If you run an agency and your revenue or profits aren’t where you thought they’d be…

Or maybe things are fine…but something still feels off.

Like you’re always working. Always fixing. Always moving.

But that effort isn’t translating into the kind of profit or scale you expected.

You’re not alone.

There’s a HUGE chance you’re spending your best hours on the worst work.

Because here’s what no one tells you as an agency founder:

Not all work is worth your time.

Some of it makes you money.

Some of it just makes you feel busy.

This is the difference between a founder who scales..and one who burns 10 hours a day just to keep the lights on.

Let’s fix that.

How You Lose Control Of Your Time Without Even Realizing It…

You look at your day, and it feels full:

Like….

→ Client check-ins

→ Project reviews

→ Internal calls

→ Admin

→ Content ideas

→ Proposal feedback

You feel like you have to be (and you are) EVERYWHERE.

But somehow… profits are flat. Deadlines drift away. The team feels overloaded.

You start asking yourself: “What more can we do?”

But that’s the wrong question.

The real question is:

“What’s actually worth doing?”

Because not every task is created equal.

Some of them directly grow your agency.

Others just eat up time, energy, and profits without ever showing up on your finances.

And here’s the part no one tracks:

According to Teamwork’s 2023 Agency Performance Report:

Only 16% of agency leaders say they have clear visibility into how their team spends time.

That means 84% are just “guessing” how their #1 source of income is performing.

And guessing leads to bad bets…like:

• Spending 2 hours on low-converting client calls
• Burning hours formatting decks
• Writing some random copy instead of closing retainers
• Being stuck in standup calls that go nowhere

All of this “feels” like work.

But if it doesn’t drive revenue, client retention, or scaling 

It’s low ROI.

Even the tasks that feel “essential” start to break down when you look at what they actually lead to.

Take something like daily standup calls.

They sound productive. The team shares updates. Everyone’s in sync.

But ask yourself…does that call help the team finish work faster?

Does it prevent delays?

Does it make the actual project move forward?

If not, it’s just a random thing you could avoid.

 It “feels” important because it’s in the calendar and maybe even people with Six Sigma black belts and MBAs are talking about it. 

But there’s a good chance it’s not doing anything that makes the business more profitable, which means you don’t give it too much importance.

Same with client updates.

Yes, keeping clients informed matters. It’s really important.  

But if you’re spending an hour writing long updates every few days, or sitting on “alignment” calls where nothing moves forward.. 

you’re not delivering any value. You’re wasting both of your time (and time = money remember?)

Same with things like:

–> Brainstorm sessions that go nowhere

–> “quick sync ups” where no decisions get made

–> Endless back-and-forth on Slack or WhatsApp or Email or Teams about ideas you never launch

All of that adds up to a BIG COST. 

Nothing shipped. Nothing closed. Nothing improved.

That’s low ROI work.

Not because it’s fake….But because it doesn’t lead to more revenue, better clients, or a business that runs smoother.

And when those tasks take up your best hours, you end the day exhausted, but not profitable, and no faster / closer to scaling.

So your best hours go to the work that matters least.

That’s the hidden leak.

And if you don’t fix it, no strategy, hire, or new offer will move the needle.

PART 1 : SPLITTING HIGH ROI VS LOW ROI WORK

If you’re serious about improving your agency’s profitability, this is non-negotiable:

You need to separate high-ROI work from low-ROI work and treat them completely differently.

So what do you do?

You split your day by what actually grows the business.

Here’s how that looks.

HIGH ROI WORK (Do this during your best hours)

This is the work that makes your agency more profitable, easier to run, or less reliant on you over time.

1. Sales & Growth

This means doing things that bring new revenue through the door.

That could be following up with leads, running outreach, building pitch decks, or sending proposals.

If you don’t carve out time to grow the pipeline, you’re stuck with your existing clients and “delivery mode” forever.

And then when projects slow down, you panic and take on whatever comes your way, like bad clients, underpriced work, low margins.

If you’re not spending at least a few hours a week doing this at scale, it’s IMPOSSIBLE to grow.

More sales calls = more chances to win. Period.

Don’t believe the lie that “I don’t need more sales calls..I’ll just settle for 2 “good clients”.”

1. You need volume AND quality, and it only happens if you block time for it properly.

2. Work That Improves Quality (So Clients Stay and Refer You)

It’s not enough to only “finish” client work.

You need to make sure the work is actually good, and that it’s improving week after week, month after month…

If you don’t improve or make your clients feel like you’re the best they could ever send money to….they won’t stick around.

They won’t renew. They won’t refer. They’ll move on quietly.

Your job isn’t just to deliver. It’s to make them want to send you more money.

This kind of work includes reviewing deliverables before they go out, 

setting a higher creative standard, fixing sloppy processes that led to last-minute firefighting, 

or even tightening how feedback gets implemented.

When you do it consistently, clients are happier.

You keep them longer.

And they send you your next projects without you even asking.

That’s long-term profit.

3. Fixing Broken Processes That Waste Time

If something in your business takes 10 steps but only needs 3…you’re burning hours for no reason.

Maybe it’s the way you collect feedback. Or send files. Or set up new projects. Or get a campaign live.

This is the work that most people put off because “it’s just a few extra clicks.”

But when you fix those clicks, your team moves faster.

You stop being the bottleneck.

And projects finish without killing your weekend.

That’s easily more room for sales / client delivery. That’s SCALING easily.

That’s work that pays off every time it’s used.

LOW ROI WORK (Delete, delegate, or batch this outside your peak hours)

This stuff needs to happen, but not by you, and not at 10AM when you’re sharpest.

1. Execution Work You Should’ve Let Go of Months Ago

This is you doing things like writing copies, editing some sales decks, designing in Figma/Canva or proofreading social captions.

Yes, maybe you’re great at it.

But that’s NOT YOUR JOB as a business owner..

And it’s the easiest way to stall your agency while convincing yourself you’re “staying hands-on.”

This is something you must delegate as soon as you start making good money.

2. Admin Work That Feels Important But Kills Your Time

We don’t really have to talk about this in big detail…

If you’re an agency owner and you’re the one chasing invoices, replying to vendor emails, scheduling calls with people, double-checking timelines your managers should’ve owned (if you even have them)…

You should know that this isn’t growth work. It’s the same as lazily walking on a treadmill and expecting a six pack. 

YES it should be done, but not by you. DELEGATE this please. 

Or it’ll eat the hours you were supposed to spend moving the business forward.

3. Meetings That Don’t Change Anything

This includes ANY meeting where you don’t make a significant decision. 

The first thing that comes to our mind are “standup calls” we see around. 

It’s EVERYWHERE and we know some companies that waste so much resources that they have a team whose WHOLE JOB is to schedule stand up calls.

Anyway, this is not only for standup calls, but any meeting where people have to drop their work and waste energy talking. 

COME ON NOW.  

Yes, meetings keep people “in the loop.”, but SO WOULD AN EMAIL. 

So, unless they result in REAL momentum or , they’re time drainers dressed as strategy.

If it’s not removing a blocker, pushing something forward, or helping someone else move faster…

It doesn’t need to happen during “prime time”, can wait until sometime like 4:30 pm 

Alright, once you start splitting these two types of work, your day looks completely different.

The work that makes money happens when your brain’s fresh.

The stuff that just needs to get done happens when your energy’s lower, or by someone else entirely.

By doing so,

You’ll get more of the right things done.

You’ll stop ending the day tired with nothing to show for it.

And most importantly, you’ll finally feel like your effort is tied to actual progress.

PART 2 – START TIME BLOCKING

Next up – We BLOCK OUR CALENDAR. 

I’ll show you how to time those high-ROI tasks using your brain’s natural rhythm.

Just a smarter calendar that pays off.

Click here to read your next step 

P.S. If you want to start tracking what matters and make decisions based on real profitability, not guesswork or pressure…

You must check Astravue today. 

It’s a tool that can help you get all the good stuff we said in this article…

It’s also free of cost. Click here to sign up

Try it free today. No pressure, no risk. Just a smarter way to work.