Let’s say you wanted to build a house. Somehow, you got all the tools and materials to build it dropped on your empty lot. How long until you’d be able to live in it?
Well, that depends. If you hire a team of contractors and laborers, you might be able to move in in just a couple months. If you and a couple buddies work at it during the week, maybe less than a year. If you work on it at night and on weekends, it’s going to take a lot longer. And if you do nothing at all? That’s easy – never.
At Agile’ we follow a simple 80/20 rule. When we partner with a client to get things done, one of us does 80% of the work, and the other does 20% of it. It’s cheaper for the client if they do 80% of the work, but I have no problem if we shoulder the load. Our clients have to make some decisions at the very least. We’re happy to do the work. We’ll even make some decisions that don’t effect the day-to-day operation of their business. We’ll go right up to putting in 99% of everything, and billing accordingly.
But there are two ratios we don’t work at. 100/0 and 50/50. If Agile’ is doing 100% of your marketing, then we should own your business. I have my own business to worry about, I don’t need yours. And at a 50/50 work ratio, no one is in charge. Neither party can definitively decide, “This is what we’re doing, and this is when it needs to be done.” I find that if things are 50/50, work and expenses get doubled, deadlines get over extended, and profits for everyone get lost. Then everyone’s ticked at someone else.
We help our clients develop Recognized Expert Status. To do that they have to come up with a target market, a platform of expertise they want to establish, and Expert Proof Materials that demonstrate their expertise. We’re happy to help our clients accomplish all those objectives. We’ve written and produced video projects and books that establish our clients as experts, but they’re the ones that have to appear on the book cover, or on the video. If I write and star in a video about developing a septic cleaning business, then that’s what my life’s work should be.
We’re very willing to work with our clients to accomplish their goals, but sometimes they get discouraged or complacent, and want us to do 100% of the work. We want them to know that it’s their business, their goals, and we’re only here to assist them in achieving them! With a team working on a specific set of goals, a house can be built quickly and well. However, a pile of lumber, bricks and tools will never assemble into a house by themselves.