-potting means making a fundamental change to what the business is:
Adding something new- A new vision, a new set of expertise, someone to own project management and make it a value add, a new service line.
Taking something away- Stopping in-house development and going all in on design. Saying no to deals below a certain value, or removing all meetings.
Turning everything upside down- Changing how things work internally; handing out shares to every employee; launching a product; going 4 days a week; becoming the last no-AI agency in the world; banning Slack.
Move it to a new pot and you’ll be growing something different. Could be something better. Could be something more valuable.
But you’ve got to do it with intention. Choose what you’re growing. Choose if it needs a new pot. And choose what that pot looks like.
Now let’s try something different:I’ve created a prompt to help you work through this for your agency, it’s on my site here. Give it a whirl!