| I went from a full-time employee to an agency owner (literally one client and one employee for the first ~8 months). Here are some unpleasant surprises I hit along the way: a. hiring is hard - even more so when you are small. I was lucky to start with a senior hire who had a little more experience than me. I think your first hire is more or less determined by luck. b. delegating and trusting your hires is learned habit and takes time. I messed up badly so I don't have any tips for you. c. you need to probably carry a larger bank balance to tide over any downs. Don't inflate your lifestyle just because you are making more money now. d. there are several small, nagging chores that need to be done regularly (accounts, payslips, interviews, invoices, follow-ups, exit interviews, etc.). Over time, this becomes easier and you will discover good help. e. most days will be normal but there will be a few days when you wish you had stayed as a lone consultant and there will be a few days when you are genuinely happy to be running an agency. I still struggle with this and don't have too many tips. f. you will go through a phase where you will do almost zero technical work. The phase can last for years until you hire the right people to free you up. Just be patient - you have to navigate this phase if you want a stable business. g. once you start and are not a failure (i.e., even if you are mediocre), you are on a treadmill that is hard to get off. You employees want to see growth and direction even if you, as the owner, may be content with a lifestyle business. The worst recoverable mistake I unknowingly made in early days was to focus a lot more on the client and not bother about the image of my own company. We felt more like an extended team of another company than our own. I feel this is a recoverable error and that you don't need to avoid this. And as a disclaimer, I'm not in a hurry to scale so I avoided or have delayed many other problems that people more successful than me have hit. |