The Contrarian Bet on a Digital Agency

3 million in, in EBITDA and one that Ling had been actively involved in at that point probably for five, deeply involved in for five years, you know, 100 hour week sort of stuff. So what is it about your business that it's kind of already there, that you're already getting in the way?

Yeah, and there's a specific answer to that. But I want to back up one step and just challenge a premise because it is incredibly true that most people, especially in the ETA space, especially business owners or CEOs, think they are essential. And having been a consultant for a long time for small businesses and large corporations, the side business I've been building does a lot of coaching and…

But, and by the way Everybody, that's good news.

You might not like to hear it.

That's really, really good news, actually.

Exactly. But it feels like the riskiest thing. I mean, and especially when it's your money on the line. Look, I get my money is on the line, my house is on the line, you know, everything's on the line here.

I get it, I get all those feelings. And as I said, I'm a recovering control freak. And so like I've, I've been there, but I have micromanaged teams and I have empowered teams.

And the empowered teams worked out a lot better for me, both my life and the success of the thing we were doing. But, but to this business specifically. And the reason it's an easier decision than just having the reps of overcoming the, the, the need to control and the need to feel essential is the, it was growing like gangbusters before I got there.

And that was with the team that I acquired. And so for me to come in, I, I think I, I might have misstated it slightly to say I would be in the way. I think it's more that I would slow us down because to truly lead the day to day effectively, I need to learn everything that they've known over the last two years to then be able to, you know, tweak it to make it better.

And ultimately if I did that, given my experience, I might make it 5% better than they're going to make it if they're doing their own thing. But that's going to cost us three, four, five more months if I let them do it 95% as well.

And in and on some things better, like, you know, 105% as well because they're going to have ideas that I might have shut down or they wouldn't even have brought up because of, of, you know, my, the idea I presented, then that's ultimately better for us.