For the last 7 years we’ve been working our asses off to build the finest strategy-first social media agency in the country. While we can’t claim to be THE SINGLE BEST group of strategists in the country, we know we’re damn good.
While many social media agencies can manage your Facebook page well enough, we know that we’ve always brought something different to the table. So, we’ve tried to leverage our obsession with business results over friends and followers to get better and better, and grow bigger and bigger, every single year. I wanted 2017 to be our biggest year yet.
Sometime in May of 2017, I got a phone call I’ll never forget.
FLASHBACK: April 2017
I’d just sat down for a strategy session with Bob Weissman, a well known business coach in Philadelphia who specializes in working with agencies.
I sat down with Bob, and told him my audacious goals. I wanted massive revenue growth, dozens more in headcount, and the ability to add entirely new service lines in our business, all while changing the scope of my role to include far less operational responsibilities.
Bob basically told me I was crazy.
He was right.
But I already knew that.
He explained that without adding a wide variety of new services that would put me directly in competition with some of my close referral partners, I had virtually no way to scale to meet my goals. He offered a simple suggestion:
“To grow to where you’re trying to get to, you either need to acquire another agency, merge with another agency, or get acquired.”
Um…No
Let’s break it down for you Bob:
- Acquiring another business wasn’t happening. Not enough cash flow.
- Merging or being acquired? Um…are you for real?!
This was my baby. At that point, I’d put 6 years of my blood, sweat, and tears into this business. I have entrepreneurship in every fiber of my being. Do you really think I could just give up all that work?
So, sensing my reaction, Bob backed off a bit, and casually asked me if I could think of any agencies that I deeply respected and could see myself joining?
I said nothing…but in my mind, I knew that if I was being honest, there was one agency that I could see myself joining forces with.
FLASHBACK: 6 weeks after the meeting
Out of the blue, my phone rings.
Nick Eubanks. I’d met Nick years ago through a friend of mine who was a bartender. He thought we’d get along.
What can I tell you about Nick if you’d never met him.
For one, the guy is nuts. He’s like me.
- High energy
- Competitive
- Obsessive
- Passionate enough to knock your teeth out with his knowledge
Every time that Nick and I have been in the same room for too long talking about business and digital marketing, the rest of my life feels painfully slow.
Nick was the guy I’d thought of when Bob asked me about other agencies. Nick didn’t waste time.
“Hey man, I was just in a team strategy meeting. I want to float an idea by you. What would you think about possibly joining forces?”
I was floored. It was serendipity.
FAST FORWARD: December 2017
I’ll spare you the various details of how this all went down and tell you this…
A post shared by Jeff Gibbard (@jgibbard) on Dec 20, 2017 at 6:25am PST
On December 18th, 2017, I signed an agreement, and my entire team and I joined I’m From The Future (IFTF).
So, what does it all mean?
The True Voice Media Brand will remain live and on the web until further notice, but we’re moving all of our marketing activities to IFTF. We’ll be transitioning our email list to IFTF, and gradually transferring all of our social media accounts over as well. Don’t worry readers, subscribers, and friends, you don’t need to do anything. We’ll bring you with us, and trust me, it’ll be worth coming along.
IFTF is a Technical SEO and UX Design firm in Philadelphia. Through this acquisition, we can now offer our clients a more comprehensive set of digital marketing services, with a deeper bench of exceptional talent. Adding to our existing skills of social media, content, and influencer marketing, we now offer website design and development, SEO and link building, and paid search. We now have everything that a company needs to run an effective, results-driven marketing department in the digital age.
If I was another agency trying to compete with our newly combined super agency, I’d be crapping my pants right about now.
We already know how it’s gonna go—we’re from the future.