Sorry, Can't Talk Right Now

I'm taking off for 10 days to sit and think quietly. Sebastian would have been proud.

The last 12 months have been the toughest of my career to date. And as owner of an independent agency, I don't think I'm alone.

Love and Money has had to deal with what we've all had to deal with — an uncertain market ("Vibecession" is a worryingly accurate description), high interest rates, AI and the democratisation of design has seen budgets shrink, or dry up entirely.

It's been hard, it's been stressful. We've had to make tough choices, admit to some glaring mistakes, and navigate through some insanely choppy waters.

Despite all that we've scaled an independent beauty brand into an international market (Fluff), launched a brand technology company (ToolKit), and are about to launch an electronic instruments company with Tame Impala (did you know it was only one guy?) and some friends.

So while this has been a brutal year, I've also never been prouder.

So, how did I do it?

Easy. I didn't.

A few years ago I realised just how self-centred I had been in building "my" agency. Everything was based around me. It served my ego, and absolutely nothing else.

I was burnt out.

Bored.

Involved in fucking literally every single thing anyone did. Ever.

And so unable to take a holiday.

I needed change.

I needed to change.

Scott Galloway often says that greatness is in the agency of others. I liked the sound of that. So I made a 50 year plan in the back of a Stephen Hawking book.

That plan is probably wrong. But plans are useless, planning is everything. The point was I started teaching myself to let go. I started trusting those around me to take control. To do things that I didn't agree with. To try things. To fail where I felt like I could have succeeded. To learn by doing.

We decided to lift Danny Pemberton to Creative Director. Adnaan Narot to Partnerships Director. And Patrick Brien to Product Director.

And a funny thing happened.

We started getting better. Smarter. More creative. More innovative. Faster. Slicker.

There were people in my business a million times better than I was at doing their jobs. I could go to sleep on the other side of the world and see work that was light years ahead of what I would have done.

Freed from the urge to design everything myself, I started designing the systems and processes that would help my team do their thing. Jim Collins talks about "The Genius with a Thousand Helpers". I was never a genius, but the first decade of LaM was definitely built around getting people to help me get shit done. For the first time, I was able to focus instead on helping my team, not the other way round.

Now it's time for me to take another step.

I'm about to go completely offline for 10 days in the hills of Spain. No phone. No email. I’m hoping to get back to some of the meditating I used to do with my late rabbit, Sebastian.

And while it's still a daunting prospect, the truth is I couldn't have imagined doing this even 12 months ago. In fact, just recently, at one of our director’s meetings, I tried to suggest that maybe I needed to cancel. And the response was a resounding

“No fucking way, mate. You’re going. Get out of here.”

Rather than locking myself into the self-perpetuating myth that my business can't survive without me, I'm instead faced with a more challenging, but ultimately more freeing thought:

Maybe this business doesn't need me much at all anymore?

So, if you need me for anything at all, I'm afraid I can't help you. But you're in luck! Adnaan (adnaan@loveandmoney.agency), Danny (danny@loveandmoney.agency), and Patrick (patrick@loveandmoney.agency) and their teams are way better at this stuff anyway.

See you on the other side,

✌🏽