Ep. 1 - Tim Brown & Bea Bonte - Lovers First. Business Partners Next.
How to hire your wife, scale a business, build a culture and have a great time while doing it. Also learn how to create great volumes of quality content to build your brand.
Tim and Bea Bonte from Hook Agency joined us to talk about how they build their agency.
Hook Agency focuses on providing Web design, development and SEO services to the construction, contractor and home services industry.
Tim and Bea's relationship started with love. They met while Tim was still playing in a band. Tim then went on to work for a variety of digital agencies, consulting on the side, and then turning his side hustle into a full-time gig with Hook Agency.
Tim hired Bea and they have since built a team of over 10 full-time employees, moved into a larger office (just a few weeks prior to COVID) and have built a culture that people love.
Tim and Bea very clearly break down what each of their responsibilities are. Tim is the CEO, driving the direction and vision of the agency, while also getting involved with marketing and client strategy. Bea is the Chief of Client Experience and Culture. Her job is to ensure that both external clients and partners and the internal team are happy and satisfied.
The two have a lot of integrity, which shows when they talk about how they will turn down business when clients or prospects want to do something that they don't agree will be effective at driving real revenue impact.
We talked about how bad clients can really negatively impact agency culture and how we all need to focus on being good human beings first and business owners second.
Tim talked about how him and his team are able to produce a high volume of quality content, which has helped them build their brand presence:
Hook Agency focuses on providing Web design, development and SEO services to the construction, contractor and home services industry.
Tim and Bea's relationship started with love. They met while Tim was still playing in a band. Tim then went on to work for a variety of digital agencies, consulting on the side, and then turning his side hustle into a full-time gig with Hook Agency.
Tim hired Bea and they have since built a team of over 10 full-time employees, moved into a larger office (just a few weeks prior to COVID) and have built a culture that people love.
Tim and Bea very clearly break down what each of their responsibilities are. Tim is the CEO, driving the direction and vision of the agency, while also getting involved with marketing and client strategy. Bea is the Chief of Client Experience and Culture. Her job is to ensure that both external clients and partners and the internal team are happy and satisfied.
The two have a lot of integrity, which shows when they talk about how they will turn down business when clients or prospects want to do something that they don't agree will be effective at driving real revenue impact.
We talked about how bad clients can really negatively impact agency culture and how we all need to focus on being good human beings first and business owners second.
Tim talked about how him and his team are able to produce a high volume of quality content, which has helped them build their brand presence:
- Lower the bar
- Find the little things that people care about (e.g. headline and subtitles for videos)
- Get the team to take part in content creation - give yourself and your team permission to suck
Coming up with company values - they need to be what you hire and fire both employees and clients based on:
- Scrappy
- Humble
- Results-Driven
How to resolve work disagreements - "don't fight in front of the kids"
How to create a balance by understanding what each partner wants to do. Tim likes to work, and Bea understands this and allows him to work as much as he wants as long as he isn't getting too frustrated, at which point she tells him to take a break.
How to put the relationship first: Be sure to call out what your spouse/partner has done both in the business and in the relationship. Appreciate how they have grown as a person
How to create a balance by understanding what each partner wants to do. Tim likes to work, and Bea understands this and allows him to work as much as he wants as long as he isn't getting too frustrated, at which point she tells him to take a break.
How to put the relationship first: Be sure to call out what your spouse/partner has done both in the business and in the relationship. Appreciate how they have grown as a person