The Amy Porterfield Show
Episode: I Had A $100K Month And Still Lost Money
Host: Amy Porterfield
Date: February 10, 2026
Episode Overview
In this candid, practical episode, Amy Porterfield breaks down the surprising truth behind a milestone $100,000 month—where she still lost money. Drawing from her own hard-earned lessons, Amy aims to demystify the difference between revenue and profit, why many entrepreneurs miss the mark when it comes to keeping more of what they make, and offers five actionable strategies to help online business owners amplify profit and create a business that truly supports their life and freedom, not just vanity metrics.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. The Wake-Up Call: When Revenue Isn’t Everything
[00:57 - 06:30]
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Amy shares her personal story: despite hitting her first $100,000 month, she ended up losing money and didn’t realize it until weeks later.
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She recounts the emotional impact: missing family time, especially with her husband and son Cade, and contrasts her expectations about what success should “look like” with the reality of her financial situation.
“Revenue had become my scoreboard, but I was playing the wrong game.”
— Amy Porterfield (01:50) -
Amy reflects on her early “hustler” mentality, overworking with little return.
2. The Million-Dollar Illusion
[06:30 - 10:00]
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Amy describes a pivotal moment at a youth football team dinner where she questioned why, despite her approaching a million-dollar year, she couldn’t afford the comfortable life she witnessed in other families.
“I realized I'd been so obsessed with hitting the million dollar mark, that I never stopped to ask what I was actually keeping.”
— Amy Porterfield (09:10) -
This led to her commitment to understand and track profit, not just revenue.
3. Understanding Key Financial Terms
[10:00 - 13:00]
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Amy explains the difference between:
- Gross Revenue: Total money in before anything is subtracted.
- Net Revenue: Gross revenue minus refunds and chargebacks.
- Profit: What remains after all expenses are deducted from net revenue.
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She encourages listeners to recall these three key numbers for their own business in the last quarter.
“Do you know your gross revenue, your net revenue, and your profit?... Knowing your numbers isn’t about judgment. It’s about power.”
— Amy Porterfield (12:30)
4. Five Strategies to Keep More of Your Money
[13:00 - 32:30]
Strategy 1: Know Your Numbers First
[13:00 - 17:00]
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Conduct quarterly “profit check-ins” to track gross revenue, net revenue, expenses, and profit margin.
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Amy normalizes resistance to this habit and urges entrepreneurs not to delegate full financial oversight.
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Practical tip: Meet with your bookkeeper quarterly to review and learn.
“We can’t fix what we don’t track.”
— Amy Porterfield (14:40)
Strategy 2: Simplify Your Offers
[17:00 - 20:00]
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Too many offers dilute focus and eat into profit margins.
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Amy advocates for a signature offer and maybe one or two smaller offers, instead of many mediocre ones.
“Fewer offers promoted well almost always outperform a bloated offer suite… The entrepreneurs making the most profit are the ones who get ruthless about where they focus.”
— Amy Porterfield (19:00) -
Example: Marie Forleo’s focus on “B-School.”
Strategy 3: Raise Your Prices
[21:27 - 24:00]
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Many online business owners, particularly women, undercharge.
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Raising prices by 15-20% can dramatically boost profit without extra work.
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Advice to raise prices without adding extra bonuses or content—value should reflect transformation.
“Your prices should reflect the transformation you provide, not how long it took you to create the thing.”
— Amy Porterfield (22:55) -
Amy’s own regret: not raising the price of her cornerstone Digital Course Academy sooner.
Strategy 4: Audit Your Tools and Subscriptions
[24:00 - 27:30]
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Cancel unused or unnecessary software and subscriptions.
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Pull the last three months of credit card statements and assess if each expense contributes to profit or client experience.
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Use AI tools like ChatGPT or Claude for a quick audit.
“These small changes add up and they’re eating into your profit every single month.”
— Amy Porterfield (24:55)
Strategy 5: Hire Smarter, Not More
[27:30 - 32:30]
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Most team overspend comes from lack of systems, not overstaffing.
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Three checks before hiring:
- What outcome does this hire create—revenue or time savings?
- Can you document exactly what needs doing?
- Will the hire pay for themselves in 90 days?
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Amy shares a painful story of having to lay off nine employees due to an over-bloated team—a mistake tied to using hires to solve systems problems.
“I realized I shouldn't have made that hire. I should have simplified that role or dialed it in or found out how to automate more.”
— Amy Porterfield (31:30)
5. Challenge & Takeaway
[32:30 - 34:00]
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Amy challenges listeners to find and record their gross revenue, net revenue, and profit from last quarter this week.
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Reframes the goal of entrepreneurship: not just making revenue, but keeping more and building freedom.
“You didn’t build this business to hit revenue goals and still feel broke… The way you get there isn’t by making more. It’s by keeping more.”
— Amy Porterfield (33:30)
Notable Quotes
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“Revenue had become my scoreboard, but I was playing the wrong game.”
Amy Porterfield [01:50] -
“Knowing your numbers isn’t about judgment. It’s about power.”
Amy Porterfield [12:30] -
“More offers don’t mean more profit. In fact, it actually means less.”
Amy Porterfield [17:10] -
“Your prices should reflect the transformation you provide, not how long it took you to create the thing.”
Amy Porterfield [22:55] -
“You didn’t build this business to hit revenue goals and still feel broke… The way you get there isn’t by making more. It’s by keeping more.”
Amy Porterfield [33:30]
Timestamps for Key Segments
- 00:57 – Amy’s $100K Month Wake-Up Call
- 06:30 – The Million-Dollar Year Illusion at the Team Dinner
- 10:00 – Defining Gross Revenue, Net Revenue, and Profit
- 13:20 – Strategy 1: Quarterly Profit Check-ins
- 17:00 – Strategy 2: Simplifying Offers for Profit
- 21:27 – Strategy 3: Raising Prices
- 24:00 – Strategy 4: Auditing Tools and Subscriptions
- 27:30 – Strategy 5: Hire Smarter, Not More
- 32:30 – Challenge and Final Reflections
Tone and Style
Amy remains warm, honest, and practical throughout, using her signature mix of story-driven teaching and action-based advice. She encourages, challenges, and even gets vulnerable about her own mistakes, making the episode highly relatable for entrepreneurs at all stages.
Summary
Amy Porterfield’s episode offers a refreshingly honest look at the pitfalls of chasing only revenue, illustrating how easily entrepreneurs can lose sight of real profit and what it means for their lives. She breaks down financial definitions and provides a roadmap of five critical strategies to help business owners keep more of what they earn and make profit-building a central part of their entrepreneurial journey.