Let's talk about the thing nobody puts in the proposal. It's Friday afternoon. An email lands from a client you've had for two years. "We've decided to go in a different direction. Please send over all of our logins by Monday." You read it twice. Then the questions show up. Whose name is the domain actually in? Who's the primary owner on their Google Business Profile? Is that ad account theirs, or is it sitting inside mine? Did we ever write down who owns the website? Welcome to the breakup. You're about to divide the assets, and nobody signed a prenup. Here's the reality nobody admits: every client leaves eventually. They sell the business. They retire. They hire a nephew. They fire you. No agency keeps every client forever. Read that again. The ending is guaranteed. The only open question is whether it takes one email or a month of ugly ones. Most agency owners never planned for it, and that's not a character flaw. Nobody hands you a breakup system when you sign your first client. So let's build one. 𝟭. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗦𝗲𝘁 𝗜𝘁 𝗨𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗪𝗮𝘆 The client needed a domain on a Tuesday. You had a registrar account and a card on file. Ten minutes, done. Here's the problem. ICANN, the group that coordinates the domain name system, says the registrant is the person or entity that holds the rights to a domain name. It also warns business owners that a developer may be listed as the official registrant "even if you have paid them to register and manage the domain name." That developer is you. A domain that costs less than lunch is now the most valuable thing your client has online, and on paper it belongs to you. Same story with the hosting on your card and the ad account you built inside your own login. It felt like good service. It was a custody problem on a two-year fuse. Stop putting client assets in your name because it's faster. 𝟮. 𝗬𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗻 𝗟𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗥𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻 You know this agency. Every local business owner has a story about them. The one that "can't find the login" the week you cancel. The one that tries to sell a plumber back his own Google profile.

Let’s talk about the thing nobody puts on their “I’m building my agency” Instagram post… 𝗣𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲. Do you make prospecting calls yourself? Do you have a VA, salesperson, or appointment setter doing them? Or does your phone mysteriously become invisible every time it’s time to dial? And more importantly… How do you actually feel about making cold calls? Bonus question: If you do make the calls, what’s the hardest part? Getting started? Getting past the gatekeeper? Hearing “no”? Knowing what to say? Or just forcing yourself to pick up the damn phone? Drop your answer below. No judgment. Well… maybe a little judgment.

"Pick a niche" is the most repeated advice in this business. Everybody nods at it. Then year one shows up and you take the chiropractor, the food truck, and your cousin's band, because the invoice cleared. Picking a niche was never the hard part. You could name one in ten seconds right now. The hard part is turning down a check that doesn't fit while rent is due. So most of us quietly stay general and call it staying flexible. Here's what that costs. Every new industry is a first project again. New research, new angles, new objections, new reporting. If learning a fresh industry eats 15 unbilled hours, three of them in year one is 45 hours you donated. Swap in your own number. Nothing compounds, because nothing repeats. Going the other way has a bill too. Pick wrong in month two and you are eight months into an industry you can't stand. Scroll the feed and you only get one of those stories. Plenty of "I niched down and tripled my revenue." Almost nobody posts the niche they picked and quietly abandoned. So I want to break that pattern today. No "it depends on your market." No "do both." Both of those are free to say. Pick one, then tell me what it cost you. 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐞: 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥? 𝐏𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐭.

Post your 3 weekly goals in the smart format… These should your 3 high priority tasks... Don’t forget to report on last week's goal results… If you didn’t meet your goals, reflect a bit about why you missed the mark. Share your reflection if you’d like to do so. People who post to this weekly pinned thread 3 times get access to the accountability bonuses

A client reached out to me and wants me to be the adminstrator of their website after firing their other guy. I really don't want to get in over my head. Exspecially with the possibility of emergency support. 8 hours timezone difference combined with my travel schedule leads to slow response time. I can do backups, updates, form check, minor tech fixes, performance edits, and I think put software in place for uptime monitoring. The emergency call saying my website i down is what scares the shit out of me. @Dorn Just Dorn you posted something recently about this, having layers. what was that post? I also need to start recruiting and i'll be working on 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗕𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗡𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗢𝗻𝗲 next.