I ran a marketing agency by myself with 2 or 3 contractors doing minimal work for about 5 years. Originally I was hired as a graphic designer when the agency was a normal work environment. All in one office with multiple employees. But the agency was “bought out” and the owners asked me privately if I wanted to continue doing the work for the clients at a significant increase in pay.
I continued the work I was normally doing for clients with the addition of numerous tasks and ALL front-facing communication with clients. The money was a bit better than my salary so I figured it would be worth it, but for it to run smoothly I had to dedicate most of my weekends to it. I was paid through an LLC and never had anything in writing from a contract perspective so I was putting a lot of trust in the owners. I was able to run the agency which typically took 12 employees to run. Not only was it running, but we were able to take on new clients and grow the agency over this period.
After 2 years of this, I requested to be paid in a profit share agreement so that I could be directly paid via the success of the business that I was solely running. I had to fight HARD for a 50% profit share agreement. The two owners requested that 10% out of the 50% be put into a safety fund inside of the business so that it could be used when necessary for emergency situations. I agreed and we finally moved forward.
One of the agency owners had a mental breakdown (literally baker acted by family members) and decided to also not pay me for 2 months' worth of work.. I struggle and decide to launch my own agency and have seen some success but continued to work on their agency hoping that things would work out in the end if I put the time in and made it work with no pay for some time. I eventually get paid, but the future is uncertain.
The agency I started running on the side is picking up business and I finally have enough of a runway to quit working for the people who have been exploiting me and taking advantage of me for 5 years.
One of the owners has no job and has been living off of the income he gets from this business. I've been effectively paying the way for these people, and I'm FINALLY free of them. Why is it that agency owners with no ACTUAL design or marketing background are constantly scumbags?