A question I am asked by peers, by clients, and prospects is if I’m so good at my job, why don’t I do what it for myself. It is a good question, and there’s a simple reason.
I don’t want to own a store and deal with warehousing or logistics, I didn’t like the lack of structure when I was making an income with affiliate sites, and when I switched to an agency model I found a passion and fire that I didn’t know existed in me. Helping entrepreneurs and established corporations bring their visions to life gives me a lot of happiness.
That leaves three questions I’m also asked. Why don’t I fix the SEO and marketing errors on my own site, shouldn’t I be trying to get more leads and clients, and why don’t you take on more business. Let’s start with why I work with clients and don’t fix my own site.
By working with clients vs. my own projects I can:
- Still have most of the flexibility to work on my own hours (there are always exceptions)
- Have the structure needed to create routines which is a huge part of my own personal and professional happiness
- Not have to stress about inventory, 3PL, customer service (outside of client relationships)
- Work in multiple industries and niches giving me the variety I need to keep my brain occupied
I have looked at forming a store or partnering with a client for partial ownership, and almost did that in 2022. But when I did my pros and cons list and forecasted what I want for my future, I realized owning my own brand and retail shop is not for me. Yes, I’d make a lot more money and get to retirement faster, but it isn’t the right move for me.
If the right CMO, CGO, or VP of marketing/growth job came along, I wouldn’t be opposed to taking it. If it never does, not a big deal. I love getting to work with brands and entrepreneurs. I already work with a few as their VP or CMO in many situations, and others I manage specific channels for which keeps my skills up to date. And that leads to the next question about my site being unoptimized.
This website is my business website and what potential clients look at. But it is also a testing ground for me. I use it to help interview candidates for my clients and for the projects I work on. During the interviews I ask questions about what is needed to fix the site and to see how it could be better optimized. I keep things broken and from time to time I change what is broken or wrong to keep things interesting. Then the question comes up about it being a turn off for potential leads.
We’re a small boutique agency without a ton of clients. But we do work with massive international corporations and one person shops. By not having aspirations to be a 50 person or 200 person agency, we can be more selective with who we work with because overhead remains down. We don’t pay for middle managers and this lowers the client’s cost as well.
Yes, it would be nice to get more leads coming in like when I did rank my website for lead generating phrases by channel and for strategy. But the quality of leads is a massive time suck when your site is in good condition.
When a company sees the errors on my website, including typing and grammatical, but they still reach out, they looked at the knowledge behind the content and understand we can deliver incredible results. They know we understand the nuances of the channel and will get to the heart of their obstacles so we can resolve them. The leads that complain about the broken images and typos are never about substance and always end up being more trouble than they’re worth.
This blog shares actionable data and personal experience in most posts. The people that read and understand, or want to learn more, they turn out to be the best. They may make a mention of a typo to fix, but they’re normally high quality people and turn out to be awesome to work with. I’d rather get them than the masses who end up causing headaches and stress. It isn’t cobblers kids syndrome for me, it is quality of life.
By not having a store or my own sites I can focus on a variety of clients and reduce stresses that I hate like inventory, logistics, and accounting. When we don’t have a huge team, I get to work with the people I love working with each and every day. This includes my team and our clients. And by keeping errors throughout my website I can use it for skills testing during interviews and increase the quality of leads which has lead to dream clients coming on board.
This is why I don’t “do it for myself” or fix the SEO and marketing issues on my own site.
