Transitioning Yourself from Agency Owner to Agency CEO | #AskSwenk

By Jason Swenk on December 20, 2016

How to fire yourself from a key role in the business and transition from Agency Owner to Agency CEO. You built your business on skill and passion. You’re the best at a certain aspect of it and giving that up can be really difficult. I can totally relate!  Here’s how to  say ‘yes’ to the right things and ‘no’ to the wrong things so you can scale.

Lisa asked: “In the Agency Playbook, I watched the video on leadership where you outline the roles of an agency owner. Creative direction was not on that list.

Here’s the thing — and I’m not being arrogant — but my company has grown because I’m best at being creative. I’ve experimented with backing off on smaller projects. But it’s obvious the projects I work on are more creative and innovative than the ones I don’t touch.

My question is, how do I successfully back out of the Creative Director role and shift into the (boring but important) role of a CEO? Or should I stay in the Creative Director role since my agency relies on my talent for it’s success?”

I relate to this question as in the beginning, I was always the most creative person. It’s challenging for a client to tell you what they want until they see it but this isn’t scalable. To fix this, you need to set up a process and document the process from the beginning of a project for your team to follow along.

You should figure out a system if you are going to continue in your role or if not, find the next person you feel will suit the role and find what suits you best.

Did You Enjoy This Week’s Episode on How to Become an Agency CEO?

Find more of my Ask Swenk series by clicking here or why not visit my Youtube channel for more of the series and lots more videos that can help you as an agency owner improve your business.

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