As I mentioned in Step Eight, when you have been with the agency awhile (at least six months or a year), you would schedule an appointment with your boss (the agency owner or one of the owners) to talk about the agency's future goals and how you can help it achieve those goals. When you have had that meeting, you should have a much better sense of how you could fit into the agency in the future. You should ask your boss questions about potential agency growth. You also need to know what kind of clients the agency would like in the future, and how the staff will expand to meet those future demands. If you can see yourself fitting in with these plans, then you are ready to lay the groundwork for your next move up.
That groundwork involves doing the best job you can do each and every day. It also involves learning everything you can about the business of running an agency. Because moving up means taking on greater responsibility, so that one day you will cease to be a cog in the wheel of the agency and become the power that turns the wheel. Laying the groundwork includes spending your own time and money to get the outside training and education (if necessary) to take on that responsibility. That may mean taking courses to gain additional technical or management skills. It also means reading and learning all that you can about your niche or area of specialization, as well as advertising in general.
You may find that if you do have an area of specialization, such as graphic design or copy, and if you were hired to work exclusively in that area, you may at some point begin to feel that this area is not exactly what you want to do for the next five years. In that case, try to sense during your first year of employment what aspects of your job you love and what aspects you hate. What you love and hate will be very telling if you are trying to figure out what new specialty you should move to.
Here is one of the first clues that may tell you that you are not completely happy with your specialty. When you work with other people in the agency, do you ever find yourself envying what they are doing? Do you get fascinated by the work that comes out of the art department, and wish you could be sitting at a drawing board doing paste-ups and layouts or computer graphics? Whatever you find yourself drawn to, talk to the people who do it. Ask them what they had to study and learn to do their work. Then go for it. Take a course or two. And if you find that you not only have an interest or fascination in a particular area but an aptitude or talent for it as well then give it your all.
Discuss your interest and the training you are pursuing with your employer. Be clear that, while you are happy in your present position, you are setting new goals to switch your area of specialization in agency work. You need to find out if your employer is supportive of your new career direction and if an opportunity might be available for you in the future to move into this kind of position. If the answer is no, then you should be honest and say that once you complete your training, you will be looking elsewhere. You also need to assure your employer that whether there will be another position for you at the agency or not, you will give your present job your full attention while preparing yourself for your career transition.
If you do see a pathway to a higher position that is clear and open to you in your present agency, make your intentions known to your employer. It is important to get feedback on how you could groom yourself for that job. It also gets your employer tuned in to your personal goals. If your employer is supportive of you, you could not only get some valuable advice and insight about how your goals fit in with the agency's but also if this seems to be the right career direction for you.
If you decide to really commit to your present agency for the long haul, what are the chances of becoming a partner in the agency at some point in the future? And are you at all inclined in that direction? If you are, you have to find out whether the owner or owners are open to bringing on new partners. Some agency owners are just not willing to share their interest in the business. If you find out that the owners are open to accepting new partners, before you approach anyone, be sure you know them really well and that you would definitely consider a partnership option down the road. Also make sure that the owners respect you, trust you, and like you well enough to even consider you for a partnership. It is advisable to give yourself at least two years with an agency before you even begin to consider partnership.
A partnership is a very serious doing. It is like a marriage. All partners are fully responsible for each other, both financially and ethically. And partners must be able to depend on each other without doubt. Trust is essential. You must be ready to take on that kind of commitment before you consider it. Once you become a legal partner, you cannot just one day say you do not want to do it anymore. Partnerships are costly to get into and even more costly to get out of. When you are certain that this is a direction you would like to move in, bring the topic up privately. Keep the response you get strictly to yourself. Partnerships are only offered to a select few. And if you are ever lucky enough to be accepted, revere that honor and do not boast it around the office. It can cause resentment among the remaining employees who were not considered.
When a partnership is offered, it means you will have to buy into the agency. That could happen by offering you a certain number of shares in agency stock in lieu of a percentage of your salary. You should have your own attorney (not the agency's) represent you in the negotiations and in reviewing the details of the partnership contractual agreement. I would also strongly recommend that you take out partnership insurance. See if the agency already has such a policy and if you can buy into it. If not, urge your future partners to consider it. If they will not, you may still be able to get it on your own. Since legal partners are liable for the debts of any and all of the other partners, that could leave you in a sorry state if one of the partners skips out, leaving behind a mountain of bills no one knew about, or embezzles money from the firm. It can also be messy if a partner dies and the family tries to take over the deceased person's share in the company.
