Many times, we have been ambushed by project managers after a team meeting saying “we must have more resource, we can’t schedule any more work!”

In our experience, in only 1/10 of those cases have they been right.

Most of the time, having looked at the schedule we have been able to find more availability by looking at the following:

1. Ensure that any resource booked on your schedule has been signed off correctly in contract form and any upfront monies have been paid. If not, question why has the time been booked.
2. Have your project managers block booked out their preferred developers in advance, just in case something urgent comes up? There is nothing wrong in having a reactive team for emergencies….but don’t book out your best resource….just in case.
3. In situations where client projects are mid development, have they made all payments up to date? For example, you have just completed the design stage of a big project and are about to start development with a huge chunk of resource booked going forward. It will be worth checking that milestone payments are up to date. If they aren’t, then this can be used as leverage to collect payment and if they don’t pay, pull the resource from the schedule and give it to some one else!
4. Are the right people on the right projects? You have a need for .net resource, but your .net developer is booked doing an HTML template…look closely at your skills sets and make sure that the right resource is on the right project. If not, switch them round.
5. Where you have retainers, make sure that you monitor the time spent carefully. If the client pays for 10 hours, only book and resource 10 hours. Ensure the team don’t spend more than 10 hours on the client. If they need more time, get it agreed with the client that they will pay for the extra time.
6. Make it a rule that your Project Mangers (or Production Manager, Studio Managers or Traffickers) print their schedules and put it up on the wall, call a meeting and review EVERY week with other Project Managers, Account Managers, Finance Department, New Business Teams also in attendance so everyone is aware where the business is at!

The majority of agencies, nay businesses, out there suffer from cash pain from time to time during their business growth; that is the reality of business! Not everyone is an Apple, Google or Facebook!

For digital agencies (like all agencies) the highest overhead is always the wage bill.

So it’s no surprise, when you are paying your team (and possibly freelancers) every 30 days and your customers are often paying you anywhere up to 90 days, that even the most profitable agencies with the largest turnover can still have cash flow problems, even more so if you are growing agency recruiting in line or ahead of the sales curve!

Forecasting your cash flow properly is the key to survival, even if you are trading profitably. We know the feeling; your accounts show that you have made £50,000 in profit over the last quarter…but you don’t have it! The tax man will have taken his share of course by now, in terms of VAT and PAYE payments, but most of your cash flow difficulties will be down to the fact that you haven’t been paid by your customers.

As an agency, you probably won’t be at the top of the list for  payments from your clients. Clients have cash flow difficulties too, and will be paying wages, tax, rent etc before you. Paying for that website build or marketing campaign will seem the least of their worries if cash is tight.

So, you need to be ahead of the game by accurately forecasting what your cash position will be for the at least the next quarter in advance.

We have put together a simple cash flow forecasting tool to help with this process and some of our clients now can’t live without this.

Also, below, here are some of our top tips for cash flow utopia.

1. Payment Stages

As per our previous blog, payment stages for new projects are key to keeping the cash flowing. Never set a project live without final payment, you will have NO leverage for the client to pay. Ensure customers know the terms up front and make sure they understand that the IP/Copyright for All/Part of the project (if you transfer it) is only theirs upon that payment. Don’t be afraid to play good cop bad cop, for example, say that you want to set the project love but that you are under strict instructions from your board to follow the business terms for legal/contractual reasons.

2. Client Dependency

Try not to put yourself in any position where you are over committed to one or two clients, a client should never occupy more than 10% of your turnover, inevitably this happens from time to time but make it a short-term problem, by increasing your client list as quickly as possible. The larger the clients you have, the more dependent you become on them for their cash and in turn, if you ever have an issue with them, then so the liability increases too. So spread your cash exposure.

3. Debtors report

Review it at least once a week without fail with both the Sales, Account Mangers and the delivery team, solve problems to get the cash in, be tenacious. You need deposits, stage payments and final payments to flow continuously in to the business.

Make sure you invoice through the month too….30 days from the 1^st of the month, or the 10^th……is sooner than 30 days from the 30^th!

4. Funding

Often agencies become under capitalised, e.g you don’t have enough money to cash flow your business growth even if you have a semi-healthy balance sheet and a profitable month to month operating business.

We would recommend that as long as you have a healthy (positive) balance sheet or that operating monthly profits are being generated, you should work hard to get a bank to provide you with an overdraft to cover all stages, that reflects one months turnover or at the very least one month’s salary costs.

If cash is really tight, then seriously consider invoice discounting as an option. We have used this very successfully in the past. Cash was released into the business upon invoicing a client, yet WE remained in control of the client relationship (e.g not a Factoring Company chasing your bills) If you go down this route you should seek advice first, remember that the fees are higher than Overdraft/Loans but the increase of cash in the business will more than pay for its self vs the business interruption you will have when you continually run out of cash.

5. Debt chasing

It is important to have the right people at your agency, talking to the right people at the client to help you get paid. It’s no good if your accounts team are calling the clients account team for payment, when you are waiting for a PO from the marketing manager…get your account manager to chase the marketing manager, or you will just get ‘computer says no’ from your clients accounts team! Sounds simple, doesn’t it…but too often we hear that money isn’t coming in only to be told that it’s just been left ‘to accounts to sort’. Cash flow is the responsibility of everyone in the agency – not just finance people.

In addition, recruit nice people to chase for money –build relationships, don’t alienate. We always took calls from the suppliers who took the time to build relationships and help us grow…..but when you have someone nagging at you threatening legals at every turn and leaving 30 messages for you a day…doesn’t encourage you to pick up the phone really does it.

6. And the most important!

Do you have the right financial intelligence in the business?

You need to invest in the right accounting personnel in the business. You need someone to proactively manage the business finances, often this is NOT the agency owner, whom may be great with numbers but are definitely not an accountant!

These skills are NEVER an overhead, always an investment. They pay for themselves time and time again.

You are much better to have a dedicated part-time bookkeeper who can manager the accounts and debtors list than sharing the job around the office.

It’s also preferable to have a Part-time FD than have nothing at all. Creating the numbers is not enough. You need to be able to interpret them properly.

Before we took on our FD, all of our computers and equipment was paid for with cash, Nothing had ever been financed and therefore our cash wasn’t being used in a sensible way. We should have spread our payments out to improve the cash flow and use that money to grow the business.

Finally remember that debt can be a positive thing, through my agency growth we had confidence with its future success. There were times (£1.2m turover )when my overdraft went back into the black, so when we spoke to our business mentor at the time, we said “Finally we are free from the overdraft, we’re going to cancel it! – He shouted “NO! you need to double it!” – he went on to say one of the best pieces of advice we have ever heard, which was when you don’t need it ask for more, because it’s a lot harder to get it when you need it!

And finally remember running a business it’s all about calculated risks, not risk aversion.

“An entrepreneur in debt is an entrepreneur in business.” Duncan Bannatyne.

For projects over £15K total value, I would recommend the following which I feel works in both the customer and agency’s best interest. Actually, I would go so far as to say that 95% of agencies I know actually use a simpler version of these payment terms. However from experience these are the most effective:

1. Upon the client project sign off and prior to commencement of the project 33% of total design and build project price should be paid.

2. At an agreed midway stage that can be clearly defined e.g after planning, scoping, design, html etc. a second stage payment of 33% should then be paid. At this stage the client should sign they are satisfied with the work to completed to date and make the payment before the agency commences completion of the final project stage.

3. At the point of UAT (User Acceptance Testing) stage, this is where all the design and build work for the project has been completed, with the possible exception of client entering content and client testing of the project a payment of 28% should be paid prior to hand over of the site on a test location. A period of 10 days should be agreed at this stage for the client to provide any bugs/fixes that they have notices, as well as enter any content the website needs.

4. At the 10 day point the final invoice stage for 6% becomes due and should be paid in full before the website is set live. I would recommend that customers are then given a 30 day warranty period to fix any bugs/issues that inevitably arise with any website developments. I would advise against any website being set live without final payment being made. The client should sign to say they are satisfied with the project and that they understand they have 30 days to notify the agency of any issues that have arisen.

5. After the 30 day warranty period, I would advise all clients to be offered both a SLA (Service Level Agreement) to support any future technical issues that arise as well as a monthly retainer to ensure that all customers are able to add new features and developments to their websites.

For projects under £15K I would recommend the payment stages to be 45% on commencement, 45% on UAT, and 10% on go live.

1. Make a list of your closest friends/networked contacts. Can they get you an intro to the marketing team where they work? Find out who they know, whom they supply; don’t be afraid to include them in any events you organise. Friends are really good advocates for your business. If they find you business always take them out for a meal or a drink to say thanks!
2. Make sure your branding, proposition and messaging are tightly refined and be bold enough to review regularly. Within reason (ie don’t do it all the time!) a regular re-brand and/or a refinement to your company proposition that better reflects where your business has evolved to are good news all round and give you another PR opportunity. Build a great portfolio or showcase, imagine the most impressive way to show your work and make sure you put it out there for your prospects to see.
3. When recruiting new team members, try where possible to determine whether candidates have a good personal network that they can potentially tap into. It doesn’t just have to be their existing clients – just how well connected they are generally. Ask them how many Facebook friends, Linked-in connections, Twitter followers etc they have to gauge how connected and liked they are as individuals. Whilst it won’t be a primary reason to recruit someone, it can be a very important factor in helping build business opportunities for the future
4. Targets are key! Target the number of new people you want to meet each month. Target this by job title – e.g business owners/marketing directors etc. Target the number of visitors to your website – e.g. double traffic in 12 months. Most importantly of all – make sure the whole team knows your monthly sales target – put it on a wall. Don’t leave it in a spreadsheet hidden somewhere. Put it on a handout and circulate it every week. Revisit it – analyse what is helping to reach it or why you as a team aren’t hitting it and keep it as a visual focus at all times. This really works and it’s amazing how many MD’s don’t do this – just keeping it as a nominal figure only they and their accountant share!
5. A really smart way to grow client accounts, which is often overlooked, is to make sure your account managers can show you a relevant organisational chart of their clients, so that they fully understand who else could have budget within their clients’ companies.  Make sure all your business communications include these names. Make sure your account managers cross-reference this chart regularly with LinkedIn to see when the people on these charts with whom they have less personal contact move jobs
6. Keep in touch – however casually with people that you hired or were junior to you when you were an employee. Hopefully they got promoted and are decision makers now! This is a part of an important lesson in life generally: never burn bridges with people! And while we’re on the burning bridges subject; hopefully you don’t need reminding- but always always always be lovely to receptionists and PA’s.  Not just because it’s good manners, but if they’re on your side, they are your gateway to the decision makers. It’s amazing how ‘He’s in a meeting’ can become – ‘Do you know what – if you call at 8.30 tomorrow he’ll definitely be at his desk’ when you take the time to remember the receptionist’s name and ask how she/he is!
7. Always ensure you’re invited to any events your partnerships and suppliers hold so that you get a chance to meet their customers. This includes your lawyers, accountant, printers, hosting companies, media suppliers etc. As a rule of thumb only spend money with suppliers if they are in some way helping you to recoup that investment, by either being a client or finding you clients!
8. Always be ready with your elevator speech. Pretty much the first question you will get asked at a networking event will be ‘What do you do?’ You need to have a one line summary ready as people need to be able to ‘categorise’ you straight away – even if you hope to enlighten them on all the other services you offer at a later stage! Always tailor your pitch to suit your audience. REMEMBER, always say “so if you know anyone looking for xx then please feel free to recommend me” Never sell to someone you are directly talking to; it’s them and any of their contacts you want to connect to at some stage.
9. If you meet someone while networking, take the time to understand what their business does exactly then try very hard to connect them to someone you know that may be of use to them in the future. If you find this person a potential lead or opportunity or solve a problem for them, this will dramatically increase their desire to make sure they reciprocate in some way. Make sure you follow people back on Twitter who could be potential clients so they can DM you. Remember: to be interesting in life you must be interested. Networking is not a one-way sales push by you.
10. Partner, Partner, Partner; find businesses like CMS Vendors who need your additional complementary skills. Learn what a marriage broker is and find one that matches your requirements. Partnerships are a very important part of the new business mix. Remember you get results you have to work hard at these; you get out what you put in!
11. Create a strategy to have a better mix of clients. It will help your new business sales acquisition. Having one big client is rarely a good thing – for one the number of customer referrals will be lower than if you have a mix. To this end, write down your top 20 clients and work out how you won them and create a programme to accelerate winning business that way. Have a follow up conversation with all potential leads from the past couple of years, take an interest in what route they took, how things are progressing, let them know all the successes you have had since they met you. Tendering isn’t everyone’s bag, but if it’s relevant in your sector, subscribe to tender distribution lists.
12. Target specific industry events in sectors you would like to work in. This could be by industry, business size or locality. Attend regular conferences and seminars. Remember you are going there to build networks in that sector. Always attend the ‘after show’ parties. It’s the best way to make new friends, build contacts, and find business opportunities. In the same vein, join a relevant industry organisation. Make the most of the many benefits this type of organisation brings, like business supports services. Look at getting listed in its directories and agency new business selection programs.
13. Find a great bar which is free to hire or where you can cordon off a small section, make sure it’s located near a train station within easy reach for all your clients, put £250 behind the bar and invite your clients and prospects, tell them drinks are free between 6-8 (or longer if you are happy to fund) and encourage them to bring their friends/like minded people they know. Make it a monthly event and give it a name like “Third Thursday” or something much cooler.
14. PR everything! Get to know the key journalists/ content writers for your trade journals/sites/local radio etc. Follow them on Twitter/ try and go to events where they’re definitely going to be and just introduce yourself. You’d be amazed how grateful journalists are for quick reference people to call when they need a quote/opinion etc. The more specialist your services, the truer this is. Obviously remember -everything you say will end up in print. And finally on the subject of press; don’t underestimate the power of local press. Issue a press release about a story related to your services and try and get it into a local newspaper – ‘Local Digital Agency builds 200th website for local Chamber of Commerce’ or maybe run a programming or design contest via the local press. A bit of lateral thinking can make most things newsworthy! Try to make sure that all this PR really gets across what your business specialises in.
15. Send out a personal style email to everyone in your address book, announcing what you do, where you are based and what you can offer. Make sure you do this every time your proposition changes or your business has changed or evolved in some way. Do not blatantly sell on this email!! Just keep your business gently at the front of your contacts’ minds.
16. Introduce net promoter score (NPS) as a customer service metric for your business It drives advocacy of your business and encourages everyone in your team to offer the best service, which will in turn drive more business. Happy customers always spend more money, so why not make NPS the metric on how your team is paid their bonus. Promoting ‘100% of our customers rate our service as good or excellent’ is always a great way to give prospects confidence in your service.
17. Sponsor a client or industry event when you know that many of your client’s colleagues or in the case of an industry event, many other companies of a similar type to your existing clients who may also require your services will be attending. It’s a great way to meet the wider teams in the case of your clients and you can make sure you get introduced.
18. Always add people you’ve met to LinkedIn as well as internal CRM databases on the premise that when they change jobs you’ll never need to lose contact again. Spend a day contacting people who’ve changed jobs to either invite them to your next event or for a drink somewhere for a catch up.
19. Research sites or forums (e.g Linked-in groups) your clients are visiting and/or expressing opinions on. Consider advertising on them or next to prospects’ or target job titles or company pages. Either that or make sure you are contributing or commenting (engaging) on content on those sites. You’ll also increase your chances of seeing people asking for recommendations for your type of agency!
20. Understand the power of doing things for free, perhaps offer a small piece of work for a client for free or sharing research that your clients would find interesting. Always share your presentations (not client ones!) online and offline. Write a thought leadership paper, and share it freely. If anything this should create more speaker events, which in turn will undoubtedly create more new business opportunities.
21. Consider a referral or finder’s fee to incentivise people who have the same type of clients but offer a different service, e.g. a local or similar sized web hosting business.  Sometimes though, it is better just to encourage a reciprocal opportunity. Only refer business to people who refer back to you frequently.
22. Ask your clients to credit your work on their website, video or print collateral e.g ‘another creative piece from your company’ and link it to your website or phone number. If they don’t let you do that then put it in the meta source code of their website or online marketing.
23. Go to events where businesses of the size you would like to do business with go to, or identify the job titles your customers typically have and research the types of events they go to. Whichever is more relevant for your business, join your local Chamber of Commerce, Agency Industry Association or Masons’ Lodge etc and get involved. Work hard to meet and know everyone involved with that organisation. It builds trust and often great referrals. Joining a size based networking group is also important, e.g. the Linked-in 500+ contacts group or real life businesses networking groups trading over certain sizes eg £1M+. To win international business try visiting networking events abroad, you may find opportunities to help businesses access the UK Market.
24. Think laterally about people you meet through your hobbies or social activities. Don’t dismiss the opportunities that chatting to a few extra people in the pub, your cycling club, sports club, shooting party etc can lead to. We have heard countless stories – from people who went to school together, to the local Triathletes club- on winning projects from very small companies to the largest of Brands.
25. Put together a free workshop in your offices for a local business group or targeted market; think of what aspects of the services you offer will be most useful to the type of businesses you expect to come. E.g. public sector & engaging local communities online.
26. A lot of agencies consider taking High Street shop fronts. Just walk around Soho, London, you’ll get the idea. Do something creative in the window that you’ll become famous for.  Also remember the little things, sign for your office – even if you’re in shared offices put a sign outside in the foyers, if you’re allowed, make sure your buzzer is branded (try to be creative) and then on your floor make sure your landing/door are branded. A piece of creativity in a foyer if you are part of a larger office complex. Ask if you can put your business cards or brochure in other local offices reception. Anything to make sure people in the vicinity know you exist…right on their doorstep!
27. Do an audit of your business and check that your URL and/or other key tags such as Twitter appear on everything – email sign offs, signage, laptop bags, anything that is going to be seen by potential clients. Don’t dismiss everyday merchandise – e.g. funky t-shirts, mugs, pens etc. to leave with prospects/clients when you visit.  Use your imagination and execute these well and they can really reinforce your brand. Phone cases, useful iphone apps etc. Failure to do so can be such a simple oversight as a business starts to grow; you have to keep revisiting this!
28. Try and get listed in league tables based on the size of your business – obviously the golden goal is getting listed in the key ones for your industry; if there’s nothing suitable how about creating your own local/regional/industry based league table like this one in the UK www.swtop100.com . League tables are really key to getting invited onto bigger pitches and putting yourself out there amongst the competition. Remember even if you’re not big enough to appear in the tables there is always the ‘ones to watch’ categories..
29. Enter for awards. Again – especially if your company is very specialist you often have a better chance of winning than you think. There are often many fewer entries than you might expect – hence a chance of winning! PR when you’re shortlisted for awards. Enter fast growth/ profit or other business awards. Best places to work in the country tables are good ones to feature in too.  All this PR is good for the team and the business, as well as creating lots more opportunities with fellow businesses who are winners. Successful companies like to work with others who are successful. Become a judge; there is no better way to get insight into the process. Always make sure your entry has a video show reel, explaining the campaign; it makes an incredible difference to the judging process to see and hear the idea or story behind the work.
30. Attend or exhibit at exhibitions/ industry shows. If exhibiting doesn’t seem relevant/isn’t cost effective, seek out shows where your prospects are definitely going or are highly likely to be. These events can be very productive if you do your research properly beforehand. Talk to people who’ve been or exhibited before. And don’t forget the after show parties and special events being held as an opportunity to meet more people.
31. Have a gimmick that makes you stand out – something like very distinctive business cards or even something as simple as always having a fridge full of great drinks in your office or always taking fab cakes to meetings. These things obviously won’t sell your services on their own, but we’re back to the fact that if people remember you for positive reasons they’re more likely to!
32. Have an opinion – make sure everyone in your business has an opinion on their area of expertise. Comment on blogs; make sure your company’s social media presence is worth visiting/following by raising a viewpoint on pertinent stories in your industry press. Pitch an article to an industry publication – especially if you have a specialism that enables you to have a particularly authoritative take on a current issue or can add a poignant alternative viewpoint to the ‘mainstream’ output on the subject. Use your whole team to help you do this. If you haven’t got the time to write a white paper or thought leadership piece then why not sponsor a thought leadership piece, repackage it and send it to your customers. Conversely, if writing is really your thing then why not write a book on a subject that your business is most famous for with customers?
33. Offer to speak/nominate someone in your business to speak at industry and networking events. Give them a suitable job title to position them at the right level and give them authority. Also even if speaking to big groups is your idea of hell, there are often smaller events at which you can speak to practise. As an ‘entry level’ option how about your company sponsoring an award at an event and then you can present it? Don’t be afraid to publish all your talks on slide share. Speaking is a great way to network en masse. It raises your authority and trust levels!
34. Start a blog and publicise it. Particularly relevant for ‘test marketing’ new services or areas into which you are thinking of expanding. The trick to a good blog is to get the whole team to share the responsibility; frequency is key. Let people see the personality behind the business – go and learn how to blog properly. Lots of people get it wrong. Don’t forget more traditional newsletters too. When well written and sent out in the right frequency they can really work – remember these shouldn’t really be vanity pieces, but useful to the recipient.
35. Pull a publicity friendly stunt (think Richard Branson) – get your adrenalin junkie staff to abseil down the side of the office for charity…or better still base jump off the top of it! Seriously – even sponsoring the local school fair can bring you into the consciousness of unexpected prospects.
36. Keep an eye on online job boards – on a basic level for example – new marketing managers, often need new agencies. Thinking more laterally, see if your prospects are advertising for people to do the things you do. There’s often a case for outsourcing being more cost effective/productive/ specialized. Exploit it!
37. Mail fun promotional items to potential clients (calendars, toys, posters etc). Offline communications if they’re well executed can be very memorable – especially if you target just a limited number of prospects and send them something a bit higher value/ creatively executed. The situation has pretty much reversed from a few years ago and now people are being deluged with emails etc but receive much less mail. Use that to your advantage.
38. Send a non refundable credit note to your dream prospect for £5,000 worth of work, only  on condition you can show case;  they’ll need to meet you to brief you, so an easy way to meet them face to face…
39. Help your prospects out…. For example, create a location based strategy, target potential clients who may live locally but commute, who could use your office for late Friday meetings, etc. Perhaps create a website version that targets Google local. Create a monthly promo card, with useful calendar messages on, perhaps, events happening in the month ahead, film releases, book releases, new websites, design awards, networking events, conferences, helpful to improving your customers professional lives
40. Avoid a Busman’s holiday; use relevant experts as partners for everything. For example, if you aren’t finding the time to do your online marketing don’t be afraid to partner with someone who can do it for you. Better that than it never getting done if you’re too busy working on clients. Just make sure your partners are specialist and can’t PR your work  :-) Similarly don’t be afraid to hire a non-exec Director to help you plan your business’s growth going forward. Their experience can be invaluable and save you costly mistakes and oversights.
41. Help Leads Find You and make sure you can find them – Get a search strategy, think laterally about search, e.g. “how to’s” on You Tube, PPC, seo. Use a product like Trovus to identify what businesses are looking at your website.
42. Make sure you’re listed in any directories run by industry press, industry groups, standards, partnership sites, online business directories, local, regional national. Contribute to open source efforts and get known.
43. On a local level – Keep a local list of freelancers that will offer clients a complementary service. Maybe rent office space shared with other complementary businesses/freelancers When customers want projects that don’t have enough budget either broker a deal, outsource, or pass the deal over (explain they owe you one .  Only refer to people who pass you work back at some stage in the future!
44. Think big! Establish contacts in larger “network” agencies that can refer their run-off work. Build a network of contacts in other countries – perhaps of agencies a similar size to you and form an umbrella organisation, so you can attract more European/global based projects. Start your own networking group for the people you want to talk to in business and invite them. Find guest speakers that would make them attend.
45. Ask your local MP, celebrities that live in your area to come to a business launch or lunch you’re having, give him plenty of notice, ask him to support your local business, get a testimonial, local press, blog, you’ll be amazed at how many business contacts he will have!
46. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer; leads can come from competitors, if they like you and trust you and are just too busy, they may just forward you on work. Attend events and dinners, we’ve heard stories this year of a million pound deal that one agency gave to another as they were too busy to deliver on the project.
47. Create a calendar for the year of ideas, fit in as many as you can (even if it’s just Christmas and Valentine’s day); create a game or a promotion, the key is to be proactive, surprise and delight your prospects, clients and friends.
48. Attend Marketing Forums – but if you’re going to do any type of forum, focus your message and be niche with a current demand that they have. Remember you are there to make long lasting friendships not sell sell sell!
49. New business for most of us at the very beginning starts with our closest networked contacts. Never underestimate talking to your family – time after time! Make sure they understand exactly what you do and what sort of business you’re looking for. They are your most trusted referees. Think cousins, brother-in-law, the whole extended team… Always offer free initial consultations to new referrals; doing something for free, never does any harm. 9 times out of 10, if you help someone out they usually go out of their way to repay the favour at some stage in the future, either directly or indirectly.
50. Do some free or pro-bono work for a client, charity or special cause, try to do work that will create a great showcase of your talent and abilities. Something that can be PR’d. In return, ask the beneficiaries to help endorse your business and speak at events on your behalf. It creates a real win-win for all involved, whilst doing something good at the same time.