Turning Pro

One of my great pleasures in life is cooking.

I even won a cooking competition here in France, judged by a 2-Michelin-Star professional French chef. (Professionally French, as well as professionally a chef)

And whenever I cook for people they tend to say “You should open a restaurant.”

But I never will.

Because I know the difference between being good at something, and being a pro.

Just being good at cooking means I can do what I feel like, make things up as I go, be creative, focus on the fun parts.

My kitchen can be a bit messy, there can be a bit of a wait for the meal after the guests arrive, some dishes may not be perfect — and the guests accept it all because you’re an amateur so they just focus on the taste and conversation.

Being a pro means you have to excel at all the foundational stuff as well as the fun stuff.

The foundational stuff should become invisible to your clients — but form the smooth-running solid base on which you can wow them with creativity.

And you have to be able to do this at scale.

Working with a larger team to bring your creativity to the table. Building a reputation and marketing to attract a steady stream of clients that value what you do and can fund the team you need. The front of house service being invisibly efficient. A kitchen that works like a smooth machine with every element of every dish coming together perfectly cooked at just the right moment. Processes that mean everything lines up between menu design, supplier orders, deliveries, prep and service. And so on.

A lot of us start agencies because we are very good at something. Design, coding, research, marketing, writing, and more.

At first being good is enough. Clients are fine with the rough edges because they like the taste and the experience.

But if and when you grow your agency, just being good at it is no longer enough.

At some point you have to become a pro if you want to avoid a world of pain.

You have to care about and design all the foundational parts of your business so they create a smooth and invisible base on which you can then be even more creative.

As the leader it’s your role to lead this transition to being pro.