I have long time friends that will be celebrating their 30th Wedding Anniversary and a milestone birthday this year. Since this is a big year of celebrations for them they thought about taking a trip. They planned to take a couple of smaller trips to extend their celebration and save some money rather than take the bigger, longer and more expensive trip. Their children helped them with the planning and ended up having a big influence in their decision. 
The kids have been using a saying lately to their parents – YOLO (You Only Live Once). As they talked about the trips, that saying started to sink in. It helped the couple realize that you do only live once and life is too short to deny yourself amazing opportunities. In the end they decided, ‘why not take that bigger and longer trip – YOLO’.
This made me think that agencies need to have a similar motto. It is smart to be cautious when it comes to saving, investing, and spending money, but as the old saying goes “you need to spend money to make money.” An agency needs to live, thrive, grow, and be successful just as people do.
Agencies that remain conservative throughout their lifecycle and never take any risks may remain solid, but they will never know if they reached their full potential. If you want to achieve true success, you need to look for growth opportunities and develop the business. That usually means spending a little money and taking some risks. Whether that means adding an extra producer or taking on a new line of business; it’s important to seize opportunities rather than let them pass.
Obviously, you don’t want to do anything foolish, but remember you only get one shot at owning your agency. You want to make it as successful as possible. That success will make your agency attractive to clients and, by extension, other agencies. The agency’s success and uniqueness will be vitally important when you sell the agency.
You wouldn’t want to appear as a “Buyer Beware” proposition. Agencies that show little or no growth, demonstrate little value on paper and owners that are too ‘safe’ may not offer much potential value to new owners.
This all comes down to philosophy. While a conservative approach may guarantee you keep what you have, a YOLO philosophy can make your agency bigger, better, and more valuable.
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