Feast and famine: Managing your wellbeing when you’re running an agency

Agency owners experience periods of feast and famine. It often feels like you’re going at full speed to deliver work or trying to win business in a quiet market.

It’s a business model that allows you to build the lifestyle you want, but you need to learn to delegate and constantly evolve.

We asked agency owners in Enterprise Nation’s community to find out how to make running these businesses more sustainable – and more fun.

Building the lifestyle that you want

It’s important to have a clear sense of what kind of business you want to build – and what role that creates for you.

Rebecca Hopwood decided to start Youbee Media when she was called back to work after lockdown.

Her office was an hour’s drive away, she had a three-year-old boy and felt frustrated that she was always rushing.

“That created a huge pivot for me – that realisation of ‘what am I doing?’”

Melissa Gauge started SpareMyTime a decade ago after a career in investment banking.

“You've got to love what you do. I love our purpose; our role is to create meaningful careers for women in the workplace.”

Being forced to work remotely during the COVID pandemic prompted Disruptive Thinking founder Yiuwin Tsang to evaluate how they operate.

“It brought home that we don’t have to see everybody. That realisation of what is that we have to be face to face for and what can we do better remotely.”

It led Yiuwin to make changes to how the business operates:

1. What do we do for our clients? Changed the product set to focus on enjoyable and valuable work.

2. When will only I do? Challenged what tasks require his time (the question comes from agency expert Louisa Pau).

3. How can I structure my working patterns to suit my lifestyle? Implemented things like no-meetings Fridays.

Coping with health issues

Changes in your own lifestyle may also prompt you to re-evaluate that.

Oh So Social director Katherine George was diagnosed with Sjögren's Syndrome, a rare autoimmune disease, three years ago.

“I was told I would have to retire. They said you need to lose weight, strengthen your muscles, stop looking at screens and destress.”

It meant an end to the 60-70 hour weeks, limiting her screen time, reducing the team size and working from home more.

Crucially, she sets clear boundaries and sets them early.

“It was awful to have these health needs, but it made me think about what brings me the most stress and what makes me money. That reset is really fundamental.”

You can hear more about Katherine’s experience with Sjögren’s on TikTok.

Measuring your success

LinkedIn bombards us with success stories. Even the “authentic” posts about people struggling have a turnaround story at the end.

Building an agency that works for you requires stepping back from other people’s expectations. You need to measure success on your own terms.

Ask yourself these questions:

1. What does success look like for me personally, not just financially?

2. What type of clients or projects give me energy and what drains it?

3. What am I avoiding doing because it feels uncomfortable?

4. What would my week look like in an ideal world?

That’s not to say measuring metrics like profitability, and the ratio of retainer- project work isn’t important, just that you also need to think about the type of business you want to build.

Falling back in love with your business

Running a business can be all-consuming and even the most motivated founders need the occasional reset.

Katherine decided to reduce the size of her team six or seven years ago after becoming frustrated with chasing growth.

“It grew like a galloping horse. I got so caught up in trying to hit the big turnover figures, I forgot the reason why I was doing it. It got to the point where I didn’t want to do it anymore.”

A mentor advised Katherine to write down everything she loved and hated about running the business, so she could reshape her role.

“If you give yourself six months, are you prepared to fight for it? If it gets to the end of the six months and it’s still sucking out your soul you shouldn’t be doing it.”

We recently published an article sharing nine ways to get your mojo back if you’re looking for inspiration. You can also listen to Katherine talking about falling out of love with your business on her podcast.

Dealing with a downturn

Only 32% of agencies turning over less than £1m increased the size of their team in 2024, according to BenchPress, and this year hasn’t been any easier.

Every agency owner we spoke to has faced periods like this before. Rebecca says Youbee’s third year was the hardest because of the cost of living crisis.

“Within a six-month period we lost seven retainer clients. It was a real ‘oh, shit’ moment.”

When trading’s tough, you need to talk to your clients and think about how the business can evolve.

Youbee’s difficult year made the team “reflect on everything”, says Rebecca.

“We’re an agile agency. Up until that point we said that, but not until then were we really tested. It tested what we’d build and why we did things the way we did.”

Melissa says she embraces data, changing the business’s services based on what’s happening with her clients.

“One of our mindsets is around pivoting. We are going to have to keep pivoting fearlessly when we get new data. You get new data, you make a change. You make the most of it and you move on.”

Learning to delegate

Agency owners are experts at delivering the service they sell. That can make it difficult to delegate to less-skilled staff.

But failing to delegate effectively will damage your team’s enthusiasm and make it impossible for you to develop a positive work-life balance.

If you’re struggling with what to delegate, Melissa says it’s helpful to prioritise the types of tasks you can hand over:

1. The things you can't do

2. The things that don't interest you

3. The things that you can do but have to delegate

Melissa says she’s not perfect, but actively works on the process and focuses on where she can add the most value.

“Try to be quite discerning with yourself about how much time you spend on those tasks that are going to drain your energy and the tasks that are going to fill you up.”

Trying to achieve work-life balance

The phrase “work-life balance” is used a lot on social media. The problem is it means very different things to different people.

Rebecca says it’s something she’s been reflecting on a lot.

“I’ve realised work-life balance isn’t a balance. It’s a mindset thing. I don’t think it’s necessarily possible to balance everything. You’ll always have to focus on one thing more than the other.”

That means it’s a moving target. When Rebecca’s mother had two strokes last year, for example, she reprioritised her time.

“If you try to balance it all, that's when you burn out. We get told we can have it all but you can’t balance things in equal measure. Being okay with that hopefully means you’re more successful in the things you want to be.”

[Embed webinar: Balancing work and life – a guide to flexible working]

Continuing your learning journey

These resources share advice on how to manage your wellbeing when you’re running an agency.

• Feeling overworked? 10 practical ways for small business owners to manage stress (Enterprise Nation article)

• Lost your business mojo? Here are nine ways to get your inspiration back (Enterprise Nation article)

• Why small business founders must look after their wellbeing (Enterprise Nation article)

• Sjögren’s and Me (Katherine George’s blog)

• Running in the Dark (Katherine’s podcast about business)