All that's needed to start and run an agency

Running an agency doesn't require 100’s of tools or softwares. People overcomplicate it for clicks online in reality when starting out, you only need the following:

• Ability to take payment

• Ability to sign a legally binding contract

• Ability to fulfil your service

and that’s pretty much it.

I wanted to cover all of the tools you may consider to start or implement into your agency if you’re not using them. Cover both basis for existing agency owners and ones looking to start as i understand this newsletter will attract both audiences.

Take payment

Stripe + a business bank account. This doesn't mean a limited company set up in the UK, when you’re starting out it’s unnecessary to do so. Until you get to a point where your forecasts look like you’re going to hit the VAT threshold then I’d consider starting a limited company - but don’t take that as financial advice, always speak to a professional.

Sign a contract

I use docusign for all my contracts. To draft the contract up either use a website like Lawdepot which allows you to draft any type of contract with the most up to date regulations etc within that or use chatgpt to build one that you require. Pop that into docusign, get your client to sign it electronically and bob’s your uncle. Also, when you’re writing out your contract, please state EXACTLY what it covers and what you will be doing as a service.

Fulfil your service

I run a lead gen agency, the way we work requires us to build landing pages and automations to nurture leads meaning we need something that covers this. Also having a centralised hub where all of our clients leads are, offering a fuck ton of features like social media calendars, email marketing, or even to a complexity where we’re now building this CRM for one of our client to go from lead > appointment > quote > order placed > job booked > order sent to factory > etc etc to a point where there’s a team on site installing the product. Having all this on a mobile app/desktop website is incredible, no messing with spreadsheets. All in one place.

I use gohighlevel which im sure you’ve heard of before, an all in one software which is great and i couldn't recommend enough for people starting out or looking to switch from existing tools. This will of-course heavily depend on what type of service you’re fulfilling so i cant’ really speak on other services.

Other tools to consider

• Calendly - for booking appointments.

• Notion - to run behind the scenes - from note taking, to SOP’s to literally onboarding clients.

• Notion calendar - synced with google calendar works well when using calendly.

• Loom - if you ever need to record your screen and send it in a quick video.

• Miro or figma - to visualise your thoughts - super useful if you dont have a whiteboard

• Canva - to create graphics or videos

• Reachinbox ai - for outreach by cold email

Useful stuff to run your agency or to consume:

• milled.com - to spy on any ecom email marketing

• fb ads library - to search facebook ads of anyone advertising

• Stuff for marketing & marketing trends:

• Marketing Week

• The drum

• Ads of the world

• Ad age

• Naval Ravikants instagram community chat - crazy useful.

That’s pretty much it, would love to hear your most used software or tool if i’ve missed any let me know.

Have a good week,

Konrad