This is a follow up story for Kairos Digital. If you're interested in reading how they got started, published almost 4 years ago, check it out here.

Hello again! Remind us who you are and what business you started.

My name is Stephen Freeman and I am the Leader and Founder of Kairos Digital. We’re a digital marketing agency based in Jacksonville, FL and we focus on website development, messaging, lead generation, video production, and digital marketing.

We’re currently doing around $35,000 per month in revenue and have 5 full-time employees.

Tell us about what you’ve been up to! Has the business been growing?

We’ve added on 3 new employees and have grown significantly in the last couple of years. One of the areas we’ve focused on is our Search Engine Optimization, which has led to many organic leads and clients in our area. By focusing on our SEO efforts, we’ve been able to get not only to the first page of Google but also to the top listings within the Google Maps ranking. We’ve also focused on asking clients for reviews on Google, which has helped a great deal. I’ve also been focusing on networking and improving our operational systems to make sure clients get onboarded and up to speed consistently and predictably.

Early on, we said yes to almost everyone - as the agency has grown, we’ve needed to start saying no more often to leads or clients who aren’t a good fit for us.

I am currently in my 3rd year as a StoryBrand Certified Guide and business is not slowing down any time soon. We also brought on a full-time website developer video editor, which let us in-house our web development and launches a new service line of video production.

What have been your biggest lessons learned in the last year?

The importance of internal systems and processes - not just for hiring employees, but also in identifying new leads and qualifying them for the agency. Early on, we said yes to almost everyone - as the agency has grown, we’ve needed to start saying no more often to leads or clients who aren’t a good fit for us. We also closed out last year (2.5 after the start) profitably, which is exciting.

What’s in the plans for the upcoming year, and the next 5 years?

Continue to improve systems and processes. Grow our team and our impact with clients, and become the agency of choice for Jacksonville and the area. We plan on building out repeatable systems for onboarding clients in a predictable way, better systems for tracking progress on projects, and improving communication between the growing team that is now serving clients.

Have you read any good books in the last year?

Advice for other entrepreneurs who might be struggling to grow their business?

Focus on your systems of attracting customers and how you serve them. Every outcome is the result of a system that will always produce that outcome. If you don’t like the outcome, change the system. If you are taking care of your current clients well, ask them for a referral.

If someone refers you, be super generous with thanking them. If a client signs with you, give them a level of service they would never expect. Focus on your marketing but do it in a way that solves problems. The only thing worse than not having a client is having the wrong client, so don’t stress the dry times - that’s when you can improve systems and make the product better.