by Karl Sakas on April 16, 2013
Karl Sakas sharing advice about business operations for marketing firms at DMFB conference in Raleigh, NC
After a few years, many marketing agency owners find work isn’t fun any more. They’re getting pulled in a million directions, and there’s never enough time or money. And they don’t spend as much time on the work that got them started in the first place.
Fortunately, marketing firm owners don’t have to go it alone. I’ve found a solution to this problem by applying my business operations experience.
I shared my solution today at the Raleigh Convention Center during the Digital Marketing for Business (DMFB) conference, a conference reaching 400 marketing professionals and business owners from North Carolina and across the Southeast.
My presentation was on “5 Things You’re Missing That Are Killing Your Business.”
By creating and consistently applying systems in five key areas of their business—sales, marketing, accounting, recruiting, and project management—business owners can make more money, find more free time, and love their work again.
Prefer to view the slides online? See the SlideShare version.
Question: What’s your favorite tip from my talk? Are you ready to commit to taking action on it in your business? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
Image credit: Photo from Digital Marketing for Business via Twitter
by Karl Sakas on February 28, 2013
Part of my job running the business operations side of a marketing firm is to help people be productive. One of our web developers has worked remotely for years. A designer recently went from working from home 40% of the time to 100% of the time. Both are productive, and I don’t have trouble reaching them during the day. We’re on IM and Google Hangout every day.
We’re all adults. Collaborating with remote workers is baked into our corporate culture. So when I heard Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer had banned telecommuting, I assumed it was a joke. Nope, not a joke.
Apparently a number of Yahoo! employees had been abusing the work-from-home policy. Well then fire them. People goofing off all day is an accountability failure by front-line managers, not a company-wide HR problem. [click to read more…]
by Karl Sakas on January 29, 2013
There’s more to marketing and design than creativity—it takes a strong business sense, too. To borrow from marketing agency consultant David C. Baker—marketing agencies don’t go out of business for lack of creativity; they go out of business for being poorly-run businesses.
Design entrepreneur and BLDG25 co-founder Raven Manocchio recently shared some important lessons about the business of design and marketing to a packed house at 18 Seaboard, during AIGA Raleigh’s Homegrown lunch & learn series.
1) Recognize that Entrepreneurship Isn’t Linear Any More
In the past, being an entrepreneur often involved writing a binder-sized business plan up front. A business plan is still important if you’re seeking venture capital or other funding, but most entrepreneurs are better served by designing, testing, and adapting. [click to read more…]
by Karl Sakas on December 30, 2012
Did you know you can now get an automatic email update when I publish a new article? Yup, save time and don’t miss a thing. Sign up using the “Get New Posts by Email” box to the right; you can unsubscribe any time with a single click. –>
Based on Google Analytics, these were my most-read marketing blog articles published in 2012: [click to read more…]
by Karl Sakas on November 12, 2012
I recently led a workshop via Refresh the Triangle and the Durham County Library. During the all-day Teen Tech Camp, we helped 30 local students (ages 11 to 17) who wanted to learn about working with web technologies.
Teaching students at the tech business workshop (Photo by Autumn Winters, with photo releases at Durham County Libraries)
As one of the Refresh the Triangle co-organizers, I gave a keynote workshop for the middle school and high school students, “How to Make Money with Your Technology Skills” (download the PDF handout!). Other workshops included:
- Blogging with WordPress
- Design for the Web
- Coding with HTML/CSS
- Introduction to JavaScript
- Game Design for the Internet
Sharing My Business Experience at Teen Tech Camp
In high school in Virginia, I started a technology consulting business (computer training, troubleshooting, web design, and marketing). I eventually grew the business part-time to 20+ clients by the time I graduated from college, growing primarily by word of mouth marketing.
I learned mostly by trial and error–I want to help today’s students jumpstart their experience. During the workshop, I used an interactive worksheet that helps students answer key questions, so that they’d leave with a plan for getting started: [click to read more…]
