F*ck Your Mood & Follow The Plan

Danielle speaking here. It’s time for some real talk.

As an agency owner, you always have to be “on” all the time. But that doesn’t mean that it gets easier with time. Before I was an agency owner, I was a marketing director at a casino hospitality group in Las Vegas and a creative brand director for another hospitality group in Temecula. I’ve learned that I have to leave my emotions aside if I want to get the job done.

I’m not saying that I’m completely stoic or emotionless. In fact, I care a lot, and sometimes a little too much, about our clients, my team, and our work.

Having to reach the high standards I set for myself and my team in order to achieve the great results we usually produce for our clients needs a high level of compartmentalization and constant emotional management.

I like to schedule my whole week on Sunday and reevaluate daily what needs to get done. If it’s not a priority or not a move that’ll create some forward motion for myself, the agency, or our clients, then it can be moved to another day. It’s also incredibly important to allow for at least 15% - 20% of your schedule to sit down for “thinking time.” How am I supposed to find new avenues to grow the business if I’m stuck in the daily tasks? How am I supposed to nail a strategy that works or curate a campaign for a client if I’m drowning in admin sh*t?

I’ve learned that when I get stuck in the day-to-day admin work, I get burned out. And as an agency owner, you don’t get to burn out. Your clients and your team are relying on you to get the job done. Whenever I wake up not feeling it I always just tell myself, “Get up and get the job done.”

Compartmentalizing and pushing through will make you feel 10x better than sitting around moping and being emotional. There’s a time and place for resting and processing your feelings, but you can do that when the work’s done. And in my case, as of right now, the work is never done. This girlie barely got to have a week vacation in Tulum for her birthday.

Moral of the story: if you want to be a good leader, an even better executioner, and have people take you seriously in business, f*ck your mood and follow the plan.