Have you ever had a friend look at a business and randomly throw out numbers that made it seem like that business owner must be making serious bank? We’ve experienced that many times, and know from conversations with operators and owners in those industries that their real profitability is often far, far less. The reason is often that there are unique challenges to profitability in almost every industry and so we wanted to create a space for entrepreneurs from across industries and markets to discuss the challenges to profitability in their industries.

Kyle Leighton

Right now, rising costs are the biggest challenges effecting profitability. It seems like this year I’ve been mostly playing defense as costs continue to rise on pretty much everything that effects the business. As a result, most of these increased costs have forced me to raise rents and other fees, and also take a harder look at our service providers. Read more>>

Monica Paprocki

Cosplaying as a professional is both fun and challenging at the same time. There are only a few professional cosplayers that are consistently hired by companies and there’s not a lot of knowledge on how much people in our industry should charge for our services. Being somewhat of a new industry has left a lot of people second guessing how much they should charge for their commissions. Read more>>

Monique Pham

The obvious answer would be inflation- rising ingredients and supplies costs have pushed myself and my peers to raise our prices. The common mistake most home bakers and small business owners make is not charging enough for our work, and that often cuts into profitability as well. Competitiveness and and a very saturated market can be daunting to navigate through as well. Read more>>

Carrie Norder

The biggest challenge to profitability with our industry is multi-faceted. First and most important to me, is doing my best to make certain I offer my customers the best possible product with the lowest possible price, while remaining competitive. In addition, where you are located will certainly affect the pricing. We live and operate the business in a rural area. Give or take a little bit, I likely pay an amount for supplies comparable to someone in a bigger city; Read more>>

DaShawn Fleming

Much like bartender’s, cosmetologists and other professionals in the beauty industry constantly have cash flowing in and out of their hands. This forces many of us to believe that “it’s our money and I can spend it now!” But in fact it’s not our money and the moment that we begin to spend the money in our hand without accounting for it through the business, we begin to lack profitability. For years this was how I operated until I was introduced to the book Profit First by Mike Michalowicz. Read more>>

Trey Evans

I believe the biggest challenge to profitability is to not live in the moment of your growth and to remain focused and dedicated. I feel like where some businesses get discouraged at is not seeing their business or their product flourish like they anticipated and they give up or lose motivation. I’ve been a victim to that. All this does is make you lose the money you put towards your business and receive no revenue creating a total loss all around. Read more>>

Brandi McNeal

The biggest challenge to profitability in the small Black owned business industry is making beneficial connections and working together as a team. Many times small businessess lack the resources that are necessary to maintain longevity. Read more>>

Jaxon Dansie

A lot of people who try to get into photography are the same way. They want to go right into Formula One or into Supercross or NASCAR when they have no prior experience. You need to start small, and with many places getting media credential is not that difficult if it’s local. If you want to get into Formula One, start with karting. If you want to get into car photography, go to car meets. If you want to get into motocross, go to local races. Read more>>

Mark kueffner

Film composers typically start their careers composing for student and micro-budget indie films. Many times, filmmakers will ask them to compose music for free. This can be a challenge as indie filmmakers will gravitate towards free composers so that they can increase spending of their budgets elsewhere. Read more>>