Why do I think creating a Digital Agency is the best first business for someone to start? This video applies to any service based digital creative agency, full service digital agency, or other types.
Reason one, it’s completely free. Most other businesses require an up front investment that you may even lose!
In your first business, you’re going to make a lot of mistakes and it’s better to make them on your own earned money instead of loans or blasting your savings.
A mistake made in an agency likely will cost a few hundred dollars and in ecommerce, a simple Amazon account suspension can easily get you $10k – $20k in debt.
I’ve seen many first time entrepreneurs get royally screwed in ecommerce. Growing a digital agency allows you to learn small before going big.
Service based digital agencies leverage nothing but your time and skills. To start, simply take on your first few clients for a reduced rate and be honest about the fact you are still learning.
It gives you time to build up your systems, skills, and processes while still getting paid. Grow organically and eventually you can afford to hire people for more and more roles.
Reason number two, extracting profit from a digital marketing agency is MUCH easier. The profit margins when starting will be 90%+.
A lot of business models are not profitable for the first year, sometimes even the second or third year.
It takes a big investment to open up a facility, sign a lease, purchase inventory, or run a bunch of Facebook Ads hoping for a return (drop shipping). Digital agencies require none of those to start & your expenses only rise when revenue does.
Reason number three, you can use it to fund your other projects. Right now I have the agency built with good enough processes and team members that I have spare time to work on other ventures.
I spend about an hour per day making sure the team has what they need, and another hour on different planning for the business. I technically only need about two hours per day, five days a week to keep the business running.
That opens my time & energy to work on other projects like the Danny Carlson Podcast & my agency courses. It also funds those projects so I can hire video editors and other people that help me push them forward.
Three of the current agency team members that are also working on the Danny Carlson podcast because they’re familiar with the processes already and I can easily assign them tasks in our task management software.
For those reasons, I think a digital agency is the best business to start if it’s your first one. Drop shipping can waste a lot of money on Facebook ads. Amazon FBA is even more cash flow intensive. Retail is just crazy in this day, & affiliate marketing takes at least 2-3 years to get momentum.
Invest your time and energy into a service based digital agency first, learn the skills of growing an online business, then use those skills and money earned to kick start your next business you are more passionate about.
Looking for resources on how to start a digital marketing agency? Check out the Danny Carlson podcast https://www.dannycarlson.co/podcast/
