When you have more ideas than time

One of the things I find really interesting about working with business owners and agency teams is that, quite often, the problem isn't a lack of ideas. It's the complete opposite. There are ideas everywhere. New things you'd like to try, people you'd like to work with, content you'd like to create, opportunities that have popped up, projects you've started and another five things you've thought of while doing all of that. When you're the person running the business, it's very easy to end up being responsible for all of it too, because ultimately, if you don't make it happen, who will?

You have the idea, so you start the project. You have the relationship with the client, so you answer the emails. You know what needs doing, so you organise it. You need some content, so you make it. Someone needs chasing, so you chase them. It all seems manageable when you look at each thing individually, but add them all together and suddenly you're spending an enormous amount of your time organising, coordinating and trying to keep everything moving, rather than doing the things you're actually really good at.

I've seen exactly the same thing happen in agencies and with a great range of my clients. An account manager might be brilliant at looking after their clients, coming up with ideas and spotting new opportunities, but their day can disappear into production emails, chasing approvals, checking deadlines, briefing creative teams and trying to work out where everything is up to. The work still gets done, but the person who should be concentrating on the client relationship or growing the account is spending a huge chunk of their time keeping everything else on track.

I've spent a lot of my career working in that space between the original idea and the finished piece of work, and it's probably one of the things I enjoy most. I like taking a slightly chaotic list of things that need to happen and turning it into something manageable. Give me a brief, a deadline, a few people who need chasing and a Trello board and I'm quite happy! It's probably why I've ended up with such a strange combination of creative and organisational skills after nearly 20 years of working across radio, audio production, copywriting, traffic management, client management and campaign delivery.

I think there comes a point for a lot of businesses where having someone to do that becomes a really worthwhile investment. Of course you can keep doing it yourself. Most business owners have been doing exactly that for years. But if you're spending five hours a week organising your content, chasing people, booking things, managing projects and trying to remember what you said you'd do three weeks ago, that's five hours you're not spending on your clients, your ideas, your sales or the parts of the business that actually need you.

And I think this is particularly relevant for creative people and business owners who have lots of ideas and opportunities coming their way. Having too many ideas is hardly a bad problem to have, but it can become frustrating when you know there's so much you could be doing and you simply don't have the capacity to do it all. You might have a brilliant podcast you want to launch, a new service you've been thinking about, a community you'd like to grow, an event you want to attend or a whole list of content ideas sitting in your notes app. They all sound exciting when you think of them, but someone still needs to work out when they're happening, what needs to be done first and who is doing each part.

That's where I think creative operations support can be really useful. It's having someone who can come in, understand what you're trying to achieve and help make it happen. Someone who can look at the ideas you've got swirling around and help turn them into a plan, build the content calendar, organise the recording, manage the production, keep an eye on deadlines, make sure the right people have the right information and generally keep everything moving. You still get to be the person with the ideas and the vision, but you don't have to be the person remembering every single thing that needs to happen afterwards.

There can be a bit of a mindset shift involved in recognising that you need that kind of support, particularly when you're used to doing everything yourself. You might look at the cost of bringing someone in and think, "I could just do that myself." And technically, you probably could. But I think it's worth looking at what that time is actually worth to your business. If you could spend those hours developing an important client relationship, working on a new offer, developing something only you can create or simply having the headspace to think about where you want the business to go, then the value of having someone else take care of the operational side starts to look very different.

That's also why I don't think you need to be running a huge business before you can benefit from this kind of support. You might be a small but very successful business with more opportunities than you have time to take advantage of. You might be an agency with a great team that just needs another pair of hands when things get particularly busy. Or you might simply have reached the point where you're spending more time keeping everything organised than you want to, and you'd rather have someone else take that responsibility away from you.

For me, that's what makes this kind of work so interesting. I can sit alongside someone who is brilliant at the big ideas and help make sure those ideas don't get lost amongst everything else they have going on. I can write the copy, produce the audio, organise the production, manage the workflow, speak to the client, build the system and keep an eye on what needs to happen next. I genuinely enjoy those things, which is lucky because I know plenty of creative people who would rather do almost anything else!

I think sometimes we assume that getting support means handing over something we aren't capable of doing ourselves, but it doesn't have to be like that. Sometimes it's simply recognising that your time is better spent elsewhere. You don't need to become more organised, learn another piece of software or spend your Sunday evening planning next month's content if there is someone who can take that responsibility off your hands and give you a clear plan to work from.

And ultimately, that's what good support should do. It should give you more space to do the things you're good at, while giving you the reassurance that the other things aren't being forgotten. Your ideas still belong to you, your business is still yours and you're still making the big decisions. You just have someone alongside you who can take those ideas and help turn them into something that actually happens.

I've spent nearly 20 years collecting all of those skills, and I think I'm finally at the point where I understand why. The sound engineering, copywriting, production, traffic management, client work, presenting, project management and everything else have all given me a slightly different view of how a piece of work comes together. These days, that's the bit I really enjoy: Taking the idea, working out what needs to happen and making sure it gets over the line.

So if you're sitting on a long list of ideas, opportunities and projects that you'd love to get moving but simply don't have the time or headspace to manage, perhaps you don't need to find more hours in the day. Perhaps you need another pair of hands.

And that, actually, might be one of the best investments you can make in a growing business.