In this transformative episode of That Moment, host Helga Saraiva confronts the operational nightmare that silently kills agency growth: when talented teams are drowning in firefighting instead of building for scale. Meet Lee Warcup, founder of Beat Agency and operational transformation expert with 18 years of agency experience, as he reveals how agencies can break free from chaos and build operations that actually enable growth - not just survival.

When Lee stepped outside his comfort zone to share his voice publicly for the first time, he discovered something profound: growth happens at the edge of discomfort, and this principle shouldn't just apply to founders. His breakthrough came from transforming broken agency operations, where he learned that quiet team members often hold the most valuable insights.

Lee brings both tactical expertise and people-first philosophy needed for transformation. From design and production to senior leadership and founding Beat, he reveals how agencies can build operations as competitive advantages that drive profitability and team satisfaction.

This episode tackles the reality facing growing agencies: when operations become bottlenecks, even talented teams can't reach their potential, and growth becomes painful rather than profitable.

The Operations Transformation Framework:

• People-First Process Design: Why better roles and clearer accountability create stronger teams

• System Integration & Automation: Making technology work for agencies, not against them

• Efficiency Audits: Finding where time and money disappear in daily operations

• Fractional Leadership: Providing hands-on support when agencies need immediate expertise

• Scalable Growth Planning: Creating sustainable, profitable models that support expansion

In revealing conversations, Lee shares how he's saved agencies over £150k through resource optimisation, transformed chaotic studios into efficient operations, and helped merge complex organizations while maintaining team morale and culture.

Key Insights Uncovered:

• Why process enhances creativity instead of killing it in agencies
• How £150k savings come from fixing resource management inefficiencies
• The people-first approach to operational transformation that actually works
• Why stepping outside comfort zones unlocks hidden team potential
• How to identify when operations are the real barrier to agency growth
• The difference between fractional support and strategic consulting approaches

Lee shares his core philosophy: "Growth happens at the edge of discomfort, and every business should build this mindset into its people strategy." Drawing from major operational restructures and saving agencies over £150k, he demonstrates how the right foundation enables sustainable growth.

This episode addresses the fundamental question every scaling agency faces: when teams are constantly firefighting instead of building for the future, how do you create operations that support growth without killing creativity?

About Supo:

Supo provides people-first intelligence software for professional services firms, helping businesses maximize profit and motivate their people through powerful, AI-enabled business intelligence dashboards. By connecting over 500+ platforms and providing real-time data analysis, Supo helps firms make better data-driven decisions about their profit, projects, and people.

For more information about Supo: ⁠www.supo.co.uk

About Our Guest Lee Warcup:

Lee Warcup is the founder of Beat, specializing in optimizing agency operations for growth through people-first processes. With 18 years of agency experience, Lee has led major operational restructures, saved agencies over £150k through resource optimization, and transformed chaotic studios into efficient operations. He partners with agencies to fix operational challenges, providing both hands-on implementation and strategic guidance for scaling.

For more information about Beat: www.beatagency.co.uk

In this game-changing episode of That Moment, host Helga Saraiva dives into the harsh reality that haunts every business leader: doubling revenue while profit barely budges. Meet Jeremy Williams, founder of Stratus Coach and exited agency owner who built and sold his B2B marketing services business for £11m, as he reveals why "turnover is vanity, profit is sanity" - and how his revolutionary Five Levers model can deliver 50% greater profitability without hiring a single new person.

When Jeremy decided to conquer his presenting fears through stand-up comedy, he discovered something unexpected: the art of being authentic under pressure translates directly to boardroom leadership. But his real breakthrough came from years of watching business owners make the same fatal mistake - throwing money at sales teams hoping to fix profitability problems, only to watch their margins shrink further.

This episode tackles the uncomfortable truth facing scaling businesses: when owners focus solely on revenue growth, they often build themselves into a corner where working twice as hard yields diminishing returns.

The Five Levers Revealed:

• Leads: The foundation that most get wrong from the start
• Conversion Rate: Why your sales process might be sabotaging profits
• Average Project Value: The metric most leaders avoid tracking
• Purchase Frequency: How to transform clients into recurring revenue
• Margin: The "tired sound engineer" everyone ignores but determines success

In an illuminating segment called "CEO Roast: Margin Madness," Helga plays the revenue-obsessed rookie CEO while Jeremy systematically dismantles every excuse with surgical precision. The result? A masterclass in why chasing bigger numbers often leads to smaller profits.

Key Insights Uncovered:

• Why 10% improvements across five areas outperform hiring expensive sales talent
• The difference between "good reflection" and analysis paralysis that kills decisions
• How stand-up comedy creates the authentic leadership style that drives results
• The LSC metric no agency tracks but should
• Why leading from the front is terrible advice except in crisis situations

Jeremy shares his core philosophy: "Don't fight the feedback. Take the medicine and talk to someone else because it is lonely at the top." Drawing from his successful exit and years of coaching agency leaders, he reveals how embracing feedback and systematic thinking transformed his approach to business growth.

About Supo:

Supo provides people-first intelligence software for professional services firms, helping businesses maximize profit and motivate their people through powerful, AI-enabled business intelligence dashboards. By connecting over 500+ platforms and providing real-time data analysis, Supo helps firms make better data-driven decisions about their profit, projects, and people.

For more information about Supo: ⁠www.supo.co.uk

About Our Guest Jeremy Williams:

Jeremy Williams is the founder of Stratus Coach, a marketing agency coach, executive coach, and Non-Executive Director. As an exited agency owner who built and sold his B2B marketing services business for £11m, Jeremy now helps agencies with turnaround, profitability, and rapid growth. He's a faculty speaker for the FT Board Director Programme and works with leaders in business and elite football. When he's not analysing profit margins, you might find him perfecting his stand-up comedy routine.

Ready to discover why your revenue growth isn't translating to profit? This episode isn't just about business metrics - it's about the leadership transformation required to build a business that works for you, not against you.

In this explosive debut episode of That Moment, host Helga Saraiva from Supo dives deep into the messy reality of driving change in professional services. Meet Mark Burgess and Mark Hewitson, two leaders from Ensors who are transforming how a traditional 300-person, six-office firm actually operates - not just in theory, but in real time, with real resistance.

When Ensors rolled out a new engagement letter system, it should have been a win - saving hundreds of hours monthly with massive financial impact. Instead, team members pushed back, demanding to return to "the old way." Sound familiar? This episode unpacks what happens when best intentions meet human nature, and why silence is more dangerous than pushback.

Mark Burgess brings the vision - championing change, challenging comfort zones, and pushing boundaries with the energy of someone who believes transformation is survival. Mark Hewitson provides the pragmatic counterweight - understanding that failed IT projects (60 in 20 years!) create skepticism, and that sustainable change requires bringing people on the journey, not just dragging them along.

Together, they reveal the delicate balance between innovation and implementation, between disrupting the status quo and respecting the reality of organisational inertia.

In a fascinating twist, Helga flips the script in an interactive role-play called "Switch the Channel." The usually cautious Mark H becomes the visionary advocate for a radical client engagement initiative, while the typically pro-change Mark B plays the skeptic, raising hard questions about implementation. The result? An illuminating exploration of how perspective shapes our approach to change.

The scenario: scheduling 20-minute client calls every fortnight - not about tasks, but about their business challenges and goals. It's "client listening disguised as curiosity," but can it work in practice?

• Why 60 failed IT projects created a culture of skepticism, and how to overcome it
• The difference between compliance-driven change and culture-driven transformation
• How to identify and empower champions across disparate offices
• Why "rules vs. freedom" tension is actually healthy for innovation
• The art of calculated risk-taking in traditional professional services
• How to eat an elephant: one bite at a time

From Mark H's perspective as IT Partner since April 2023, witness how bringing on CTO Mark Burgess transformed not just systems, but mindsets. In just 11 months, they've revolutionised how IT integrates with the firm, moving from separation to embeddedness, from transaction to transformation.

Mark B shares his philosophy: "Wake up every day with a mindset that this is going to be the best day because we're going to make some change and we're going to make people happy." But he's also brutally honest about the reality: "Things don't always work the first time and things break. Your car breaks. You live with it."

This episode tackles the existential question facing all traditional firms: as services become commoditised and clients demand different ways of consuming what you offer, how do you evolve without losing what made you successful?

About Supo:Supo provides people-first intelligence software for professional services firms, helping businesses maximize profit and motivate their people through powerful, AI-enabled business intelligence dashboards. By connecting over 500+ platforms and providing real-time data analysis, Supo helps firms make better data-driven decisions about their profit, projects, and people.

For more information about Supo: www.supo.co.uk

Ready to challenge your own comfort zone? This episode isn't just about technology rollouts - it's about the human side of transformation and what happens when theory meets the messy reality of organisational change.