I Doubled My Revenue And Lost Over $200,000

In 2019, my business cracked eight figures for the first time.

Over $10 million in revenue.

The milestone I’d been chasing for years. The goal I never thought I’d actually reach.

On paper, it looked like the peak of everything I’d built.

It felt like I’d “made it”.

That same year, the business lost over $200,000.

I was in Italy at the time and I remember waking up to an email from my accounting firm with an interim P&L showing the result. I was shocked.

$10 million top line. Negative bottom line.

Let me give you the context that makes this sting.

A few years earlier, at around $5 million in revenue - half the size - that same business made over $300,000 in profit.

So I doubled the revenue. And went from over $300k in profit to over $200k in loss.

Read that again, because it breaks every assumption most people have about business.

More revenue was supposed to mean more profit. Instead, doubling the top line pushed me into the red.

How does that even happen?

Simple. The business was fragile, and I wasn’t reviewing my reports in anything that resembled enough detail.

The margins were loose, and I didn’t know it.
The cashflow was unclear, and I wasn’t watching it.
The systems weren’t strong enough to hold the extra volume, and I wasn’t improving them.

So when the revenue doubled, it didn’t amplify my profit.

It amplified every weakness I hadn’t dealt with.

Because that’s what growth actually does.

Growth doesn’t fix a fragile business. It exposes it.

If your margins are loose, more revenue widens the cracks.
If your cashflow is unclear, more revenue amplifies the confusion.
If your team depends on you for everything, more revenue means more interruptions landing on your desk.
If your systems are missing, more revenue creates operational drag that slows everything down.

More revenue feels like forward progress. But if the foundation underneath it is weak, more revenue just means more weight on a structure that can’t hold it.

And here’s the part that still makes me uncomfortable to think about.

The year I made that loss was the year heading into 2020.

I was walking into COVID with a fragile business, loose margins, and no real financial visibility, having just proven I could double my revenue and still go backwards.

That is not the position you want to be in when the world turns upside down.

I got lucky in some ways, and I learned fast in others. But I never forgot the lesson that year tattooed onto me.

A bigger business is not always a better business.
A bigger business can still be fragile.
A bigger business can still be exhausting.
A bigger business can still rely too heavily on the founder.
A bigger business can still leak margin, cash, time, and energy faster than it makes them.

So before you chase the next revenue milestone, ask the harder questions first.

Where are we leaking margin?
Where are we leaking time and energy?
Where are we relying too heavily on one person?
Where does the team need clearer ownership?
Where does the customer journey need a real system instead of a workaround?
Where do we need more visibility before we make the next big decision?

Growth is valuable. I’m not telling you to stop working towards it.

I’m telling you it only pays off when the business underneath it is strong enough to hold it.

Because I’ve lived the alternative. I doubled my revenue and lost more than I’d made at half the size, and walked into the hardest business conditions of my lifetime while I was at my most exposed.

Don’t build a bigger business. Build a stronger one.

The revenue means nothing if the foundation can’t carry it.

You may have noticed that these Friday Daily Pursuit emails have been leaning more towards business than usual. That has been intentional, and I hope you’ve been enjoying them. Over the next few Fridays I’m going to share with you some of the lessons I learned during 2019 and beyond that will help you build the structure into your business so that more revenue produces more profit, not just more pressure. Stay tuned...

If you know someone who would benefit from reading this, please forward it to them. It may change the trajectory of their life for the better, and the catalyst could be you.