How I (Briefly) Ran a Marketing Agency with Almost No Marketing Skills

Acquire power and be a leader even when you’re “unqualified”.

Imagine you’re now the boss.

Not just your boss, but the big boss.

You’re in charge.

You decide the direction of the company.

You decide who does what.

You decide how and when you work.

That’s what I got to do over the past two weeks, as my boss (the Director) was away on business and then holiday.

14 days of running an agency of 5 people + freelancers — most of whom are far better marketers than me.

So why did I get this responsibility?

And why, despite my lack of experience and the pestering worries in my head, didn’t the company implode under my management?

Because leadership isn’t about who can build the best landing page, acquire the most leads, or write the best copy.

It’s about stepping up and taking control, artfully.

Here are some key lessons on leadership you can use to be a powerful force in any position, regardless of how qualified you are.

You’ll never hold power if you don’t understand this

In case you didn’t know, power is completely made up.

Your boss is only “the boss” because they decided one day to start their own business and give themselves the title. Or someone else who started their own business hired them and gave them the title.

Either way, it’s imaginary bullsh*t.

A person is only in charge because of a made-up title within a made-up organisation.

Do you know what this means?

It means there’s nothing stopping you from giving yourself that power.

Yes, skills are important. Technical skills will support your power and help others believe in its credibility. As will relevant experience and good references.

In an ideal world, positions of authority and responsibility would all be held by people competent and experienced enough to fulfil them.

But I’m sure you’ve had a boss who made you think “how the f*ck is this idiot in charge?”.

Because the sad truth is that power is acquired by people who take it.

It’s easy to see how this was the case back in the day when you could slit the leader’s throat and become the new leader by dominating everyone else into submission.

While there’s a brutal simplicity to that approach, it’s probably for the best that you can’t be this literally cutthroat in a modern organisation.

In the workplace, you can acquire power in numerous ways, from ass-kissing, to “dedication” (starting early and staying late), to competent hard work.

But the best way is to take it. Subtly.

How?

By volunteering for it when it’s presented — and stepping up to it when it’s not.

You have to become the person who says “yes” to positions of greater responsibility.

You have to become the person whom the boss depends on to get things done.

You have to become the person who’s known for taking charge, dealing with situations, and putting out fires.

I’ll be honest, I put myself in the position to run the agency completely by accident.

I just happened to be the person who was reliable, who stepped up, and who led the others, even in difficult situations.

So when the time came to hand over the reins, I’d put myself on the radar as the ideal candidate.

You must consolidate this in order to lead effectively

The thing about leadership is that you can’t do it alone.

You need to be leading a group of people to be a leader. Otherwise you’re just self-important.

This means that leadership is a two-way street. You can take the power, but the group you’re leading also has to accept you.

To glance again back at the good ol’ days, you could just kill anyone who dissented and make a public example of them.

However, that probably won’t go down well with HR today.

So the easiest way to consolidate power, especially when you might be under-qualified for the position, is to borrow it from someone else.

And who better to borrow power from than your departing boss!

Naturally, bosses are very busy people. I suggested it would be a good idea to have a meeting where he set out his hopes for the two weeks and formally pass the leadership torch to me.

Of course the team all knew I was going to be in charge beforehand — this wasn’t some Machiavellian power play. It was just a helpful way for everyone to all be on the same page.

Everyone saw very clearly that I was granted the status of “running the agency” while our boss was away.

I had been granted the power, so I felt it easier to accept.

And everyone else had witnessed and participated in this and so could also easily accept it.

Because remember, power doesn’t exist unless people believe in it.

The biggest change I experienced as “the boss”

They say power corrupts, and honestly I can see why.

Power really does change you.

You have to act differently because that’s what’s demanded of you by the position.

Leaders must act as leaders.

It’d be weird if during a game the football coach suddenly asked the ball boy for advice on how to win.

It’s likewise weird if the boss starts asking the team they’re leading how to run their own business.

That’s obviously not to say you shouldn’t ask for feedback and advice. It’s that as a leader, you need to be taking the lead in the decision-making process.

So own it.

And this means making the necessary changes in your behaviour.

The biggest one for me was toning everything the f*ck down.

I’m usually quite an expressive person, which is great for arousing energy and passion.

But as a leader, everything you say and do is amplified by your position.

So you need to keep your voice calm, your words simple, and remain unreactive no matter what happens.

I was very fortunate when I was running the agency that nothing majorly bad happened.

But for the couple of client squabbles or uncertain team-members I had to help, I knew that my calm, non-reactive demeanour was vital in successfully resolving those situations.

I learned why big bosses get paid more than you and me

The simple answer: they make decisions.

The bigger the boss, the bigger the decisions.

And the bigger the decisions, the bigger the pay cheque.

Because making decisions is really hard.

When you’re a lower-level employee, you have the luxury of not making too many decisions. There’s either too much red tape holding you back or you can bounce your thoughts off your supervisor.

But when you’re the boss, there is no red tape and there is no one above you to approve of your decisions.

The choice is all yours.

This was something I had to grow into. And I won’t lie, it was quite painful.

Here’s one important decision I had to make:

A few weeks prior, we’d taken on a client who seemed straightforward and would make a great case study. We’d also joined forces with a new partner agency to make it happen.

However, the client turned out to be useless. We — and you’ll cringe at this if you’ve ever done client work before — took him on for commission only. And the task ended up being way more complicated than anticipated, such that it was beyond the capabilities of our internal team.

I suggested to my boss that we drop them, but he really wanted to get the case study. He was also happy to delegate the issue to my leadership while he was away — which I couldn’t help but frustratedly admire.

So I was stuck trying to manage a useless client, figuring out work we didn’t know how to do, and remaining competent in the eyes of our partner agency — all while not even being directly paid for it!

My solution:

Brainstorm possible actions using an external thought partner.

Then ruthlessly execute my decisions and delegate the work.

I decided paying for a freelancer was better than looking incompetent in front of the partner (who was sharing the commission so wouldn’t take over our part of the task).

Then I delegated responsibility for completing the other steps.

Simple.

Running the show with little experience is hard work, but worth it

For all the hard work, running the agency was kinda fun.

I could literally do anything I wanted.

My dad joked I should order expensive lattes on Uber Eats every day using the company card.

It was “my” money, after all.

And the experience was amazing. It’s not often you get to wield that kind of power.

Being in this position has made me all the more determined to become my own boss. To achieve financial independence and build a career helping people doing what I love.

And if I, an inexperienced 23 year old, can successfully wield the power it takes to manage an agency.

Then you can definitely take the next step in improving your life and your career.