As an entrepreneur, it can be tempting to spin up new ventures that excite you, like launching a digital agency on the side. But how do you balance running an existing business while devoting time to cultivating a new one?
In my experience running a brick-and-mortar fitness studio, building an agency on the side took strategic planning and focus to ensure it complemented, not compromised my current business.
Here are tips I learned about spinning up a side agency efficiently while maintaining your primary company:
Be clear with yourself, employees, and clients upfront about your availability and commitment to your main business. Set boundaries around your time dedicated to the agency versus the gym. Communicate that your fitness clients remain the priority.
When pitching the agency, be transparent about your dual focus. Avoid over-promising availability or bandwidth. Make sure everyone understands your fitness business owns your core commitment currently.
Running two businesses leaves little time to waste. Audit your schedule and identify pockets of time where you can carve out agency work. Maybe it’s an hour or two between gym sessions or blocking off parts of weekends.
Review each agency task critically – is this the best use of your limited time or can someone else handle this? Be ruthless about time allocation. Delegate or outsource agency tasks whenever feasible.
Look for efficiencies between businesses. Can your studio’s customer database help identify leads for the agency? Could you upsell website services to fitness clients?
Build agency processes using systems already working smoothly at your studio like social media management, payment processing, project management software, etc. Leverage successful models rather than reinventing the wheel.
Identify strengths you’ve developed running your studio that translate to the agency. Have you gotten good at marketing physical products or motivating customers? Those are valuable agency skills too.
Reflect on weaknesses or gaps in your fitness business that the agency could counterbalance, like building technical skills. Look for mutually beneficial opportunities.
You can introduce your side agency to fitness clients, but don’t be overly sales-y about it. Offer helpful educational content about services first rather than jumping straight to pitches.
If appropriate, offer modest cross-promotions like discounts for studio members. But avoid heavy upselling that could detract from their core experience.
Create streamlined systems that enable your agency to run smoothly without you handholding every client. Document processes so tasks can be replicated.
Invest in tools like project management software, videoconferencing, and chatbots to automate administrative tasks and facilitate remote work so you don’t have to be onsite constantly.
Keeping multiple businesses afloat is taxing. Monitor your energy levels and don’t compromise your mental health. Bring on a business partner or hire team members quickly when needed to alleviate pressure. The key is pacing yourself.
While juggling two businesses is challenging, the diversification and cross-pollination of skills can make the effort worthwhile. Just ensure your core business doesn’t suffer. With the right systems and support, you can build an agency efficiently even when your plates are full. What secondary venture will you explore?
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