There’s a strange thing about building a business for nearly 10 years...
You realise how much of it you were figuring out as you went.
The clients that leave. The hires that don’t instantly make life easier. The bigger numbers that somehow come with bigger worries. The decisions you make without knowing whether they’re the right ones. And the confidence you keep expecting to magically arrive one day.
In this episode of The Agency Diaries, Kate Williams, founder of award-winning digital agency KW Marketing, looks back at nearly a decade of agency ownership — what she believed when she started, what she’s learned the hard way, and the things nobody really prepares you for when you decide to build a business.
You’ll hear:
• Why losing a client doesn’t always mean you’ve failed
• Why more revenue doesn’t automatically make you feel more secure
• The reality of hiring, delegating and learning to let go
• Why being needed isn’t the same as being a good leader
• The decisions that have shaped the business over nearly a decade
• What building an agency has given Kate, and what it’s cost along the way
Because perhaps one of the biggest lessons from nearly 10 years of building an agency is that founders spend far too much time figuring things out alone.
And sometimes what you need isn’t another course, business book or person telling you they’ve cracked the formula.
You need a room full of people who get it.
That’s why The Agency Diaries is evolving beyond the podcast, with the launch of The Founding 100. The first 100 founders helping to shape a private community built around honest conversations, shared experiences and figuring out agency life together.
Because nobody teaches you how to build an agency. And nearly 10 years in, Kate is still learning too.
LINKS & RESOURCES:
- Join The Founding 100 and become one of the first founders shaping The Agency Diaries community.
- Follow @theagencydiaries_ for honest conversations about agency life
- If this resonated, leave a review - it helps more founders find this space.
No nonsense. No highlight reels. Just real stories, real lessons, and a reminder that you’re not doing this alone.
