5 Lessons Learned From Our Toughest Year in Business

Earlier this month, we celebrated our 3rd year in business.

Time has flown by.

For 3 years now, Goldline has brought brand identity, communications and content services to clients - quite literally - all over the world.

This year, we've partnered with businesses and organisations across the UK and Europe, USA and Canada, UAE and Australia. We've completed some of our most ambitious (and challenging) projects. We've achieved consistently excellent results, and hit all-time performance highs for several of our clients. We're expanding our functions, enhancing how we deliver them, and improving the results for our partners.

No small thing.

If you're waiting for the 'but', here it is: it's also been our most challenging year in business to date.

Like a thousand and one other SMEs, micro-businesses and consultants, we saw huge market drops in 2024 that rocked the stability of the industry. We saw a lot of uncertainty across sectors, decision-makers being placed in increasingly tough positions, and budgets cut left-right-and-centre.

But. Never one to waste an opportunity, we took stock of what we learned over the last 12 months for this tidy little list. Where there's a challenge, there's a lesson.

So if your business, your agency or you have been dealing with ripple effects of a struggling economic outlook, we hope there's something here to take away.

1. Never. Stop. Selling.

Ok, so this is most leaders' first rule of thumb, but we have to say it louder for the people in the back: sales are at the very foundation of growth, and your commitment to maintaining that pipeline should be unwavering.

It doesn't need to be an aggressive approach, by the way. Sales and networking and casual chats can fall under the same category, and throwing your name into the hat can be as a formal or informal as the connection allows.

But, quick turnarounds in sales are as rare as finding a pearl on your first attempt at shucking an oyster. Which means that on a weekly or biweekly basis, you need to put that cap'n's hat on and sell sell sell.

2. There's No One More Valuable To Your Pipeline Than Your Existing Clients.

Over the past three years, we've had the chance to partner with a number of brilliant upon brilliant leaders and businesses, across a wide range of sectors. Some for the long-term, some for the short-term, and some for the every-so-often.

The common denominator is that most client partnerships provide you with another link in the chain. A lot of founders and senior leaders have fingers in several pies now, and their connections could quickly become your connections.

So just remember that the basics are the basics for a reason: regular communication, a great recommendation, and a ready-to-go website or portfolio can - and will - get you far. There's no better feeling than having your services recommended by an existing client.

3. Good Projects Don't Equate a Good Partnership.

We'll be the first to admit it: this was a pretty challenging one for us to swallow. Other micro-businesses and independents might understand this feeling well, but an exciting project isn't a cure-all for a fractured relationship.

It might sound like a nice-to-have, but mutual respect in a partnership is an absolute imperative if you want to achieve great results, consistently. Without that, it's going to be tough for you and your team to produce the outcome you really want, and look back on that without a level of bitterness.

It's like we said: where there's a challenge, there's a lesson. And sometimes a partnership that's inharmonious or becomes fraught over time can teach you the best ones. Like where your service value is, and what you're willing to compromise on.

4. Jumping on the Bandwagon is Fun - But Distracting.

Listen: we've loved it. But if we had a nickel for all the AI articles and content we produced this year, or the social media trends we partook in… let's just say, our accounting team would be pretty impressed with us.

Since 2021, we've seen our fair share of trends and trending phrases, and there will always be a time and a place for covering the most pressing and immediate topics. But there's a difference between leveraging current news, and hopping on a trend.

Our two cents? Focus on strong fundamentals where many of these trends can naturally fit in. SEO and content strategy; brand narratives and thought leadership; internal communications. These will take you far. Very demure. Very mindful.

5. It's Time For a Hard Shift to Revenue-Generating Activity.

Yes, for you and your venture. But equally for your clients. Hearing 'budget concerns' or 'budget cuts' should be your first call to arms to look critically at the activity you're conducting, and determine if this is still the right course of action.

Making adjustments to an ongoing strategy may not be easy (and may not be the right call altogether), but it could drive greater results for everyone in the long-run. So, that may be recommending a demand generation campaign rather than brand awareness, or paid ads rather than PR.

A small note: in an ideal world, your client would have ongoing strategies across brand, PR, content and marketing. But, proving direct ROI can be simpler with some marketing functions. Making it easier for your client to allocate spend, and to advocate for you in the long-run.

Not Every Day is a Stepping Stone. But Every Year Is.

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Without trying to sound too philosophical, you can't squeeze a valuable or uplifting message out of everything. Or every day. Even Mister Rogers had a limit to his optimism (probably).

Most founders and leaders will know that there's the honeymoon phase of launching a business, a growth phase, and a challenging phase. But, play your cards right and all of those phases even out to a steadier march as time goes on.

As Goldline Content enters its next year in business, we could not be more grateful for the continual support and partnership of our clients.

Here's to year #4.