Avoiding Burnout When You Scale A Creative Agency (Case Study)

Creative Courage

If you’ve been running your business for a while but you still often find yourself overwhelmed and burnt out, this episode is for you.

I'm joined by David Wakefield and Chris Thorpe, founders of On The Sly, an international audio production agency. On The Sly has worked on some of the world’s most iconic events, from London’s New Year’s Eve fireworks to Coachella and with global brands like Paramount.

But like many creative business owners, David and Chris didn’t always have a great work life balance and relied heavily on work-of-mouth to grow. The team was working on some great projects but with very little time to work on the business or take breaks, leaving them constantly on the edge of burnout.

By implementing a consistent outreach process and building a reliable team, David and Chris have not only landed bigger projects but also regained control over their lives.

If you want to stop playing catch-up with your business and start running it with purpose, this episode is packed with actionable strategies to help you streamline your systems and grow sustainably.

Covered in this episode:

• How On The Sly grew from a small group of freelancers to a professional agency, working on some of the world’s most iconic events.
• The systems you should implement into your creative business to keep yourself from burning out.
• How to delegate effectively so you can do more of the work you love and make more money doing it.
• Becoming a collaborative partner to your clients, rather than a worker.
• How to get better at sales as a creative, even if you hate it.
• How to get your clients to understand the true value of what you do.

If you get value from this episode, follow Creative Courage on your favourite podcast app for more transformational content to help you thrive as a creative.

LEARN MORE

On The Sly showreel - https://vimeo.com/919092763/6312d5bbb3

Work with Matt to grow your agency - https://www.mattessam.co.uk/creative-life-accelerator

CONNECT

David Wakefield on LinkedIn - https://uk.linkedin.com/in/davidonthesly
Chris Thorpe on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisonthesly/

Matt Essam on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattessam/

LISTEN

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2LSpLIyYtBLe03JBC8LjvT

Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/creative-courage/id1721515799

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@Matt_Essam