While we have a lot of support, the core Bureau team is myself and Lori Averitt. When more membership money started coming in I thought maybe we should grow the team so we can do more. But once we had the results from the Better Bureau Survey I realized I was looking at it wrong. We need to focus our time on what gives Bureau members the most value vs. figuring out how to keep doing all the things at a bigger scale. So here is some of what we’re rethinking.

The web is a funny place, and I don’t just mean cat memes (but yes, I do also mean cat memes). It’s weird to buy a couch online and then get nothing but couch ads for weeks like you needed a second one. Or say something online and suddenly have a mob of people show up to tell you you're wrong when you were just talking about cats on a couch memes.

Thanks to everyone who sent in their "you need to know" and "I wish I'd known" replies to our last newsletter. Your experiences and insights helped us put together this approach to finding an effective broker.

I was talking with David C. Baker yesterday about the high amount of webshops that are for sale right now. I’ve been in the digital services space for over 20 years and there has never been anything like this in our industry. He’s seeing the same surge and we dug into some of the challenges owners are facing. Should they sell? How do they determine their value? What are the first steps in the process? This level of interest with a lack of experience in selling a business means many of us have to be careful.

The Bureau is 10 years old! Of course we've learned a thing or two over the past decade. So here are 2nd half of the 10-ish of those.

The Bureau is 10 years old! Of course we've learned a thing or two over the past decade. So here are 10-ish of those.

We're talking with Warren Wilansky about his company Plank's approach to designing ethically driven websites. Which is where he and his team developed and released for us all to dig into; Plank's Ethical Web Design Framework.

We’ve all been trying to figure out what’s going on with compensation and benefits since the great resignation started. Over 3.8 million people quit their jobs in April of 2021 looking for better pay, conditions and work/life balance. For those with a career in digital, it sure looks like they found it. But is it sustainable? Read on to learn more. Oh, and if you’re a member, check the #announcements channel in Slack. You’ll find the complete 2022 Salary Guide waiting for you. 😉

There are things I believe in very strongly when it comes to managing clients: We have to establish and maintain trust. We have to actively listen and confirm what we heard. We need to make sure bad news travels at the same speed as good news. But should we focus on client happiness? I think it can lead to some big problems, honestly. But happy clients bring huge benefits. And since International Happiness Day is just around the corner, let's dig into this!

Most shop owners keep a mental tally of clients and finances, even if you’re not the one making sales calls and running spreadsheets every day. And the last thing you want is a pissed-off client ripping you a new one for a situation that’s been brewing for a while, especially when the whole thing could have been solved by a simple chat earlier.

This is probably gonna sound obvious, but if it was more of us would do it. Before we can be effective and motivated we have to know what we want to achieve. Not what needs to get done, there’s a big difference. And there should be alignment in your personal and professional life in what you're doing. If I do X then I can do Y. Here are some things I’m trying to regain my sense of perspective and progress.

Michael Scott was clearly the best part of The Office (don’t @ me, Dwight stans). Because while he was not great at the business part of his job, he was even worse at the intangibles. And some of us were probably laughing because of our own insecurities. I feel confident in saying that if you’re reading this, you’re already a better leader than he was.

But since that’s a pretty low bar to clear, we probably all still have some room for improvement as leaders. It’s easy for us to get caught up in the numbers without remembering that we’re all people with wants and needs, and placing a little more emphasis on that side of the business can help with culture, retention and the bottom line, as well. Let’s discuss!

Nobody likes having limits placed on them. After all, this is the land of all-you-can-eat breadsticks, right? And if more is better, unlimited vacation time might be the sweetest treat of all. But can you really let your team take as much time off as they want? What are the rules? And what's the impact if you do?

Sometimes doing something yourself is the best way to get it done, like brushing your teeth. Other times, not so much. If you struggle with being a -- what’s a nicer term for “control freak”? -- you’re not alone. It pretty much goes with the territory of being an entrepreneur. And guess what? When you're keeping control over the small stuff you aren't allowing yourself to focus where you really are the only person for the job. Planning the future of your company!

There's a lot to consider as you raise your rates or grow your company or whatever as it's all related. Let's review some of these from the most recent Summit.

Well, well, well. If it isn’t our old friend Covid. And just as we were getting back to in-person events. But wait one darned minute! There’s a big difference this time. We’re ready. Not to say that it doesn’t suck, or that it’s just like it used to be. But that we have a plan.

I spent a few hours reviewing all of the new year's resolutions for businesses and found 34 that had merit. But most of them were more about doing a specific thing versus making changes that impact everything. With that in mind, I categorized them and came up with five actions I think we can all take to make ourselves and our companies better in the new year and beyond. Of course, I could be a cotton-headed ninny muggins. So let me know what you think!

We're all creative leaders. And as leaders, we struggle when the need to lead takes a break. So our brains fill that space with other things we should be doing. And we often feel lazy or afraid an opportunity is slipping away from us if we don't "take advantage of the downtime." Let's collectively say to hell with that. Join us with the 12 steps to relaxing over the holidays.

After two years Bureau Events are happening in-person with Owner Camp. The energy was great and there is more in store for 2022.

Enough is enough, am I right? We've all been working so hard and we needed to. But now we've got to slow down and take care of ourselves. Take solace in our survival through two of the toughest years humans have collectively faced. Listen in as we go over Carl’s recent Marathon, but the point is how to enjoy life…

We’ve all been there. You look up and it’s December and you still haven’t finalized your holiday gifts for clients. You wonder what swag can you get made in time? Or... maybe we’ll make it a New Years' gift to buy some time! OK, maybe all of you are awesome and it was just me dropping the ball? Either way, keep reading to learn about some of the top client gift ideas mentioned in the Bureau Slack channels over the past couple of years.

We often drop a lot of references to conferences and events we've attended and even produced together, in this episode we talk about the history of the Converge conference.

From nGen to the Bureau of Digital it's been a ride of a lifetime. Here is part four: The 3rd Act.

From SXSW to distributed teams nGen grows and then things get dicey. Here is part Three: Saying Your Goodbyes.

In part two of the nGen story, Gene and Carl talk about the shift from Flash to Web Standards, the collaborative nature of a young industry, finding your people, and the birth of Happy Webbies.

Carl's experiences with starting, running and closing down nGen Works have come up a lot in our episodes. A listener mentioned we never get the full story of how nGen started, grew and eventually ended. So let’s do this! Here is part one: The Origin Story.

Burnout is a state of emotional, mental, and often physical exhaustion brought on by prolonged or repeated stress. Feeling it? Let's go through some definitions of burnout and how you might be feeling it or dealing with it.

Let's say you're at a conference, someone walks up to you during one of the breaks and asks what you do? What do you say? I run a digital agency? Let’s find a better way to define ourselves that doesn’t impact our happiness after a bad day at work or maybe during a pandemic.

One major difference with working remotely is how hard it can be to tell when someone is feeling down. Especially when we're all working to maintain our own mental health. Let's look at some things to look for and ways you can help.

Let's keep talking about other ways we can make money besides traditional services. Personally, I'm a huge fan of maintenance agreements. In my experience, they are easy to sell, provide opportunities to keep the team busy when things slow down, and frequently turn into new business opportunities. So keep your peepers on the page and let's get going!

The year has just flown by and, suddenly, here we are: the final podcast of 2019! As we look back on the past year, we’re so thankful for everyone in the Bureau community. Check out what we have planned for 2020, and take advantage of special early bird pricing and Bureau Bucks. Happy holidays everyone!

How do you take a centuries-old practice, port it to the digital space and continue to improve upon it every day? Iain McConchie, VP of Design at Headspace, joins us to talk about the company’s progression, partnerships with organizations such as the NBA and the power of community practice. Listen in.

Darcy Kurtz believes in small businesses. Over the course of her career, she’s helped small businesses grow by connecting them with tech solutions ranging from hardware to software and beyond. Today, as the VP of Global Product Marketing at Mailchimp, Darcy is focused on empowering small businesses through Mailchimp’s full marketing platform.

How do you keep yourself healthy? In the tech industry, we’re mostly sedentary creatures. And the harder we work, the more we can pay for it in terms of losses to our physical and mental health. Brandon Steiger, President of 2120 Creative, joins us to talk about his personal journey on balancing health and family with the demands of owning a business.

Watching the movie Sharknado, one has to wonder, “Who comes up with this? Who dreams up a tornado of sharks falling from the sky to wreck havoc on L.A., while chainsaw-wielding celebrities take to the streets and air to save the day?” The answer: Thunder Levin. Thunder is a film and TV writer and director who has worked on sci-fi films including Apocalypse Earth and Mutant Vampire Zombies from the Hood. Over the course of his career, he’s explored both the serious side of science fiction and the fun, totally ridiculous side. These days, he’s on to something new: a rock musical complete with pirate zombies. Ready for a wild ride? Listen in.

At Planet Argon, they have a unique take on internships. Not only are they not looking to hire their interns, they’re also devoting time to help them find work elsewhere. If the idea leaves you scratching your head, you’ll definitely want to tune in to this episode with Robby Russell, Planet Argon’s CEO and Partner.

The sentiment that it’s lonely at the top rings true for many digital leaders. While some are able to find solace in communities such as AIGA, AAF or PRSA, there aren’t a whole lot of options for digital shop owners, project managers, design leaders or operations leads. Warren Wilansky, Founder and President of Plank, knows the feeling. Tune in to hear about his early days with the Bureau and how the community has evolved to help digital leaders—and even digital competitors—become trusted allies and friends.

Business development can be pretty isolating. Without ongoing opportunities to connect with true peers, a lot of biz dev folks keep challenges and ideas bottled up. But a group of Biz Dev Camp alums have found the solution: a monthly accountability call.

Culture determines how well we work together, and the success of our projects, teams and organizations. But how do you create a winning culture and environment where people can do their best work together? Colin D. Ellis has been leading teams and projects for 30 years. His latest books, Culture Fix and The Project Book, offer real-world guides on how to build a team culture of collaboration, agility and creativity. Tune in for Colin’s take on culture change, culture killers and what you can do to improve your own organization.

For 15 years, Kelly Campbell owned her own digital agency, weathering the usual ups and downs while also starting her own holistic health and wellness platform. After selling both companies, she today helps digital shops to hone in on four focus areas and transform their businesses. Tune in to hear Kelly share her take on the two biggest challenges agencies face and why it’s important that owners put their oxygen masks on first.

Aaron Draplin always has a record on. Over the course of a day, he chops away at his to-do list, working away in his backyard studio until the late hours of the evening. So what keeps one of the most respected designers in the industry going? Aaron joins us to talk about Pretty Much Everything, from Dylan to Shepard Fairey, getting your priorities straight and working the crowd. Warning: This podcast contains strong and hilarious language.

After working in the CMS industry, Leslie Camacho kept coming back to an idea for a consulting service that gave agencies better decision making data. At Owner Summit, he connected with a Dutch company called VOGSY that was bringing that idea to life. Today, as VP of Customer Services at VOGSY, Leslie is helping digital shops to gain visibility into what is and isn’t working. Leslie joins us to talk about business intelligence and how shops are getting smarter.

From VapoRub to Pampers and Swiffer, P&G has been innovating for over 180 years. Today, they’re out to reinvent the way they connect and deliver value to consumers via digital. At the center of this ambitious vision is an internal agency called Alchemy. Paul Armstrong, Alchemy’s Head of Design, shares how Alchemy came about, what led him to join and what might be next as the global behemoth continues to reimagine our day-to-day as we know it.

With a solid reputation for video, web, mobile and other digital solutions, Crush & Lovely has shifted its focus to high-level strategy with execution. Not just for a project or team, but across entire companies. CEO & Co-founder Matt Blanchard and Managing Director Mazin Melegy join us to talk about what an impact agency is, and how Crush & Lovely fulfills a vital business need.

You got into design because you love the work. But now, as a design leader, your job is running a team, running projects, operating out of habit and responsibility. As the gap between how you spend your day and what's most important to you widens, you start to feel more and more burned out. Clinical psychologist and author Dr. Sherry Walling has tips to help you mitigate the effects of burnout. Tune in to find out how you can add more interest and meaning to your work.

What does it take to be a great design leader? Ask Alastair Simpson, Head of Design at Atlassian, and his answers may surprise you. To Alastair, great leadership—and great design—come down to communication. Tune in to learn more about his leadership approach, how direct feedback can make you a better leader and the importance of having a real life outside of your job.

Get a bunch of Harvard grads together, and amazing things are bound to happen. That’s certainly true of DEV, the web and app development arm of Harvard Student Agencies. DEV’s Chief Helpfulness Officer Spencer Tiberi joins us to talk about DEV as a multi-million dollar non-profit: how the organization is turning profits into scholarships, and what it’s like working in an “almost chaotic” environment. Tune in to learn more about DEV, the nature of their business and where they’re headed next.

How can we help people access experiences, and how do we end up blocking people from critical services and information, such as medical records, legal systems or education? As the Head of Practices at Pluralsight, Mariah often asks herself this question. Mariah joins us to talk about awareness and aptitude, identifying blind spots and asking for help when it feels like you might be missing something.

Why do so many of us struggle to work together across our teams? Vivian Sarratt, Head of UX Operations at Google, joins us to spill some of the secrets of successful collaboration at Google. Tune in to explore the complicated relationships in cross-functional teams and strategies to make working together work.

Stephen Gates started his design education when he was two years old, setting type with his dad on a 700-pound cast iron letterpress in the basement. At the age of 12, he was introduced to the agency world, then moved in-house a time or two before arriving at his present gig as the Head Design Evangelist at InVision. Tune in to hear Stephen’s thoughts on unspoken truths, design commoditization and the trouble with comparing our insides to others’ outsides.

Can code be cool, and appeal to a wider audience—even elementary students in underrepresented communities? Absolutely, according to Armando Somoza and Chenits Pettigrew. As co-founders of CodeScty, they’re out to change computer science training as we know it, teaching complex concepts and curriculum through original hip hop music and videos. Armando and Chenits join us to talk about CodeScty and their quest to develop not just coders, but true innovators who can impact our world and our societies in constructive and positive ways.

What are the biggest challenges facing design leadership? When we posed that question to 100+ design leaders, a flood of responses came back, citing everything from recruiting to utilization, growth, imposter syndrome, remote work and more. But one respondent had a different take: none of these challenges should really be challenges if we start looking at things a different way. Could it be that simple? Tune in to hear Chris Wilkinson, Director of Product Design at Devbridge Group, talk about a shift in mindset, and ways we can help prepare the next generation of design leaders.

Forecasting may seem complex, confusing and largely unattainable. But with the right guidance, it’s within reach. Rob Harr, Vice President of Sparkbox, and Jody Grunden, Managing Member of Summit CPA, join us to share their perspectives on forecasting, understanding capacity and determining a systematic approach to operations and your finances.

Time. What would you do if you had more of it? After working as the VP of Design at Etsy and Head of Design at Artsy, Randy J. Hunt recently completed, as he calls it, “a big, deep, multi-month breath.” Taking time for personal projects, reading, reflection and life’s little things, Randy is now in Singapore, working on a super app called Grab. Tune in to hear about Randy’s journey to product design, and the best place to start when you want to make the best use of everyone’s time.

In the ‘90s, Bill Barbot was part of the alternative rock band Jawbox. When Jawbox broke up in 1997, he went on to play in other bands and eventually co-founded the digital agency Threespot. Fast forward 25 years and the previous members of Jawbox approach Bill about getting back together. Bill joins us to talk about his decision and the importance of putting your passion into everything you do.

A self-proclaimed “reluctant detailed guy,” Dean Schuster is Founder and Partner at Truematter, a UX consultancy that helps create digital products including apps, websites and wearable software. As Dean says, you can’t let a big-picture person loose in a project management scenario and expect good things to happen. Unless you have some processes in place. Dean joins us to talk about project management at Truematter, the qualities they look for in a DPM and how managing client relationships is really about setting up processes to rein yourself in.

You’ve got your process…and it’s working. But then you get this new project, or new team members or new stakeholders, and suddenly your project management approach starts to break down. What is happening? Anita Sagar, Agile Consultant at Enterprise Knowledge, has a simple explanation: not all situations or challenges are created equal. So no single process will fit all contexts. Anita joins us to talk about the Cynefin framework, how to use it to determine the right project management approach and why waterfall might not be as bad as it’s made out to be.

Every generation experiences a different culture, economic reality, social forces and so on. Inevitably, these different experiences can cause conflict when we’re all working together. Dr. Sidjae Price, CEO at Priceless Planning and Founder of Speak Loud Inc., joins us to talk about generational pressures, organizational conflict and how we can make our businesses better.

Like many digital companies, SUMO Heavy Industries knows no bounds. The eCommerce consulting firm began with two people working out of a spare room in an apartment in Philly. They moved to New York, bounced around WeWorks and are now back in Philly again. This time, with their own dedicated office space. So how much does the decision of a physical location impact a business? Bart Mroz, CEO of SUMO Heavy, joins us to talk about making seven or eight moves in nine years, how remote thinking can help onsite teams and how moving can actually be kind of fun.

To build a personal brand…or to not build a personal brand…or to build a company brand…or to build both? Ben Lee joins us to debate the merits of investing in your personal brand versus your company brand.

Within Capital One, design spans a huge gamut of things. From actual products to experiences, visual design, interface design and more, designers tackle a wide variety of needs, projects and products. As the Design Operations Lead: People Development at Capital One, Courtney Allison Brown ensures the organization for design is well managed. She joins us to talk about her path from art school to Ops, and how creating art keeps her fresh and helps her to explore new opportunities and ways to connect.

We all know how important customers are to the digital experience. At the WWE, those customers are the fans. Joe Lalley, Experience Design Leader, Digital Transformation at PwC, entered the ring of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as the Vice President of Digital Products and Operations. There, he led digital teams to deliver many different products across many different platforms. Hear his advice for getting close to your customers and why it’s always important to treat each day like your first day on the job.

Not so long ago, design was viewed as a nice-to-have in the world of business. Today, it’s recognized as a powerful business differentiator. As the Director of Design Education at InVision, Leah Buley has a front-row seat to the business impacts of design. She and the team at InVision have just released The New Design Frontier, the largest design maturity study to date. Leah joins us to walk us through the report, share some “aha” moments and offer some insights to use at your own organization.

Nearly nine years ago, Nora Lahl left print production at a traditional agency to venture into the world of digital. Signing on with Lightburn, a Milwaukee-based web design and digital marketing agency, she saw the need for a move from a focus on projects to a focus on client services and client relationships. Stretching outside her job description, she went to work fulfilling that need. Today, Nora is a partner at Lightburn. She joins us to talk about her journey from print to digital, how project managers can level up to business leaders and what it takes to go after and formalize an executive role.

About two months ago, we invited digital shops to help us shine a light on market trends, by sharing business conditions in 2018 and expectations for 2019. Nearly 170 shops responded, sharing a general consensus that business was good in 2018 with healthy revenue growth, solid employee efficiency results and strong profits. But there were some unexpected findings on how generalists did compared to specialists and different characteristics that had some shops growing much faster than others. Nick Petroski, Cofounder & CEO at Promethean Research, joins us to talk about what the research revealed, a few surprises and where the industry is headed.

Each day, we fire up app upon app upon app, going through the motions to create and organize our work and business in meaningful ways. Trouble is, all of that work takes a tremendous amount of time and effort. It can lead to a culture of chaos, leaving people frustrated when they can’t find things, align teams or projects or benchmark data to make good decisions. Mark van Leeuwen, CEO of VOGSY, joins us to share insights gathered from working with many, many professional services organizations, and talk about some of the ways technology can ease our pain.

Kianosh Pourian is a technologist with 20 years of experience in the web development industry. After working at Staples for over eight years, Kianosh set out on his own—right in the midst of the great financial crisis. He found success with his own consulting firm, went through a merger and then an acquisition. Months later, the office Kianosh called home was shuttered. Throughout this rollercoaster ride, Kianosh has stayed true to founding principles. In many ways, he’s come full circle, back to the desire to venture forth and build new things. Kianosh joins us to talk about the lessons life has to teach us and how it’s always best to go with your intuition.

Margaret Lee, Director of UX Community & Culture at Google, began her career before the Internet was really a thing. After majoring in architecture, she decided she didn’t want to be an architect and stumbled into technology by accident. As she describes it, her career has almost been a process of elimination, of trying different things and figuring out what did and didn't work for her. Margaret joins us to talk about her path to Google, nearly 10 years leading the Geo UX organization and the many different faces of leadership.

It’s a brand that many of us grew up with, pages sprawled open on the kitchen table or stockpiled in the garage. Founded in 1936, Consumer Reports has been a mainstay of savvy consumer decision-making for more than 80 years. Over the decades, Consumer Reports has worked to reach new audiences, and bring the magazine experience online. And they’ve found success in their efforts. Cara Determan, Director of User Experience at Consumer Reports, joins us to talk about CR’s recent redesign, membership and the journey to align everyone around reimagined experiences.

Electric Pulp came of age in the early days of the web, back before Y2K, smartphones or civilization as we know it today. With more work than they could handle, Electric Pulp left it to businesses to come calling—and call, they did. From Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert to the global rebranding of Ford, Electric Pulp was scoring huge projects. Take a trip down memory lane, and revisit the web industry past, while learning how agencies are adjusting to the present and planning for the future. We’re talking PR, spec work, RFPs and all sorts of dirty little words that may turn you off—or may just change how you do business.

Project estimating and budgeting is both an art and a science. One Andrei Bernovski knows all too well. Working in project management and operations at agencies such as Tribal DDB, Razorfish, Sapient and boutique firms, he’s seen his fair share of what-if scenarios and projects gone good and bad. Inspired to solve his own personal pain points, Andrei co-founded Price&Cost, a project financial estimation and financial management tool. Hear how he set out to right estimating wrongs and how it’s better to adapt the budgeting wheel than try to reinvent it.

For some, the clear boundaries of an organization can be a comfort. For others, there’s something exhilarating about the great unknown. How do you bring curiosity and a sense of discovery to any situation or workplace? Nathan Paterson has worked for many organizations, in boutique settings, leading creative teams for the likes of Disney and now at IDEO Tokyo as a Senior Design Lead. He joins us to talk about his journey, and how different organizations and industries inspire in different ways. Hear how ambiguity and optimism help him to stay curious, and what excites him about what’s to come.

Pitching. The word itself is enough to make many of us want to walk the other direction. But if we don’t sell ourselves and what’s great about our companies, who will? And when you think about it, most people love to talk about themselves. So why is selling your services and your team that much different?

Eager to make the most of your returns? Check out these tax savings strategies to work on before the end of the year.

What do you do when your product has outgrown its name, and is going through crazy changes? That’s the dilemma Mailchimp faced as the platform expanded beyond email to include Google and Facebook ads, landing pages, physical postcards and more. Newly hired as Mailchimp’s Director of Marketing and Brand Design, Brandy Porter joined Mailchimp as the company was initiating a full redesign of both the Mailchimp brand and its digital experiences. Hear the story behind the redesign, what’s new with Freddie and what Brandy would do differently if she had to do it all over again.

So where are we headed in 2019? A simple truth: we need more diversity in the tech industry. Diversity of gender, ethnicities, beliefs, abilities—all of it. This will be a focus for us going into 2019. We’re already planning the next Women’s Leadership Camp and kicking off a new event, Digital Diversity Days at Seer.

This time about a year ago, Greg Bear and Travis Caldwall at Bear Group were venturing out on a new sales strategy. They decided to add Account-Based Marketing (ABM) to their mix, whittling down a large list of prospects to just a handful of very specific targets. They hired a sales development rep, and began crafting personalized campaigns for each prospective account. Initially, their efforts seemed to work. But as the hours added up building assets, they wondered if ABM was worth it. Fast forward to today, and Bear is on a different course. Find out what they’re up to, why ABM didn’t work for them and why relationships are everything in this business.

If life imitates art, can life imitate work, and vice versa? Scott Welliver, Design Manager, Experience Design at Comcast, is a design leader, starting writer, husband and amateur dad to three kids. In many ways, Scott approaches his work and family lives in the same fashion. Tune in to hear about Comcast’s core value of experimentation, how the company is entering a new era of thinking and why it’s important to connect with people who make you better at work and at life.

In the little town of Dayton, Ohio, you’ll find a cool, creative arts community that The Scenery calls home. The product agency’s team took up residence there in June 2017, passing a quiet six months before heading out for the holidays. Four days after Christmas, in the early morning hours, Dayton fire crews were dispatched to the building on reports of smoke. A restaurant kitchen fire had spread throughout the building, damaging—and effectively closing—the businesses inside. Carla Hale, Partner and Director of Client Services, joins us to talk about that snowy winter morning, how the fire impacted business and how the team emerged stronger than before.

Jeff Robbins is a rockstar. A real-life rockstar. He was part of the team that created the world's first commercial website. Signed to A&M Records with his band Orbit. Toured with Lollapalooza. Co-founded Lullabot, demystified Drupal, worked with clients including The GRAMMYs, Tesla Motors and Harvard University…And that’s only about half of it. After he and his co-founder grew Lullabot to 60+ employees, Jeff stepped away to found Yonder, join an indie-rock trio called 123 Astronaut and help business owners as a coach and consultant. Jeff joins us to talk about life as a business owner and why it’s important to enjoy your life and your company while you have it.

Jeb Banner knows a thing or two about turning ideas into companies. Over the past 20-something years, he’s founded, owned and/or advised a number of businesses ranging from ecommerce to web marketing to software. In 2006, he co-founded SmallBox, an Indianapolis creative agency, where he spent 12 years as CEO. Fast forward to today, and Jeb has exited client services altogether. He now leads Boardable, a nonprofit board management software company he co-founded in 2016. Jeb joins us to talk about his decision to move from SmallBox to Boardable full-time, and advice for others considering a similar leap.

As a business owner, you may feel alone in the fear, procrastination, doubt and frustration of entrepreneurship, but you’re not. As Dr. Sherry Walling says, entrepreneurs all break in the same ways. The key is acknowledging when you’re not feeling right and finding ways to give your mind and body a rest. Take a moment, breathe and treat yourself to a well-deserved moment of founder zen.

In Blairtopia, time is a thief. Blair Enns, CEO of Win Without Pitching, and author of The Win Without Pitching Manifesto and Pricing Creativity: A Guide to Profit Beyond the Billable Hour, is out to create a more utopian state. One where firms win without pitching, get paid for the value they create and let time go. Tune in for Blair’s take on mastering the value conversation, three levels of financial success for creative and marketing firms and how agencies can leave time behind to change the very nature of their firms.

Race, gender, sexual orientation, diversity, inclusion…These terms can elicit different feelings in different people. Viewed through the lens "diversity is a design process," conversations become softer, more open and accessible. Design for Diversity™ is the brainchild of Boyuan Gao and Jahan Mantin, founders of the New York-based consultancy, Project Inkblot. As they describe it, tech and media are at the critical juncture of humanity right now. As an industry, we need to shake things up, and create human experiences that all people can see themselves in. Tune in to hear how Project Inkblot took shape and how you can solve for diversity with your own team, within your own resources and community assets.

In 2013, about 150 project managers came together in Philadelphia for the inaugural Digital PM Summit. That year, it was all about finding your people, running web projects and keeping clients happy. This year, the Summit agenda runs the full gamut of topics and speakers: Agile, IoT products, PM self-care, what’s next in our careers and more. Brett Harned, Founder of the Digital PM Summit, joins us to talk about the evolution and growth of the community as well as subsequent shifts in programming. Tune in to hear about the 2018 Digital PM Summit in Memphis, and how the community can lift itself up by doing better.

Process. It feels like the answer to so many project woes and a threat to culture and creativity. So how do you go into an existing team with an existing flow and social dynamics and “fix” things? What’s the process process? To start, you observe. That’s what Robert Sfeir, Senior Director of Engineering at Huge, explains as he shares the story of aligning the efforts of a 1,500-person digital agency. Too often people approach process change looking for patterns they know instead of watching to find small tweaks that could make things better. Once a few successes are enjoyed, the team starts to trust that improvements can be made. That’s the spark that gets real change underway.

It’s an idea that several digital client services shops toy with: build and launch a product of your very own. So what do you do when you have the idea, know how to build it and want to give it a go? Craig Bryant, Founder/CEO of We Are Mammoth has been there, lived that. With the help of his team, he’s successfully spun up not one, but two SaaS products. Craig joins us to share insights into We Are Mammoth and the stories behind two products: DoneDone, a simple bug and issue tracker, and Kin, HR software to improve onboarding, engagement and the bottom line. Craig discusses five and 10 years into a product, patience as a critical virtue and how to go with your gut when you’re told to pull the plug.

Has project management reached a tipping point? Rachel Gertz, Partner and Digital PM Trainer at Louder Than Ten, believes so. In the not-so-distant past, project managers didn’t have much say in how their companies were run. They shuffled folders, organized to-dos and made small talk with clients. Today, companies recognize DPMs as the front lines of business, secondary business developers, early-stage strategists and more, well worth attention—and investment. Rachel joins us to talk about a new class of empowered DPMs and how these resilient leaders are shaping the future of the industry.

As digital agencies, we’re great at marketing our clients. Marketing ourselves? Not so much. Mark O’Brien, Chief Executive Officer at Newfangled, knows how this goes. In 2015, the “too cheap to fire” intern turned CEO realized Newfangled needed to ditch 20 years of web development fast or perish. Going through the EOS Traction coaching program, Mark helped Newfangled to tai chi its way to discover its unique ability. Tune in to find out how you can uncover hard truths, market smarter and overcome your fear of changing out the plumbing while the water is still running.

How do you gain more control over leads, and improve your chances of working with your ideal clients? For Bear Group in Seattle, the answer lies in Account-Based Marketing (ABM) and personalized campaigns—getting in front of the right people at the right times, in the right places. Can this approach work for you? Greg Bear, Systems Architect / President, and Travis Caldwall, Marketing Director at Bear Group, outline their process, drop resource hints such as Predictable Revenue and ZenProspect and discuss how they’ve found focus through ABM and personalized campaigns.

Over the past nine years at Sparkbox, Rob Harr has engineered a finely tuned Ops system built on Friday forecasts, micro-cash sheets, rolling six-month billable averages and two years of feeling really uncomfortable. Tune in to hear the method behind his magic and learn how to uncover truth in your own data sets, repetitive grading and a fresh mindset.

“What did you want to be when you were eight years old?” It’s a powerful question that can open up all sorts of conversations and illuminate the way we work together and where we want to go with our career. But who feels comfortable asking this during a 1:1? We're managers, not Oprah—bosses with a big letter B. Plucky's Jen Dary has the solution. Drawing on four years of leadership coaching, she’s created The Plucky 1:1 Starter Pack to help leaders and teams be more successful together. Listen in on her story, find out what she wanted to be as a kid and discover how she found her North Star.

How do you start a tech company without a computer? Drive and relentless determination. Sherri and Reuben Johnson worked out of their local library, and would park their junker car out of sight to walk the main streets handing out printouts promoting their web services. Like many of us, their beginning setup wasn’t ideal. So how do you make things work when you have ability, but few tools or resources—and how do you stay true to yourself in the process? Listen to part 2 of their story for some inspiration.

Of the hundreds of people I’ve met who started a digital agency, almost all of them stumbled into it. But the two people on today’s show saw the web as a way to improve their lives. Living in a small Northeastern mill city, a tanking economy and failing health were taking its toll on the young couple. And then a friend told them about working in tech in Atlanta. Sherri and Reuben Johnson never looked back. Listen to part one of The Fly Media Origin Story.