What I Learned Running a Marketing Agency in 2024

This is one of my favorite pieces of content I get to make each year. I would say this is when we have more free time, but in reality, it’s one of our busiest seasons, as we’re supporting our clients through the end of the year. Still, if we don’t take time to reflect, when would we become mindful in our businesses?

Lesson 1: Getting Old Sucks

Pullman Marketing has been running for 12 years now; however, I’ve been freelancing and doing web work since 2007. Time marches on, but I will say that this year I really was not prepared for:

1. Seeing former bosses in walkers
2. Having a client’s child inform me their parent is too elderly and can’t continue the project
3. Losing a client who passed away
4. Watching family members struggle with health issues
5. Watching mentors and community members retire and step away when there was no one to take their place

I acknowledge that some people held on through COVID and continued their leadership through one of the most difficult seasons our generation has seen. They may have wanted to retire sooner, but they served—and I am so grateful.
I try to approach every day and season with the perspective that I’m living in the “Golden Years,” regardless of my age, but I wasn’t prepared for the emotional toll of watching people I respect, revere, and rely on step into the next chapters of their lives. I am so thankful for their sacrifices, and I hope I can be as graceful as they have been.

Lesson 2: Sometimes You Really Can’t Predict Things Until You Get into the Process

In 2023, I tried to buy a building, but there was very little inventory locally. In 2024, I toured quite a few facilities and nearly bought one. I spent six months trying to purchase it, but I eventually had to walk away because the finances and loans were not favorable.
Even after running a business for a decade, researching the buying and leasing processes, speaking with accountants, working with banks, insurance companies, my #1 realtor, and other business owners—I really had no idea what I was getting into.
I had the base numbers, but there’s just so much that doesn’t get revealed until you’re in the process. For instance, there was a gas tank buried on the property, which meant the Ecology Department needed to do a “Phase 1 Study” (I still don’t know what that means). The SBA wanted that study completed before securing the loan. Who would pay for it? What does it take to call an excavation company to pull the tank and remediate it? Then there’s snow plowing, landscaping, parking, specialty commercial insurance, and so much more.
It was exhausting, to say the least, and it kept dragging on—and so did my business.
Since then, we have been blessed to purchase a business condo unit in a retail/service park with a plaza and an HOA that is wonderfully run. It covers snow plowing, landscaping, and more than enough parking space for our team and customers. It was an unreal opportunity that was perfectly right-sized for my company.

Lesson 3: I Really Love Learning

While we were trying to buy a building, we actually took early occupancy of the space and ran an Airbnb in a section of it.
IT WAS AWESOME!
I spent about 30–40 hours watching YouTube videos, learned how to run the business model, listed the unit within two days of moving in, kept a 90% occupancy rate, and maintained 5-star reviews.
It was a blast to run another business and work with my current employees to teach and revisit the art of hospitality, service, and systems building.
It really reminded me of how much I enjoy learning about industries, companies, and individuals. We all have stories and things to learn from each other—it really is so much fun.

Lesson 4: Election Cycles Really Disrupt Markets and Cause Real Buyer Anxiety

I do believe in the boom-bust cycles of our economic growth patterns. I appreciate the bust seasons because they offer opportunities for innovation. The election cycle is one in which everyone seems to hold their breath starting in July, close their eyes, and wait until after November 5th to begin their lives again.
The anxiety is real. In every sector and niche we operate in, we see deep, disruptive impacts due to the nation’s uncertainty.
But once the election passes, everyone goes “business as usual” and splurges. How do we know? In one of the tightest economic years, we saw a 10.2% increase in Black Friday and a 7.3% increase on Cyber Monday spending over 2023. We also saw the largest increase in Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) usage over 2023 and 2022, possibly bridging the tightness of funds.
Some might say it’s time to drop all advertising in response to low-spending seasons. After watching the metrics from my clients, I can definitely say: Ride the wave and find the opportunities.
What opportunities, you might ask? Consider the following:

1. When brands abandoned Facebook because of dropping engagement, it made advertising significantly cheaper and less competitive. Meanwhile, threats of TikTok being banned drove audiences back to Meta platforms.
2. When people needed deals, support, and brands that cared, they opened emails from companies that continued to invest in their communities and customers.
3. When you invested in your web presence and eCommerce during COVID, you were ready for the next economic shift—why would you stop during the next “crisis” when your customers are excited to see your brand succeed?

Lesson 5: Watching People Grow Is Amazing

I have had the privilege of employing wonderful people—many of whom are young and still developing their craft. Yet with our training and business systems, they have grown into true professionals that we can be proud of, and they can be proud of their work.
When you treat your work as a true craft, it brings more meaning, fulfillment, and honor than just a job or career. A vocation and calling extend beyond extrinsic values and speak to the heart.
Watching my employees grow and embrace these ideals truly brings me fulfillment and joy.

Lesson 6: Right-Sizing Project Management

Over the last five years, we’ve tried quite a few project and task management systems, including but not limited to:

1. Wunderlist
2. OneNote
3. Habitica
4. Basecamp
5. Notion
6. TeamWork
7. TeamGantt
8. Planner/Projects/Lists/To Do

(There are a few others we explored but didn’t implement.) All that to say, we’ve nearly tried them all. XD
The hard part has been, once again, this concept of right-sizing the system for the size of the team, the client, and the problem we’re trying to solve.
At our core, we’ve settled on A3 project management, and it’s been really solid. We’ve been able to hit our deliverables significantly more consistently with this change, and we’ve recently been adapting it into Microsoft Planner with Microsoft to Do, so that everyone has access to their assigned tasks within Teams, email, and the Task/To Do app.

Lesson 7: Just Ask for the Future

I have known this for a while, but this year, it really hit home how looking into the future is easier than we think. Sometimes we just have to ask.
There is an actual job title called “futurist,” and they come in different varieties. One of the primary ways to predict the future is by looking at where federal money is being spent. I can say with confidence that Green Technology and solar research industries will do well for the next few years because of federal investments. That’s easy. Invest money in Raytheon, and they will do well—well, of course, there is a war.
I dodged a major bullet this last year and predicted the future because I asked a simple question.
Sharpspring has been a CRM I’ve watched grow for a very long time. In line with the above lesson on right-sizing, I felt it was finally a good time to evaluate and join the partnership program, especially given its social media and SMS marketing offerings. The subscription alone for this all-in-one tool would have saved us and our clients’ money.
But as I was talking with the service rep, I asked if Sharpspring was looking at acquiring any more companies or if it was going to be acquired itself.
He had integrity and told me that yes, Sharpspring was being purchased by Constant Contact, and there would be a merging of the platform.
I thought about it for a few days and ended up not pursuing it further. Usually, when there’s a merger, the platform gets really messy. If I moved clients to the platform, only to have to move them again, it could hurt our reputation.
Fast forward a year—Constant Contact has made things significantly worse for larger accounts, and I have shifted most of my clients to ActiveCampaign. Do I love ActiveCampaign? It’s not my favorite for several reasons, but it has served my clientele faithfully, delivering email marketing and drip campaigns with a host of bells and whistles to help maximize client success. I’ll take that consistency over the volatility of mergers any day.

If you made it all the way through, thank you for taking the time to reflect with me. I can’t imagine being in any other business, and I treasure every day I get to spend with my family and employees.