A common theme I hear from agency owners when they come to me for help is that they are frustrated with how they spend their time each day.
It is usually a mix of whatever “needs” to be done in the moment combined with an attempt to do what they think they “should” be doing.
Meanwhile, most of you are having a hard time hiring all of the help that you need to be effective. The agency talent market has been tough for a while now, and it doesn’t seem likely to change anytime soon.
The way to begin to find your way out of the rut is to write your own job description first.
Just as the flight attendant tells you to put on your own oxygen mask before helping your seatmate, the same rule should apply to managing your agency team.
Start by writing down what you want to be doing when you sit down to work. Not what you can’t find someone else to do or what someone else told you is what agency owners are supposed to do.
Make it a job description that you would actually be excited to apply for if it were available.
Now write down the job description that actually matches what you’re doing today. Include all that stuff you don’t enjoy and wish you weren’t doing.
Now you have a clear picture of where you are today and where you want to go.
How do you change the trajectory? What steps can you take to make your current job description look more like your ideal job description?
It won’t be an overnight process. Most of you can’t wave that magic wand and suddenly change what you do every day.
But if you never take the time to clearly visualize what your ideal role as an agency owner looks like, you are unlikely to ever get there.
Getting your own job description right allows you to get much more strategic about the talent you do hire. Why waste time hiring people in a tough labor market that keep you running on a hamster wheel that you dread?
Do yourself a favor and set aside some time this week to write those job descriptions — current and future — for yourself.
