How to Start a Successful Creative Agency

This book will:
• Give you the business foundation you need for starting and running your agency.

• Help you transition from one-off projects to steady clients where you don’t have to pitch for each job.

• Show you how to identify professional clients, avoid amateurs and why it matters.

• Explore options for business niches. What should your agency become known for?

• Surprise you with what clients are really looking for from creative agencies. (It’s not the lowest price.)

• Give you a proven template for estimates that win jobs, build client confidence and result in profitable projects.

• Reveal the secret to getting projects from major corporations and government. (It’s not who you know.)

• Help you manage employees, freelancers, and clients.

• Clarify confusing business structures. (Including whether or not you should incorporate.)

TABLE OF CONTENTS
These 23 chapters will help you build your successful agency:

1. Starting Your Own Creative Agency

2. Taking Advantage of School

3. Amateur Creator vs. Professional

4. Getting a Job—You’re in the Business

5. Starting Your Freelance Business

6. Preparing to Launch Your Company

7. Business Structures—Which One is Right for You?

8. Writing a Business Plan

9. Your Money Attitude

10. Starting Up

11. Running Your Agency

12. Decision-Making

13. Defining Your Services

14. Working with Clients

15. Managing Your Agency’s Growth

16. Talking to Clients About Money

17. Your Estimates Can Make or Break You

18. Billing and Payment Terms

19. Adding People

20. Managing Employees and Benefits

21. Take Time Sheets Seriously

22. Growing Your Agency

23. Legal and Insurance

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I have been a copywriter, creative director, and founder of three creative agencies in Toronto.

Before I started my own agencies, I wrote for six Toronto ad agencies.

In my first agency, I was a solo freelance writer. By the mid-'90s, my billing was over $120,000 a year. I couldn’t grow because there are only 24 hours in a day.

I started a larger creative agency by finding a compatible graphic designer who became my partner. Together, we founded Fireworks Creative, one of Canada’s first truly integrated creative agencies. In five years, we grew the company from two to 30 people. We were on the radar of two companies interested in buying our firm and sold it to an IT company for $3 million.

Six months later, I started Context Creative with a partner. We grew that company to 28 people. A few years ago, I sold my shares to my partners.

Through all of this, I’ve learned the nitty-gritty of running a business, how to find the best clients, and the most practical ways to work with staff and partners. Some of this I learned the easy way, some the painful way.

HOW WILL THIS BOOK HELP YOU?
Many freelancers or small agencies run into problems, not because their creative output isn’t good enough, but because they don’t know how to run a business.

This book will help you start your own creative agency and build a solid business foundation for your company. With this knowledge, you’ll be able to focus your creativity on what you love doing.

WHAT THIS BOOK WON’T DO FOR YOU
This book won’t teach you creative skills. I assume you are either learning your craft or are already delivering your services at a professional level.

As an agency owner, you have to excel at both your craft and business. It may not come naturally to you, but you can learn. I did, and so can you.