Ready to bring on more clients? Wondering how to augment and allocate resources as you grow? In this article, you'll discover how to put the right processes and people in place to support growth.

How to Overcome the Challenges of Growing Your Marketing Agency

Running a small business is filled with ups and downs, struggles and triumphs. For social media marketing agency owner Karlyn Ankrom, the journey has been one of learning, growth, and constantly working to overcome challenges.

Karlyn fell into owning her agency almost by accident. Though she always wanted to run her own business, managing an agency and people was never part of her plan. She started off freelancing social media services, slowly taking on more clients and bringing on contractors. It wasn't until 2018, when she hired her first 1099 contractor that she realized she had built an agency.

That first hire came out of pure necessity—there simply weren't enough hours in the day for Karlyn to serve all of her clients alone. Though leaving the security of full-time employment was scary, she eventually made the leap. For years, Karlyn moonlighted, running her agency as a side hustle while working a 9 to 5 job.

When her agency began earning enough income to replace her salary, she gave her employers an opportunity to become her first client. Though initially intimidated to jump into entrepreneurship fully, Karlyn learned to embrace uncertainty. '... Sometimes you have to let other things go so you can step into what you really want to do and... your purpose going forward', Karlyn admits.

#1: Learn to Scale Intentionally

In 2021, Karlyn's agency, Oh Snap! Social, exploded. As businesses realized digital marketing was here to stay post-pandemic, her team grew rapidly to meet demand. Caught up in the enthusiasm for growth, Karlyn eagerly took on new clients and contractors without much forethought.

However, the dangers of scaling too quickly soon became apparent. Within a short period, Karlyn had onboarded five new monthly retainer clients, wreaking havoc operationally. In hindsight, she wishes she had limited new business to two clients per month for more sustainable growth.

Social media is constantly changing. It requires Karlyn and her team to be up to speed on the latest trends. Listening to her clients' needs, Karlyn hired more team members to fill the void and trained current staff to level up their skills.

Scaling her business with intention meant that Karlyn could grow her business with more ease and less stress. It came down to having the proper systems and procedures in place so that her team knew what was happening and her clients could also manage that level of expectation.

#2: Craft Efficient Systems and Processes

Creating agency systems and processes for scalability is a significant aspect of growing your business, especially if it's a new business. Karlyn hired an operations manager in 2018 to focus specifically on documenting procedures like automating Oh Snap's onboarding process.

With Karlyn shifting into the visionary role, she relies on her 'hammer' Ops Manager to honor her boundaries even when she doesn't honor them herself.

Hiring skill sets that differ from your own is vital. 'My brain does not think in systems and processes...I have to really pull back my expertise in a lot of ways and just get back to the basics,' Karlyn said.

Additionally, providing clients with upfront documentation that clearly defines industry jargon has reduced repetitive questions. As an agency owner, your job is to educate and guide both your team and clients.

For example, Oh Snap uses Slack for all client communications. Challenges arose when clients began using it as a texting platform to ask a ton of questions.

You also want to keep in mind that the scope of your work in your agreements with clients needs to be crystal clear about what you will and won't do.

#3: Avoid Comparison and Burnout

For small business owners, avoiding burnout while growing a sustainable company is an ever-present challenge. Karlyn admits she came dangerously close after chasing arbitrary milestones.

'I got caught up in that hustle...of a million dollars because I thought that's what everyone wanted,' Karlyn admits.

As an agency owner, you need to remember that people largely share their successes and curated lifestyles online, not their failures. Comparing yourself is dangerous.

Burnout is real. It's as real for your team as it is for you as an agency owner. Much like swimmers competing in a race, it's important to keep your blinders on and stay focused on your own race.

Now, with a team of six and a motto of maintaining, refining, and simplifying, Karlyn is laser-focused on finding the right agency balance.