How to Build a Great Agency Instead of Just a Big One

<p>Have you ever felt embarrassed by the size of your agency? Do you think success is wrongfully tied to the size of your team? Have you been worried about how the current economy is affecting your business and your clients? Change is a painful part of growing, but it's one of the best teachers when you're looking to build a great agency, not just a big agency.</p> <p>In this episode, we'll cover:</p> <ul> <li>How to move forward during an economic crisis.</li> <li>Why your ego could be holding your agency back.</li> <li>Why fast growth isn't the best solution.</li> </ul> <p>I talked to Mark DiMassimo, Chief Creative at <a href= "https://digobrands.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DiMassimo Goldstein</a>, an agency he founded in New York in 1996. In the early years of the agency, Mark hit the ground running. By 1997, DiMassimo Goldstein was the fasted growing agency around. Within a couple of years, the agency had offices in San Francisco, and New York, and Mark was featured on the cover of a magazine. And then the dot com bust hit, forcing him to take his staff down from a peak of 114 to 30. Mark shares the way he learned that a big agency team doesn't always correlate to the agency's level of success.</p> <h2>How to Move Forward During Economic Crisis</h2> <p>"One of the most important things I learned is what a pleasure and an honor it is to do this business. What a pleasure and an honor it is to be able to think, dream, learn from great business leaders, daydream, write, have visions, have a chance to get visions produced to work," Mark said. Even though the industry pain points of deadlines, uncertainty, competition, he still feels a little sheepish calling it work.</p> <p>Mark has had the unfortunate experience of letting dozens of good employees go and yet he says those difficult times are all the more reason to do what needs to be done to help the business survive them. You loved the agency when you started it and when you started to grow it. The challenge is continuing to love it and carrying over th