BenAnyan.com

The Dream

When you see the rate card your agency sends client, and compare it to the salary you make at month’s end, you don’t even know what to think of your employer anymore. What kind of Cinderella step mother syndrome is this? And you think, maybe I should start my own shop and rake in all that cash, after all I do most of the work around here anyway!

I’m not going to lie to you; if you have your own agency and you land a few major clients, you’ve struck gold!

Perhaps you’re among the top 10% in your Comm Design graduating class. You already have a decent portfolio. During the breaks, you have a few clients you do stuff for; your uncle who’s just started a Savings & Loan company, you also did the mini brand book for his friend’s restaurant. You’ve done a few logos and people say you’re good! On top of that, you have a flair for animation too, like you’re just too good!

Then you look at life after school, the mandatory National Service you have to do at some agency with outdated, obnoxious creatives who get high on pushing you around when it’s not like they’re special themselves. You look at the winding complex organogram you’re at the bottom of, then you come up with a brilliant idea to start your own agency with your friend Fiifi. You have the hunger, you have the passion, you can do this! What you don’t know, you’ll figure out en route. Woo hooo, let’s do this!

The Real Deal

Hold on. I’m sorry. I cant apologize enough if I misled you to thinking I had a favorable position on this. In fact I think it’s dangerous, a move with more sad endings than happy ones.

It should all start from this question; What’s my career goal? In ten years, what will I want to be doing? Most likely your answer is “Running my own agency”. This is great. It’s the next question you’re likely to answer wrongly “What do I need to achieve this?” Reality check: more than a Comm design 1st Class, a few ‘comme’ or moonlight clients and millennial hope.

This is especially dangerous for a creative. You’re special because you can turn creative briefs into breathtaking work. Sometimes you do great stuff sometimes it falls flat. Sometimes you feel something is great, everyone thinks its rubbish. Sometimes you fight and win, sometimes you lose and realize ‘Oh no, indeed, it was shit.’ You brainstorm with people, you learn from some of them, over time, you evolve into a more special version of you.

As agency founder, you cant just be creative, you have to be traffic, account manager, finance and driver. You run from pitch to pitch, doing the work of three people. It’s very easy along the line to lose some of your mojo. It is the inevitable opportunity cost of wearing so many hats at this stage of your career. You get concerned and weary when the half of the one and half clients you have doesn’t see the value of advertising anymore. You also don’t have the muscle to bring in other bright minds like yours; they either want to run their own shop or work with an agency who can pay.

Don’t get me wrong, you are a genius, but the bloody one-man business client of yours doesn’t see the need for a social media strategy! What’s the big deal with using watermarked images? He doesn’t know enough to value you.

It’s like there’s a client threshold you cant go beyond. Major pitches ask for credentials you likely don’t have. They require a certain depth of strategic fortitude you may lack, they require creative partnership, meaning they should respect you enough to see you as a partner, not as another guy who knows photoshop in need of a favor. It’s just this toxic Ghana environment.

After a while, what do you do? Stick it out, accept whatever comes your way (which may be somewhat over what an agency is willing to pay you) or go back to agency, but as what? You’ve been gone three years, none of your clients have been able to run a full color ad or a TVC. They pooped all over your radio and print ideas, now you cant even enter it into anything. Are you going to move from founder of your own thing to Graphic designer at agency?

Is that a vertical or horizontal career move? You’re aware it’s not that easy to land an agency job close to equivalent of the title you’re used to, unless you’re reeaaallllllllyyyyyy gooooooddd! Can you fit back in a team and take instructions? Is it possible you’ve screwed your career over? Or maybe you’ll just go and do design at Bank of Ghana and call it a day?

In A Nutshell…

…I’m saying that there will come a time when starting your own agency is the next natural step to take, but taking it any sooner than then is suicidal. You need to be strategic about each job move you make, very strategic. Don’t be trapped by your exuberance. You may have to endure for some time, tolerate some rubbish whilst finding the opportunity to do some amazing work. Move around a bit, learn from people, build a reputation, hone your craft, pay some dues, make your mistakes working at an agency, let CEOs of the major agencies panic at the thought of you going solo.

Over the past year, quite a number of once-promising agencies in Accra (small and big alike) have had to fold up, not for lack of talent in founders. Don’t let the seduction of having your initials on an agency letterhead trick you into killing your career before it even got the chance to blossom. I’ve seen it happen too many times in this country.

Take your time, firm up your strategy and start! All the best.

PS: Originally written in Mar 2019 @ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/seduction-starting-your-own-agency-benjamin-anyan/

PSS: Don’t keep! Share…& then subscribe ok ?