Growth feels good until it starts draining your energy and your profits.
In this episode of the Strategy and Leadership Podcast, Anthony Taylor speaks with Ben Hansen, five time Inc. 5000 entrepreneur and founder of Profit Doctor, about why business owners need to stop chasing growth for growth’s sake and start focusing on profitability instead.
Ben shares how he built an eight figure company, the mistakes that led to burnout, and how he developed his simple but powerful approach to curing what he calls “Profititis.”
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Ben knows the excitement of fast growth and the pain that comes with it. He built his marketing analytics company to over 100 employees and 13 million dollars in revenue. But while the top line was climbing, the bottom line stayed flat.
“I thought I could grow my way into being a larger provider of services,” Ben explains. “But it really burnt me out. There was more to do, more problems to fix, and it stopped being fun to come to work.”
That experience inspired him to focus on helping other leaders make profitability the priority.
Ben coined the term Profititis to describe what happens when companies keep chasing revenue while ignoring margin.
“Profititis is when your revenue is growing or flat and strong, but your profitability is flat to declining,” he says.
The cure is to cut what is not working. In many cases, the fastest way to boost profits is by removing the worst 20 percent of what your business is doing. “Dumping the bottom 20 percent,” Ben says, “can immediately lift your profitability and reduce burnout.”
Ben points out that many business leaders are following the wrong playbook.
He uses a sports analogy to make his point. “The Silicon Valley model is like hockey. Spend as much as possible as quickly as possible to capture market share. But if you are running a construction company, a law firm, or a manufacturing business, that is not the same sport. Why would you follow the hockey playbook when you are playing football?”
Instead of copying high growth startups, Ben encourages leaders to play their own game, one focused on sustainable profit, not vanity metrics.
Ben’s most practical advice is his 50 20 Rule, a simple framework that helps businesses get quick results.
Line up the worst performing 20 percent of your business, whether that means clients, products, or projects, and exit half of it within 30 days.
“It does not take years to fix profitability,” he says. “Sometimes it takes 90 days.”
By removing the lowest performing areas, leaders free up time, energy, and resources to focus on what truly drives results.
☑️ Growth means nothing without profit
☑️ The fastest way to improve your business is to cut what is not working
☑️ Sustainable success comes from balance, not burnout
☑️ You cannot play someone else’s game and expect to win
Profit is not about working harder. It is about working smarter.
Ben’s message is clear. Stop chasing growth that does not serve you and start fixing the leaks in your business. The sooner leaders stop trying to grow their way out of a bad business, the sooner they can build one that truly works.
Anthony Taylor is the CEO, Founder, and Senior Facilitator at SME Strategy. With more than 14 years of experience, he helps leadership teams create alignment, implement strategy, and achieve measurable results.
Connect with Anthony: https://linkedin.com/in/anthonyctaylor604
Work with SME Strategy to align your team and execute your strategic plan:
https://courses.smestrategy.net/courses/Leading-Strategy-Execution
Learn more about SME Strategy:
https://www.smestrategy.net
Podcast produced by Rednyne Productions