Okay, so my name is Adam Watters, and I’ve been working with Identity Agency for over 2 years now. I originally started as an intern with dreams of getting into marketing, but I had a huge lack of knowledge at the time.

During my time at university, I got connected with Tommy (founder of Identity Agency), and he agreed to help me out, bringing me into Identity as an intern. A couple of years later, filled with failures, successes, my own projects, and projects with Identity… I now have my own marketing agency (very simplified btw 😂).

In this blog, I’ll speak about my experience and hopefully give you some pointers if you’re in a similar position to where I was 2 years ago.

For me, it all started with getting experience. I did that through an internship while I was still at university. And honestly, that is the best time to just try stuff. You’ve got the space to learn, fail, and explore different paths.

Something Tommy told me when I first joined Identity Agency: “If you’re going to run an agency, you need to know how to do everything in it.” And that’s stuck with me ever since.

It’s not always pretty; it’s a lot of trial and error. But you need to build up actual skills. Academics are great, but they’ll only get you so far. You’ve got to put the work in, practise every day, and learn how to actually do the stuff clients will ask for. And I don’t just mean learning how to design a nice-looking website or run an ad campaign. I mean understanding how to deliver what clients actually need, even when it’s not what you’d do for your own brand.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of building something you’re proud of, only to realise it doesn’t solve the client’s problem. Real value comes from listening, understanding the brief (even the bits they haven’t said out loud), and delivering solutions that work — not just that look good in your portfolio. That’s where the real skill lies.

Marketing skills alone aren’t enough if you want to run an agency. You’ve got to learn about business, too.

For me, this came from:

• Online courses 
• Talking with other professionals 
• Mentorship and coaching 
• And honestly, just listening

Networking helped too. Just being in rooms (or Zoom calls) with people running businesses teaches you so much. You learn how they think, how they make decisions, and how they approach challenges.

A lot of business owners will say, “Just start and figure it out as you go.” But I see it a bit differently. I think you need to feel confident – not just in your skills, but in your business model, before you launch. That doesn’t mean knowing everything, but you need a solid foundation.

For me, having that confidence meant I could go all in. It also helped quiet the imposter syndrome a bit, because I knew I’d put the time in to understand what I was doing.

This bit is important. Once you’ve built your skills, you’ve got to find a model that works for you.

For me, that meant:

• Starting with web design as my main service 
• Working with smaller businesses who had lower budgets, as it helped me build a portfolio and get experience 
• Slowly figuring out how to get retainer work, which gives you that steady income and lets you build longer-term client relationships 

Courses and coaching really helped me here. Sometimes an outside perspective is exactly what you need to spot a gap or improve your offer.

And once I had a rough plan? I just did it.

Then came the big step, I launched the business.

If you’re thinking about doing the same, my advice is to – Post about it. Shout about it. Make it real. Tell people what you’re doing, and you’ll often find that other business owners and connections will champion you. The support is out there, you just need to let people know what you’re up to.

I posted on LinkedIn regularly (and still do), and that helped me build connections, get leads, and grow confidence.

I could go into a lot more detail about what I’ve done since then or what I’ve found works well, but to be honest, it really depends on you, your model, and your goals.

If you want to know more about what to do next or how to grow your agency, then share this blog on LinkedIn and tag us, we’ll post more like this in future if people find it helpful.