An Agency Story

How Three Employees Quietly Took Over an Agency - AOR

• Russel Dubree / Alyssa Ash • Episode 150

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Company: AOR

Guests: Alyssa Ash

Year Started: 2011

Employees: 25-50

What if your journey to owning an agency started without you even knowing it? In this episode, Alyssa Ash, Partner at AOR, shares how she went from junior designer to co-owner of a leading creative and digital agency. You’ll hear the behind-the-scenes story of a years-long leadership transition, the lessons learned along the way, and how she’s navigating an unpredictable business landscape.

Key Takeaways

  • How to spot and develop future leaders from within your team
  • Why a long runway is essential for a smooth ownership transition
  • The role of curiosity and initiative in creating career-defining opportunities
  • How to lead confidently while still embracing discomfort
  • An insider’s perspective on what it takes to transition from team member to owner

Welcome to An Agency Story podcast where we share real stories of marketing agency owners from around the world. From the excitement of starting up the first big sale, passion, doubt, fear, freedom, and the emotional rollercoaster of growth, hear it all on An Agency Story podcast. An Agency Story podcast is hosted by Russel Dubree, successful agency owner with an eight figure exit turned business coach. Enjoy the next agency story.

Russel:

She thought she was just doing her job, but in reality she was being prepared for ownership. Welcome to An Agency Story podcast, I'm your host Russel.. In this episode, I sit down with Alyssa Ash, partner at AOR, Denver based, creative and digital agency serving municipalities, local governments, and real estate. Alyssa's journey a rare one, starting as a graphic designer and over the years earning her way into ownership alongside two of her peers. We dive into the surprising offer that set her on her path to becoming an owner. The culture that encouraged entrepreneurial thinking long before she held the title, and the strategies that made for a smooth years in the making leadership transition. You'll walk away with a fresh perspective into how to build future leaders from within and how embracing comfortable discomfort can be the fuel for personal and business growth. Enjoy the story. Welcome to the show today, everyone. I have Alyssa Ash with AOR with us here today. Thank you so much for joining.

Alyssa:

Thanks for having me on.

Russel:

As I understand it, not to call you out, but this is your first podcast.

Alyssa:

Correct. I am excited. I've been wanting to do podcasting for a while. I'm excited.

Russel:

I'm very honored that, uh, An Agency Story is the first opportunity for you get to this. I can't wait to hear and learn more about your agency journey, and quite an interesting one as well, that we'll get into. But before we do all that, I'd love to just hear what does AOR do and who do you do it for?

Alyssa:

AOR is a creative and digital agency. We're based in Denver, Colorado and we focus primarily on branding, marketing, and web for municipalities, local governments, and real estate.

Russel:

Well spoken elevator pitch there.

Alyssa:

Succinct.

Russel:

Succinct. There you go. That's an important thing to get down. Work on your elevator pitch. It can't hurt. Well, Before we get down to the agency business, I wanna hear about young Alyssa, long before she ever thought about owning an agency.

Alyssa:

That's a, a good way to start. I was around a lot of artists growing up and so, uh, my uncle owned a sign shop, did hand painted signs, um, all growing up. Yeah. Big redwood signs. He used a router to cut'em all up and then hand painted. And so I actually worked for him in the summers, which was pretty fun. That gave me two things, right? That gave me the, uh, view into entrepreneurship, the good and the bad, um, and also just the art side of things. And so I ended up going to college for graphic design. At the time 2003 was when I started college. It was really focused on more of the traditional aspects of design. Not a lot of digital, but people were starting to talk about it and and I knew it was something I needed to get into if I wanted to, you know, be marketable as an employee. and so I did in college get a couple internships that helped with that. One was with a smaller dev shop and they taught me how to code. At the time we were coding in Tables.

Russel:

Oh Tables, man. There it goes at memory lane.

Alyssa:

It was kind of funny'cause I learned how to code like on the tail end of that. So I learned that for a brief second and then quickly was moving into more of how we're coding now, which is obviously always evolving, but that really piqued my interest into the web side of things and digital in general. Also worked with an in-house marketing agency on campus that just showed me kinda how agencies work with, um, you know, an account team, designers, developers. I absolutely loved that, and I knew that's what I wanted to do. There was no question I wanted to work in the agency environment when I graduated.

Russel:

This sounds like this is a picture perfect path. No diversion, guardrails on and everything. You were just, you had your head down and on a mission.

Alyssa:

There were little spots along, you know, I wanted to be an interior designer for a while and, um, little things along the way, but it worked out really well how it, how it all came together. I wasn't doing it strategically at the time, it was just things I was interested in. Yeah, so Post-college, moved to Denver and really had my eyes on a few agencies. It was 2008, spring of 2008 when I moved here. Recession hit, everyone was pausing, freezing hiring, internships and whatnot. I ended up settling into a, an in-house department for about a year and a half, um, before I got my job at AOR in 2011.

Russel:

Awesome. When you brought back up Tableist design, it, there's so many memories and I remember that was, that was back at, you know, in the late 2000, you were touting that as saying, well, we're we, do we do Tableless development now? That was a big credibility statement. Um, what I always love young entrepreneur stories. Is there anything that stands out? When you think of now your, your entrepreneurial career, a little bit of like, oh man, that was a real lesson learned back at the old sign shop?

Alyssa:

My dad was also a serial entrepreneur and I think I probably heard more of the negative aspects of it and the stressors of it than, than the positive. But I still, it's what I knew and it's what I wanted eventually. Yeah, I, I don't know if there was ever, ever a time where I, I guess going into college I did get an entrepreneurship certificate and got and took night classes, um, to learn just the basics of business. You know, I had never really dug into the financial side of it or any of that. I obviously had a, um, interest in the marketing side of it, but into the other areas just piqued my interest even more, I think.

Russel:

Man, just a constant sponge for all things that are, I mean, we're just clearly gonna end up owning a business someday.

Alyssa:

Worked out well.

Russel:

You subtly mentioned there that, um, the, that you got a job at the agency that we now know that you are the, an owner of. You said what, this is 2008, or, sorry, what was the, what was the timeframe there?

Alyssa:

2011 was when I started at AOR.

Russel:

Okay. 2011. All right. There's a tale here. You start out just as a graphic designer.

Alyssa:

Started at the time the agency was just nine people. We were doing a lot of traditional direct mail branding work. But we were starting to get, AOR was starting to get requests for web, I was brought on to help grow that area. I think at first I was just brought on'cause they needed design help. As I started learning the business and realizing where they wanted to go with it, I saw where I could help. Yeah, I went from designer to um, and was doing some front-end development as well, to like that digital director position and then we ended up acquiring a small dev shop to just kinda jump over that hump and start getting more, more web work. And with that, brought in some devs, um, to help. From there, um, just hit the ground running with, with websites. Now we're about 50/50 between, um, WordPress, custom WordPress sites and branding and marketing.

Russel:

I mean, Clearly we're coming on at a transitional time for the agency. Seems like I'm getting the hint that you were leading that effort or at the forefront of that effort.

Alyssa:

I was helping.

Russel:

Helping.

Alyssa:

Yes, I was helping.

Russel:

I don't know if you're giving yourself full credit there, but, but I guess I am curious to go back to and how you think of that. Do you feel like you were even at a relatively young age in, in entering the business? Do you feel like you were kind of approaching it already with an entrepreneurial mindset or were you just, hey, this is a job I'm working for the man and um, I'm gonna do a good job, but, I'm not trying to make millions of dollars or something along those lines?

Alyssa:

I definitely saw it as a challenge to grow. Especially when we acquired the dev shop. I didn't know what went into that financially or anything like that, but I saw it as an opportunity, like, now we have the people, let's, let's build some more sites. One of the big things that we worked out really early in that process is just recurring revenue and figuring out what can we offer, um, with our websites that keeps, you know, keeps that partnership alive with our clients. That still is a big part of, of our agency and of our business. I think just thinking like that early on and figuring out not only how can we grow this, but how can we, you know, create like sticky relationships, um, with that recurring revenue model was, that was probably my first kind of like entrepreneurial idea that I pitched to our former owner that like really took off running and made, you know, made a difference in the business. Credit to them'cause they were very, AOR is still, AOR'S culture is still very much, you know, everyone should be thinking about the business and pitching those ideas and whatnot. I'm glad I felt comfortable doing that back then.

Russel:

Obviously it has to be somewhat ingrained in your personality, but when you balance that of how much was that culture kind of cultivating that opportunity and that mindset from you versus your own natural talents and ability?

Alyssa:

I think the culture of it was huge. At the time we were a small, very scrappy shop and it was so easy to come up with an idea and implement it. you know, There wasn't a lot of process behind it. We just figured it out and, um, and I think that helped a lot. And just the comfortability, right? Just being confident in your ideas and comfortable pitching them to your boss and then them being like, with it, you know? It's what every like young, entrepreneurial minded person needs or wants.

Russel:

Okay, so, all right, so there's some opportunity, clearly a good culture that's fostering, you know, your, your ambition and your ability to, um, make an impact within the business. It sounds like, you know, taking on kind of a new, I don't know what you call it, genre of work, start to walk me into the first instance of like, oh, you, there might be a time for you to take over this thing?

Alyssa:

Honestly, I, I think I was pretty naive to the whole process. Me and my business partners, so I have two business partners, um, kind of grew up in the agency, right? Like They started around the same time as I, as I did. and by the time, you know, Fast forward to 2019, the three of us are directors of each of the departments. One's focused on finance and ops, one's focused on client relationships, um, new business and then I was, I am focused on solutions and strategy, overseeing the creative and digital teams. I was just kind of, you know, focused on, um, doing the work and getting the work done and doing a good job. uh, and We never had conversations with the former owners in terms of exit planning or anything like that. When they approached us and said, hey, we think you three are the ones that should take this company forward, I was like, I was blindsided. I was like. Okay.

Russel:

It's all part of the plan.

Alyssa:

I was equal parts, you know, super nervous. Am I ready for this? But also, this is pretty cool. This is what I've always wanted, you know, and, um, at least like the loose framework of what I was looking for. And so, um. I guess, yeah, Up until that conversation, it wasn't ever like, the three of us never really talked about it as a, as a potential or an opportunity. It was just kind of just pieced together over time, which was nice. Behind the scenes, they knew exactly what they were doing. They knew years before that conversation that they wanted us to own the business eventually. And so They just like made sure that we were, that they were fostering our relationship, that we were getting pushed more and more into a position of leadership. While that conversation surprised me afterwards, it was like, oh, okay. I see what's going on here. This makes sense. I mean, They did such a good job of making it really seamless and natural. After that conversation too, I mean it took us, um, it wasn't like you're gonna take over tomorrow. It was, you know, we're looking five to 10 years out when we probably wanna exit the business, gave us ample time to get ready. Just continued, you know, having that initial conversation in 2019 and then COVID hits. By then we were kind of running the day to day and then COVID hit and the owners took a little bit more of a step back and just kind of, you know, they kept taking small steps back as we took small steps forward and it just worked out really nicely, um, and seamlessly.

Russel:

I hear a lot of agency stories and the whole, um, start as an employee, eventually become an owner. It's not the first one I've heard, but I'd say it's very rare. I know a lot of owners, you know, think about this day someday when, you know, whether they actually exit the business or not, that I don't have to step in and run things. For those folks who are like, I want my own Alyssa story, um, within my own business, when you think about just how you were cultivated in that sense, what's your like one or two pro tips to, to, so other people can maybe think in that same mindset that the owners, uh, the previous owners of AOR were thinking?

Alyssa:

I feel like there's a few things from the owner's perspective. Once we had the initial conversation, we did a lot of just like personality tests and whatnot, leadership tests to show the three of us, like, you know, while we've been working together for 10 years, it just unearthed some things in terms of like how we communicate, what our strengths are, what, like what's our purview into the agency, um, what, how do we work. Those were really helpful, honestly. You kind of know it, but just to see it and a third party figure it out pretty quickly, um, was really interesting. I also do think that runway was so helpful. I mean, We were, pretty young, we were pretty naive. We were, um, at least I personally was like, I don't know enough to do this. I have so much to learn. That runway gave us a chance to really discover what it is that we needed to learn to feel really comfortable, um, moving into ownership. That was really nice. And like I said, It wasn't like the smoothest ride, don't get me wrong. I'm making it sound like it was, it was a blast. But, um, it did give us time to work through those kinks, you know?

Russel:

We could spend hours talking about every little rock and bump in the way. But I, I think those were really great takeaways. From my perspective of investing heavily in, in your team's leadership abilities or growth, help them understand who they are as a leader, uh, their communication style, uh, different things like that. I can see the value in that and then the value of a long-term game plan. I almost kinda see this like kind of hearing you tell it, it was almost two parts. Even build the people up that could be the potential for it and then once you kind of, you know, drop the hammer in terms of how they shared, announcing it, give it more time to actually then let all the, all, like you're saying, all those questions and things settle in. Clearly they were game planning this, creating a long-term play, long before you were ever even aware of it. I think that's critically important is they didn't try to rush this or make this happen too fast. Um, and then We know there's gonna be some bumps along the way. Nothing good, nothing valuable, nothing, uh, awesome, um, comes without some little road bumps, but, but let, let's talk about that though for a second. What is something like, oh, man, that this one specific aspect, in this path, um, pre, pre ownership, this, this would've made it a little better?

Alyssa:

Honestly, been an owner for a year and a half. I feel like I have so much to learn. I think when we first started the conversations I, and when we first took over ownership, imposter syndrome, so much. It's taken me a while to really get comfortable in the position and, um, and just like, you know, positive self-talk and having the support of my partners and all supporting each other is huge. I think for those solo owners out there, like I have so much respect for solo owners. We get to kind of divide the workload, the stress, all of it, and it's another, it's a whole different ball game when it's all on you. yeah, I mean, I just think, in general, like that's probably like my own confidence. My own self-talk has probably been the biggest hurdle. I'm all about reps. The more I can do something, the more I put myself in those uncomfortable positions, the more I'm comfortable. That negative, um, self talking and whatnot, it kind of fades away.

Russel:

It's all about reps. How conscious of a thought was that as you were going through the process like, oh, there's something I need to go do, um, and experience it? There's something I need to go like, being very proactive in identifying and living out those reps, as you say.

Alyssa:

I definitely have room for improvement. Getting myself outta my comfort zone. But in general, I think I'm a very curious person. For the most part, it happens relatively naturally, but sometimes I do have to push myself or I need kind of that push from somebody else. but Really what it comes down to is what does the business need? It's not necessarily about me growing, but it's what will strengthen the business and our team and our clients and that sort of thing. That's what I, lean into more, more often than not when I need to go into, know, get outta my comfort zone a little bit.

Russel:

I love that. One of the things I wrote down and, and I'm, I'm a big believer in this, when we are looking throughout our business and seeing who, who might be the future potential leaders, and, and this can be a misnomer, I think we've got some misguided, um, I'm gonna say culture, maybe let's just say in the US about what a leader actually looks like. But I wrote down a note to myself, the reluctant leader you mentioned, imposter syndrome. I think that's such an important trait because this idea that I have to show up in every day and I might not be quite good enough, but that's the actual motivation of the drive that says, for my culture, for my team, for the company, for, for my peers, my partners, that, um, that I'm just gonna try harder and I'm going to figure this thing out. That's the place you actually have to come from'cause you think you got it figured out. You're only a, a two by four to the face around the corner, um, if, if you think that. yeah. So, So in hindsight, I know imposter syndrome feels, um, um, I don't dunno. It's kind of a bad feeling a little bit, but I don't know. Do you appreciate your imposter syndrome a little more?

Alyssa:

I think so. It's a little bit of humility. That little bit of humble, humbleness is, is good, I think, for anybody. It is motivation to work harder and to get outta your comfort zone. I, I envy people that don't have imposter syndrome or haven't been through that, like that's fabulous. That's really amazing. But I do think, at least for me and my personality, it is a bit, bit of a motivator, um, because you don't wanna feel that way, right? The motivation is to get, just to bring us full circle, to get those reps in so that, so that that does start going away and you start feeling more confident in, in what you're doing and just comfortable in your own shoes.

Russel:

It's a journey, as you're sharing. Another thing I'm, I'm curious about, right, so, so they, they shared this with you. How did that start to change even just your relationship with who, the folks that are gonna eventually become your, your co-owners? Did you guys start having planning circles and just thinking about how you're gonna go about this thing? What was that relationship like?

Alyssa:

When we started getting into actually, you know, the process of the acquisition, um, it was, yeah, it was a lot of, a lot of conversations in terms of not only like, what do we want now, but what do we want in the long term? Making sure that we're all on this, on all on the same page. Like I said, one of the, one of my partners is focused on finance and ops, and so he has essentially been the CFO of AOR for the last 10 years, which is very nice to have when you're buying a business. And so A lot of it was him educating us on, um, just the ins and outs of the business business, right? Like I have always had my eye on, um, the product and the solutions and the strategies. Kind of rounding it out with, um, the other parts of the business, um, was a big part of the learning and that was a big part of gaining confidence, right? I need to know that I understand this thing if I'm gonna help run it. so yeah, I think, I think just, uh, the three of us, I mean we spent a lot of time together there when we were planning. It was during COVID, um, and we just, and we still, I mean we've always met multiple times a week and um, that was true too, like leading up to the acquisition. But what was nice during COVID, we had, um, we were essentially running the agency. Like A lot of our new employees that we hired during that time didn't really even know the former owners by then. And so it was so nice'cause we could run the agency, but then we had the former owners as support too, right? We call them up anytime and be like, what would you do in this situation? That was kind of like right before we acquired it, we were pretty much there, or 99% there.

Russel:

Okay. Yeah, But you basically said it, but I just want to clarify, is, you know, they were, Even before the transaction took place, they were stepping, you were taking a step forward, they're taking a step back and so by the time the actual transition occurs, it's, it's really just more of a paperwork than some big giant shift in the business. And I think that's always a, you know, I I, whether that's actually leading to an acquisition. That was even how, you know, reminds me of how we even approached, um, people entering into kind of a management or a leadership role within our business. It's not, oh, tomorrow you're gonna do this role and good luck. It was that, hey, take, take 10% of this, take 10 more percent of this, take 10 more percent of this. At some point you're at that 90 ish percent level and like, okay, now let's do it. You're basically there. That was such a better way for everyone it seems like involved, um, the, the, the to, to have the more gradual approach. Sounds like you would, if you were to do it all over again, you'd do it the same way. To the, uh, Curious question and to the extent you're comfortable and can share detail, I mean, somewhere in this thing there has to be a lot of risk that you feel like you might be taking on by going about this. Like, What was the risk you were taking on by taking over the business?

Alyssa:

What was the risk I was taking on? I will say that the risk was much less because of the three, the three person partnership. That gave me solace. Again, like we worked really closely with the former owners to, um, to get it to a point where we were all very comfortable with the amount of risk that was being taken. Obviously, um, there's a, there's financial risk, um, a little bit of financial risk and whatnot, but they believed in us so much and worked with us to just get it to a level that was fair to them, but it was also, you know, somewhat comfortable to us. So, There's always risk, but, um, it doesn't keep me up at night, which is nice. Can't say of anything that seems that was ever having me question whether or not to do it.

Russel:

I'm just taking that to say kind of the, the whole path, it's, it is like this is, I have room to grow in my abilities, but this is a no-brainer.

Alyssa:

We definitely signed up for things that are long term and we have no idea what's gonna happen in the future. There's a little bit of risk there, but, um, yeah, for the most part it's, it's manageable and again, with three, it helps a lot.

Russel:

All right. If I had to give like a theme to this episode so far, I, you could probably interchange it either way, comfortably, uncomfortable or uncomfortably comfortable, um, is, is the, is an ongoing feeling that's good to have within the business.

Alyssa:

Yeah. I like that.

Russel:

Which one is it though? Is it uncomfortably comfortable or comfortably uncomfortable, are they the same?

Alyssa:

It probably changes day by day, right?

Russel:

Yeah. I guess the other stakeholders in this is the team's perception. How knowledgeable were they or was it not until the transaction occurred? How How did you integrate them into this whole thing?

Alyssa:

It was very smooth because of, especially because of know, the gradual transition. We had an SOA, which is our quarterly agency meeting and everyone was in office and, um, and the former owners hadn't.

Russel:

Is this post transaction?

Alyssa:

This is post transaction. Leading up to it, no, we didn't really share it. Honestly, we just didn't know how long it was gonna take and, you know, we didn't wanna like keep kicking the can down the road and, um, and it, it did end up taking longer just because of all the uncertainty that was happening at the time. So we didn't really, um, share the news until after it went through. Again, like the owners were, had stepped so far back that a lot of the, um, employees just knew us as running the agency. Overall it was really smooth. yeah, I mean, there's still a, There is still a pressure, right? Post ownership just, you know, just being kind of extra focus on the business and that stability and making sure that it, everything's running smoothly and we're managing change and we're keeping this culture intact. I definitely felt that pressure post ownership, like, okay, this is on us now. But for the most part, I think the team was fabulous and, you know, very congratulatory and, um, yeah, couldn't, couldn't have asked for a better transition from a, from a team perspective.

Russel:

Everything that we've, we've kind of discussed at this point, it's been gradual, it's when it's made sense, you haven't rushed anything. Was there any just like, uh, and I know you talked about imposter syndrome, but I don't know, just like once it was all said and done and you, and you were kind of on, on the other side of it, like, oh, I see this differently now. Was there any major perception change on your end that that, that you made note of?

Alyssa:

I think one thing that I've been struggling with a little bit is you pretty automatically change, um, what you're focused on in the business? I'm no longer focused on, um, well I still am. It layers on I guess, but my sole focus is not on the work and launching the websites and, uh, making sure, you know, no bugs and all that. I think what happens with that transition is sometimes it's hard to lose or it's, it's easy to lose the perspective of the team and the employee. Even though you were just there, you were just in that seat, but your perspective or your purview has changed so much that sometimes, um, you, it takes more thought to really determine like, how, how is this going to be interpreted by the team? You know, Those bigger messages, um, that's something that I didn't expect, honestly. I thought, uh, from a, you know, moving from that employee to owner, like, you know, I've been there, I've done that. I know exactly, you know, how the, how the team will take this or how people will react, but it's not that easy.

Russel:

That's really saying something, right? Like you're saying, someone just not that far removed from being exactly in that, in those shoes, that I think it's really even a wake up for folks that have been in that owner seat. You just can't ever get to the point where you assume, you know, and that's a good question to ask yourself to continually put yourself in that mindset,'cause if it's hard for you, it's gotta be doubly hard for anyone else. You shared earlier that partnership, it's got, it's a lot of pros, right? Divide and conquer, you know, different skill sets, different things you can bring to the table at that kind of owner's mindset level. But one of the challenges can also be with ownership is shared vision and alignment and, you know, looking at the long haul of the business and are we all agree that the gap, the path we're on is the, the path we need to be on, on that? How has that gone for you and what do you guys do to, to stay aligned in,

Alyssa:

That's a really good question and we haven't hit any major roadblocks with that. I'm sure we will in, our tenure as owners, but, um, one of, and nothing groundbreaking, I don't think, but we, we do have a great network. We have, um, a couple different peer groups that we meet with that just keep us accountable, help us kind of talk through those things with, you know, other owners. And That's always really nice and it just brings up a lot of conversations that might not come up during the day to day. We also meet a lot and we really try to keep our bigger conversations for our in-person meetings. We don't try to, you know, solve things over Slack or email. We just kind of keep a running list. Obviously if it's a time sensitive matter and we have to jump on a call and, you know, troubleshoot something, we'll do that. But I do think that helps us keep focused. And just having, you know, our strategy well laid out and kind of knowing where we're headed. Obviously there's gonna be small pivots along the road, but, um, making sure that we're all on the same page. And Honestly, I do feel like this is something we can probably do a better job of just making sure, like I had up marketing, my business partner has up sales. just making sure that everything is constantly in alignment, which we of course strive for, but sometimes it, it starts to shift and we need to correct it.

Russel:

My takeaway from there is, and I think this, this can happen in all sorts of different ways in an agency, but how we shouldn't rehash strategy on the fly or anything along those lines, like you're kind of saying through Slack, we wait till we have these, hey, this is a strategy session. This is a construct to assess our alignment or our future of the business. Not to say there's little conversation aside, but we don't, we don't rehash strategy on the fly.

Alyssa:

Our team is very invested in the strategy too. Leading up to our state of the agency, our quarterly all team meetings, we, we definitely, um, we meet quite a bit on strategy and making sure that we're going in, you know, um, with a very cohesive and actionable plan as well. Our leadership's involved, involved with that as well.

Russel:

Speaking of long-term strategy, what does the future hold? What does that big vision you guys have for AOR in the future?

Alyssa:

I wish I could say we have a big vision. It's hard right now, right? I think with AI we're, we're really at a crossroads, um, just in an agency, in the agency landscape, right? I think there's, um, a lot of agencies that could fall behind during this period. There's a lot of agencies that can really thrive and right now we're just really trying to keep an eye on that and making sure that, um, we're constantly learning and staying ahead of the game when it comes to AI and all the things that, that are happening,'cause I, I truly believe that it is going to transform how we do business and it's gonna happen faster than, than we think. What that big vision is out there is a little bit questionable right now because I do think so much is going to change in the next couple of years. but. In general, one of the biggest things that we really focus on as an agency is our culture and keeping that intact. It's something that has stood the test of time from the original founders to us. so I wanna make sure that whoever takes over this agency next, um, that culture has remained and, and we're true to our roots throughout that. But honestly, like right now, I'm very focused on the uncertainty that's happening in the business climate. We work with a lot of municipalities and a lot of local government that is feeling this very heavily. We're really just trying to support them and figure out what can we do to help them get through this because we know it will foster our relationship and we'll be there on the other side when they get through it. That's kind of the immediate thing that we're focusing on right now.

Russel:

In turbulent times, I think that's always the best question to ask and I don't get to hear as many COVID stories. A little more removed from, um, COVID, I guess you could say. But that was the big lesson learned from so many agencies that, you know, when, when times were tough, who do we serve and what do they need? If you focus on that, it's gonna, it's gonna go well for you or, or it's not gonna go as bad as it could maybe is another way to put it. We can't be in control of everything. You dropped another little hit there. You're thinking about the next generation of owners of AOR. Are you taking the lessons from your owner and, and starting to like, yeah, I think, uh, I think Jimmy over there might be a good fit for leadership someday? How are you looking at that?

Alyssa:

I'd be lying if I said I don't think about that every once in a while. Because that's the model we know, you know. Part of the reason the former owners decided to do an internal sale is because of that culture, and they wanted to make sure that AOR was in good hands. As of right now, I think very much in that, in that same vein. That being said, we're, we're a ways out, so I'm trying not to worry too much, uh, about anything.

Russel:

You're like, damn, Russel. I'm just a year and a half into this, stop asking me about, uh, about selling it all over again.

Alyssa:

Yeah. We're in the infancy. We got a life ahead of us. Not planning our estate yet.

Russel:

Fair enough. All right, well, We'll bring you back for round two, um, when, when we get further down that path. But, uh, sounds, Sounds like you're enjoying it, sounds like you're, you're staying true to the roots, sounds like you've, you've got a good path and good plan in terms of how you're going about this. So, all, all This is gonna go well. I'm gonna put that in the fortune cookie right now. I guess then I got one last big question for you. Are entrepreneurs born or are they made?

Alyssa:

I've been thinking about this and I, I'm sure this is the answer you get most of the time. It's a combination.

Russel:

I think that would be, There would be more notches in the combo, um, bed post than others.

Alyssa:

Yes. I do think that people are born with certain traits that, that definitely make them strong entrepreneurs. As long as that seed is watered throughout their life, I, I really feel like there's a lot of potential. Being made, I, I think, just being put in positions that, um, that expose you to entrepreneurship, whether it's, within your family or your jobs or whatever. and Expose you to leading, leading a team or a dance troupe or whatever it is. Just, getting, getting that experience, I think, all ladders up to being a great entrepreneur. I think that the born is true, but also, uh, you gotta water that seed and nurture it through for it to grow.

Russel:

Pick a ratio like are we, 51/49

Alyssa:

man, I think, well, I mean, I do think that having those traits is a big part of it. Maybe it's 60/40, having those traits and then just making sure that those traits come alive, I guess.

Russel:

All right. I'll take it. 60/40. I guess, you know, Another just a little nugget that, um, I think is important there is that exposure piece. You've got to experience this in a different way, but I think sometimes as owners, we can forget of all the little things that we learned because we are the only ones exposed, to it when we were coming up in the business. So If we want to have any chance of someone coming in and filling our shoes just in the way you have, that we have to give them exposure. If they don't get it, that you're never gonna get that, you're never gonna get your Alyssa story. That's a good takeaway for folks. Thank you for sharing that. Well, If people know more about AOR, where can they go?

Alyssa:

Thinkaor.com is our website and that can take you to, we're pretty active on LinkedIn, um, Instagram. Either any of those places are good places to go.

Russel:

All right. Head to the socials folks. Thinkaor.com. Wonderful conversation today, Alyssa. Appreciate you taking the time to share your unique journey. So many little insights about how, how you can build up leaders within your business. It's all about having a game plan. It's all about building that runway, investing in that path, and if you do, are good things will come. Really appreciate you being the inspiration and taking the time to share that with us today.

Alyssa:

Thank you, Russel. It's been a great conversation. It's a pleasure, thank you.

We hope you've enjoyed this episode of An Agency Story podcast where we share real stories of marketing agency owners from around the world. Are you interested in being a guest on the show? Send an email to podcast@performancefaction.com. An Agency Story is brought to you by Performance Faction. Performance Faction offers services to help agency owners grow their business to 5 million dollars and more in revenue. To learn more, visit performancefaction.com.

Alyssa:

We have our annual client party here at the office, and typically, you know, we're, we're with clients early in the evening. It's more of like a happy, happy hour, cocktail hour, so it's like four to seven, and then afterwards it's the team, you know, just bonding and, uh, good time. Back in the day, we, we used to go pretty late into the night and it was a good time. We're all agencies, we understand. Since I feel like with the next generation coming up, we're, we're a little bit well behaved, but, but one time we had the party, and at the time I had a baby, and so I was coming in early and, and ending early. So I would come in at 6:30, 7:00 AM and leave. So The next day, because I had a baby, I went to bed early, other people didn't. I showed up at the office at 6:30 in the morning and it was still dark. And I noticed that the alarm didn't go off. I thought, that's kind of weird. Someone must have forgotten. All the doors were locked, so everything was secure. It was good. I'm sitting at my desk and I'm getting to work and I hear an, a phone alarm go off and I'm like, ugh, someone left their phone here. So I go over to where I hear the phone alarm and our intern at the time didn't make it home and, uh, was sleeping under the desk. I got to be the one to wake him up and, and help him find his ride home. That was kind of a story that went, went down in history'cause um, that was the first time I had ever seen that, you know, in my experiences with our parties. So That was kinda of funny but also really alarming, to be honest, because it was so early in the morning and I thought I was by myself in this big office. And then, you know, there was somebody, you know, taking a snooze 20 feet from me.

Russel:

For the young folks, are you living your best life if you haven't slept under your desk after a company office party? I just don't know.