You’re at the top of your game, with a number of good campaigns and impressive award wins under your belt. You’ve worked your way up to ECD and you start thinking, “Perhaps I should go out on my own…”
You wouldn’t be alone in this thought. In fact, some of Australia’s best agencies were started by good creatives striking out on their own.
But what I’ve learnt, and I’m sure others who have gone independent have too, is that it’s one thing to know how to produce great work, but another entirely to know how to run a successful sustainable business.
In 2008 I thought I was doing alright. My agency Zoo in Canberra had grown to about 60 people, we were doing great work and the business was in good shape. Then one of my partners was approached by the STW Group to join its growing stable of agencies.
At the time it seemed like an OK idea, but long term it affected our culture and morale. On the upside it was a great experience to spend some with guys like Russell Tate and John Singleton. Watching them work was an eye opener for me. They were smart, business savvy operators who were down to earth and really understood how to blend creativity and business. They had a clear vision for their future and their business, and really got the fundamentals of making money – something I’d rarely seen in creative people.
This experience taught me how important it was to establish a strong foundation if we wanted to grow in the advertising game – without it, we wouldn’t stand a chance.
Since reclaiming ZOO in 2009, I’ve been on a mission to rebuild my business using a new model. I’ve brought in some incredible talent and given them an opportunity to have a stake in their own agency, with support from me and the rest of the network.
With agencies in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Singapore and Auckland, I’m at the start of my journey to build a group of agencies that blend an independent spirit with the financial strength, talent and footprint of a multinational network.
Here are some of the things I’ve learnt along the way.
Sometimes smaller is better
I’ve intentionally kept my agencies small and none of them will ever be more than 50 people. When you get larger, the admin and HR it takes to run the business can consume it and you. It’s better to keep your teams lean and agile so you can adapt to new ideas and ways of doing things, without losing focus on the work.
Remove barriers to do great work
To get the best from your people, remove as many barriers as you can for them to do the kind of work they want to do. In our business, I've eliminated (or streamlined) as many administrative processes as I can. In short when you start here, it's amazing how much it activates fundamental change with everything else.
Reimagine your working environment
On this basis, it led us to completely redesign the working environment of a few of our agencies. They now look more like a cross between a boutique hotel foyer and a Qantas business lounge - but it just feels right.
This was driven by two core beliefs. The first is getting rid of time sheets (which is pretty radical for a network), substituting time management for good preparation and project management. This makes people a lot happier and treats them like adults, plus it also makes it easier to blend our agency staff with specialist contractors more seamlessly when required.
The second belief is that most people do their best work where and when they're in their happy place, which as we've discovered, is very different for different types of people.
For example, my HR manager loves working in crowded, noisy cafes where she doesn't know anyone and I do most of my best work on planes because I hate flying. As such, our agency environment needed to be more transitional to accommodate a range of different types of interactions.
Give your key people skin in the game
Many key people that I've interviewed and attracted lately, have been at similar points in their careers. They're mid-30s to 40s, approaching the top of their game, they're well paid, but don't just want to change the colour of their business card.
They want to challenge themselves because they believe that the best is yet to come, and they're right. They also have a nagging desire to see if they can run their own show, however they are concerned about funding, and the whole lack of business experience thing.
We've found that for the right people, giving them skin in the game from day one, with an incentive to increase this in 12 to 18 months, assists them to grow into the business owners they wanted to become. They need to be resilient however, because learning things like how to attract new clients and reading a balance sheet, are often new skills and can be daunting for many.
By Pawl Cubbin
Founder of Zoo Group