Agency Life is Weird
For all my career (after college), I’ve worked at online marketing agencies – two to be precise. And most of the time, agency life is just screwy. I was reminded of this again last night while attending DFWSEM and seeing some co-workers and collegues from the past. It’s always interesting to me how fast things change and how temporary our jobs really are, even if they seem permanent at the time. Most of my co-workers have been through multiple transitions in the past year or two, and some are even trying to make it own their own. That’s great…I hope they all succeed.
Then I arrive at work to hear about more unexpected changes. Nothing ultra bad or super good, just different and unexpected. I wonder, where will our little agency be in two years? I suppose I never could have predicted what happened last time, so I won’t try this time. One thing I’m sure of is that it will be different. Sure, we may have this same office space on the 16th floor, but I’m guessing things will be quite a bit different. Folks will have moved on, others joined, the focus will change, new services offered, old products forgotten.
I think about the conversation I had last night with a collegue discussing the different business models companies use, and how many times the result is often the same. Of course anyone who owns or runs a business will naturally consider that business to be great, and on target to do this or explode to that. In reality, I’m starting to think two things happen. One, our view of “successful business” gets skewed because of the likes of Google, or YouTube, or Facebook ($15 billion!!??). Two, we don’t hear of all the similar businesses that crash and burn. I really think to pioneer something, or become famous (or infamous) with a company, you really just have to be lucky. I mean, so many things have to work in favor, it just becomes very unlikely.
Anyways…I’m not sure what the point of this post was, other than to just put in words some of my recent work thoughts. I still like my job and what I do. It’s just…you know…kinda messed up sometimes.
I think some luck is involved with these startups who have made it big, but at the same time I think a lot of people chase great ideas that dont have a solid business model. In other words, a great idea doesnt necessarily equal a great business.
No doubt, T. I love what I do…wouldn’t want to do anything else. But man, it seems like this industry is just fumbling from conception to greatness all the time. I don’t think anybody has all the answers, and I’m not totally sure that there is a perfect business model for something that changes as rapidly as internet technology. Add marketing and gung-ho personalities to the mix, and it’s a volatile but exciting business.