EIN. This is an important one, especially at first. This is your Employer Identification Number with the IRS, which you’ll need to pay people. You’ll get it when you file your LLC so write it down somewhere safe.
WMH. I mentioned earlier that 90% of what I’ve done since we started our agency are things I’ve never done before. But a young agency owner must learn to WMH (Wear Many Hats) for a while.
Speaking for myself, when we started I was not only the co-CCO/founder, but also an art director, copywriter, deck designer, proofreader, web developer, animator, editor, studio manager and coffee maker. Doing those things, some of which I had to learn on the job, has not only saved us a bunch of money on freelancers, but also made me better at my job and more caffeinated.
IGTHF. When you’re a young agency, you often find yourself having to make something out of nothing. Chances are you’ll start with some projects on the smaller end of the budget spectrum. You’ll want to make them great, not only for your clients, but for your own agency reel. This is where IGTHF (It’s Good To Have Friends) comes in.
Production friends, post-production friends, freelancer friends—any kind of friend who is willing to do you a favor is invaluable. We’ve had the good fortune of having some generous favors done for us that we’re looking forward to repaying if we haven’t already.
HSS. Congrats! Now you’ve got some work coming in and you’re a real agency. You might be tempted to make a staffing plan and start hiring your team. But I recommend HSS (Hiring Staff Slowly), if possible.
Unless you have long-term projects or AOR relationships coming in, you may put a lot of unneeded financial pressure on yourself by hiring staff over freelance. Not only are you committing to their salaries, but staff often comes with other overhead expenses like HR, benefits and potentially (bigger) office space.
NBIEJ. If there is one big conundrum when you start an agency—how do you get clients without work to show as an agency? But how do you get work to show without clients? This is where NBIEJ comes in.
“New Business Is Everyone’s Job” means that, especially when you’re starting, everyone has to pitch in on new business prospecting. Leave any humility to the side that you may have had as a staffer and reach out to old colleagues, clients, friends, cousins, neighbors, strangers—anyone who may know someone who knows someone you might be able to work with. It can get discouraging, but you just need one or two to hit and you’re on your way.
