2022 In Review: Ungerleider Works Year 1
January 1, 2022 was a big day for me. After five years of full-time freelancing, I launched my communications consulting agency Ungerleider Works.
Image via Andy Hermawan / Unsplash
The move was a little bit of a rebrand. Since around 2019 or so, I had been working on a variety of client projects for larger agencies and in-house corporate marketing/PR departments that were beyond the scope of what we typically call “freelance” work–think of helping clients launch podcasts, overhaul website copy, develop tutorial video, conduct staff trainings, that sort of thing. Pivoting from working as Neal Ungerleider the consultant to Ungerleider Works the agency gave us the space to take on additional contractors and work on bigger and better projects.
Building on my last business year in review, here’s how 2022 went.
Our Work:
We worked on projects including:
Ghostwritten LinkedIn thought leadership posts and articles for high-level staff at a major consulting firm, a social media analytics company and two venture capital firms.
Cannes Lions award strategy, application writing and process consulting for a Fortune 25 company and their advertising agency of record.
Ghostwritten op-ed articles for newspapers and magazines on behalf of executives and key opinion leaders at three companies, as well as retainer/on-call work for clients of three larger agencies.
Internal Substack, blog, email newsletter and podcast revamps for five different clients.
Podcast launches for two clients including finding appropriate interview guests, hosts/voiceover talent, training clients on podcast production and distribution, and conducting due diligence on guests to come up with questions and storylines.
Scriptwriting for commercials and video content for three different clients.
White papers, ebooks and trade show publications for three different clients.
Image via Adam Whitlock / Unsplash
The Good:
We hit approximately 75% of our gross income goals despite a slowdown in Q4 and some unexpected challenges (see below).
After dealing with a chaotic industry environment during the 2020-21 COVID era, 2022 was much more stable and planning-friendly. Clients largely adhered to timelines and were able to confidently plan for projects in advance.
We brought on an excellent freelance assistant and expanded our talent network to include top-notch project management, bookkeeping, graphic design, frontend development, voiceover and editing partners.
When the economic slowdown began later in 2022, we found ourselves in the best possible position under the circumstances. Our small size meant we could recalculate and change approaches much more nimbly than our larger competitors. Additionally (and being completely blunt), in-house marketing/comms departments and agencies contacted us to outsource work that was previously being done by employees who were now laid off.
We also migrated our agency’s entire backend (with the exception of email, creative work, CRM and bookkeeping/accounting/payroll) to Notion using The Futur’s Operating System templates for projects, client, and sales management with a healthy dose of integration of Notion and external services via Zapier.
Running the agency through Notion instead of a host of different project management, storage and communication platforms led to a whopping 30% decrease in admin hours–meaning more time to work on projects for clients.
Image via Hello I’m Nik / Unsplash
The Bad:
We lost approximately 2.5 months of work due to circumstances beyond our control.
My mother passed away unexpectedly in March. Due to my family’s small size, I had to immediately take time off to take care of the urgent, non-work related things that happen in these situations. This led to approximately 3 weeks off work; we worked with clients as necessary to ensure deadlines were met and worked with trusted partners to navigate the process.
Another month of work was lost due to my family and I getting sick with COVID one-by-one. This led to us setting up partnerships and referrals as necessary to ensure clients meet deadlines and exceed project expectations when the unexpected happens.
Several weeks of work were also lost due to childcare closures.
While we were able to meet client deadlines and expectations, these sudden challenges meant that our time for business development was seriously reduced. This led, unfortunately, to lost income later in the year.
Lessons Learned:
We set up external partnerships and contractor networks so we could work with clients seamlessly during emergency periods.
Using Notion as our agency’s engine and SaaS-of-record led to massive time savings and productivity gains.
We developed internal processes for onboarding, brainstorming and project approvals that have led to significant increased client satisfaction.
Our clients are hungry for new approaches. Some of the biggest gains we had were from walking clients through new-to-them processes of sending out weekly email newsletters, making YouTube videos and remote trainings.
Image via Hadija Saidi / Unsplash
What’s Next:
Our 2023 plan is to work with clients on a mix of content and strategy. This includes everything from writing white papers to UI/UX copy for interactive experiences to product launch strategies to internal communications overhauls and beyond.
Most of all, the 2023 plan is simple: Scale through Excellence. As a smaller agency, we’re able to provide clients with attention and dedication they can’t get from a larger agency. We’re also able to do things cheaper, quicker and better than our larger counterparts–and that’s a damn good place to be in.
Let us know what you think in the comments and we hope to work with you in 2023.
