Why Experts Agency's Best Wins Became Our Biggest Problem
- Bailey Proulx
- Jul 8
- 11 min read
Updated: Sep 26
After Experts Agency generated $250M+ in client results and helped build businesses from struggling to scaling, we discovered something that changed the way we look at true growth.
It wasn't in the campaigns. It wasn't in the algorithms we'd mastered. It was in what happened after the marketing worked.
The Month I Disappeared (And Everything Got Better)
Here’s what most people don’t know, my foundation was never marketing. It started in high school with programming - finishing five months of curriculum in three weeks. That systematic thinking followed me everywhere. Into building the technical foundation at Keala's company. Into reverse-engineering advertising algorithms when everyone else was copying tactics. Into building Experts Agency from nothing.
But systematic thinking becomes a curse when you're trying to force it where it doesn't belong.
After my near-death accident, I couldn't work for almost a month. I expected to return to chaos. Fires everywhere. Decisions piling up. Instead, I logged into Slack to find... nothing urgent.
The business was thriving without me. Actually thriving. Better than when I left.
Hao, who had a massive hand in generating that $250M+, had been running the company brilliantly. When I'd suggest ideas after returning, his response was usually: "Yeah, we already tried that. Here's what actually worked instead." He was deeper in the current platforms than I'd ever been. Testing things I hadn't even considered.
The hard truth: While I was trying to force systematic thinking onto creative problems, Hao had already mastered what the market actually demanded. He didn't need me overthinking algorithms the platforms had removed. He needed freedom to excel at what actually moved the needle now.
That's when I had time to see the pattern I'd been too busy to notice.
The Call That Always Came Three Months Later
For years, EA would deliver incredible transformations. Client goes from struggling to scaling. CPA cut by 50%. Ad spend scaled to six figures monthly. Champagne worthy results.
Then three to six months later, the panicked call would come.
Not because campaigns failed - those were still humming. But somehow these businesses were imploding from their own success. Sales teams drowning in leads. Fulfillment fracturing. Founders pulled into every firefight.
EA had delivered exactly what was promised. But somehow, clients were worse off than when they started.
This wasn't random. It was systematic. Predictable. Universal.
"You Need To Reduce The CPA By 30% Or You’re Fired”
Even with Hao and the team delivering exceptional results, something wasn't adding up. Our campaigns were performing beautifully. Scaling smoothly. Beating every target we'd set.
But three to six months after our biggest wins, clients would hit a wall. The metrics looked fantastic: better margins, lower CPA, higher ROAS, every goal exceeded.
Then we'd get on a call.
"We need to cut the CPA another 30% because we're bleeding cash." I'd stare at the numbers. We'd already cut their CPA by 50% while scaling to six-figures monthly. At a certain point, there's only so much media buying and creative genius can do. You can't optimize your way out of operational collapse.
How were they hemorrhaging money with the best metrics they'd ever seen?
The answer was always operational chaos. Hiring frantically to patch broken processes. Throwing bodies at problems instead of fixing systems. Building bigger teams on crumbling foundations. Every new hire making things worse, not better. Their best people, the A-players who actually understood how things worked, walking out the door and taking irreplaceable knowledge with them.
Costs exploding. Productivity cratering. Confusion everywhere.
I watched this pattern destroy business after business. A client scales from $100k to $500k months. Everyone celebrates. The dopamine hits. Numbers going up feels incredible. Money's flowing, so they hire aggressively. "Tomorrow's problems can wait," they think.
Six months later? They're back under $200k with twice the team, three times the overhead, wondering what went wrong. Unable to understand why throwing money and people at the problem isn't fixing it.
This wasn't random bad luck. Something systematic was turning our marketing victories into operational disasters.
1,305 Files Later: The Truth About Why Businesses Implode
While the team continued perfecting campaign strategies, I went hunting for answers. Not in marketing. But in the operational patterns that kept repeating across every client who threw money at problems instead of fixing systems.
1,305 files of research, analysis, and documentation later, the truth was undeniable. Between $3M and $25M, every business hit the exact same breaking points. Not similar ones. The exact same ones.
Three constraints appeared like clockwork:
The operational process breakdown - Handoffs between departments failing. Work taking three times longer than it should. Teams fighting fires instead of building systems. The exact reason they kept hiring more people who made things worse.
The founder bottleneck - Every “important” decision needing one person's approval. Strategic thinking replaced by daily crisis management. The very person who should be steering the ship stuck bailing water in the engine room. No wonder they couldn't see what was really breaking.
The tribal knowledge trap - Critical reasoning locked in people's heads. New hires learning what to do but never understanding why. When those A-players walked out the door, they took the actual operating system with them. The company just had the empty shell.
These weren't growing pains. They were structural failures that our marketing success amplified into disasters.
Why Better Marketing Made Everything Worse
Here's what I finally understood: Every dollar we spent on successful marketing was accelerating our clients toward collapse.
Drive 2x more revenue? They'd hire 3x more people to "handle the growth"
Scale to six-figures monthly? Overhead balloons to seven-figures annually
Cut their CPA by 50%? They'd burn the savings on band-aid solutions
Grow the team 2x? Watch productivity per person crater by 50%
We were giving them a faster car when their road was falling apart. The better our marketing performed, the faster these constraints destroyed the business.
We were doing exactly what we promised - driving growth. But growth without the operational architecture to support it isn't growth. It's venture-funded math without the venture funding.
That's when everything clicked. We didn't need to fix our marketing. We needed to solve what marketing couldn't: the operational constraints that turned our successes into our clients' expensive failures.
Why We Split EA In Half (Sort Of)
That's when I knew one company trying to solve both problems would fail at both.
EA couldn't become an operations consultancy. The team had evolved into something exceptional at driving growth. Hao understood the current platforms better than I ever would. The strategy team was creating campaigns I couldn't have imagined. They didn't need me trying to solve problems that weren't even in marketing.
But we also couldn't ignore what was destroying our clients. We couldn't keep delivering world-class results just to watch businesses implode six months later. We couldn't pretend the operational constraints didn't exist just because they weren't our department.
The answer wasn't to expand EA. It was to build something entirely different.
Experts Agency would remain laser-focused on sophisticated growth. The team that mastered the platforms. That understood multi-step funnels. That could cut CPAs while scaling spend. They'd do what they did brilliantly without me trying to force operational thinking into marketing conversations.
Operion would solve the constraints marketing couldn't touch. The operational breakdowns that turned success into chaos. The founder bottlenecks that strangled growth. The tribal knowledge walking out the door. We'd build the architecture to handle what EA could deliver.
Two companies. Two completely different mindsets. One ecosystem.
This wasn't about offering more services. It was about recognizing that marketing excellence and operational architecture require opposite types of thinking. One thrives on rapid testing and creative innovation. The other demands systematic building and patient implementation. Trying to switch between both means doing neither well.
And that systematic thinking? That's been my thread since high school, when I finished five months of programming curriculum in three weeks. It's what led me to build the entire technical foundation at Keala's company from scratch. It's how I approached media buying - not as a marketer, but as someone reverse-engineering algorithms.
As the full story reveals, I'd lived through every one of these constraints myself. I'd been the dangerous bottleneck holding all the technology together. I'd watched tribal knowledge walk out the door.
More importantly, those 1,305 files weren't just research. They were the bridge between two worlds that rarely talk: the technical reality of what's possible and the business reality of what's needed. Most people live in one or the other. Luckily, my experience has been in both.
Programming taught me to think in systems and patterns. Building businesses taught me which patterns actually matter. Being the bottleneck taught me why they break. And watching our clients implode taught me that solving half the equation is worse than solving none of it.
That's what Operion is: systematic thinking applied to the constraints I've lived through, built for the businesses we've watched struggle, designed by someone who's been both the problem and the solution.
When 10% + 10% = 58.15% Profit Increase
Here's what actually happens when both engines work together:
Most businesses live in a vicious cycle: Marketing succeeds → Operations breaks → Panic hire to fix it → Costs explode → Cut marketing to stop bleeding → Lose momentum → Start over.
Six months gone. Millions wasted. Same ceiling hit.
We break that cycle completely.
The Math Everyone Misses
Let's say you're doing $500k/month at 20% profit margins. That's $100k monthly profit with $400k in expenses.
Breaking down those expenses, you're running at a 3 ROAS, which means about $167k in ad spend. Add in your agency fee of $21.5k ($5k base + 10% of ad spend), and you're looking at $188k in marketing costs. Plus, $350k of that revenue was back-end sales, so you're paying $35k in commissions to your closers.
That's $223.5k in sales and marketing costs combined.
That leaves $176.5k for everything else - operations, fulfillment, overhead, all the pieces that keep the machine running.
Most business owners chase the home run. But here's what small improvements on both sides actually deliver:
Marketing efficiency bumps by 10%:
Revenue: $500k → $550k
But that extra $50k is back-end sales, so you pay 10% commission ($5k)
Plus need extra support for increased volume ($5k)
Marketing costs stay at $188.5k ($167k ads + $21.5k agency)
Closer commissions: $35k → $40k (increase of $5k)
Support/operations: $176.5k → $181.5k (increase of $5k)
Total expenses: $188.5k + $40k + $181.5k = $410k
Current Profit: $140k (40% increase)
Operations gets 10% more efficient:
Same $500k revenue
Operations reduce by 10%: $176.5k → $158.85k (saves $17.65k)
Total expenses: $188.5k (marketing) + $35k (closers) + $158.85k = $382.35k
New Margin = 23.5%
Current Profit = $117.65k
That's a 17.65% profit increase
Both those bumps together:
Marketing Revenue: $500k → $550k
Extra commissions on $50k increase: $5k
Operations: $176.5k + $5k (extra support) = $181.5k, then reduced by 10% = $163.35k
Total expenses: $188.5k (marketing) + $40k (closers) + $163.35k = $391.85k
New profit total: $158.15k
New Margin: 28.75%
That's a 58.15% increase in profit!
But here's where it gets interesting.
The Compound Reality
We just showed how two 10% improvements created a 58% profit increase. But here's where it gets even more interesting - those improvements don't exist in isolation.
Those operational improvements make marketing more effective:
10% faster follow-up = higher close rates
10% better onboarding = higher retention
10% less manager time on fires = more time for growth initiatives
Those marketing improvements make operations more efficient:
10% better lead quality = less time wasted on poor fits
10% better expectation setting = fewer support tickets
10% more consistent volume = better resource planning and utilization
So your initial 10% improvements start triggering secondary benefits:
Better operations enables better marketing performance
Better marketing enables smoother operations
Both create capacity for additional improvements
The math we showed (58% profit increase from two 10% improvements) assumes these stay isolated. In reality, they compound - that 58% becomes your baseline, and the multiplicative effects push you even further.
Why This Destroys Traditional Approaches
Now watch what happens when we stack incremental gains:
Week 1: Speed up follow-up (10% gain)
Week 2: Improve lead routing (8% gain)
Week 3: Optimize show-up sequences (12% gain)
Week 4: Refine sales handoff (7% gain)
If these just added up: 37% improvement. But they compound: 42.4% improvement.
Plus each improvement amplifies the next:
Faster follow-up makes routing more impactful (hot leads stay hot)
Better routing makes show-up sequences work better (right message, right person)
Higher show-ups make handoffs more valuable (more volume to optimize)
Better handoffs create feedback loops that improve everything
Four weeks. Four small wins. Exponential returns. All going straight to your bottom line.
This isn't coordination between vendors. It's compound interest for your business. Where every small win makes the next one more valuable. Where 1+1 equals 3, then 5, then 10.
Why Is This Approach Different?
Most business owners hunt for the 100% improvement. The magic bullet. The home run. Meanwhile, stacking 10% gains is more predictable and scalable:
Week 1: Speed up follow-up (10% gain)
Week 2: Improve lead routing (8% gain)
Week 3: Optimize show-up sequences (12% gain)
Week 4: Refine sales handoff (7% gain)
Four weeks. Four small wins. 44% total improvement. All going straight to your bottom line.
This isn't coordination between vendors. It's compound interest for your business. Where every small win makes the next one more valuable. Where 1+1 equals 3, then 5, then 10.
Which Constraint Is Killing You Right Now?
The business generating $500k/month but hemorrhaging cash:
Your marketing isn't the problem. EA could cut your CPA another 20%, but you'd just bleed faster. You need Operion first. Fix the operational constraints eating your margins. Stop the talent exodus. Build systems that scale. Then EA can pour fuel on a fire that actually generates heat instead of just smoke.
The business with perfect operations but flatlined growth:
You've built the machine, but it's running at 30% capacity. Your systems could handle triple the volume, but your marketing is stuck in 2019. EA fills that pipeline with quality volume your operations can actually digest. No point having a Ferrari engine if you're putting in regular gas.
The $3M-$25M squeeze:
You're in the kill zone. Every constraint hits here. Too big to brute force, too small for enterprise solutions. The order matters more than the fix. Attack marketing first when operations are broken? You'll implode in 90 days. Fix operations without growth? You'll run out of runway.
We diagnose which constraint unlocks the others. Sometimes it's the 20% improvement in follow-up speed that allows marketing to scale. Sometimes it's the better lead quality that makes operations finally work. The sequence determines whether you break through or break down.
The Difference Nobody Else Can Deliver
Traditional vendors live in their lane. The marketing agency optimizes for lower CPA while your operations manager optimizes for efficiency. They're literally pulling in opposite directions. The agency wants more volume. Operations wants less chaos. Nobody wins.
We've been the founder at 4am holding it all together. The media buyer watching great campaigns destroy businesses. The operator building systems that perfect marketing would break. We built two companies that understand both sides because we've lived both sides.
$0 to $60M taught us every constraint. 1,305 files revealed every pattern. Now you get both engines working together, not against each other. Small improvements that multiply instead of massive changes that break.
Most businesses never experience true multiplication. They get addition at best, subtraction at worst. We deliver compound growth - where every improvement makes the next one more powerful.
Two Companies. One Ecosystem. Exponential Results.
EA continues driving the growth that got us to $250M+ in client results. Hao and the team keep evolving with every platform shift, delivering campaigns that competitors can't touch.
Operion solves the constraints that turn that growth into chaos. We build the systems that handle 10x volume without hiring 10x people. The architecture that turns your biggest weakness into competitive advantage.
Neither pretends to do both. EA won't fix your operations. Operion won't run your ads. Focusing on everything means excelling at nothing.
But when both engines run together? That's when the math breaks in your favor.
Ten percent improvements multiplying into 50% profit growth. Small wins compounding into massive transformations. The same effort that used to break things now builds dynasties.
The difference is simple: While others chase home runs that usually strike out, we stack base hits that multiply into grand slams. While they promise to double your revenue (then blame you when it breaks your business), we build the foundation that turns every dollar of growth into two dollars of profit.
This isn't theory. It's $60M of expensive education turned into methodology. It's watching hundreds of businesses hit the same walls, then building the doors through them.
You probably know which constraint is killing you right now. The question is whether you'll throw more money at the symptoms or finally fix the cause.
