Mastering the Public Sector Niche

Mastering the Public Sector Niche with Paul Bellows

Paul Bellows joins Brent Weaver on the Digital Agency Show focused on Mastering the Public Sector Niche.

Paul Bellows is the President and co-founder of Yellow Pencil.

Since 1996, his team has designed and built digital platforms.

They’ve worked alongside public sector clients to develop the operational maturity and cloud infrastructure that power exceptional experiences and service journeys.

Clients include the Cities of Toronto, Edmonton, and Manitoba, as well as the Government of Alberta and more.

Before starting Yellow Pencil, Paul was an award-winning folk-rock singer and songwriter.

One of the first musicians to use the Internet for music promotion and sales, he has released four albums that have hit college top-10 lists across North America.

Mastering the Public Sector Niche Episode Highlights

• Why Paul left his music career for the web world
• Why the public sector was Paul’s niche of choice (and not many other agency owners’ favorite option!)
• What happens when you build your business focused on one particular kind of technical expertise
• What makes the public sector so much more challenging…and appealing
• What type of clients Paul’s agency finds the most success with
• How to use “supercharged chatbots”

Lightning Round with Paul Bellows

• Best advice: Be clear. 
• Habit that contributes to success: Liking people, curiosity about them. 
• Recommended tool: Slack
• Recommended book: An Everyone Culture by Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey

Connect with Paul Bellows

• Website address – https://yellowpencil.com/
• Paul’s LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulbellows/
• Paul’s Twitter – https://twitter.com/paulbellows?lang=en
• The 311 podcast – https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-311-podcast/id1524826224

Quotes from Paul Bellows on Mastering The Public Sector Niche

• “We made that conscious decision. We needed to pick our vertical and pick where we were going.”
• “It’s less about the project to build it. It’s more about, how do you set this thing up to run successfully for a decade?”
• “There were a couple of years that we stumbled around a little bit.”
• “That weakness, that barrier. We’re going to make that our strength.”
• “A 20-year overnight success.”
• “You gotta build your moat otherwise you’re constantly running on a treadmill.”

Takeaways

• Think about your “moat” – what work do you do to differentiate yourself? Better not just be hustle!
• Picking your niche can take a loooooong time. Don’t worry about nailing it right away.
• Paul’s agency keeps support separate, so the team can deal with issues without time-sensitive, delaying distractions on a project.
• Government work tips: they’re very protective of projects going badly, so they’ll look at process and history of anyone working with them.
  Keep in mind, there are lots of unknowns!
  And know how you’ll make money together in the long term, not just the short term.

Want to see the episodes recorded live?

Join our Community, Profitable Digital Agencies, for fun insider access, freebies, and connections to agency owners around the world!

Sponsors For The Digital Agency Show

Ready for a managed hosting provider that is going to get your clients the performance, reliability, and support you need? Get started with Cloudways today with a $50 hosting credit using code.

“DASCW”.Outsourcing services for digital agencies – website design & development, ecommerce, SEO, content marketing, link building – E2M.