People seldom like to think about the impact of a disaster or crisis on their business. It is human nature to optimistically ignore that possibility until it hits square in ...

Many agency principals and new business strategists are now reconsidering agency specialization. In a diverse marketplace, identifying and leveraging agency strengths can help you grow your agency business. The pressure ...

Second Wind has worked with, talked to, and advised agencies for decades. In that time, one pattern has repeated itself regardless of agency size, style, or market: a consistent lack ...

You had better be billable. Commissions and markups have largely disappeared from the agency revenue mix. That leaves fees, billable hours, and increasingly, value-based and flat-fee arrangements as the primary ...

An agency principal who built his shop from a handful of people to over 100 in 20 years was once asked the secret of his success.

The expected answers would ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...