The image is a detailed historical painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder called Netherlandish Proverbs. It depicts a complex scene of village life, including people working, animals, and buildings.

Agency life can have its friction.

Turn friction into traction for your creative agency.

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This is a work of friction.

TIAWOF is the solo practice of Michael Dupuis.

I provide consulting and fractional leadership to worker-forward design and technology agencies. Who I help ↠

My work focuses on agency growth, profitability, and resiliency vis-à-vis business development, strategy, and operations: How I help ↠

When I work with your team, I’m often working with folks in roles that I’ve previously held and know intimately. Since 2013, I’ve been a Software Developer (Ruby) and Project Manager; a Business Developer and Director of Business Development ($27M in revenue); a Chief Operating Officer for a 70-person development consultancy; and a General Manager for a 25-person design & dev agency.

I’ve seen first-hand how agencies shape-shift over the years, and I’ve been a part of the leadership teams as these companies have grown, contracted, or held steady. Now I’m helping similar other agencies realize their potential.

Let’s chat ↠

I help these types of businesses.

Small Agencies

Less than $5M in annual revenue

✧ Founder-dependent ✧

A detailed painting depicting a historical scene with a central figure dressed in elaborate clothing, standing with arms open, surrounded by people and animals engaged in various activities, including a man lying on a bench holding hands with another person, animals such as pigs and a dog, and a person emerging from a large open container. The background includes trees and a scenic landscape.

  • The agency is completely dependent on you as the founder. You could not step away from the business for 2 weeks without returning to major issues.

  • Cash flow is a challenge. You don’t have a reliable lead pipeline for new business or systems to process new business consistently.

  • Recently you’ve been wondering if it’s time to look for a nice Director role elsewhere. The other day, a stockist at Whole Foods caught you staring at them with envy.

✧ Always working and always short on cash ✧

A painting depicting a scene by a river with a man fishing and a woman with a fan, with a fish in the water.

  • Revenue is coming in and the team is constantly busy. But somehow that’s not translating into stronger profits or cash reserves.

  • You’d love to make decisions based on something other than your gut, but you don’t have accurate data. So you don’t have good historical data or future projections.

  • You live in reaction mode and always “on the back foot.” You’re so busy putting out fires that you don’t have the bandwidth to do the critical, strategic work.

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Mid-sized Agencies

$5M to $10M in annual revenue

✧ Cultivating new leaders ✧

A detailed painting showing people climbing over a brick wall, some using a donkey to assist, with a small tower on the left with a person inside playing a musical instrument, and another person above on a rooftop looking down.

  • The business has traction with clients but the day-to-day is chaos without leaders stepping up. And as you hire more people, you’re building a bigger ship that becomes ever harder to steer.

  • Your leadership layer exists, but without clear expectations, defined responsibilities, or genuine authority. It feels like the team just managing tasks, rather than owning outcomes.

  • Leaders don't understand how their work impacts the business or KPIs. Feedback loops and 360 Reviews don't exist, and accountability is low for such a talented team.

✧ Preparing for the future ✧

A detailed painting depicting a person in medieval armor petting a cat, with a large fish hanging on a wall, and a woman in historical clothing knitting or sewing, surrounded by other figures.

  • The agency has grown past the point where everyone can be in every conversation. Now decision-making is glacial with you or your core leaders feeling like the bottlenecks.

  • You’ve shared where you want to take the business but the leadership team isn’t rowing towards it. Progress on internal initiatives is inconsistent and even completed ones don’t move the needle.

  • You’re not going to do this forever. Eventually, you’ll want to sell the business, and buyers are going to want a business that can operate profitably and sustainably without the owner.

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These are the ways I help agencies.

Focus areas

I partner with Directors, GMs & Managing Directors, founders, and partners to:

Improve profits

If your agency isn’t hitting 50% gross profit margins on the work, we’ll start there. I take a look at the agency’s unit economics to understand why the business isn’t as profitable as it could be. Then we set targets and a realistic plan to achieve them. When the work completes, you’ll have a clear roadmap to profitability.

Plan for growth

Avoid the age-old story of the agency that has its best year, followed by layoffs the next year. I work with your leadership team to implement a plan that cuts across business development, client services, and people to ensure sustainable growth.

For small agencies, I create a blueprint that ensures you avoid the common trap of becoming too top-heavy with senior talent, while still being able to deliver high-quality services that grow your agency over time.

Cultivate new leaders

For mid-sized agencies, I work with partners and directors to implement processes that clarify roles & responsibilities and establish accountability.

For small agencies, I work with the team to understand what changes we can make to enable the founder to work on the business, rather than in the business.

Deliver internal initiatives

The most potential that any agency has lies latent on its bench. Too often agencies are too busy with delivering client work to give the time and attention to internal initiatives that can grow team members’ skills, create new business opportunities, build tools that will cater to future services, and more. I manage internal projects with under-utilized team members to make bench time a competitive advantage.

Let’s get to work.

Request more information to learn about engagement models, pricing, and more.

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