6 Steps to Scaling a Digital Agency
Digital agencies thrived during the COVID19 pandemic. Why? Everyone took a sharp turn to pursue digital solutions to stay afloat—the demand was there.
Jason Swenk, digital marketing extraordinaire and leader of the Digital Agency Elite Mastermind, saw this happen in real-time. Not only did his own business thrive, but he was able to help many other agency owners do the same thing.
In our recent interview with Jason on a recent episode of the Stride to Freedom podcast, he shares the key ingredient to scaling a digital marketing agency, even in a pandemic.
Here’s some of the key takeaways from our conversation—check out the podcast to hear the whole thing!
How to Scale a Digital Agency in 6 Steps
After working with thousands of agency owners, Jason has seen them at all stages of operations. He’s identified six key steps to scaling an agency, each with its own challenge and solution.
And, scaling a business is kind of like scaling a mountain, so Jason uses the metaphor here to understand these six steps:
- Staging: In this stage, you don’t have clarity around your vision, direction, or niche. The key here is to get that clarity and become hyper-focused on exactly what you want to do.
- Basecamp: Here your biggest problem is a lack of leads. To get more leads that align with your vision, you need to build a lead-generation system.
- Climb: As your business starts taking off, you might not be closing the right accounts. The reason here is that you don’t have a sales system and the owner is doing everything. The owner needs to hire the right people and hand it off.
- Crux: The biggest challenge here is that your team is not consistent. The key is to bring in the right people and get the owner out of day-to-day operations.
- Crest: There’s a great view from here! A lot of people are doing well and choose not to summit at this point. However, if you do want to make that last push, you need to grow your leaders.
- Summit: You’ve made it. This is the point when you switch from an owner to a CEO—the person with the vision, ability to develop leaders, and the main personality behind the agency.
You can’t skip steps or get ahead without addressing the challenges of each one. They build on each other, so take the time to understand where you’re starting and what you need to do to keep scaling.
Digital Agency Elite Mastermind
Jason helps his clients through these six steps to scale a business through his mastermind. It’s a group of agency owners, most at the climb or higher stage, who want to scale. They meet together virtually twice a month, in-person at epic outdoor retreats, and regularly communicate to encourage and motivate each other.
Leading the mastermind is the type of work Jason thrives on. It’s all about connecting people, mentoring them, and helping them thrive.
Jason discovered these passions after turning inward and figuring out what his true passions and values were. Then, he built a team of people who shared those things to support his work. Finally, Jason has strict rules that protect his time off so that he can be effective when he’s “on” but also unwind and unplug when needed.
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We only covered a fraction of what Jason shared during the podcast. Make sure you check out his full interview on the Stride to Freedom podcast. You can also connect with Jason and his company on LinkedIn or check out his mastermind.
And if you want to know more about us at Stride Services, contact us today. We offer back-office accounting and CFO services, including stable and efficient bookkeeping, cash flow management, and actionable analytics for growth.
This Stride Live Webinar is hosted by Stride Services. Stride is a comprehensive financial solutions provider, specializing in outsourced bookkeeping, accounting, tax, and advisory services for Managed Service Providers.
If you’re interested in being a featured guest on our Live Webinars or if there’s a subject matter expert you’d like us to interview, please let us know!
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Show Notes + Transcript:Â
Jason Swenk: LinkedIn
Jason Swenk: Website/LinkedIn
Jason Swenk: Email
Webinar Transcript:Â
Digital Agency Mastermind with Jason Swenk, Agency Mentor, Coach & Advisor
