If you’re so lucky as to have stumbled into the world of agency life and found a way to make money doing it, what should you do next?
I’ve discerned that there’s about four main ways to divert your surplus money and, hopefully surplus time, to continue to grow profitably. What I don’t include is taking the money and starting or investing in different, unrelated endeavours.
1 Build a reserve for a rainy day
As your business matures, cash becomes another tool to help you deliver more value. It could lead you to issuing more lenient payment terms, or generally increasing stability, but at the very least it insures against major negative events.
2 Own your office building
It might be worth considering what a mortgage would be to keep your staff in a place they can call home. It might be a stretch to expand into landlord life and oversee multiple tenants but it would give your organization an opportunity to share its culture with others.
3 Open a branch in another location
If your organization has a unique system and process and generally transferable culture, you can open up branch offices in strategically important locations to better serve a growing client base. But, be careful to balance the possible side effects it would have on your current ‘headquarters’.
4 Create or acquire new agencies
The world is far too big for one agency, even in a particular segment. It still amazes me how vast this market is. There will always be competition and there always be more work than you can satisfy (though that doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to succeed here). Why not create your competitor or buy them and let their success be your success too?
As of this post I’m working on option 4 right now, option 1 for 2016, option 2 for 2017 and mulling over option 3.
I’ve discerned that there’s about four main ways to divert your surplus money and, hopefully surplus time, to continue to grow profitably. What I don’t include is taking the money and starting or investing in different, unrelated endeavours.
1 Build a reserve for a rainy day
As your business matures, cash becomes another tool to help you deliver more value. It could lead you to issuing more lenient payment terms, or generally increasing stability, but at the very least it insures against major negative events.
2 Own your office building
It might be worth considering what a mortgage would be to keep your staff in a place they can call home. It might be a stretch to expand into landlord life and oversee multiple tenants but it would give your organization an opportunity to share its culture with others.
3 Open a branch in another location
If your organization has a unique system and process and generally transferable culture, you can open up branch offices in strategically important locations to better serve a growing client base. But, be careful to balance the possible side effects it would have on your current ‘headquarters’.
4 Create or acquire new agencies
The world is far too big for one agency, even in a particular segment. It still amazes me how vast this market is. There will always be competition and there always be more work than you can satisfy (though that doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to succeed here). Why not create your competitor or buy them and let their success be your success too?
As of this post I’m working on option 4 right now, option 1 for 2016, option 2 for 2017 and mulling over option 3.