20 Minutes to Escape Profitless Prosperity

Plus: Six Months of Progress and in-person Networking next Monday

Author

Pat Miller
October 14, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes

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20 Minutes to Escape Profitless Prosperity

Last week, I was invited to an Economic Forecast breakfast featuring a talk by ITR Economics Chief Economist Bryan Beaulieu. His talk was super compelling (Spoiler: things will be fine with the economy for a while, no cliff in sight), but he dropped a nugget that really has me thinking.

He said that some are in a situation of “Profitless Prosperity,” where you’re not struggling, but you’re not surging ahead.

Running a small business can be so challenging that merely MAKING IT is beating the odds. But, it’s easy to fall into a comfortable groove of “fine,” without pushing yourself to keep leveling up.

I’ve found myself in this situation and frankly, I’m a little sick of it.

As a part of the Fridays Off Theory, I’m working through productivity, automation, AI, delegation, raising rates, and more. All of those factors feed back into the idea that ending up in profitless prosperity is a choice. There’s ZERO REASON for you to limited by time, resources, or systems. In fact, with a few weeks of effort, you could double your productivity, raise your rates, and wake up to a completely new world.

Here’s a quick exercise to point out how you’re settling for profitless prosperity.

20 Minutes to Escape Profitless Prosperity:

  • List your products in order of importance to your business.

  • Review the financial performance of the #1 product:
    Margin, number of sales, inventory available, etc.

  • What would you do to make it twice as valuable for your client?

  • What happens to your margin and business by raising your rate?
    (Minimum 25%)

    You’ve now got a to-do list for Q4 to escape Profitless Prosperity.

Tweet of the Week

Six months from today is April 14. Where do you want to be?

Quick Hit - Milwaukee In-Person Networking
In-Person SBOC Milwaukee Meet Up

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The Small Business Owners Community is your platform to save time, make money, and connect with other entrepreneurs that GET what you’re going through. Once each quarter, we get together for an in-person meeting to network, build relationships, and collaborate with our specialty: The Idea Slam. We’re getting our members together on Monday, 10/20! Why not join the SBOC and get in the room for this one-of-a-kind event?

Membership is only $9/month and it includes our meet-ups, 24×7 online community, our new Small Business GPT, AND our legal and tech hotlines! It’s the best deal in small business and it will help you on day one. Join here.

Now, GO SELL SOMETHING!

Pat