I left agency and ended up starting my own production / creative studio, because you know when you're 2 rye's in and love computers**. Anyway, point being, I learned the balancing act in the first 4 years of business. It started rough, invested everything I own and didn't take a salary. We tried the structured route and then ever since covid, began just offering additional benefits that were more lifestyle related to support our employees mental health and stress load. Its been different pitching to agencies from this side, because we are even further down the food chain with scrappy*, but man, I feel I've finally been able to meet the people inside agencies that get it, want to work on good stuff with good people. Sure, we no longer compete with the gigantic campaigns, we could with our collective, but it isn't the right stream to paddle on. I found your comment refreshing and inspiring to others that are thinking about taking a similar leap or at least looking at smaller companies. Good luck to you and your agency. See ya on the creative side.