The accidental agency owner

My next guest is Louise Turner. She’s the founder and chief wordsmith at Wordsmith Unlimited, and she’s going to talk about how she accidentally started an agency. How does that work? So over to you, Louise.

Until 1988, in the UK, you had to be granted a license to own a dog. Somebody literally checked that you were suitable, but there’s no oversight for getting married, having kids, or starting your own business.

So here she is, an accidental agency owner, 13 years after giving up her secure public sector role in communications to be a freelancer, and there’s nobody checking whether she is qualified for the job.

Never be embarrassed to stick to your guns on those costs. If the potential client can’t afford you, that’s a reflection of their budget and not of your value. Really work on understanding that you’re really good at what you do.

She is 25 years into her career. You’re paying for those 25 years worth of expertise, not just the hour that it’s going to take her to do something because it’s saving you, the client, those things. But it’s also giving you the benefit of all of her accrued 25 years of skills and experience.

She is very much not claiming to have all the answers about how to scale from being freelance to having an agency. These days, her kids are 18 and 15. That’s quite a difference from the two and four-year-olds whose hands Louise held on the way to and from school.

Apparently, she is resourceful and responsible enough to have her own agency. Louise even got a dog, without needing a licence. And they still haven’t given her a license to run her agency either.