It's the nature of agencies, and their founders, to keep looking forward.

New ideas, new clients, new recruits, new projects, new challenges. The work to build the future is relentless, and agencies pour energy into it.

And that's what makes them amazing.

Until it breaks them.

The agency business model is more complex than just keep on keeping on — agencies have to sense and adapt more rapidly than any other kind of business.

That means stopping to think on a regular basis, and having a chance to dream. Being the architects of the future rather than just the bricklayers.

Summer is here, and at one point or another we all need a break. This year we really need it. In amongst actual relaxation, it's a great chance for founders to pause and reflect.

When can you give yourself some reflection time? Add a day to your holiday? Take a few days away somewhere quiet by yourself? Just a day in the garden or a park with a notebook?

What are the questions you want to ponder? The things from this year you want to reflect on? The challenges ahead you want to daydream about?

This week, decide when your reflection time will be, and make some notes to guide it.

P.S. For the next six weeks, this newsletter will be in summer reflection mode. Each week there'll be a short and simple prompt to think about for your agency, that's easy to scan without getting dragged back into office emails — plus some reading suggestions.

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Agency Advisory Boards

I'm on a mission to help agency owners fall in love with leading their agencies again.

The first step is having an effective agency advisory board, to support the founder-CEO in this sort of reflection amongst the action.

We do this at three levels, depending on the stage the agency is at:

  • Virtual advisory board — with guidance, workshops and briefings to help you do it yourself. Great if you already have an advisory board, or are a small agency wanting to start one. This is a low monthly fee to be accessible to all agencies.
  • Shared advisory board — getting a group of agencies together to share the costs of a fully-facilitated advisory board.
  • Dedicated advisory board — a fully-facilitated advisory board just for your agency.

Find out more, and get started with a highly effective advisory board.