ALL ARTICLES

Business Planning/Management

The Single Most Important Factor for Agency Success: ENERGY

Second Wind
2/10/2024

In my opinion, the single most important factor for success in the small- to mid-sized advertising agency business is maintaining a high energy level. High energy transcends almost everything… skill ...

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Profit Rich, Cash Poor? It’s Time for an Audit

Second Wind
1/27/2024

Want to hear a horror story? One of our members was “cash poor” for several years. Neither the owner nor his accountant could understand why the agency was so busy ...

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Is There An Ideal Mix Of Accounts In Your Agency

Second Wind
2/9/2023

It’s a good question: most agencies have an account mix that is far from ideal. Frequently, a single account controls the life of any given agency—a “gorilla,” if ...

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What the Most Successful Agencies Do Every Day

Second Wind
3/24/2022

Over the years, we've had many conversations with agency owners and managers about efficient and effective operations. One thing we've noticed is a pattern of success in the ...

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How’s Your Leadership Growing?

Second Wind
3/11/2022

It is a well-established fact that agencies with better leadership are more likely to enjoy long-term success. Agencies with highly skilled people are the “norm” these days. Your agency HAS ...

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Business Owner Seeks Partner, Heir…

Second Wind
2/8/2022

Succession planning is a bit like a lonely-hearts ad. We've seen many buy/sell/merge/retire deals with agency principals over some 35 years. Most of these deals are ...

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Your Employees Can Buy You Out, Even If They Have No Money

Second Wind
1/26/2022

Recently, we worked with an agency president on his retirement. He had several really good employees who expressed an interest in keeping the agency going after the owner retired. The ...

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Wildly Important Goals

Second Wind
1/12/2022

Do you ever get the feeling that the more your agency tries to do, the less you actually accomplish? As 2022 gets off to a quick start, you may begin ...

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Agency Stress Test

Second Wind
1/10/2022

Let''s be honest, the past two years have been stressful. Stressful for agency owners, stressful for clients, stressful for employees, just plain stressful all around. From adapting to new ...

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Planning to Meet Next Year's Challenges

Planning to Meet This Year's Challenges

Second Wind
1/3/2022

Another year came racing to a close. It’s time to do the annual agency review and hold a business planning session. Yes, we know... planning is such a CHORE ...

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