Creating a business no one wants

I started the journey of reinventing my agency business, Klick in 2018.  It was our 10th year and I knew that what made us successful in that first 10 years would not be the way we would thrive in the next 10. 

While my vision for the future was clear, it was so hard to change course.  Much harder than I ever imagined.   And along came 2020.  As business started to change and projects began to fall way it gave us all the space, we needed to make the last big changes.   

We went from Klick Communications to Klick X – the Creative Solutions Company and it’s been keeping me up at night ever since. 

I moved to a business model that no-one wants – caveat: yet. 

I always put myself in my client’s shoes. I know from being on the client side that what I would want my agency to provide solutions and not a list of services.   I put myself in my team’s shoes; we all want to be doing the best work of our lives while creating and carving out our best lives.  

From a marketing pov there’s no way I can win on SEO because no-one is searching for “creative solutions”, and clients are still coming to us wanting a service. 

But when I look to the future, I still feel like I will be proven right – I have been in the past. 

It’s terrifying to build something that no one wants, but scary as it is, I would rather be too early to a party than too late. 

To paraphrase Seth Godin’s blog post Beyond a Shadow, if you wait for the shadow of doubt to pass, someone else will have already done what you were going to do. 

If you’re thinking of creating something that no one wants yet, and you really feel that it’s right, I say go for it because you will be ready when the market is.