This Founder Did Everything Right—And Still Felt Stuck
Most small business owners don’t build a business—they build a job. One that depends entirely on their effort, their time, their presence. What starts with passion becomes a routine of doing everything yourself. You become the technician, constantly solving problems, holding things together, and convincing yourself it’s progress. But the more you work in the business, the less space you have to work on it. And without realizing it, you’ve traded the dream of freedom for a cycle of doing.
Mark did everything right for his business
Mark owns a digital design studio and has been running it for over a decade.
Every quarter, he diligently blocks off an afternoon to pull up his color-coded spreadsheet and go line by line through the numbers. Revenue is steady at just over $600K a year. Margins are decent, and the balance sheet is clean with minimal debt. There’s enough cash flow to cover his team, ongoing costs, and a modest salary for himself.
But each time he closes the file, he feels stuck—like the business is running, but he isn’t getting anywhere.
When we sat down and looked through everything, nothing jumped out as wrong per se. But the patterns had settled in quietly:
• $2,500/month on the same marketing plan
It had been running for years without more question or analysis.
• A plethora of subscription-based premium tools
Some were essential, others barely used. Trimming back felt like taking something away from the team, so it never happened..
• Mark paid himself last
Not because the business couldn’t afford more, but because he felt like he hadn’t earned more.
His budget was tidy, and functional. But actually Mark was pushing his own financial well-being to the bottom of the list.
A real mindset shift
Once we rebuilt Mark’s budget around his actual priorities, everything started to shift. He finally saw the business as something that should take care of his life, not the other way around. It was a mindset shift, not a math one.
Together, we audited every line item, and asked: Does this move the business forward—or is it just habit?
To get clear, we brought in a cost specialist. Someone with no emotional attachment to “how things have always been” and lots of benchmarking data. We could see clearly where the business had be leaking money.
• Telecoms: Replaced legacy contracts with flexible, lower-cost plans
• Payment terminals: Switched providers and cut monthly fees by half
• Software subscriptions: Scrapped tools no one used, downgraded the rest
The savings didn’t disappear into a black hole. We carved out a portion each month for something Mark had pushed down the list for years: a long-term retirement plan built to take care of him and his wife down the line.
He’d spent years in do-it-all mode.
Solving. Managing. Reacting.
Wearing every hat because someone had to.
And finally, momentum.
Does this story resonates with you? Are you ready to step out and design a business that works for you? Let’s take a fresh look and identify where a few small shifts could give you more clarity, control, and peace of mind.
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