10 Lessons From 10 Years of Running a Marketing Firm

12th of July, 2013. My co-founder, Ramsel Lupera, and I registered our digital marketing agency. We had no idea what we were getting into since neither of us had prior experience in the agency business. We just thought it was a fun idea to try. We did, and I took on the Creative Director role.

Looking back, I clearly remember my dread—and growing excitement—when I realized that I had to learn everything from scratch. As David C. Baker often says, "It's like diving into an empty pool and inventing water on the way down." Fortunately, we invented enough water to avoid splattering our brains all over the floor.

This post is about the ten most important lessons I've learned in the past ten years. Here goes:

1. Fulfillment comes from client impact.

Yes, marketing work is fun. It's why I got into this business in the first place. I love how it blends art with science and creativity with strategy. It's a fairyland for the curious.

But, despite all of that interestingness, the only time I get a jolt of unadulterated satisfaction is when we produce results for clients. For me, it’s the only sustainable source of fulfillment in this business.

2. Culture is simple: find the right people and let the wrong people go.

I used to overcomplicate workplace culture. I subscribed to trendy tactics peddled by so-called “leadership” gurus. I focused on the wrong things, such as creating an aura of “fun” around our brand. An experienced leader will instantly recognize the futility of that method.

It took me years of trial and error to realize how simple it was. Free pizza and beer, weekly parlor games, out-of-the-country trips, and hundreds of hours of one-on-one "therapy" sessions will not create a strong culture. Those are just window-dressing.

A healthy work culture is based on values.

So first, I had to become a better leader and establish my core values. Then, hire people aligned with those values and let misaligned people go. It was as simple as that.

Of course, it took a couple of years to complete the process and have the right mix of people, but, for the most part, our culture now runs itself on a straightforward principle: shared values.

3. Trust your team leaders.

Growth means learning the art of delegation, which was a long and challenging process for someone who started as a micromanager. Eventually, as mentioned above, enlisting competent and trustworthy people helped me to hand off critical hats to key team members. This allowed me to focus on the things I love to do and roles only I can fulfill: vision-setting, selling, creative direction, and thought leadership.

4. Say yes to everything, then learn to say no.

When we were starting, we had to say yes to every opportunity that came our way. And yes, sometimes even free work. We just had to learn how to use them strategically and get something in exchange: experience, portfolio-worthy work, goodwill, leads, or straight referrals.

As we gained more experience and expertise, we had to start qualifying prospects. Otherwise, we’ll be forever stuck in mediocrity-land, doing everything for everyone, constantly disrespected and low-balled.

So, we had to learn which types of clients fit our values, working style, and positioning well.

5. Positioning is crucial to success.

Speaking of positioning, I've found that it is one of the most fundamental business strategies for a firm like ours. Having a specialization, a niche—in our case, brand strategy and creative execution for online coaches and course creators—allows us to go deep into our ideal clients' problems, create repeatable solutions, and make a more significant impact, which qualifies us to charge a premium for our hard-earned expertise.

6. Once a narrow positioning has been established, be picky.

To save time and avoid unnecessary stress, I learned to watch out for major red flags during the selling process. To help me spot them early on, I've compiled this list of questions:

• Are they asking for a quote at first contact without allowing me to do a discovery call?
• Are they imposing their own buying process?
• Are they respectful and professional at the inquiry stage?
• Do they show up on time?
• Do they turn on their video during Zoom calls?
• Are they asking me to "audition" for the role?
• Have they proven product-market fit?
• Have they done this before? If so, what were the results? How was their relationship with their former agency?
• Are they in this for the long haul? Or are they looking for quick results?
• Am I talking to the decision-maker?
• Do they have realistic expectations?
• Are they asking for free work—to pitch ideas and strategies to solve their problems?
• Are they asking for discounts upfront?
• Are they asking for detailed case studies?

If enough red flags come up, I decline an opportunity or refer them to another agency.

7. Be careful of survivor bias.

All advice is good advice when you’re a rookie, and I inevitably fell for the same trap. I took every post, video, podcast, or book from “experts” I consumed as gospel. I didn’t have a filter, and I kept changing directions, to the dismay of my team.

I was new to the game and hadn’t developed the critical thinking skills to differentiate fluff from substance, woo-woo from the sensible, irrelevant from relevant, and survivor bias from verifiable business insight.

But I kept at it. Eventually, through non-stop learning, my B.S. radar got good enough that I was able to recognize which advice was worth listening to.

8. Don’t borrow money to fund growth.

This advice from Baker hit me hard: “Live in the present and don't borrow from the future.” He was talking about money. Taking out a loan only defers the tough decisions we need to make today and extends the recovery period. Essentially, when we borrow money, we’re digging a bigger hole that’s harder to get out of.

Because of this, I was forced to learn the basics of business finance, which was challenging for me. I got into this business because I love creative work, not to pore over spreadsheets.

But, to stay in business, I had no choice but to learn my way around financial statements—a basic requirement for running a successful business. I didn't have to be an accounting whiz. I only needed to learn enough to make sure that we became profitable. Baker’s book, Financial Management of a Marketing Firm, was extremely helpful.

9. Do not hire for potential growth. Hire when it becomes painful.

It took me most of my ten years to finally learn this lesson. Now, I understand why a service business needs to prevent payroll from getting out of control. It's about 80% of our overhead cost.

Another downside of having too many team members is that they don't get many opportunities to be resourceful—to be inventive and effective with their time and energy. They’re not forced to learn how to do things fast to get the same, or better, results. They never get stretched, exercise their ability to handle pressure, and develop strong character.

This doesn’t mean that we allow sustained overworking. It means we're better at finding the right balance between adversity and mollycoddling.

10. Never neglect marketing.

Sales is the lifeblood of a business. It doesn’t matter how well we serve our existing clients; if we don’t have a reliable sales pipeline, we'll never thrive. We'll be stuck in survival mode.

And we cannot rely solely on referrals. So, regularly publishing valuable content to establish our expertise, nurturing leads through our newsletter, and being intentional with our offers are activities we can never neglect.

The old saying that the cobbler’s son has no shoes stops being funny when multiple clients cancel their contracts at the same time.