Catching Fire
The cohort-based hivemind service for those who prefer team learning
Catching Fire is our hybrid hivemind service, taking agency founders on a “big 5 group safari”. Designed as a pure form of mastermind group, with the emphasis on benefitting from the collective wisdom of peers at a similar stage, guided by a seasoned expedition leader.
Who is it for?
You’ll already have a growing reputation with at least 12 months of sustained success and a team that is beginning to grow. You’re likely still a founder who is operating as a hands-on leader in the business. You’re pulling your team up a steep gradient of growth, but perhaps lack someone to help pull you upwards.
It's for marketing agencies who have reached a stable base of sales, perhaps around £250K, and want to advance towards a £500K turnover and more.
If you’re already beyond that point you should look into our Personal Everest 1-1 services.
Catching Fire is ideal for those who enjoy collaborating to achieve growth and value breadth and depth of outside perspectives.
At this stage of the agency journey we all face common challenges in core business areas.
What does it solve?
Building a reputable, profitable agency means being a great all-rounder who can address the First 5 challenges.
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The hivemind means you are not on your own
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The mastermind means deep understanding of complex areas that keep you up at night.
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Your accountability - we hold your feet to the fire.
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Create actionable knowledge each month on topics decided by the group and led by one of our expert partners
How does it work?
The Agency Adventure Guides and a hand-picked group of your agency founder peers are available to you to meet the challenges you face, on a regular monthly basis.
We’re not there just to give you good vibes or put you on a rigid “on-rails” programme. We walk the walk of your adventure alongside you.
The Catching Fire Adventure includes:
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Quarterly 1-1 consultancy sessions with your Guide
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Monthly full-day hivemind group sessions
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Individual accountability to your the 'group board'
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Expert led - Action based learning sessions
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Challenge focus session on specific topics
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Ongoing support via a dedicated Slack community
Catching Fire membership is available for £447 + VAT per month, with a minimum 3 month commitment. Chat to us about how to can support the growth of your agency.
Big 5 Challenges
Sales & Marketing
Ensuring your team is well-fed along your journey
Positioning and differentiation: How to be a distinctive brand in a highly competitive sector, showcase your mission and purpose, and deliver a message that make it easy for people to want to work with you. Marketing strategy: How to spend budgets wisely on tactics that deliver ROI, create the right mix of marketing tactics and ensure that you don’t neglect your own marketing because you’re busy delivering for clients. Sales strategy: How to price projects competitively, leverage your skillsets to ensure the best possible profitability, and when to balance taking on projects that improve your profile, vs. those that put cash in the bank. Customer account strategy: How to keep your best customers happy without over-servicing. How to judge when it’s time to on from a client, or client type. And how to break the glass ceilings to the next level of work in terms of credibility, capability and risk profile.
People & Culture
Finding and motivating your sherpas
Building the right team: What does a core agency team look like to deliver your services? Who are those crucial first hires to complement the founder(s) skillsets. And how do you find and hire those people successfully? Adding headcount profitably: As your services expand and client expectations increase, how do you keep a balance between adding “fee earners”, with account management teams and other support staff, avoiding false economies. Maintaining a positive team culture: It’s hard to keep everyone in an agency team happy, all the time. How do you keep them pulling in the same direction whilst allowing them to have the career development they want? And how do you reward them, avoiding resentments around roles and remuneration. Dealing with team issues or crises: Good management is most important when things go wrong. How do you stop discontent infecting the agency and provide the right balance between flexibility and productivity. If someone isn’t productive, how do you resolve improving them, or moving on from them?
Finance & Profit
Funding your expedition and being rewarded for reaching your goals
Operating on the right financial model: What financial models work best for agencies? In terms of revenue generation, should you prioritise making services easy to sell, or profitable? And what is the right hourly rate, or should that not even be the way to price? Managing cashflow: Controlling costs is key to business resilience. Are your operating on the best possible terms with clients? Are your services balanced to provide liquidity? And what are the key costs to keep a close eye on at all times? Making the right investments: There are always many choice in how re-invest profits, how do you measure those choices and spend wisely? Better tech, more people, more marketing effort? And what are the processes and metrics that will allow you move the business forward in the safest manner? Balancing risk and reward: When is the right time to make changes? When times are good, or “just in time” when issues appear? Within your leadership group, how do you resolve these tricky decisions without becoming paralysed or just going on gut feel?
Strategy and Planning
Mapping out your route and putting all the logistics in place
Market awareness: While you focus on your business, what is happening out there? Which trends are just blips, which are fundamental changes to the digital landscape that you need to be addressing? Business structure: How do you structure your agency to grow effectively? By putting all your eggs into one core business, or by creating a group structure for services and cost centres? As the team expands, how do you keep a lean structure but retain effective middle-management? Staying ahead of competitors: How do your clients perceive what you are delivering for them, against others. And how do you ensure you are pitching effectively, to maintain a healthy win rate for the effort you’re putting in to acquire new clients? Deciding how to grow: In terms of your offer, should you broaden, or niche? What impact might those decisions have on your team? And how fast should growth happen? How do you judge when you’re in danger of stagnation, or in danger of moving too far, too fast?
Operations & Processes
Ensuring everyone knows their role and how to react to every eventuality
Tech stack development: Any modern marketing agency requires some degree of technology underpinning their services. What enables your team to do the best job possible, as profitably as possible, and what is a “nice to have”, or worse, a white elephant? Legal and contractual planning: How do you protect your agency from bad actors, or just clients with unrealistic expectations? How do you protect your own intellectual property from theft or misuse? What are the key factors in making our adventure a safe one? Office vs. remote working: How an agency operates has changed massively in the last decade. The next generation of talent has very different expectations from the last. How do we keep people happy in their work/life balance and provide an environment where they can develop and learn their craft? Resilience via process: What would a SWOT analysis of our agency uncover? Are we riding the wave of a particular success without seeing rocks ahead, or a need to pivot before it’s obvious to all? How do we avoid boom and bust?