Building a Business that fit’s Your Life.
A personal take on growth, balance, and staying smaller on purpose.
I set myself a goal this year to connect with more people who inspire me. Some of those conversations I’ve sought out intentionally, others have happened naturally off the back of projects. Either way, they’ve been some of the most enjoyable and valuable moments I’ve had in this creative endeavour, even in just these few I’ve had this year.
One thing that always comes up when you’re meeting someone for the first time is a bit of background. Where you’ve been, what you’ve done, how you ended up here. And after telling that story enough times, you start to notice patterns. You learn which bits to leave in, what to skip over, how to deliver it. The highlights stay the same, and some of the fluff tends to get ditched.
One thing that’s become really clear as I’ve been telling my story, both where I’ve been and where I want to go, is this: I don’t want to scale.
That statement by itself could be seen as confusing, uninspiring or even lazy. So let me explain myself, and to do so, we’ll rewind a little before we look forward.
Back when we were on the Coast, I fell unintentionally into more of an “agency” model. It was me and my then business partner Jacob (who now runs 97 North Productions and does killer media work, go check him out) At the time, we were deep in the “take everything on and figure it out later” phase of our careers. Lots of hats, lots of yessir’s, plenty of things we didn’t fully know how to do yet, and a strong fake-it-’til-you-make-it mentality.
As the work grew and our capacity didn’t, we started bringing people in. Designers, videographers, photographers, social media managers, the whole lot. And at the time, I thought this was what success looked like. Bigger projects, bigger team, more revenue. Bigger is better. More is better. Let’s build this thing as big as possible and make as much money as possible. The dream, right?!
Maybe for some. But over the last few years, I’ve learned it’s not for me, and here’s why, broken down into a few buckets.
Creative control is a big one. I can be bit of a control freak, and I obsess over the details. It’s both a blessing and a curse. I find it hard to pass work off, but it’s also what I believe makes the work stand out. Spending time on the tiny things most people won’t notice, but I will. Giving up that level of involvement never sat well with me. Not because others couldn’t do it well, but because I realised I actually love doing that work, not just managing people who are doing the work.
Then there’s lifestyle. I started this creative career four months into being a dad. Design has always fit around family life, not the other way around. Now with two rugrats and a third on the way, time is my most valuable asset. There’s no getting around the fact that more people to manage and more projects on the desk mean more hours behind the screen. In this season of life, balance is the priority. And balance, for me, looks like spending as much time as possible with my family while running a sustainable business, looking after myself, and actually enjoying all of it.
And finally, authenticity. Keeping things small has allowed us to stay really aligned with our values, in the work we take on, the people we collaborate with, and how we live our lives. For a long time, I thought presenting ourselves as a “big design agency” with everything dialled would land us the clients we wanted. Turns out the opposite was true. Being transparent that it’s just me and Suz running the show has opened the door to better projects, deeper trust, and people who genuinely value knowing exactly who they’re working with.
So why does any of this matter?
Because I think it’s a good reminder, for anyone running a business, creative or not, that bigger isn’t always better. More isn’t always better. There’s a sweet spot for everyone, and that sweet spot looks different depending on what you value. Defining what success actually means to you, whether that’s financial, balance, time, fulfilment, or some mix of all four, is how you build a business and a life that genuinely lights you up. Not one that just looks good from the outside.
Now this isn’t something I’ve “figured out” and ticked off. I don’t think it ever really ends. But if you can map out what success looks like for you, you give yourself an anchor. Something to pull you back when things drift out of balance. And they will.
I also keep in mind that this might change one day. Right now, I’m in the season of raising small kids. One day they’ll be older, and I won’t be their favourite person to hang out with anymore (which I’m definitely not getting teary eyed about at all just thinking about it) In that season, maybe I’ll want to fill my calendar with more projects and people to manage again. And that’s okay too.
As has been common practice the last few issues, I’d love to hear where you’ve landed on this. How you think about balance, size, and what success looks like for you right now. The conversations happening in the comments have been genuinely great, and it’s been awesome hearing how differently people approach these topics.
TL;DR
I don’t want to “scale” right now, and that’s intentional. Bigger teams and chasing growth for growth’s sake didn’t align with how I like to work or live. Staying small gives me creative control, better balance, and more authentic relationships. Success isn’t universal, it’s personal, and defining it for yourself matters more than hitting someone else’s version of “big.”
As always, appreciate you being here and reading along. If this one sparked anything for you, head on into the comments or shoot me a message, I’d love to hear your take. Catch you next week.
Rory
