“Scale” looks sexy.
Profit buys freedom.
Here’s a story I love.
Alex Turnbull once got side-eyed by a venture-backed CEO for running a “small” company, about $5M ARR with a lean team. Her company had 120 people and fresh funding.
Alex’s reply: “Cool. We don’t scale. We’re profitable.”
Not just a little… ~47% pure profit.
That one line may rewire how you think about growth.
Why it matters if you feel stuck:
Profit creates options. Options to hire deliberately, say no to bad-fit work, build what customers actually want, and sleep at night.
Profit forces clarity. When margin matters, you stop funding waste: discounting that guts contribution margin, bloated ops, the “we’ve always done it this way” projects.
Profit compounds. Every extra dollar of true profit can be reinvested into the three levers I teach in Your Business Growth Playbook, my F-A-Q to Profit model.
A quick reset for this week:
Price check: Raise one core offer meaningfully (not 3%). Pair it with added value, not discounts.
Attach value: Add one high-margin upsell that improves outcomes (implementation, priority support, personalization).
Make it recurring: Ship a small continuity play (maintenance plan, membership, reorder program) so today’s wins become tomorrow’s baseline.
Kill the leak: Audit one promo that sounds good but quietly crushes profit. Replace markdowns with bonuses.
🧠 Key Takeaway
You don’t need a bigger team or louder marketing. You need a business that keeps more of what it earns. Alex proved “small” can be wildly free when it’s designed for profit first.
Feeling plateaued? Don’t chase “more”, tighten the model you have. Pull one F-A-Q lever this week, protect margin, and watch momentum return.