Profits differ from net income, and no where is there clearer than for small business owner-operators, artists, and creatives. Just because you have a certain amount of money left over after covering expenses doesn’t mean you’ve made profits. Why? Because you have to factor in the cost of your labor and the risk you took and so after factoring that in, millions of small businesses and artists and creatives are operating with little to no profit. However, it doesn’t have to be this way and so we wanted to create a space where sharp entrepreneurs and creatives could come together and discuss the challenges to profitability and potential solutions. If you have something valuable to add to this conversation that can help others achieve profitability, please reach out to us as we want to get your ideas in front of our readers.

Eve Theresias

One of the biggest challenges to profitability in the real estate industry is market volatility. Marketing in the real estate industry is crucial for attracting buyers, renters, and investors. Effective marketing strategies involve showcasing properties in the best light, targeting the right audience, and differentiating from competitors. High-quality photographs, virtual tours, and detailed property descriptions help potential buyers or renters envision themselves in the space. Read more>>

Katie Dufort

We are a first to market hybrid of the popular escape room and the tried and true scavenger hunt. One would assume escape room aficionados would flock to us…they don’t…or scavenger hunts would be a draw. In truth, neither is our customer. We are purposefully low-tech and use vintage technology and child-like clues as they appeal to all ages (5 to 95!) and that’s NOT what escape room players want. Likewise, current scavenger hunts are on apps, unguided and low tech…the opposite of us. Due to this – our keyword is “fun thing to do” and that’ means we’re competing against huge companies with lots of advertising dollars like Top Golf. It’s hard to grow your profit margin when you’re competing against those kinds of dollars. Read more>>

Dono Duvall

The biggest challenge to profitability right now in the music industry is streaming services. To earn $1,000 on Spotify you would need to get around ~300,000 streams. Tidal pays a little more, but still its not an attainable reality for most artists. Usually for a song I’ll spend around ~$400-~$600 for studio musicians, ~$300 for mixing, and ~$600 for studio time. Not to mention the gear I need to buy to record even at home. Y’all can do the math as far as how many streams I’d need to make on an album of 7 songs to make a profit. Streaming isn’t going away unfortunately. The convenience has deeply wormed its way into the way we consume music these days. I’m guilty of it as well. Read more>>

Melissa Tuvey

In a post=covid world, commodities, labor, insurance and gas are all sky high in every market. But especially so in the wedding world. In certain areas and vendor categories, expenses have gone up 30% in the past three years. This, along with a backlog of weddings and engagements, continues to push demand. Additionally, this exacerbates higher expectations as many of our couples have waited years to get married. I find this to be very true with respect to food and drink. Truly, the margins aren’t there anymore. Food, labor and trucking costs are becoming more fixed. Read more>>

Darren Randle

The biggest challenge to being more profitable in the event rental industry is the competition. There are so many options to go for a tent, table/chair, restroom etc that it’s tough to actually price an order/project to make the profit percentage that most other industries are able to generate. In my eight years in the industry, I’ve been able to create higher profits for not only my company but my competitors as well as they are pricing themselves just beneath me across all lines of service and products. I’ve always been interested in the analytics of my business and therefore, I’m able to determine what the total cost is for a crew leaving the warehouse to do any size event/order – most of my competitors don’t know that and it’s clear based on the inconsistency of pricing project to project, season to season, year to year, sales rep to sales rep. If my competitors actually looked at their profitability instead of just focusing on volume and revenue, they’d price their products and services higher. Read more>>

Joyce Fitzpatrick-Forbes

The biggest challenge to profitability in the film and television industry is getting investors to support our work. We strive to create original and entertaining content and getting our work promoted helps tremendously. We have found that the key to more profitability is through promotion and establishing great relationships with investors/aggregators, etc. It is still a huge challenge to get into the room with the gate keepers in our industry, but we continue to move forward and be consistent in producing great content which has garnered a stellar reputation. Throughout the years, my partner, Brian Shackelford and I have nurtured our relationships with other producers, writers, directors and film and television companies that stay in touch with us to get updates on our status with various projects that we’re working on. Read more>>

Alan Porter

The biggest challenge to profitability in the creative industry is to make people realize the importance of design, its values, why it is not cheap, and that the design won’t necessarily speak to them but will do to the final customer/user. Read more>>

Mac Wright

There are three things that I’ve personally seen inhibit even the most talented musicians. Profitability in the music industry is entirely dependent on your ability to do three things: 1. Your ability to be approachable 2. Your ability to Adapt 3. Your ability to view your art as a craft or business 1. The number one thing that you have to be able to do as a musician is be able to network. In an industry that operates on a large scale as a series of freelance opportunities, I’ve found that people are much more likely to work with/hire someone that they get along with rather than someone who is the most talented or even the cheapest option. If you’re not a nice, pleasant person to be around, you likely wont get called back. Read more>>

Q The Question

Well because music is so oversaturated, it can’t get very overwhelming when you get sent music from aspiring artist. It’s a gift and a curse the internet, I say. One it gave so many aspiring artist a lane to get heard but at the same time, it’s just so much. You really have to find an artist you believe in and see if their worth the risk and investment. Music is a fickle business and for every artist that gets signed to a major deal, stats wise, only so few will become huge. The odds of becoming a Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Jay Z or Drake is like slim to none, but the love of music gives us hope to keep going hoping to find it. Read more>>

Daniella Reid

In this industry of treat making/sweets I’ve seen where under charging has been at an all time high. The biggest challenge that the industry faces is we as treat makers are not taking the time to do a breakdown of their overall costs It is very common for beginners to start off with sales to try to build their clientele, but miss the bottom line of making a profit I would encourage everyone to first start out with a breakdown of how much your product is and the number one thing, don’t forget to pay yourself. Read more>>

Brad Brown

Currently the biggest challenge is the costs involved with owing a bakery. Ingredient costs have soared over the last few years. Eggs alone were as high as $82 a case up from an average of $19-$28. As food costs continue to rise so do our other costs. Payroll, Energy, Insurance, and most of all , something not addressed nearly enough are credit card processing fees! Read more>>

Neika William

One of the most common reasons that new real estate agents get into the industry is the promise of making tons of money and making your own schedule and let me be the first to tell you, IT IS ALL FAKE NEWS, my friend. You don’t make any money if you don’t sell any homes, and most real estate agents sell very few homes each year. In addition, there are multiple other factors that make profitability a challenge in the real estate industry. As a Top Producing Agent in the Metro Atlanta Area, my biggest challenge was facing the reality that People will not just start calling me and hiring me to sell their house just because I have a website and a social media handle. My reality became ” This is going to be hard work, Neika, and you need to work hard every day for every deal you get and for every penny you make”. Read more>>

Jono Madison

I would say the biggest challenge I see to profit in many forms is that everyone who’s anyone wants what I do for free. They want the polished commercial worthy imagery I can and have produced or at the most minimalist level of exchange. As an artist I have seen the grossest intentions of fellow “artist” looking to profit from my work to promote or gain further praise on their branding. It’s true and sick, but there are plenty to watch out for. Read more>>

Chris Barkley

There are several obstacles in front of Indie Film creatives and profitability. Some are self-inflicted, and others are systemic, including, but not limited to: – a lack of funding for creative work, – the proliferation of free content online, – the rise of social media influencers, – the dominance of big studios/networks, – the lack of Branding and Marketing awareness, and spending, – Systematic restrictions preventing Indie Filmmakers from meaningful branding and marketing spend, – the Industry’s focus on box office and “blockbusters” at the expense of smaller films that have more robust post-theatrical revenue streams, – and Prominent players in distribution and streaming, like Amazon, Xfinity, and Sony, are creating unfair, one-sided contracts (e.g., – Indie Filmmakers are often forced to accept unfavorable terms). The result is that Indie Filmmakers lose control of their content and the ability to maximize the value of their art. Read more>>

Adrienne Falcone Godsell

When you are a small business owner, you want to be liked, you want to offer personalized customer service, you want to create your own niche, you want to offer expertise in your line of service. I have seen multiple times, plus did this myself`- is not putting enough value in yourself/undercharge customers and end up going out of business. I did not go out of business, however I did keep clients who did not align with me. This will always end up sucking the life out of you and even leave you resenting the client when it is you who are keeping them. Read more>>

Riley Green

While I love working on a magazine and it drives me passionately as I learn all of the facets of it… I’m not entirely sure that the world is moving in a direction where physical publications are popular or widely ingested by large groups. I hope that’s not true, but the scariest thought to me is the waning relevance of physical magazines with everyone shoving their faces in their phones or needing instant gratification. It’s almost becoming a game of, how can I grip these people in as few words as possible so that they WILL then decide to come take ten to twenty minutes to read a review or a story. In simpler words, the biggest challenge would have to be staying relevant in this chronically technological world. Read more>>