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.

Marianne Beane

Many entrepreneurs start a business out of a desire to get paid to pursue something we are passionate about. That passion can be the driving force that motivates us to persevere when business is challenging or profits are lean. It can be what motivates us to go the extra-mile to provide exceptional service for our customers. It may be what attracts talented employees to want to work with and for us. It may be the force that draws in potential clients. Passion is a wild and wonderful thing. Read more>>

Cody Arthur

The cost of studying for a career in Opera often outweigh the income you aren’t guaranteed to make. Read more>>

Bri Burrows

Some of the biggest challenges to profitability and success in the beer industry have to do with distribution. In Missouri, we have a 3-tier system which requires breweries to sell to a wholesale distributor who then sell to retail accounts who then sell to customers. That means the price is increasing twice after it leaves our facility, before the customer buys it, so this forces many breweries to sell at such a low cost to the wholesaler that they make little to no money distributing product. Some even lose money in this process. Read more>>

Christine DeVita

3 biggest challenges to profitability in the restaurant industry Running a restaurant whether it be Full or Quick Serve is such a challenging career. You need to be a certain type of individual to understand and work the demand. Its super easy to get overwhelmed with the day-to-day challenges. Some challenges we face as owners & operators are: Read more>>

Sa’Veya Jackson

Having to communicate with new potential customers, advertising/Promo and overall business struggles Read more>>