When Ron started CyberOptik back in 2002, the web looked very different — and the idea of running a team with 25 employees and 48 active projects at once wasn’t even a fantasy.
Ron’s journey — which has spanned from trying to build his own CMS to crossing the $1M mark — has been hard-won. From learning the importance of hiring slow and firing fast, building systems before handing off tasks, and adapting strategies instead of copy and pasting what works for others, he’s got a wealth of knowledge to share!
What got you into WordPress and how long have you been using it?
I got into WordPress after we tried to build out our own custom CMS, way back in the day. It was fine, and we deployed a number of websites with it, but WordPress was starting to flesh out past just being for blogging so around 2011/12 we moved over to WordPress for new site builds. We never looked back!
What are the biggest challenges and rewards of managing a large team?
Challenges:
The biggest thing with the large team is that if you fail, the consequences don’t just fall on you as the owner, it falls on your team as well. So if I, as the owner, can’t bring in the business needed to keep everyone busy, we potentially need to let people go and that’s something I take very seriously, as it’s their income to support themselves and their families.
Past that, the adage of ‘mo money mo problems’ is very much true. The more projects you have going on, the more clients, etc, the more important it is to make sure everyone knows what they should be doing and who to contact if they need support. This is also where systems, checks/balances, and clear sops have been very important for us.
For example, we currently have 48 open website projects! So empowering your team to know what to do and work independently or in a team as needed, without needing to be micromanaged, is very important.
Rewards:
Having team members share things that they’ve been able to do in their personal lives that their jobs have paid for – whether it’s a new car, moving to a new country, buying some fancy gadget they wanted, etc. Even giving them the ability to expand their knowledge so they can learn something new within the company, or even move up within the company as they stay with us.
What do you do to keep a healthy work/life balance as a business owner?
What’s that?
This is something I’ve struggled with on/off for 23 years. I definitely love my job and what I’ve built over the years, but I’ve gone through a number of rounds of burnout.
Getting out of our helpdesk and empowering someone else to own that part of the agency has been amazing has helped.
One benefit of building out a team beneath you as an agency owner is that you can hone in on what your sweet spot. For me, that’s acquisitions, marketing, and sales – so at least I have that balance in terms of not being pulled in 100 different ways.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever gotten and how has it affected your business?
There are a few.
Hire slow, fire fast. As you grow a team, you don’t want to grow it too fast, so keep an eye on your capacity. When you’re continually having growing pains, hire. Even better, if you don’t need it to be an employee, contract out or go with a service like QuicklyHire.
Do it, systemize it, delegate it. Unless you have someone very knowledgable about something already on your team, take the the time to do it yourself, systemize it if you can, and then delegate it if needed.
Season to taste. Always be learning from what others are doing, but don’t just copy/paste that into what you’re doing, as you’ll fail. Take inspiration from it and customize it to work for your specific use case.
As an entrepreneur, what’s your proudest accomplishment?
Breaking the $1 million mark, which is rare for businesses and even rarer for agencies. Being able to support my family and not having to worry about money.
What’s a book every agency owner should read?
Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell
What’s your favorite podcast to listen to?
Everbros: Agency Growth Podcast
What’s a WordPress plugin everyone should know about?
What’s your favorite non-WordPress tool or software?
What’s your favorite tool, accessory, or gadget on your desk?
As silly as it sounds, Gmail. I live in my inbox.
