If not, why would you listen to them?

If someone has never spent their own money on an ad, never watched a campaign fail, never had to explain why revenue fell short, what gives them the right to tell you how to grow yours?

A lot of agency relationships look great at the start. Then the work gets passed down. The strategist disappears. The founder disappears. You end up explaining your business to someone who only knows the account.

That is where things usually start going sideways.