Harakiri’s agency
In a recent post at the 99% blog (part of the Behance Network), Mark McGuiness explains why you must “Build a Business, Not Just a Client List”
“This is the classic dilemma described by Michael Gerber in The E-Myth – sole traders start out with dreams of independence, but find themselves trapped by their own business. They spend all their time working in the business (doing client work), instead of on it (building the business).
….
4. Products - turn your knowledge and skills into physical or digital items for sale.
If you can deliver a professional service for clients, you can certainly create your own product range. Doing this successfully means you develop streams of income that increase over time – and it frees you from the treadmill of hourly or daily”
I would go a step forward.
In his essay “Content will kill your agency”, Marcus Brown explained in a radical move :
“The basic idea is that content will kill the agency you work for; that the current agency model (or versions off it labled as new), the work that agencies do, how it’s reviewed and rewarded and the channels that are used to transport it all are doomed. Unless, that is, your agency starts creating content”.
In other words, if you run an agency, you have to imagine a value proposition that will kill your business as you know it. No choice. Prepare your own destruction. Sorry.
(Hat tip Leigh for the pointer)
