I was busy, I mean really busy, and needed to expand. The only problem was that I was new at all of this (building a business). So, how do I expand my business? What steps I should take? These were all the thoughts running through my head. This is why I am sharing with you the mistakes to avoid when are building your agency.
Building Your Agency
Building your agency is not easy. In fact, it makes more work in the beginning before you feel relief. Let me share these mistakes I made in the hope that it will keep you from making similar mistakes when building your agency.
Mistakes I Made:
- Hit a Revenue Wall
- Waited Too Long
- Losing Income
- Added Wrong Type of Team Member
- Didn’t Do My Homework
- No Processes Ready
- Moving Too Quickly
These 7 Mistakes caused me to move backward in the process of trying to move forward as I built my agency.
Hit Revenue Wall
It is ironic, but this is one of the things I always told my clients, “you will end up hitting a revenue wall if you don’t expand or build.” I became the proverbial plumber’s home with the leaking faucet, meaning I did exactly what I was trying to help fix for my clients. I was trying to give clients more freedom and peace by providing my services. Now, however, I was hitting that revenue wall. I could not increase my rates and I could not take on any more clients. Yikes!
Waited Too Long
This leads me to the fact that I waited too long to build my agency. I was in a place where I was too busy to add anything else to my to-do list yet I needed help.
To add a team member to your business you have to make the time to…
- List the need for a team member
- Respond to emails from those interested
- Interview candidates
- Onboard new team member
- Train team members in your processes
- Train team members in the client’s processes they will be working
- Set up and Invite the new team members to pertinent accounts (ie: PM System, Company Email, Invoice System, and more)
- Review work once they begin
- Review all emails between team members and clients (at least in the beginning)
As you can see there are many initial steps when building your agency.
Didn’t Do My Homework
As you begin to look at candidates you will want to do your homework on them. I often neglected this part in the beginning.
Review these items when looking at a candidate:
- Services they can provide
- How efficient they are in the services (beginner, mid-level, or expert)
- Check with their former employers or businesses they have helped
- Call their references
- Background check
I often did not do my homework when I first started adding team members and this was a big mistake.
Losing Income
Once you add a team member to your business you may find that initially, you will be losing income yourself. At least I did and this was one of my biggest mistakes. Instead of starting a team member with a new client when they were onboarding, I put them to work on clients I was providing services for which meant money out of my earnings.
The payment for the team member has to come from somewhere so I highly suggest instead of making this mistake you either start at the beginning of business to build an agency with a team or give the team member a new client who is onboarding. A new client is extra revenue you have not yet received or counted on so making a percentage of the priced package is better than taking money away from what you are already earning.
Added Wrong Type of Team Member
Another unfortunate mistake I made when building my agency was adding the wrong type of team member. At first, I was in such urgency to get help that I didn’t care what services they liked or what they were good at because I had the arrogance to think I could simply train them. I also did not always consider their character.
“I would later come to learn that it is much wiser to value character over skill. It is much more difficult to train character into someone.”
This can go hand in hand with doing your homework on the person you wish you bring on to your team.
“When recruiting for virtual teams, it’s important to make sure you find people who are self-sufficient, comfortable working without much direction or constant support, and excellent communicators. There are certainly individuals who are simply not suited to work with a remote team. Ensuring you hire the right talent for a virtual role will save you and your team a lot of time, effort, and capital.” –Forbes
No Processes Ready
Not having processes ready was a huge mistake I made when adding team members. I did not have processes written out and documented. My team members needed step-by-step instructions to follow so they could provide the same high-quality services I provided to clients.
“You can use tools such as Google Docs or Notion to centralise your SOPs and improve them over time. Make sure that this documentation is easily accessible by relevant teams and encourage them to improve it.“ -MoneyRequests
Although I walked through on video they also needed documented processes to follow. Once I had all of my processes in place the team’s work ran smoothly. Not only that but I made each team member responsible for the processes. If something changed in software it needed to be recorded and since they used it, most often daily, it made sense to have them update the process regularly.
Moved Too Quickly
By making most of these mistakes it proved that I was moving too quickly. In reality, I wished I had built my agency at the beginning of starting my business. I lacked the knowledge and expertise to do this. Nor did I know I would need a team or build an agency. So, when I realized I needed helped I moved too quickly and this caused me to make most of the mistakes I’ve shared with you today.
When you are creating your agency or building your virtual team do it at your pace. Gain the knowledge and help you need to build it the right way. Do not worry about what others are doing or if they seem to be moving faster because they may in fact be moving too quickly and will make mistakes too.
Last Thoughts On Building Your Agency
I am not saying that avoiding these mistakes means you won’t make any. We all make mistakes. I only hope that having the knowledge helps you avoid these 7 mistakes.
As always, if I can help you build your agency or bring your virtual team please reach out. Better yet, book a Free Mini Coaching Session with me.
