E3: Cool office space versus working from home with George Morris
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Dropping your ego when making hard decisions with George Morris
Our guest today is George Morris, serial entrepreneur and founder of The FRAMEWORK.
George first moved to Boulder, CO to work at a satellite office for Refinery, Inc. After the office was shut down following the DotCom bust, George parlayed his unique skillset into founding his first agency, Imulus, in 2002. After 13 years, he left the agency to run a TechStars-back consumer product company called edn.
Today, George uses his 20+ years of experience to serve as a temporary business partner for other entrepreneurs as part of The FRAMEWORK while also running his virtual agency V16.
Connect with George
16cylinders.com
LinkedIn
Gmorris.com
Show Notes
[1:45] – George’s Background
Joined Refinery in 2000
Office shut down during Dotcom bust
Decided to start Imulus
[2:45] – Leaving Imulus for edn
Backed by TechStars
No product-customer match
Currently, runs a consulting firm and virtual agency V16
[4:26] – From Employee to Entrepreneur
Building up the Refinery satellite office
Web Dev to Project Manager to Sales
Used skillsets to start his own agency
[6:20] – Working with Business Partners
Went well for first 7 years
Problems started when company tried to scale
Chaos began when agency grew to around 26 employees
Tried to escape
[10:16] – Pressure from the Market
Local competition drove up salaries
Margins started going down and by 2014 the company was no longer profitable
[12:07] – Starting V16
[14:09] – Challenges Scaling an Agency
Spire Media and Viget as examples of successful mid-sized agencies
[19:30] – Lessons from Running a Virtual Agency
Being clear on what needs to be done
Responding to people quickly
[21:19] – Identity Crisis
Leaving Imulus was an amazing hit to the ego
Like giving up on your children
George the mountain biker
Having part of your self-worth wrapped up in your business
[23:48] – Aha Moment at Imulus
“The best thing I did was get mentors.”
Not recreating the wheel
Taking advice to heart and putting systems in place
[25:53] – Growing a Business for the Wrong Reasons
Signs you’re growing your business for ego’s sake
Cowboy vs Analyst
Asking why
[31:50] – Advice for Agency Owners Who Love Working In the Business
Where do you contribute the most value?
[35:45] – The Framework
Temporary business partner
Sniffing out the dysfunction within teams
[43:27] – Trends Agency Owners Should Pay Attention To
Commoditization of sub $10k projects
Increased competition
[45:10] – Lightning Round
Best advice: Explore what you’re interested in and see if you can make money in it.
Best habit: Following the Golden Rule
Best resources: PocketSmith – Cashflow forecasting
Best books: The Obstacle is the Way and The Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday