Feb 13, 2026
This week on ScaleUp Radio Shorts, Kevin and Louise unpack two fascinating recent conversations, one with Samantha Thurlow of In Collaboration, and one with Graeme Tennick of Tennick Accountants.
Different sectors. Same pivotal moment.
Both guests hit a point where “business as usual” stopped working, and had to rethink structure, mindset, and action to move forward.
🔎 What We Cover
1️⃣ The Associate Trap
Samantha built her agency on a flexible associate model. It worked, until it didn’t.
Growth meant more work… but not more profit.
Flexibility became a ceiling.
Her pivot? Moving towards an employee model to build stability, culture, and long-term asset value.
Lesson: Convenience can quietly cap your growth.
2️⃣ Strategy Over Volume
Samantha also shared a key observation about marketing.
AI-generated content is everywhere. But engagement is dropping when there’s no strategy behind it.
More posts ≠ better marketing.
Clear positioning and thinking wins.
3️⃣ The Real Reason Businesses Don’t Scale
When Kevin asked Graeme the biggest barrier to growth, his answer wasn’t cash flow.
It was procrastination.
We are drowning in knowledge but starved of action.
His advice is simple:
Identify the biggest challenge in front of you, then take one
immediate action to move it forward.
One action is progress.
4️⃣ 10x Requires Reinvention
Graeme referenced 10x Is Easier Than 2x, the idea that small growth can come from working harder, but exponential growth requires fundamentally changing how you operate.
You cannot 10x with yesterday’s structure.
🎯 The One Key Thing
If you feel stuck, don’t just push harder.
Change the structure or behaviour that’s holding you back.
🎧 Want More?
To hear Samantha’s full transition story and Graeme’s Client Impact Tree framework in detail, listen to their full episodes of ScaleUp Radio.
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This episode was created using AI