If you run a small agency, I am prepared to bet good money you have heard someone say 'you need to work on the business and not in the business'. Am I right? I am equally confident your next question is, how? With the competing interests of clients, employees and your cash flow, it's not always that easy. But fear not. I've got your back. It is time you looked at the Entrepreneurial Operating System, or EOS for short. EOS is a framework developed to help business owners structure their organisation and management systems to facilitate growth. In this episode of Through the Line, I talk with Tim Watson, a UK based EOS Implementor. Tim is an expert at helping business owners to understand and use the EOS framework, a skill he has learned from applying the principles for businesses of all shapes and sizes. Listen in as Tim introduces the core elements of EOS, such as the Vision Traction Framework and Rocks. If you run a business, this is well worth an hour of your time.

Does your agency look like every other agency? Are you part of the custard soup of marketing and creative services companies? Does your messaging focus on you being award-winning, or full-service agency, or that you work with your clients as partners for the long term? If so you have a problem and it's one of the reasons why brand side marketers find it so difficult to tell agencies apart. From the outside, you mostly look the same. Roland is a bit different. He runs an agency that helps other agencies to market themselves. How? Through clear strategy, differentiated positioning and great communications all built on top of some brave, strategic decision making. Think your agency strategy, positioning and messaging could do with a shot in the arm. Start here and pick up some great advice to get you thinking clearly.

Growing businesses is a journey full of learnings. Whether you are developing a publishing business, a travel brand or a marketing agency, I promise there will be plenty of lessons along the way. Just ask entrepreneur, Martyn Sibley. In this episode of Through the Line, Martyn joins me to explore his journey. We unpack some of his key lessons for success, such as finding partners with complementary skills, and the importance of mentors. We also talk about Martyn's passion for disability inclusion as we explore the spending power of the purple pound. Did you know in the UK that disabled consumers have a spending power of £250bn per annum, with this figure rising to $8tn (yes that is trillion and not billion) globally? That's one hell of a big market place, largely ignored by marketers. Just 0.06% of advertising features people with a disability. When you consider 22% of the UK population has a disability that is hardly inclusive. But, it is also a massive opportunity for the right brand and savvy marketers like Martyn Sibley.

In the dynamic world of marketing, change is pretty much a constant. Over the last two decades, everything has changed, except perhaps for how most of us approach the delivery of marketing programmes or projects. Enter stage left the world of agile marketing. A world in which we use data to test, learn, iterate and refine in an ongoing, process of working towards marketing perfection. A methodology built on software development that suits the digital marketing landscape we now play in. You would be forgiven for thinking agile marketing sounds a bit like yet another buzzword. But give it a chance. It includes some fundamentally different approaches to management, whether you are in a consultancy/ agency environment, or in-house. You might find a few ideas in Zoe's approach that will help your marketing go from good, to great.

There's a common belief among marketing agency entrepreneurs that when the time comes, and they have made enough money or spent enough energy on the business, they will be able to sell it. They may be thinking the likes of Omnicom, WPP, or another big agency group will snap them up, and they can live off the proceeds. The reality is very different. Agency owners that successfully exit this way are few and far between. That said, it's not impossible, and many achieve their exit and go on to other things. In this podcast, Andy talks with Dan Rhodes, a branding consultant who successfully sold his agency to another in 2007. Dan shares some of his key learnings from the process; getting value from your advisors, negotiation strategies, valuation and earn-out and crucially, what can you do in advance to get your agency in the best possible shape to sell. As Dan describes, getting match fit. If you are thinking of selling your agency business, you're going to get a great deal from this episode of Through the Line.

Our Beyond the Creds Deck episodes are interviews with agency founders. People who took the crazy and challenging road to fame and fortune by opening up their own marketing shop. In this edition, I talk with Kelly Molson, Co-Founder and MD of digital agency Rubber Cheese. Kelly describes her experience of securing her first clients, getting a business partner, finding a niche and growing her client base over a 17-year journey. Kelly also opens up about her challenges with infertility and IVF. We talk about how this has affected her personally and her agency too; imagine having to look after your clients while undergoing a course of IVF, or making horrendously difficult life decisions. Thank you, Kelly, for being so open and honest about something so deeply challenging. It was a privilege talking with you.

Ever wondered why some leaders are always in your social news feed, while others are invisible? For every Richard Branson, there are hundreds without a voice, which is a huge missed opportunity - particularly when you consider leaders are outperforming brands when it comes to social media impact. Look in your Linkedin news feed. My guess is you follow more people than you do brand pages. How then do you go about harnessing the power of social media for your brand, or for developing your leadership's positioning? That's where Phil Szomszor from start-up agency Brightside comes in. Phil and his partner Jo have created their unique methodology to help communicators build their leaders' profiles on social media, tell stories and communicate with multiple stakeholders. Want to get a better return from social media, listen in. You might learn a trick or two from a highly experiences comms pro. To connect with Phil: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philszomszor/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/philszomszor Resource Phil mentions in the show: Communicate in a Crisis: Understand, Engage and Influence Consumer Behaviour to Maximize Brand Trust https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0749486503/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_HM26EbN43YQGS Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel: https://www.sixpixels.com/ Freakanomics: https://freakonomics.com/archive/

Running a marketing agency is easy, right? Raising a family is a walk in the park too. Well, actually that's a no on both counts. They are challenging in their own right but put them together, and you have a recipe for long hours, difficult decisions and compromise. You would have to be crazy. Say hello to the fab Sophy Duarte. Sophy left her last agency role a couple of years ago, to join forces with a business partner and run B2B agency Element Global. Sophy has never looked back. Listen in for a look under the hood of what it takes to run an agency, raise a family and stay sane. Thanks for sharing your world with me, Sophy. You can reach Sophy here: Twitter: https://twitter.com/sophyd Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophyduarte/ Website: www.element-global.co.uk

The hackneyed expression that people fear public speaking more than death is probably not far from the truth. But, being able to stand up and deliver a compelling presentation is one of the significant enablers of success. It might be selling a product, pitching an idea, reporting to the board, or trying to convince a team to follow you. All of these require you to communicate confidently. That's where Jon Torrens comes in. A former stand up comedian, Jon now spends his time teaching introverts how to communicate. The good news is, I asked Jon to come on the podcast, and the rest is history. Listen in if you would like some top tips for how to smash your next presentation out of the park.

During the Coronavirus lockdown in April 2020, I decided to host an online Q&A for agencies that need ideas, advice and inspiration for how to guide their agency shops through the lockdown. I invited Lena Robinson, an agency veteran from business consultancy FTSQ, to come along and add some expert advice. This is a recording of the event in which Lena and I answer questions ranging from leadership to business development, marketing and how challenger agencies can tackle established big players in the market. I hope it is valuable for those running or managing an agency business.