Every time someone says “scale your agency” I do a little sick in my mouth

Not because I hate the word “scale”… but because of the associations we all quickly make on both counts. When I ask you to imagine ‘scaling an agency’ – what comes into your mind?

You’re probably thinking….

• Shiny office
• BROS (lol)
• Deadlines
• Whiteboards
• Boardmeetings
• Meetings generally
• Chinos and suit jackets
• Hard work
• Perfectionism ✨
• The Friday drinks trolley
• Grind
  
  

I used to want a version of that. More clients, big team, 3 offices. I’ll pass on the suits and the clichés, but the point is that I wanted to SCALE in a very typical way.

I always wanted to ‘do things differently’ compared to the agencies that’d I’d worked in…. (ie: I wanted to have a ‘kind’ business that gave a shit..) But still, the rinse/repeat business model was hard wired within me.

I was aiming for a 7 figure agency.

Until I realised through the pursuit of that, that I was managing creativity instead of embodying it. Did you know that at the height of it all, I had 5 contractors working for me?

Turns out, I didn’t want a a bigger business. I wanted more profit, less stress and more fun. I didn’t want to manage creativity – I wanted to BE IT.

(In my somatic training I uncovered the idea that ‘movement isn’t something we do, it’s something we ARE’. Same goes for creativity.)

I actually wanted that delicious feeling of breathing room, autonomy and … freedom; I wanted to paint every morning and enjoy afternoon walks – but I convinced myself that ‘growing a big business’ only looked a certain way.

After a while, I even stopped scrapbooking my moodboards. (I know.)

Freedom. The reason we all started this for in the first place, right? Most creatives don’t burn out because they lack ambition. But sometimes that ambition is dressed in the wrong, oversized suit.

It’s because the only model we’re shown requires self-abandonment. (As someone who came from the big-agency world – go figure.)

That’s where the anti-agency comes in.

No wait: The Anti Agency Model™️(not trademarked yet but, it will be.)

I’m here to redefine what an agency even looks like. And to take the (s)ick away from the word scale.

The Anti Agency Model™️ is not about playing smaller. It’s about designing a business that lets you lead the life you’ve always wanted – now. The anti-agency doesn’t scale through more more more.
It scales through better. QUALITY. Steadiness.

By doing the opposite of the masses. Zigging where other’s zag. By the creation of your own rules.

The core tenets of the Anti Agency are as follows:

• You break the rules instead of following blueprints. (mine included)
• You lead with joy, instead of urgency.
• You travel often because inspiration feeds revenue.
• You schedule space like it’s part of the job.
• You price for depth not the clock.
• You let your positioning walk the walk.
• You embody creativity you don’t manage it.

I used to think wanting this meant I wasn’t serious enough. That I should want the 7 figure empire, the team, my name in lights etc…

Turns out, I just wanted a business that didn’t cost me my nervous system.

who knew?

The Inspiration

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