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I’m going to sell less heroin. Develop an addiction to kale. Stretch out after runs and quit mining for nose gold. We all have our little ways of kicking off the new year on the right foot, in the pursuit of personal and spiritual betterment, but for some folk these small promises we make to ourselves are not enough. They’re looking for some serious stress, extra exhaustion, horrendous headaches and greater elation than ever before. They want this to be the year where they start an agency.

They’re already weighing up the pros and cons of their own ‘take’ on the creative company. They know what sets them apart from the competition, they know what clients they’re going to land and where they’re going to set up shop, and they have welly-fulls of self belief.

This is what they know.

They know fuck all.

Because the reality is, there’s a ton they don’t know, they can’t know, and they simply won’t know until they start doing it, and this is where I’d love to give them a leg up, by humbly offering some observations and suggestions based on my own experiences over the past couple of years, with my ‘I-wish-I’d-knowns’:

I wish someone had told me about running
Remember that bit in Gladiators called ‘The Gauntlet’, where contestants had to run along a tunnel thingy whilst getting roughed up by body builders in lycra? That’s what it can feel like in the early days/week/months/years of a business. You’ll find yourself juggling work, family, friends, money and the last thing you’ll make time for is you and your own wellbeing (particularly if your company takes off). This is where running/cycling/boxing/anything that gets your heart pumping comes into its own. Find a thing you can do no matter how long you’ve got, and stick with it, it’ll help with clearing your head, cracking that thing, letting off steam, or just getting you out of the office for a while. I still ride and run less than I’d like.

I wish someone had told me about mentors
You’ll always benefit from having someone to turn to, who’s been there before. They can metaphorically hold your hair out of your face whilst you’re being sick when things get a bit choppy. As you succeed, they can help you stay on the creative straight and narrow, and as you find yourself looking back at what a ride it was, they can share war stories with you. So, find yourself a mentor, and stick to them like a ‘keen-energetic-person-who-knows-how-busy-they-are-and-doesn’t-make-them-wish-they-hadn’t-agreed-to-help-you-out’.

Ben Middleton

I wish someone had told me about all the different hats
I’m going to torture a metaphor for all it’s worth here, so sorry in advance. Right, there’s your spreadsheets hat, your tea-making hat, your creative director’s hat, the HR hat (we have a physical one at Creature) and so on and you’ll have to learn how to wear each of them at some point. BUT you’ll also have to learn that there are times where you have to wear the one that you’re best at wearing, whilst others wear theirs.

Or to put it another way, it’s vital that you don’t try and do everything all the time. It won’t be what’s best for the business and it won’t do you any good either. You’ll have to learn to strike the right balance.

TOP ‘I-wish-I’d-known’ TIP’:  When you’re wearing the ‘Head of IT’ hat (the worst hat) One of the things you’ll find yourself doing is sorting out the printers, this should save you a bit of time.

I wish I’d been warned more about all the work
“You’re gonna work harder than you ever have before” were the sage words of one of our old bosses when we asked for advice shortly after we resigned to start a rival agency (the flipping cheek of it looking back now! Sorry Andy, Mark, Matt, Robert and Stef). I remember thinking this was cobblers. But Andy was right, and I’d have benefited from telling myself, my family and my friends that I was about to jump feet first into a work ethic that would push my relationships to their limits.

I wish someone had told me about the difference between people working with you and for you
Your company will be full of brilliant people. Lovely people. Funny people. And exciting people, that’s why you hired them after all. BUT one day they’re going to leave your dream, either through their own choices or yours, and I’m sorry but neither is conducive to a long-lasting friendship. Just imagine trying to be mates with someone after you’ve had to look them in the eye and tell them that things aren’t working out as we’d all hoped and that you’re going to have to leave. It doesn’t make for great pub chats.

I wish someone had told me to make friends with my gut
That weird rumbly feeling that someone’s bullshitting through their CV, that those proper budgets next year will never materialise, and that lower-than-it-should be day rate will leave you with no work of note for that meeting on Friday, is to be listened to. Whenever my partners and I have ignored our guts we’ve ended up with a pickle to fix, and whenever we’ve trusted it we’ve come up golden. You’ll be amazed how often your gut feeling is right, so make friends with that feeling and hold it close. It’s going to serve you in good stead.

I wish someone had told me about the importance of inner-nuclear energy
You’ll be sat there on three hours sleep after a weekend in the office, having had no breakfast and your gang will be expecting you to tell them how excited you are about the day/week/month ahead. This is hard. Sometimes this feels impossible. And it’s something to prepare for. Know that your energy levels inspire everyone else’s, so keep some reserves for keeping the crew excited. And eat almonds.

I wish someone had told me to not compare myself to others
The reality is every business is different, with varying levels of success or failure. Knowing that what you’re doing, and the way that you’re doing it, is totally unique, and that there’s only the right or wrong path for you and your squad is really important for your sanity. Don’t compare yourself to other companies and what they do. Enjoy what you’ve got and make it amazing.

I wish someone had told me about the importance of the hymn sheet
When we first started out we used to say we were “the Creature the problem requires”. Ooooo, seductive, we’ll be whatever you want us to be. All our early clients loved that. It meant we were a true service business,  dedicated to whatever they needed. Who doesn’t want that? Well, it turns out, we didn’t. We found that it often left us on the wrong end of a power dynamic – if we were the agency that did whatever you want us to do, it was hard simultaneously to be the agency that told you what you SHOULD be doing; secondly, it sometimes meant that process and service were prioritised above, well, being fucking great. So we dropped it, to become ‘the home of intelligent misbehaviour’. Which, it turned out, wasn’t what everyone wanted – but everyone we now work with is here to make the kind of brilliant work we want to make. Which is nice. Get your mission right and the rest will follow.

I wish someone had told me that everyone’s making it up as they go along.
No-one is born knowing how to run a business. We just learn from our mistakes and keep moving forward. Literally everyone is doing this. So don’t worry about it feeling like you don’t know what you’re doing. None of us do.

I wish someone had told me about Finance Directors
It doesn’t matter how good you are at winning pitches, making work, or hiring great people, if you don’t have someone helping you be equally as brilliant financially. Get a finance person on board, as soon as you can afford it.

I wish someone had told me that the clock starts ticking on a client leaving as soon as they walk through the door. Even if it’s your founding one.
It’s common sense to start your business with a founding client, someone who can keep the lights on, and get you a toe-hold in the market. Ideally they’re a client that makes the kind of work you want to make, pays well and on time, and has the potential to keep making work with you FOREVER. That’s exactly what we had with Microsoft and Hewlett Packard. For about seven months. Then Microsoft took all of their marketing function back to the states, and HP fired two CEOs in the space of a month. Fuck. That made me throw up. But these things happen and you just have to dust yourself down and get on with it. It’s part of the ride. We promptly won adidas and then Tetley and things started looking up. Five years later we’re still thriving.

Right there you go. Hopefully I’ve helped some people, or at the very least given them something to think about. Now can someone who’s ten years ahead of me please write one of these ?

Ben Middleton is CCO and co-founder of independent London-based agency Creature. See their work here