Are you doing your job (or someone else's)?

Last week I shared what I think agencies can expect from the market going into 2026 (and according to figures published yesterday, thankfully, the economy is showing signs of life).

This second week in January I’m talking about the second most important thing: what you do for the agency.

I’ve written about working on the business vs. working in the business before.

Sometimes, your agency requires you to do both of these things (sometimes, simultaneously)...

…but your agency still needs you to lead it. You can work on the business, or you can work in the business, but you shouldn’t work for the business.

As an owner, you cannot behave like an employee. You literally have legal obligations as a company director that your staff do not have…but you also need to make decisions that your staff cannot make.

Decision levels

When the agency needs to make a decision, you should ask yourself at what level the decision needs to be made.

An example of a decision that can only be made at leadership level is employment benefits: only the leaders in most organisations know what is affordable and what supports the business in achieving its objectives. Obviously it's fine to delegate the responsibilities of researching benefits available on the market and benefits offered by competitors, but the decision of what to offer must be made by leadership.

Yet too often we see leaders delegate the decision, asking staff "what benefits do you want?"

The only response to be expected from staff is "all of them thank you very much".

"This business down the road has a 4-day work week...that business over there has unlimited time off...another business has private health insurance..."

Worse, “I read about this business in Silicon Valley that’s literally never turned a profit and they have [insert ludicrous thing].”

Agencies are not VC-backed tech startups (which is good, because I think tech company workers will soon replace bankers as public enemy number one), so we should take all advice given by venture capitalists, ex-Googlers and AI entrepreneurs with a pinch of salt, at best.

Maybe you can afford to offer every benefit offered to members of staff at the biggest businesses, maybe you can't. But you can compete on thoughtfulness: you can design benefits that support your business objectives and values. For example, if you value service to others then volunteering programs could be a good benefit for your company; if your business is strategic and relies on retaining staff as they increase their knowledge, retention based benefits like better pension contributions and loyalty bonuses might make sense, whereas if you are a highly executional business and entry level staff just pass through, then pension contributions are not on anyone's mind.

Too many leaders delegate this decision and decisions like it so that they can get involved in the day-to-day whether they want to admit it to themselves or not. That is the level they can make decisions at.

It’s natural to miss doing the work, especially if that’s why you started your agency in the first place. Maybe you’ve caught yourself thinking “life was simpler when I was coming up with creative concepts myself” but there comes a point when decisions on creative direction are not the decisions that only you can make.

When you’re asked to make a decision, first ask whether you’re the only person who can make it.

Start by asking yourself. You might decide that the person in front

Could I employ someone to do my job?

Try writing down what you do in a week (you could maybe do one of those timesheets you insist everyone else does).

Go through that list and ask yourself: could I feasibly employ someone to do that job for me? Alongside each item, estimate how much the hypothetical person you could delegate this task to might cost.

Perhaps there’s an easy solution staring you in the face: if most of your day-to-day work could be done by a £50,000 a year hire - and you could find £50,000 - of course you should pull the trigger…

If most of your work requires someone earning twice that - and you don’t have the money - you’ve got something to aim towards…

…but what we want to see is two or three things that can’t be delegated. No employee could do that job, it can only be done by the owner of the business.

They’ll probably relate to the direction your agency is heading in. There’ll likely be some (but not all) elements of new business development in there. There’ll be some elements of financial oversight and general performance measurement (you’re making the investment and only you can decide whether you’re happy with the return). There’ll absolutely be choosing and motivating your senior leaders.

If you don’t do these things, nobody does these things. Just like an employee, you’re working for the business.