It’s always interesting seeing the first submissions roll in for our annual survey. I spent about 30 hours on pre-production — wrestling with questions, rephrasing things meticulously, cutting down the list, re-ordering — and I tried to imagine what the results would look like.
And every year, the answers surprise me.
I guess it’s normal to assume that most people will answer like you, but that’s rarely the case. There are a lot of different reasons we got into this business, and we all took slightly different paths.
It makes sense that we’re all optimizing for something different.
Of course, we all want to make money. But profit is only one of the things you can optimize for…
Some agency owners are optimizing for lifestyle and enjoyment. Taking on projects that fill them up and keep them excited about the work.
Others optimize for time freedom that allows them to pursue their hobbies and passions outside of work.
Some people optimize for stability and predictability, while others try to maximize freedom and flexibility.
There are folks chasing status and recognition. Others on a mission of having the biggest impact through their work.
None of these are the right or wrong way to run an agency — but I think knowing what you’re optimizing for is vital. Otherwise, you can find yourself trapped in a prison of your own creation.
I have a really good example of this.
When you log into the creator dashboard, YouTube immediately hits you with a wall of metrics; views, subscribers, and watch time. To the platform, those numbers are how you define success.
But those aren’t actually the reasons I make YouTube videos.
I make them because teaching helps me understand things better. Because the authority it builds brings in great leads to my agency. And because it teaches me new skills and gives me a different type of creative outlet.
But none of those things show up in the dashboard.
By YouTube’s metrics, my channel isn’t very successful (they like to remind me of this by sending me barely enough money to buy a couple tacos every month 🤣).
But by my definition? It far exceeds anything I ever expected.
When you run your own business, you get to decide what success looks like for you.
The danger is that if you don’t consciously decide what you’re optimizing for, it’s very easy to start measuring yourself by someone else’s metrics.
Revenue, team size, followers, growth… None of these things are the wrong thing to chase.
But they might not actually be the thing you want.
