← The Product Boss with Jacqueline Snyder
The Product Boss with Jacqueline Snyder
756. “I Hit 7 Figures…So Why Do I Still Feel Broke?” | 3 Changes to Stop Running A Heavy, Complicated Business
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Let's talk about something that almost nobody wants to admit out loud. You can have a seven figure product business and still feel broke. And you can have orders coming in, a team, inventory moving, wholesale accounts, maybe even retail, maybe E Commerce, maybe markets, Amazon, maybe all of it. And still feel like there is never enough cash, never enough breathing room, never enough margin, never enough left for you. And that's what messes with your head, doesn't it? Because on paper it still looks like you should feel successful, right? It's on paper it looks like you've made it. And on paper other people are probably looking at you and thinking your business is amazing and doing incredible. Then why does it still feel so tight? Why am I still stressed before payroll? Why do big sales months not feel that different? And why does more revenue just keep creating more pressure instead of more peace? And so if that's where you are, this episode is for you. Because today I want to show you what is really going on when a million dollar product business still feels broke. And more importantly, I want you to see what actually has to change if you want your business to not just look successful, but support you like a real business should. Hi, I'm Jacqueline Snyder and this is the Product Boss podcast. I've helped launch and grow thousands of product based businesses, even one of my own. And over the last 20 years, I've seen behind the scenes of businesses just like yours. Whether they are makers, manufacturers, artists or food and beverage businesses. I have spent so many hours studying it all. I've discovered what makes them successful, what mistakes they could have avoided, how did they turn their ideas into a successful business and what are the strategies that they have used to make more sales and be discovered by more customers. And, and this is what this show is all about. Whether you're just starting out or you're looking to become a million dollar product boss, I'm here to give you the permission to chase your dreams no matter how big or small. All you need is the right mindset, a little courage, strategy and support and you too can be the next million dollar product boss. Let's do this. Hi, I'm Jacqueline Snyder and this is the Product Boss podcast. I've helped thousands of product based business owners grow their sales, strengthen their margins, build better systems and create businesses that actually support their lives. And I want that for you. And it's not just about more revenue. I want you to have cleaner growth. I want you to have stronger profit. I want you to have less chaos so that your business does not require you to hold Every moving part together with your bare hands. So let's dig in. Why this matters. So here's the hard truth. Revenue is loud and profit is quiet. Revenue gets attention. Revenue gets applause. Revenue gets screenshots and celebration posts and that feeling of wow, look how far I've come. And trust me, I have been the person on this side. But the switch that I've made in the last year and the thing that I really want to bring to all of you is profit. Profit, cash flow, operationally healthy businesses, margin. Those are the things that determine the business if it actually feels safe to run. And I see this all the time in established product based businesses. They've built something real. And this is not a hobby, right? This is not a maybe business. This is a real company with real customers and real traction. But the business still feels fragile. So let's talk about the why. Because somewhere along the way they learned how to grow sales, but they did not build the structure that allows those sales to turn into stability. So what happens next? They add more people before they fix the profitability. They add more sales channels before they fix operations. And they add more products before they fix their best sellers. Right? What they're known for. Maybe you're adding more marketing before you can fix conversion. And maybe you add more effort before you actually fix the leaks in your business. And so now these businesses have become bigger businesses, but they also have built a heavier one. And that's the thing I want you to hear today. Because a business can be a big business and still be weak. It can be impressive and not be efficient. It can be doing a million dollars and still be carrying way too much complexity for what it returns. So if you're at seven figures or you have a dream of getting there one day and your business still feels broke, it does not automatically mean you're failing. Okay, we gotta just take that one off the plate. But it does mean you need to tell yourself the truth. You do not have a revenue problem. You likely have an architecture problem. And today I want to walk you through the three biggest reasons that happens. First, you've built revenue, but you did not protect your margin. And I have a student that joined the collective with a million dollar business, right? She was literally generating a million dollars. We looked at her profit margin and she had 10% profit and not paying herself. Now this literally breaks my heart because it is a million dollar headache. How heavy is it to do that and then not be benefiting by bringing money home? The money that you get to bring home and put in your Pocket and live the life you dream of is in your profit margin. So making money and turning this into real profit, this is probably the most common thing that I see. So if someone tells me, jacqueline, we did a million dollars last year. And I'm like, amazing, incredible, right? Because I've talked to so many of you on our calls. Like you have the opportunity to book a call and you might talk to me or one of my other growth advisors. So when we're on the call, we, we start digging in and all of a sudden it's like, okay, but what did you actually keep? And that's where the person gets quiet because they know revenue, they know their top line, they know what's sold, they know their biggest months, but they don't have the same clarity around margin by channel, margin by product, true cost to fulfill, labor load, freight, storage, spoilage, discounting, packaging, creepy or operational inefficiency. So what happens is that they are selling but they are not keeping. And let me give you a few examples. So maybe your wholesale channel is growing, but your margin is too thin to support the actual labor and production complexity it requires. Or maybe your E Commerce sales look strong, but you are spending too much on shipping, promotions, packaging or discounts to make those orders really profitable. Maybe your best seller is moving, right? It's selling all the time, but it's not actually your most profitable seller. And maybe that you have products that are emotionally important to you, right? Those ones that you're just like, I love it so much. If only everybody can buy this thing, but financially they're dragging your business down. I mean, a lot of times you're pricing from fear or you're pricing from the market or the perception of the market. Maybe you're pricing what feels tolerable to charge. Maybe you're not pricing for your business, what your business actually needs in order to grow profitably and cleanly. And this is where million dollar businesses get into trouble. Because once you have traction, it's very easy to keep feeding the machine. It makes it much harder to stop and ask, is this machine worth feeding at this level and at all? So that's the question. Not just can we sell it or will they buy it or can we hit the number, but does the sale strengthen the business? And that's a whole different standard. So what I want you to think about here is more revenue does not solve margin problems, it just magnifies them. So if your margins are weak at $300,000, then they will hurt more at a million dollars. And if you're underpricing at 200k, you, you will feel it harder at scale. And if you have too many low margin skews, too many expensive operational decisions, too much complexity hiding in the back end, then your million dollar business can absolutely still feel broke. Because if it's busy but not efficient, and if it's selling but not keeping and growing but not strengthening, what do we got? So the shift here is that you have to stop looking at sales as the only win. The win is profitable sales. The win is protected margin. The win is knowing what earns its place in your business. This is what stronger leadership looks like. And my friend, you are the leader. So it looks like asking these questions, right? If you want to write these down, write these down. What are my actual margin drivers? And which products are pulling their weight? Which channels are profitable enough to scale? And where are we leaking cash in what we've normalized and what has to be repriced or repackaged, simplified or cut. I know that's the hardest one and I know that that part can feel uncomfortable because some of you have built a business identity around doing a lot right? A lot of products, a lot of offers, a lot of channels, a lot of yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. But a seven figure business that feels broke is usually carrying too much. That is not earning, it's keep. Gotta boot it, gotta boot it to the curb. So your first move is not necessarily to sell more. Your first move might be to protect more of what you already sell. That is how a business starts to feel stronger. Okay, so the second thing I want to talk about here is you are carrying too much complexity, right? The reason your seven figure product business still feels like this is that it's complex for what it returns. And this one is huge. Because somewhere between six figures and seven figures, a lot of business owners start adding layers. Like so many layers. More channels, more products, more promotions, more team, more software, more inventory, more custom requests, more one off opportunities, more we should probably do this too. And each one of those decisions feels reasonable in the moment. But then you have to wake up one day and realize you are running a business with tens of thousands of moving parts and every single one of them seems to require your attention. Anybody? Anyone feel called out right now? Cause now you're the bottleneck. Now your business is heavy. Now your growth feels expensive. Now the team needs you for too much. Now your calendar is full, your brain is full, your money is going in 12 directions. Now even good sales months feel stressful because of the business itself. It's Costly to hold. And that is what I want you to see. Complexity is expensive. It's expensive in inventory. It's expensive in team management, you guys, it's expensive in mistakes. And probably businesses are especially vulnerable to this because there are so many ways to grow. I mean, we literally talk about this in the collective every single week. I mean, I have members come in and ask questions and they have all of these things. Like all these decisions are still there, but they get to bounce it off other people, right? A board of advisors, people in the community, me. So that they're not just kind of throwing spaghetti at the wall and trying all the things. Because here's the deal, and this is what we tell our members. You can add wholesale, you can add a retail store, you can add fair, you can add Amazon markets, you can add another collection, custom, even corporate gifting, right? You can add subscriptions, any of it. Partnerships, all of it. None of those things are bad. But if the foundation is not strong enough, every new thing adds drag before it adds lift. Does that make sense? Drag? Think about an airplane versus lift. This is why I teach focus first all the time. Because focus is not small. Focus is really, especially for us creative entrepreneurs, focus is really powerful. Focus is what allows your business to become known for something. Focus is what allows marketing to get easier. It's what allows inventory to get cleaner. It allows team training to get simpler, profit to improve and your leadership to sharpen. And a lot of seven figure businesses do not need more opportunities. They do not need more. They need more pruning. Okay, so let me say that again. A lot of seven figure businesses do not need more opportunity. They need more pruning. They need to get honest about what is actually working. Simplify what they sell, streamline what they carry. Stop letting every channel act like it deserves the same energy. They need to decide what the business is built around, not just the noise and not that. Like creative. You know, I'm like, oh, I feel like I didn't want to do this today. Nope, not that. And I know this part is not always fun because pruning can feel like a loss. Pruning can feel like leaving money on the table. Anyone ever feel that way? I used to feel like that a lot. It can feel like giving up options, but most of the time that pruning in your business is what's going to actually create the strength. I want you to think about a tree for a sec. If a tree is carrying too many weak branches, that energy is dispersed. But when you prune it, it grows Stronger in the right places. Your business is literally the same. If it feels broke at seven figures, I want you to ask yourself this. Where is the complexity costing me more than it's returning? And what are we carrying? Because we always have ask yourself what are we maintaining because we're afraid to stop what is technically making money but operationally draining us? And where do we need fewer decisions, fewer skews, fewer moving parts. It's not about playing smaller, it's about building smarter. And for some of you, the most profitable next move is not expansion, it's simplification. Okay, so the third thing I want to talk about today is the business still depends on you too much. So the third reason why seven figure product businesses still feel broke is because even though the company is bigger too, too much of the business still runs through you. And this is the one that can feel the most personal. I know because by the time someone has built seven figure product based business, they're usually incredibly capable. I know you. I mean, it doesn't matter. It's whether you're just at your six figures multi. Six, seven figures, eight figures. Listen, you started a business. I know you're smart, you're resourceful, you care deeply, you know the brand, you know the customer. And you've likely held this business together through every phase. And that's exactly why this becomes the problem. Because the strengths that helped you build it can become the thing that limits this next version, this level up. Because every decision still needs your approval. That's expensive. Like time, money, all of it. If your team still feels like they need to check with you on everything expensive, your energy is draining. If you're still the one catching the mistakes, solving the fires, handling sensitive customers, managing production gaps, right? Maybe you're approving all the creatives, checking the inventory, overseeing launches and carrying all the contacts in your head. My friends, that's expensive. Not just because of the time, but because of your capacity. And time is our most limited resource. That's why it's expensive. So when a business still depends on the owner, too much growth does not create freedom, it just creates more pressure. And that pressure often feels like money pressure, even when the deeper issue is owner dependence. Because what happens? You cannot step back enough to think strategically. You can't make clean decisions because you're too deep in the weeds. You hire people, but you do not fully hand things off. Maybe you have a team, but not true ownership. You have help, but not enough leadership structure. So you're still acting as the operating system of the business. And if you are the operating system, then the business will always feel fragile. So this is what I want you to hear. A fragile owner dependent business can still do a million dollars. I literally just had a multimillion dollar brand on the show. I've had two. Right, You've listened to two recently with multi million dollar brands. In fact, one was an eight figure brand and one showed what it was taking to get out of this. The other one showed what it looked like on the other end. So you can still make good money, but it will not feel good. It will not feel spacious, it will not feel stable. It will not feel like the business is serving you back. And this is where the identity shift needs to happen. At some point you have to stop proving that you can do everything I know you can. You're amazing. And at some point you have to stop being the hero of the business. There is no gold star at the end of this, just exhaustion and burnout. So at some point, my friends, you have to become the architect. That means you build the systems, you define the standards, you document decisions, you create clarity, you train ownership and you stop rescuing. You let people rise. You learn where your real value is and you move from doing to directing. Now this does not mean that you disappear from your company. And it does not mean you stop caring. And, and it does not mean your quality goes down and out the window. It means that you stop confusing control with leadership. I know that's a hard one because they are not the same. I learned it the hard way, okay, massive control over here. But that's not leadership. And a lot of women especially have built very successful businesses while carrying a lot personally. Right? You're carrying a lot emotionally and mentally and operationally. I mean, we hold a lot of things. So when I say to you you need to delegate more. I do not mean that you have to do more. I mean create a business that can hold ownership beyond you. So what does that mean? Clear standards, clear numbers, clear expectations, clear priorities, clear roles and clear accountability. Yes, this is what lets a seven figure business stop feeling broke. Because now you're not paying for growth with your own body and your own bandwidth and your family time, your decision fatigue and your constant vigilance. Now the business has a structure. The business can breathe, it can grow without making you feel like every additional dollar costs you $10 of energy. And that's really the real shift here. The business has to stop running on your personal heroics. Got it? It's got to run without you. You get to go on vacation, you get to be with your family. You get to do the things you're here to do in this world. So if your seven figure product business still feels broke, here's what I want you to remember. It is probably not because you need to work harder and it's not because you need to launch more. And it's probably not because you need another quick fix marketing tactic. It's usually because one of these three things is true. You built revenue, but you did not protect the margin. You built growth, but you carry too much complexity. Or you built a business, but it still depends too much on you. And here's the good news. This is all very solvable. This is what real businesses and leadership looks like. Not just about celebrating the number and not just chasing the next number, but asking, what kind of business are we actually building here? A business that looks successful or a business that is strong, profitable, scalable and able to support the life I say that I want. That is the work. So here's a prompt for you. Okay, take a moment. You know, save this podcast. Make sure you're following the show. And P.S. if there's anyone you know out there that's running a big business or a business that's growing, send them this episode. But I want you to write down this prompt and take a minute to journal it. Where is my business bigger than it is strong? Because that question will tell you a lot. It will show you the channel that needs attention, the the product line that needs pruning, the margins that need protecting, the role that needs to shift, the system that needs to be built and the truth that needs to be told. And if this episode hit home for you and you are in that place where you have built something real, but you know the next level cannot be a bigger version of the same chaos, then this is exactly the kind of work we do inside the collective. It's why I built it. It's for established product based business owners who are ready to grow towards a million dollars to past a million dollars. Let's go to 10, right? 10 million, 20 million, whatever you want. Without staying the bottleneck in every part of the business. We work on the real things. We focus on your profitability, systems, teams, sales, pathways, leadership, and building a business that can scale with more strength and less founder dependence. So if you're like, yes, please, I really want to hear more about this, just book a call with us. You can book a call with us@theproductboss.com bookacall I will drop the link in the show notes and whether you do that today or not, I want you to leave this episode with one more Revenue is not the goal. Better business is the goal. Because when you build better, the money gets to feel better too. All right my friends, I will see you in the next one. Thank you for being here and listening all the way through the Product Boss podcast. If you love our show and it has helped you in any way in your business, would you mind doing two things for us? Subscribe to the show so you never miss an episode and leave us a review. Reviews help other product entrepreneurs know that this is the place to be to grow their businesses and realize that they're not alone. And we know that you all know that a five star and honest review helps you sell more products to more people. 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