well, that didn't work. lessons learned from running an agency
TRANSCRIPT
Treat your business like a science experiment.
• Hiring (and firing)
• Managing a (Remote) Team
• Sales & Marketing
• 8 year old web development studio
• Based in Chicago
• 7 employees + 4 contractors
• Completely remote team
Does this sound familiar?
• Your new contractor started off strong, but has missed every deadline.
• They over promise and under-deliver.
• When the going gets tough, they go silent.
• They stop returning phone calls.
Take Action
➡ Start a Trello board, Google Doc, etc. to track potential hires
➡ Brainstorm three people you might like to work with
➡ Schedule coffee, lunch or phone call with one of them “just to catch up”
Hiring Resources
• Trello board we use for hiring
• Trello board we use for on-boarding
You’re already delegating!
• Amazon Subscribe-n-Save
• Photoshop Macros
• Scripts and reusable code libraries
• DRY code
Take Action
➡ Schedule a monthly 1:1 meeting with each of your team members
➡ Put it in the calendar!
➡ Identify one thing you’re spending time on that you can train someone else to do
Management Resources• “What to Expect when You Start Having 1 on 1s
with Your Team”
• “The 12 Week Year” -Brian Moran
• Surprise Highway Playbook
• Thoughtbot Playbook
• Zirtual - US based virtual assistants
–The Magic Email by Kurt Elster
“Since I have not heard from you on this, I have to assume your priorities have changed.”
Recurring Revenue is Magic
surprisehighway.com/website-maintenance
Take Action
➡ Block out 1 hour in your calendar every week for sales.
➡ Early in the week. Early in the day.
➡ surprisehighway.com/website-maintenance
Sales Resources
• “Million Dollar Consulting” -Alan Weiss
• Boomerang for Gmail
• Productize course -Brian Casel
• 30x500 course -Amy Hoy
• Wheelhouse productized services directory
Outsource your weakness
Content Creation philipmorganconsulting.com
Designshapingthepage.com
Development(cough) surprisehighway.com (cough)
Marketing Resources
• “The Positioning Manual” -Philip Morgan
• Drip simple marketing automation
Three things can change behavior in the long term:
1. Have an epiphany
2. Change your environment
3. Take baby steps
–BJ Fogg, Stanford PhD tinyhabits.com
My New HabitsWhen my feet hit the floor first thing in the morning…
I tell myself, “Today is going to be a good day.”
After I brush my teeth… I floss one tooth.
When I sit down at my desk in the morning… I identify one thing I need to get done that day.
Take Action
➡ Choose one thing you’re going to do differently next week to improve your business
➡ Tweet, email or text me your one thing
➡ I will follow up on Friday to see if you did it.
@siffring [email protected] (415) 305-1992
surprisehighway.com/peers