Running your business in 2022 requires a bit of understanding of technology. Even the least technical jobs, such as lawn care professionals, are sporting smart phones to check email, talk to their staff and connect to their clients.

The challenge is that technology can be a bit unnerving for some business owners. It’s not unnerving because it’s technology, per se. It’s unnerving because of the need to understand, yet again, something new.

Social media, blogs, iPhones and Android, search engine optimization, flux capacitors… how do we keep it all straight?

Let me suggest that technology is only a tool. It’s no different than a hammer or drill except it’s a tool that solves a different problem. Until we understand that the technology we use is meant to solve a specific problem, we’ll continue to focus on how hard it is to integrate technology into our business and marketing efforts.

Less than 30 years ago, the web was new. There were really no standards to speak of. The innovators of the world were quick to try their hand at HTML code.

In 1995, I coded my first website. To say the least, it wasn’t anything to get excited about. I was really excited when I figured out how to have a hover effect for a button. I realize now that, even by the standards of the day, it wasn’t even good enough to be called mediocre.

In 2007, when I started Tribute Media, I am not sure I progressed as far as I thought I had. Even after teaching web design at the University of Utah, I was a rank amateur at best.

Over the years, I have honed my craft to be a highly qualified web strategist. I learned the hard way… I failed many times. I'd love to say that all my failures were early in my career. But, I am smart enough to know that it's important to fail to improve. I have been fortunate to have many great people on my team that have picked up my slack. I see companies (agencies, corporate America, and nonprofits alike) hiring for strategists. The problem is that most who call themselves strategists are content to simply work on a few tactics. I am confident...

Over the last 15 years, I've worked with a lot of different marketing agencies. I've had the opportunity to work with agencies as a customer, partner, advisor, employee, and leader. I've been immersed in the life of an agency. Through this, I have also had the opportunity to help businesses of all sizes grow to be better.

When I started my first agency, I didn't understand what an agency really was. I had worked with an agency as a client prior but in October of 2007, I thought, "It can't be that hard."

It was "that hard."

The old adage of "the cobbler's children have no shoes" is very applicable to leaders of a marketing agency. They never do for themselves what they say they can do for their clients.

It's a fascinating problem to face. You tell your clients that you can do amazing things but can't prove it yourself: