---
title: "Stop Lighting Money on Fire"
id: "809"
type: "post"
slug: "stop-lighting-money-on-fire"
published_at: "2026-03-18T14:45:00+00:00"
modified_at: "2026-03-16T19:28:46+00:00"
url: "https://yourbusinessgrowthplaybook.com/stop-lighting-money-on-fire/"
markdown_url: "https://yourbusinessgrowthplaybook.com/stop-lighting-money-on-fire.md"
excerpt: "You don’t need another revenue hack. You need to stop lighting money on fire. Here’s where ~18% of it is hiding, and how real companies got it back. When I audit 7–8 figure businesses, the leakage usually sits in the..."
taxonomy_category:
  - "Updates"
---

# Stop Lighting Money on Fire

Published

in

[Updates](https://yourbusinessgrowthplaybook.com/category/updates/)

You don’t need another revenue hack.

You need to stop lighting money on fire.

Here’s where ~18% of it is hiding, and how real companies got it back.

When I audit 7–8 figure businesses, the leakage usually sits in the top 3–5 non-payroll lines. A quick cost audit often frees up ~18% without cutting a single headcount.

Want proof you can point to?

## Payments (Merchant Fees)

Costco accepts only Visa in U.S. warehouses after striking an exclusivity deal tied to lower acceptance costs.

Translation for you: volume + specificity = leverage. If you’re on a “[standard rate + junk fees](https://yourbusinessgrowthplaybook.com/stop-junk-fees-sell-speed/)
,” you’re subsidizing someone else’s margins.

## Cloud/IT

[Dropbox built “Magic Pocket”](https://dropbox.tech/infrastructure/inside-the-magic-pocket)
, shifting most storage off rented infrastructure and improving control over unit economics.

Different scale than your shop, same principle: know your true unit cost and don’t pay list price forever.

## Cloud/IT (SMB-scale)

[37signals](https://37signals.com/)
 publicly projected about $7M in savings over five years by leaving the cloud, after running the math on hardware + colo vs. on-demand compute.

Even if you’re not going on-prem, you can still cull idle instances, right-size tiers, and renegotiate reserved capacity.

## Shipping & Carriers

In softer freight markets, UPS and FedEx have extended discounts and withdrawn certain penalties—meaning re-bids and service-level precision can yield double-digit reductions. If your “fuel surcharge” never seems to go down, it’s time to reprice.

A quick cost audit you can run this month:

Pull last 12 months of spend and rank non-payroll vendors by total dollars. Circle your top 3–5.

**For each, calculate effective rate (total fees ÷ total volume). Don’t accept “about three percent”, get the blended number.**

Re-bid or renegotiate with precise asks: “We need a 17–18% reduction and a 24–36 month rate lock. Remove line-item surcharges PCI non-compliance and gateway.”

On cloud/software, map users to seats, kill orphan licenses, right-size storage/compute, and switch stable workloads to annual/reserved.

Calendar a re-review in 12 months. [Expense reduction](https://yourbusinessgrowthplaybook.com/marc-freedman-billions-saved/)
 isn’t a one-time project, it’s an operating rhythm.

## 🧠 **In** Summary

Freeing up ~18% in your top non-payroll spend often unlocks six figures you can redeploy into lead gen, great hires, or owner comp—without selling one extra thing.

Which line will you tackle first: [payments, cloud, or shipping](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jeremyshapiro_you-dont-need-another-revenue-hack-you-activity-7431753866154770433-Hm5F/)
?

## More posts

- ### [You Don’t Need More Tactics](https://yourbusinessgrowthplaybook.com/you-dont-need-more-tactics/) [October 2, 2026](https://yourbusinessgrowthplaybook.com/you-dont-need-more-tactics/)
- ### [Find Your Funnel’s Weakest Link](https://yourbusinessgrowthplaybook.com/find-your-funnels-weakest-link/) [September 30, 2026](https://yourbusinessgrowthplaybook.com/find-your-funnels-weakest-link/)
- ### [PPM, PPL, CPA: Know What You’re Buying](https://yourbusinessgrowthplaybook.com/ppm-ppl-cpa-know-what-youre-buying/) [September 25, 2026](https://yourbusinessgrowthplaybook.com/ppm-ppl-cpa-know-what-youre-buying/)
- ### [Season 2 Wrap Up](https://yourbusinessgrowthplaybook.com/s2-season-2-wrap-up/) [September 22, 2026](https://yourbusinessgrowthplaybook.com/s2-season-2-wrap-up/)