Biggest Challenges Faced By A CEO And Co-Founder At Digital Niche Agency
Jason's biggest challenge as CEO & Co-Founder of DNA is balancing "working in the business versus working on the business," a struggle stemming from a deep background in marketing that makes it tempting to handle tasks personally instead of delegating and fostering team growth. This tension impacts client relationships, particularly with small businesses where campaign effectiveness isn't always guaranteed, highlighting the inherent unpredictability of marketing despite best efforts and strategic planning.
Executive/Leadership, Digital Marketing, Data Analysis, Client Management, Problem-Solving
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Jason Fishman
CEO & Co-Founder
Digital Niche Agency (DNA)
NA
NA
General Studies / Not Applicable
Finance (Banking, Fintech, Investing), Advertising, Communications & Marketing
Entrepreneurship and Business Owner
Worked 20+ Hours in School
Video Highlights
1. Balancing working "in" the business vs. working "on" the business is a constant challenge, requiring delegation and staff development.
2. Marketing campaign effectiveness is unpredictable, demanding creativity, testing, and optimization to manage client relationships and achieve results.
3. The unpredictable nature of marketing campaigns, despite best efforts, presents both challenges and excitement in achieving client success and scaling the business.
Transcript
What is your biggest challenge in your current role?
It's about differentiating between working *in* the business versus working *on* the business. I have a deep history in media buying, advertising, and traffic algorithms.
I often want to jump into campaigns, build creative, work on data mining strategy for audience targeting, and look at the funnel for how we'll continue to target audiences. However, it's more important for me to train my staff and ask them questions that broaden their capabilities, rather than stepping in myself to work on it.
Marketing doesn't always work. I've actually written Forbes articles about this, which I recommend you check out. But managing a campaign to the point of effectiveness is the biggest challenge.
This can lead to obstacles in agency-client relationships, especially when working with small businesses. If we could just work harder and see performance, we would. It's about being creative, testing, optimizing, and providing clients opportunities to scale.
We'd like to have more intentionality around that task. Instead, it's very much up to the end consumer and how campaigns shape out and the results produced.
Not every campaign can work for every client, and not every company can scale to any level of success. But those are all the reasons why it's fun and exciting when things are working well.