Want to Increase Profitability? Start With What's Hiding in

Breaking my hand taught me the most valuable lesson about increasing profitability. I had to stop looking at where I thought I should go and start seeing what was right in front of me.

On Wednesday mornings, Carmen, our housekeeper and friend, is usually here. This particular visit, she was vacuuming the hall to my office when Jim, my husband, called out that he had something funny to share. She left the vacuum, and I got up from my desk so we could join in the silliness.

Then I remembered something in my office I wanted to show them. So off I went. I was focused on my mission. I knew exactly where I was going and what I needed to do next.

But then things went terribly wrong. I tripped over the vacuum and smashed my hand against the side of the door.

The pain was so intense I couldn't talk. Then came the nausea. That sick, disjointed feeling that tells you something's really not right.

That was Wednesday. I chose not to go to urgent care until after work on Friday because that’s when it was most convenient.

After more than 48 hours, I found out my hand was broken.

On Monday, I told a friend what happened. She burst out laughing. Hugely laughing. The kind where you can't catch your breath.

When she could finally speak, she said, "If that's not the perfect metaphor for what's happening in your business, I don't know what is."

I didn't get it at first.

"You have to be in tremendous pain before you change anything," she said.

DOH!

I wasn't just tolerating pain in my hand. I was tolerating pain in my business.

I'd been following all the rules. Doing things the "right" way. Following the shortest path to success because that's what I was told, and believed, would work.

Direct selling. Complicated funnels. Tools "everyone" uses. Marketing strategies that felt fake but supposedly got results.

I'd stopped listening to myself. I'd abandoned what I already knew worked for me, because it wasn't the guru-approved path. I was doing exactly what leads to business growth that costs you everything by chasing someone else’s playbook instead of trusting what I knew worked.

I was so focused on where I was supposed to be going that I couldn't see what was right in front of me.

The vacuum wasn't hiding. Neither were my profits. Both were in plain sight. I just wasn’t looking at the path.

If you're like most, you probably think you need something new to increase profitability. More leads. A bigger market. New products and services. Better supply chain management.

New isn’t always the answer.

What if you're overlooking what's already there because you're too focused on the destination to see the path?

Most business owners I work with aren't struggling. They're successful. Revenue's coming in. They've proven they can execute.

But they've reached a plateau.

One that feels comfortable enough that examining it feels riskier than staying put. They've convinced themselves this is their ceiling.

But like me, the ceiling only exists because they stopped paying attention to what’s right there.

In uncertain economic times, you can’t afford to leave money on the table. No one can. But you also can’t afford to chase every shiny new strategy.

Here are three things that are already in your business when you finally look:

1. The clients you already have

A business owner I worked with started a new venture and assumed he'd have to build from scratch. Cold outreach. Networking events. The whole exhausting push of finding people who don't know you yet.

Instead, I encouraged him to look at his previous contacts, who already knew and trusted him. And understood the value he delivered. They became the foundation of his entire business.

You may not need to expand your market to increase profitability. You may just need to look at the market you've already built.

How many inactive clients are sitting in your database right now? People who bought from you once, received value, and then drifted away. They just need to be reminded you exist.

One reactivation campaign can improve profitability faster than six months of chasing cold leads.

I call this pulling the right profit lever by focusing on what already works instead of always chasing more.

And the bonus is, this is a zero-cost strategy to get income flowing in. All it takes is looking at what’s already there.

2. The prices you're actually worth

One client came to me convinced that her pricing wasn’t the problem. She was charging “market rate” and that's what she could charge. Period.

I challenged her to raise her prices. Just a little. She was terrified but did it.

Not a single client left. They all happily paid her new rates.

Her profit margins improved immediately. Her cash flow stabilized. She had room to breathe more life into her business because she wasn’t so stressed out (and the extra cash definitely helped).

On the surface, her prices changed. But the deeper shift was that she finally accepted the true value of what she provided, which was so much better than what was typical in her industry.

When you price to fit the market instead of pricing for what you actually deliver, you're undervaluing yourself.

Maybe it’s time you allow yourself to charge what you’re worth.

When did you last raise your prices? Maybe it’s time to see what happens.

3. The financial and personal costs you're tolerating

Another business owner I worked with was paying a second CRM "everyone" uses, a VA to edit videos and create ads that weren't working, and a landline that hadn't rung in months.

He cut them all.

Of course, the financial savings were nice. But what was even better was that he stopped forcing himself into a marketing model that didn't fit. He went back to what he already knew worked for him.

He got his evenings back. His marriage improved. He remembered why he started the business in the first place.

This is the difference between growth that costs you everything and growth that actually gives you your life back.

When you're reducing costs, look at more than the bottom line. Look at what you’re paying for in dollars and in life because you thought you "should."

Then eliminate everything you’re trying to force-fit into your business.

You’re allowed to quit doing things the “right” way.

The real cost of not looking

I worked two days with a broken hand because stopping felt more disruptive than the pain.

I tried to rationalize it as dedication. What I learned was that it was actually a high tolerance for dysfunction.

What are you tolerating right now because changing it feels harder than living with it?

Thin profit margins? Exhausting client work? Operating expenses that keep climbing? Prices that don't reflect your value? Marketing that feels fake? Working too much? No joy in the process?

If you're working too much and feeling stuck, the answer isn't working harder. It's looking at what you're missing.

Chances are, your plateau exists because you can’t see what's right in front of you.

The business owners who increase profitability are the ones who stop, look at what they already have, and ask, "What am I missing?"

What if your profit problem isn't a revenue problem? Or a market problem? Or a strategy problem?

What if it’s a vision problem?

You can't see what’s already there because you're too busy chasing what you think you're supposed to chase.

Look at what you already have before you start chasing what you don't.

What's hiding in your business?

The thing about what’s hiding in plain sight is you can't see it.

You're too close to your business. Too focused on where you think you should be going. Too committed to the path you've been following.

That's where an outside perspective helps.

I work with business owners who've built something successful but suspect there's more leverage available, a better way that doesn't cost them everything. Sometimes what you’re missing is untapped revenue. Sometimes it's a business model that doesn't fit. Sometimes it's the realization that you've been following someone else's playbook instead of your own.

Scheduling a 15-minute call is a starting point. We’ll talk about where you are, where you want to be, and whether the way I work might help you get there.

Schedule a 15-minute call here.