This should only take about 7 mins to read.

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Find a way to keep the fire lit.

In 2021, my fire went out: I burned out.

Before I take you down that path, let's talk about where it all started.

The day after I started my business in January 2018, I landed a $30k project. From that point forward, it didn't stop. It felt like every week; there was a new project, a new deadline. I couldn't take my foot off the gas. In 2019, I tried to take a vacation. That was short-lived. The minute that I landed in Denmark, I got slammed with work. A new wave of clients came rolling in, almost as if they knew I was on vacation. From that point forward, I felt like I couldn't slow down; it was just one after another.

I was trying to hire people, delegate work, and grow my company all at once. It was the start of a vicious cycle.

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Fast forward to 2021

My company grew from $600k in revenue to $1.4 million. Covid was fuel to the fire. It was all happening so quickly; I was trying to ride the crazy rollercoaster. My team grew to 22 people, I couldn't believe it.

Toward the end of the year, I started to feel drained. I felt hollow and didn't have any creative juices left. I flatlined (creatively). I needed to disconnect for a while. My brain was overworked and congested, like a clogged pipe.

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Running 100MPH for 3 years

Like most people that start a business, you begin to feel like you have to be at the helm of everything that's going on. I had control issues early on (2018-2019).

• Trying to control everything that was going on.
• Having my hand in every project.
• Managing 90% of the clients.
• Constantly working late nights to catch up.
• I was on every sales call.

I was doing everything because I thought that I had to. Delegating was hard for me for the first 3 years of my business; I had difficulty trusting people because my name was attached to my agency. I always felt like I needed more time to properly organize everything for each client and get the entire team on the same page. I was stuck in a vicious cycle with clients, contractors, and everyone around me. Everything was moving so fast; business was booming. I was running before I could walk.

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I was making a parachute as I was jumping out of an airplane.

It was time to make a decision. When I burned out, I gave myself two choices:

1. Sell the business.
2. Find someone else to run it.

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I didn't want anything to do with it; it left a poor taste in my mouth. I wanted to disconnect and run away. It was a sad moment because it is MY business, but it started to become a 9-5 job. I was always on the client's time and not my own time. There was always a deadline we had to hit. I was miserable.

I wasn't able to disconnect overnight; it was a process to give someone on my team the tools to run the business. I had to make some drastic changes to my entire process.
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Few things I had to fix:

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Sales calls and client calls:

Before: clients can book a call any day of the week.

After: Calls only on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

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Project management:

Before: I managed 90% of every project.

After: I did 10% of project management.

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Workdays:

Before: Monday-Sunday

After: Monday - Friday with a hard cut-off at 5 pm.

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Here are a few tips if you're planning on starting an agency, do the following:

• Find the right support team (1-2 people) to help you with the process.
• Delegate everything you can't automate.
• Don't try to control everything; you control nothing.
• Prioritize work/life balance.
• Don't scale too fast; you will burn out.
• Setup process and document your work as you go.

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2-3 of the tweets from the week.

Tweet 1: Writing has become so important for me to decongest my ideas.

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Tweet 2: There is no master plan.

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Podcast stuff:

This week, I’m back with a new episode of my podcast. I had the opportunity to talk with Clifford Myers, a comedian and founder of The Other Comedy Company.

• Clifford initially studied theology and was thinking about becoming a youth pastor. He wanted to bring people together in a positive way. But as he went to college, he started realizing that religion was not going to be the way that he did it. So he started awakening the comedian inside of him.
• He started doing stand-up when he was 23 years old. He fell in love with it as soon as he first saw it. Performing in front of people at a comedy club, that’s where he felt comfortable being uncomfortable. That was his safe space.
• Back on May 22, 2022, he got fired from Shopify, where he was creating learning materials for Shopify Fulfillment Network. Instead of being discouraged, Clifford decided to look at this as an opportunity. He decided to combine his passion for comedy with everything he learned at Shopify, create The Other Comedy Company and make education fun. They take improv games and attach them to deeper learning.

There was much more that we discussed during the episode such as the importance of authenticity and the cycle of taking risks, failing, learning, rinse, repeat. I’d recommend checking out the whole conversation.
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Check out the Podcast Episode

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That's a wrap for issue #27

Email me at z@zlatkobijelic.com if you are building something. I'd love to know what you're working on and if there is anything I can do to help you.

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Random question:​
What's your favorite non-work activity? (A hobby maybe).

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Checkout some of my products here.

If you are interested in 1:1 business coaching, go here and see how I can help you.

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Follow me on Twitter​

Follow me on LinkedIn.

Listen to my podcast.

Download Dropvoice for Shopify.