What It Means To Be An Outstanding Leader

BY CALLY PEDERSEN

I practiced for this moment more times than I could count. I was nervous walking up to the stage with the bright lights, feeling so many eyes on me. Yet, I knew I was going to nail it.

Every roller coaster moment as an entrepreneur, a CEO, and a leader came together as I began my first keynote speech, “Making Your Ads Work For You”. My speech was a huge success, with an overflow of audience questions, successfully kicking off a three-day marketing conference in Las Vegas.

However, the real pivotal moment in my leadership journey came the next day when I walked across that same stage and accepted an Outstanding Leadership Award at the Marketing 2.0 conference.

This award was not just for me. It was for my team members, who treat The Sage Agency clients as their own and keep producing outstanding profitable results. For my mentors, friends, and family who stood by my side as I doubted myself, crying and wanting to give up. And, most importantly, it’s for all the women leaders and entrepreneurs who watched ‘Who’s the Boss’ when they were young and are now the boss!

Because being a leader means holding yourself to a higher standard. Being an outstanding leader takes courage. It takes releasing control and trusting your team to be responsible so they can support you as the leader.

Leadership takes compassion for yourself and others while managing your emotions, managing other people’s emotions and personalities - sometimes more than one personality per personand ultimately not giving up on yourself.

Being a leader means knowing that if you just take that next step, it will open up a world you never thought you could create. Knowing that 100% is possible, 100% of the time, and it’s up to you to make it happen. Even though I knew I was meant to receive this award, it did not always feel that way. It took time, making some ‘wrong choices’ and kissing some business frogs along the way.

One of the most challenging times for me as a leader was building a team and meeting others with the same work ethic and lifestyle goals. After hiring, training, and firing a few team members, rather than feeling like I made the wrong choices, I now see every obstacle as learning rather than losing. There’s no right or wrong way to do it because you need to learn in order to know the best fit for you, your clients, and the other team members.

Once I became extremely clear on the type of client I wanted to spend my time with, stopped being guarded, and stopped playing small, my business blossomed.

In my second year of business, with an incredible A-team, I increased the Sage Agency’s profits by 297%. The third year by 117%, and this year we’re going to cross the $500,000 profit goal. I never thought this would be true in my wildest dreams, and I did it all with Google Ads!

Unlike many ad agencies, we ensure your Google Ads account will be profitable at The Sage Agency. If there’s a chance it won’t be, or there are a few things that need to happen in your business before you are ready for Google Ads, we let you know.

Because of this, we have incredible client results, which is one of my favorite things about being a leader. Knowing that I’m making it possible for another business leader to expand and scale is one of the best feelings. Imagine your business having so many potential customers that you need to pause or reduce your ad spend.

“I need to either pause or drastically reduce our Google Ads spend. Not for any negative reason but because we are booked and unable to take any more appointments. It seems crazy to keep advertising since we have a waiting list at this point for our services.”

Leadership is not only about profits, KPIs, and customer retention. It’s also about giving and being generous. Not only do I support my team and their families, but I also donate 10% of The Sage Agency profits to Compassion by sponsoring children in Indonesia, Guatemala, Ethiopia and Colombia. Our clients get to be a part of my leadership journey through generously supporting others in need around the world.

Ultimately, being an outstanding leader means building a life you want with every decision, every choice - big or small - that you make. Growing boldly and courageously while giving yourself the grace to do what you can, where you are, and with what you have.

About the author:

Cally Sage Pedersen is the CEO of the Sage Agency and has provided expert digital marketing experience to help businesses increase their profits with Google Ads for the past 15 years.

As a certified Google Ads partner, Cally and her team are proficient at identifying wasteful spending risks and discovering creative ways to improve our clients’ accounts, helping them increase their website traffic and conversions like never before. They have been hailed as one of the ‘Top 20 Advertising Agencies to Watch 2021’ by The Australian Business Journal.

She has a Bachelor of Science, Advertising degree from The University of Texas at Austin.