Zone 1: Profit Mapping
How your business actually makes profit - in practice.
This isn’t just revenue minus costs. It's understanding:
- why clients buy and stay (operationally, not theoretically)
- what must be protected in delivery to keep that value
- where capacity and utilisation hide what "profitable" looks like
- which clients or service lines quietly drain the business
When this zone is weak, you'll see:
Profit surprises, pricing debates, "we're busy but margins are thin", and decisions based on gut feel.
Zone 2: Reality Mapping
A shared view of what's true on a busy week.
Reality mapping is where we remove guesswork:
- what work is actually flowing through the agency
- where hand-offs break and decisions stall
- what data exists vs what’s trusted
- where the founder is compensating for gaps
When this zone is weak, you’ll see:
Lots of activity, little clarity. Reporting debates. "It depends who you ask." Fixing symptoms instead of causes.
Zone 3: System Design
Workflows + ownership that hold under pressure.
Most agencies don’t lack process. They lack process that still works when:
- a client asks for more
- a manager is on holiday
- volume spikes
- junior team members need to act without escalation
System design includes:
- clean hand-offs
- clear decision points
- ownership where work usually breaks
- guardrails so standards don’t rely on memory
When this zone is weak, you’ll see:
Constant clarifying questions, bottlenecks, work "bouncing" back to the founder, and dependency on exceptional people.
Zone 4: Tools + Automation
Removing effort - without automating chaos.
This is the part most people jump to first. It should come later.
In this zone we:
- connect your existing tools properly
- reduce manual copying, chasing, reformatting
- remove human error where possible
- make data flow a by-product of work
When this zone is weak, you’ll see:
Humans acting as the integration layer. "Admin" that exists purely to keep tools updated. Automation that creates more cleanup than time saved.
Zone 5: Visbility + Feedback Loops
Trusted reporting that changes behaviour
This isn’t about more dashboards. It’s about visibility that:
- is timely enough to act on & uses shared definitions
- reflects reality at client + capacity level
- surfaces issues early (before they become fires)
And crucially: it creates feedback loops - so the business self-corrects without the founder being the alert.
When this zone is weak, you’ll see:
Late surprises. End-of-month heroics. Metrics that are "interesting" but don’t change decisions.
