The DIY Agency Mastermind

The 37signals Guide to Internal Communication

This guide outlines 37signals' comprehensive approach to internal communication, emphasizing asynchronous, long-form writing over real-time meetings or chat for clarity and permanence. It establishes 29 guiding principles that promote mindful and efficient information exchange, such as valuing context, avoiding urgency, and fostering thoughtful reflection. The document then details practical, daily communication practices primarily utilizing their Basecamp platform, including automated daily/weekly check-ins and structured project discussions, ensuring all relevant information remains centralized and accessible. Finally, it points to additional resources that further elaborate on their unique operational philosophies.

Week 12. Owner Mindset: Crafting Your Long-Term Business Vision

When you step back from the day-to-day, what’s your business really for? Not just in the “mission statement” sense, but in the way it shapes your life, your freedom, and your impact. Week 12 is about lifting your head from the grind and looking far ahead—because the owner who can see the next three to five years clearly is the one who makes smarter moves today.
 
A long-term vision doesn’t have to be complicated, but it does have to be intentional. Too many owners drift into growth without asking whether it’s the right kind of growth. More clients, more staff, more revenue—it all sounds good on paper. But if it comes at the cost of your health, your family time, or your original passion, is it really a win?
 
An owner mindset is about making decisions from the perspective of where you want to be, not just where you are. That might mean passing on opportunities that look good in the short term but pull you off course in the long term. It might mean investing in infrastructure before you “need” it because you know the capacity will be critical down the road.
 
I once worked with an owner who realized they were building a business they didn’t actually want to run. The hours were long, the margins were thin, and the culture didn’t match their values. The turning point came when they defined their “ideal day” five years in the future—and started making decisions backwards from there. It changed everything about how they spent their time and where they focused their resources.
 
Long-term thinking also protects you from reactionary decision-making. When markets shift, competitors move, or a client leaves, you can respond without panic because you have a bigger plan guiding your next steps. You know where you’re going, and you’re just adjusting the route.
 
This week is about creating that clarity for yourself. It’s about deciding what role you want to play in your business, how big you want it to be, what kind of clients you want to serve, and what life you want it to enable. Your vision becomes the filter for every future choice.
 
What you’ll be focusing on this week is defining your three-to-five-year vision in vivid detail, clarifying the personal and professional outcomes you’re aiming for, and identifying the shifts you need to start making now to bring that vision to life.

Week 11. Sustainable Leadership: Optimizing Teams and Preventing Burnout

A great business is built on more than systems and numbers—it’s built on people. Your leadership sets the tone for how those people perform, how they communicate, and how long they stick around. Team optimization is about getting the best from your people in a way that’s sustainable, energizing, and aligned with the mission of the business.
 
The challenge is that as your agency grows, your role as an owner shifts. In the early days, you’re wearing all the hats—sales, service, even sweeping the floor. But once you have a team in place, your job becomes less about doing the work and more about enabling other people to do it at their highest level. That’s a very different skill set.
 
Strong leadership starts with clarity. Your team should know exactly what success looks like in their role and how their work contributes to the bigger picture. Without that clarity, you end up with missed expectations, rework, and frustration on all sides. A simple one-page role document that spells out responsibilities, key metrics, and decision-making authority can eliminate a lot of ambiguity.
 
Then comes communication. Most leaders think they’re clear, but their team often feels in the dark. Regular check-ins, transparent updates, and open-door policies aren’t “nice-to-haves”—they’re the backbone of a healthy culture. And feedback goes both ways. The best leaders make it safe for their team to share what’s working, what’s not, and where they see opportunities for improvement.
 
Optimization isn’t just about productivity—it’s also about energy. If you push your people too hard without the right support, you’ll burn through talent and morale. If you set the bar too low, you’ll stagnate. The sweet spot is where expectations are high, support is strong, and wins are celebrated.
 
One agency owner I worked with adopted a simple rule: every quarter, they asked each team member what they’d like to stop doing, start doing, and keep doing. Those conversations surfaced small but powerful changes that made the work more enjoyable and effective for everyone.
 
Finally, leadership means developing leaders. You want to create an environment where people grow into new responsibilities, step up to challenges, and eventually lead others. That’s how you build a business that doesn’t collapse if you take a month off.
 
What you’ll be focusing on this week is evaluating your current leadership habits and identifying one or two key changes that could make the biggest difference in your team’s performance. You’ll define clearer role expectations, improve communication rhythms, and find ways to develop leadership capacity at every level of your organization.

Week 10. Strategic Growth: Planning for Deliberate Expansion

There’s a difference between growth and strategic growth. One feels like chasing every opportunity that crosses your desk. The other is deliberate, paced, and tied to where you actually want the business to go. Strategic growth planning is about picking your moves carefully so each one builds on the last, instead of scattering your energy in a dozen directions.
 
Too many agency owners get stuck in reactive growth. A big referral comes in, a new service idea pops up, or a client asks for something you’ve never done before—and suddenly your calendar and team are stretched thin chasing something that doesn’t actually fit the long-term picture. That’s how you end up with bloated service offerings, misaligned clients, and a business model that feels heavier than it should.
 
Strategic growth starts with clarity. You need to know exactly what type of business you’re building, who it’s for, and what resources you’re willing to commit to scaling it. It’s about answering questions like:
 
What’s our ideal client profile and how do we get more of them?
 
Which services are most profitable and aligned with our expertise?
 
What infrastructure do we need to support more clients without breaking?
 
One owner I worked with set a rule: no new service launches unless they had at least three confirmed clients ready to buy before it hit the market. That one rule saved them from years of chasing shiny objects and instead kept their focus on refining the services that were already proven winners.
 
Strategic growth also requires timing. Just because you can scale faster doesn’t mean you should. Sometimes the smartest move is to stabilize your systems and strengthen your team before adding more clients or revenue streams. Growth that outpaces your capacity will only burn you out and damage your reputation.
 
When you plan strategically, you think in stages. Maybe this year is about deepening your client relationships and improving profitability. Next year could be about expanding into a new market or adding a complementary service. The year after that might be about operational efficiency so you can increase margins without adding headcount. Each stage builds on the last, creating momentum that feels manageable instead of overwhelming.
 
Strategic growth isn’t about saying “yes” to everything—it’s about saying “yes” to the right things at the right time. The real discipline is in turning down opportunities that don’t fit the plan, even if they look tempting in the moment.
 
What you’ll be focusing on this week is defining your next 12 months of growth priorities. You’ll identify one to three core initiatives that will have the biggest impact on your long-term vision, map out the resources you’ll need to execute them, and create a short list of opportunities to say “no” to so you can keep your focus tight.

Week 9. Advanced Financial Forecasting: Navigating Agency Growth with Confidence

The difference between a business that reacts to problems and one that navigates them with confidence often comes down to forecasting. Advanced financial forecasting isn’t just about predicting revenue—it’s about giving yourself a clear view of the road ahead so you can steer with intention instead of guesswork.
 
Most owners check their financials after the fact. They see last month’s P&L, nod, and maybe make a few small adjustments. But by the time those numbers hit your desk, the events that shaped them are already weeks old. Forecasting flips the script. You’re not just looking backward—you’re projecting forward, using real data to see where you’re headed and adjust before you drift off course.
 
The key is to forecast more than just top-line revenue. You want a rolling, living model that includes revenue, expenses, cash flow, and profit—updated regularly, not quarterly or annually. If you can see how these numbers will look three to six months from now, you can make smarter calls on hiring, marketing spend, debt management, and growth investments.
 
One owner I worked with used a 13-week rolling cash flow model religiously. Every Friday, she updated her projections based on invoices sent, payments received, and expected upcoming expenses. That single habit allowed her to spot a slow collections period coming up and take action—calling clients, pushing invoices out faster, and adjusting her spending—before it ever became a crisis.
 
Advanced forecasting also means stress testing your plan. What happens if you lose your biggest client? What if a new service launch underperforms? What if you land that dream account earlier than expected? Running these “what-if” scenarios lets you plan responses before you actually need them, which turns potential panic into a calm, confident pivot.
 
You don’t need to build a Wall Street-level model to make this work. A good spreadsheet, a solid grasp of your cost structure, and a consistent update routine are enough. The real magic is in keeping the forecast active—treat it like a GPS you check often, not a map you print once and forget in the glovebox.
 
Financial forecasting gives you control. It lets you walk into every decision knowing the numbers behind it, instead of relying on gut feel alone. Over time, that control compounds—turning unpredictable months into a business rhythm you can trust.
 
What you’ll be focusing on this week is building your first rolling forecast, adding in your core revenue streams and fixed expenses, then layering on your variable costs and planned investments. You’ll practice updating it weekly, and you’ll run at least three “what-if” scenarios so you can see the impact of different outcomes before they happen.

Week 8. Strategic Scaling: Grow Your Agency Without Breaking It

Scaling sounds exciting until you realize it can break everything you’ve worked hard to build. When agencies grow too quickly, delivery starts to slip, clients notice the drop in service quality, and the very reputation that drove the growth begins to suffer. Capacity planning is how you avoid that. It’s the discipline of matching your team’s actual bandwidth with your growth goals—and building systems that allow you to deliver consistently as the workload increases.
 
The first step is honesty. Most owners underestimate how close they are to max capacity. They think they can “just push through” busy seasons or add more clients without adding resources. That’s how burnout happens, both for you and your team. Instead, you need a clear sense of your delivery limits. This means mapping out your team’s roles, responsibilities, and available hours against your current client load. Once you know where the pressure points are, you can plan for expansion in a controlled way.
 
One agency I worked with was consistently turning down new business because they felt at full tilt. When we mapped out their work processes, we found that 25% of their delivery time was spent on repetitive admin tasks that could be automated. By implementing two key automations and redefining who handled certain approvals, they freed up the equivalent of an extra full-time role—without hiring anyone.
 
This is where scaling systems come into play. Systems aren’t just software—they’re the combination of processes, tools, and accountability that keep work moving smoothly. As you grow, you need clear SOPs (standard operating procedures), centralized documentation, and a reliable communication flow so nothing gets lost in the chaos. If something relies on one person’s memory, it’s not a system—it’s a risk.
 
Capacity planning is also about having a trigger plan for hiring or outsourcing. Decide in advance what metrics will tell you it’s time to bring on more help. Maybe it’s a set percentage of billable hours filled or a revenue threshold that can support a new role. That way, you’re not scrambling to staff up after you’ve already overcommitted.
 
Scaling should feel like opening up a new lane on a highway—not suddenly dumping more cars onto a road that’s already at a standstill. By pacing growth with your systems and team capacity, you create an agency that not only gets bigger, but gets better.
 
What you’ll be focusing on this week is auditing your current capacity, identifying your top three bottlenecks, and creating an action plan to either remove those constraints or add resources. You’ll also start documenting the key processes that must be scalable before you take on additional volume.

Week 7. Strategic Growth: Beyond More Clients, More Revenue

When most agency owners think about growth, the default picture is simple: bring in more clients, increase revenue, and everything else will fall into place. The problem is, that’s rarely how it works. Growth without a plan often means more complexity, thinner margins, and a heavier workload with the same stress—just bigger numbers.
 
Strategic growth planning shifts the focus from more to better. It’s about intentionally shaping the kind of growth that supports your vision, lifestyle, and profitability goals. That means deciding up front which kinds of clients you want more of, which service lines deserve more investment, and how you’ll scale your operations without burning yourself—or your team—out.
 
One agency I coached made this shift when they realized that their biggest revenue driver was also their lowest-margin service. By rebalancing their offer mix toward higher-margin, longer-term engagements, they grew profit by 40% without adding any new clients. That’s the kind of growth planning that actually changes the game.
 
The process starts with clarity on where you are now. Look at your revenue breakdown by service, client type, and acquisition source. Which buckets are driving the most profit? Which are creating headaches without meaningful return? From there, you can set targeted growth priorities. Maybe it’s doubling down on a niche where you have a strong track record. Maybe it’s launching a new service that complements your existing work and deepens client relationships.
 
It’s also about pacing. Not all growth needs to happen this quarter—or even this year. The most sustainable growth plans build in capacity checkpoints, so you only add new work when your delivery systems can handle it. That’s how you avoid the boom-and-bust cycle so many agencies fall into.
 
The real power of strategic growth planning is that it gives you a roadmap. You stop reacting to every opportunity and start filtering them through your plan. Does this new lead fit your ideal profile? Does this project move you toward your long-term positioning? If the answer’s no, you can say so without hesitation—because you know exactly what you’re building toward.
 
What you’ll be focusing on this week is mapping out a one-year growth vision, identifying your highest-margin opportunities, and deciding which to prioritize first. You’ll also outline the operational steps you need to take so you can grow without sacrificing quality, profitability, or sanity.

Week 6. Rolling Cashflow Forecast: Steering Business Finances Proactively

Cashflow is one of those topics that every owner knows is important but often treats like a quick glance at the bank account balance. The problem with that approach is it’s reactive. You see money in the account and think you’re fine—until payroll, vendor payments, and tax deadlines all hit at once and suddenly you’re scrambling.
 
A rolling cashflow forecast flips that script. Instead of guessing, you can see exactly what’s coming in and going out over the next 12 weeks. You’re not just looking at where you are today—you’re projecting forward so you can make decisions before things get tight.
 
Here’s the big mental shift: cashflow isn’t just a finance department thing. As the owner, you need to understand how cash actually moves through your business. You need to know when a big client payment will hit, how long it takes for invoices to get paid, and when your largest expenses typically fall. That awareness is what lets you pull the right levers early—whether that’s speeding up receivables, delaying a non-critical expense, or adjusting your sales push.
 
One agency I worked with started tracking their rolling 12-week cashflow after a near-miss where they almost couldn’t cover payroll. Within two months, they spotted a future dip six weeks in advance and landed a short-term project to bridge the gap. That single proactive move avoided a potential crisis and gave the owner real peace of mind.
 
Setting up your forecast doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be as simple as a spreadsheet with weeks across the top, expected inflows and outflows listed underneath, and a running balance that updates as you add numbers. The key is updating it weekly—every Monday morning, for example—so it’s always fresh. Over time, you’ll start seeing patterns. You might notice that March and September are always tighter months or that a particular client consistently pays late. That’s information you can act on.
 
The other benefit is confidence. When you know what’s coming, you stop making fear-based decisions. You can commit to investments because you’ve seen the numbers and you know the timing works. You’re not flying blind—you’re steering with a clear map.
 
What you’ll be focusing on this week is building a simple 12-week rolling cashflow template, plugging in your known inflows and outflows, and getting in the habit of updating it every week. By the end of the week, you’ll have a forward-looking view of your agency’s cash position so you can make smarter, calmer decisions.

Week 5. Agency KPIs: Navigating by the Numbers

Most agency owners have a love-hate relationship with metrics. We like the idea of having “our finger on the pulse,” but the reality is that a lot of owners either drown themselves in random data or avoid tracking anything because it feels overwhelming. The truth is, the right KPIs aren’t about micromanaging yourself—they’re about creating a simple dashboard that tells you if you’re on track or off course.
 
Think of it like a car dashboard. You don’t stare at every little gauge the entire drive. You glance at your speedometer, fuel gauge, and maybe your temperature gauge, and you know if you need to make an adjustment. KPIs work the same way—they give you quick, high-leverage indicators that keep you from driving blind.
 
Here’s where owners get tripped up: tracking too much, tracking the wrong things, or tracking without any context. For example, revenue is important, but it’s not enough by itself. If your profit margin is shrinking or your project timelines are slipping, revenue alone won’t tell you that. On the flip side, you don’t need a spreadsheet full of vanity metrics that look impressive but don’t actually influence decisions.
 
The right KPIs will connect directly to your business goals. If your goal is to improve profitability, you might track gross margin, utilization rates, and average project value. If your goal is growth, you might focus on sales pipeline value, client acquisition rate, and lifetime value. The magic is in picking the few that truly matter, setting clear targets, and reviewing them on a consistent schedule.
 
One agency I worked with reduced their tracked KPIs from 18 down to 6. Those six became part of their weekly leadership meeting. Every number had an owner, and every time a KPI was off track, they left the meeting with a specific action to fix it. Over the next quarter, their profit margin improved by 7% without adding a single new client—just by managing what mattered.
 
You also want to visualize your KPIs in a way that makes them easy to digest at a glance. That might be a dashboard in Google Data Studio, a chart in a spreadsheet, or even a printed scorecard on your desk. If it’s clunky or buried in reports, you’ll stop looking at it.
 
When KPIs become part of your rhythm, they start working for you. You stop making decisions based on gut feeling alone and start leaning on facts. That combination—intuition backed by data—is where great business decisions happen.
 
What you’ll be focusing on this week is choosing your core 5–7 KPIs, defining exactly how they’re measured, and setting realistic targets for each. You’ll also create a simple, visible dashboard or scorecard and commit to reviewing it on a set schedule. By the end of the week, you’ll have a clear set of numbers that guide your decisions and keep you aligned with your goals without drowning you in data.

Week 4. The Art of the Rolling Cash Flow Forecast

Cash flow is like the pulse of your business. You can have great sales, happy clients, and a solid team—but if the timing of your money in and money out is off, you will feel stressed, scattered, and a little desperate. I’ve seen agencies with strong annual revenue crumble simply because they didn’t have a clear picture of where their cash was going month to month.
 
The thing about cash flow is that it’s not the same as profit. Profit is what’s left after you add up all the income and subtract all the expenses. Cash flow is about when money moves. You can be profitable on paper but broke in reality if payments come in late and bills are due early.
 
A rolling cash flow forecast fixes this. It’s not complicated—you’re simply looking ahead, week by week or month by month, to see what’s expected to come in and what’s scheduled to go out. This gives you a running tally of your cash position so you can make decisions without guessing.
 
I’ve worked with owners who relied entirely on their bank balance to tell them whether they could spend money. That’s like driving by looking only at the road right in front of your tires. Sure, it works… until you hit a turn or a pothole you didn’t see coming. A rolling forecast is like looking a few hundred yards ahead—it lets you prepare for dips, slow months, or big expenses before they show up in your account.
 
One agency owner I coached implemented a simple Google Sheet where she tracked all expected income and expenses over the next 12 weeks. Within the first month, she spotted a gap where a slow client payment would have left her scrambling for payroll. She adjusted her invoicing schedule and set up a reserve account, and that single insight probably saved her from a sleepless month of stress.
 
Here’s the beauty of it: once you start forecasting cash flow, you gain options. You can decide to hire with confidence because you know when the cash will actually be there. You can spot slow periods months in advance and fill them with new projects or special offers. You can time big purchases for when you’re flush instead of when you’re guessing.
 
And this doesn’t have to be complicated accounting. Most owners can keep their rolling forecast updated in under 30 minutes a week once it’s set up. The key is consistency—updating it every week so the “rolling” part stays true.
 
When you run a business without this tool, you’re operating in reaction mode. When you run it with a rolling cash flow, you’re in control. You can make decisions that are proactive instead of reactive, and that small shift changes everything from your stress levels to your profitability.
 
What you’ll be focusing on this week is setting up your rolling cash flow forecast—either in a simple spreadsheet or your preferred software—mapping at least the next 12 weeks of inflows and outflows. You’ll also establish a weekly rhythm to update it and review it, so you always know where you stand. By the end of the week, you’ll have a forward-looking view of your cash that helps you make confident, strategic decisions instead of hoping your bank balance is enough.