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.

Ashley Lee

One of the biggest challenges to thrifting and reselling and location. What you are able to source is based heavily on where you live and what people in that area are donating. If you live in a town that’s a college town and are trying to source during the summer when there are no students in town will ensure that you wont have many options available and the good available items will more than likely be marked up to high to where the ability to make a profit from reselling in unobtainable. Read more>>

Lance Pufahl

I think if you’re in the creative field, you’re essentially starting behind the eight ball when it comes to profitability. For so long, graphic design has been one of the lowest paid jobs in America, and that has never made sense to me. Design is incredibly crucial to so many businesses and industries, but people consistently think designers are a dime a dozen and don’t want to pay for their services. It’s so important to know your worth as a designer/artist. When I started my company at the beginning of 2022, I was still struggling to ask clients for what I believed to be market rates, because I had never been paid what I was worth. Read more>>

Craig Hammill

Repertory film screenings (showing great movies from all periods from all across the world) are hit and miss even in the best of climates. That’s why so many organizations are (wisely) non-profit. As a for-profit company, Secret Movie Club is constantly working to figure out a sustainable model. In some ways, the approach is common sense: find ways to deliver consistent quality, community, excellence while at the same time finding ways to keep overhead as low and manageable as possible. Read more>>

Curtis Smith, Jr.

The biggest challenge in the business right now is so many people think they can just start out making money. But you have to work and market yourself , I have had other photographers coming and undercut my price just to get the business. You also have a market where everyone is trying to get ahead and make a name for themselves. I don’t like to be out in the for front like that I have models I use for the for front and I stay in the back ground for most of the marketing. Also like I said earlier its so many people that have a camera now and think they can just take a photo. What happens is that they charge low and mess up the photos and then someone like me have to fix them. Read more>>

Gillie Roberts

The hurdle to profitability for my business and others like it can be found at the intersection of the cost of sustainable practices and the perceived value of a product. As the term “sustainability” has made its way into the popular lexicon, it has increasingly carried the implication of environmental protections and little else. However, that is only one third of the word’s true meaning. To fully embrace sustainability, you must simultaneously consider environmental well-being, the ability of humans to thrive, and economic prosperity. Any business with sustainability in its mission knows firsthand that literally every input has the potential to increase overhead tremendously when compared to the conventional approach. Read more>>

Naya fernandez

In such a competitive industry, it can be a challenge navigating how to price your products. In my own experience the biggest challenge I’ve had with profitability was learning my worth and pricing accordingly. I see many new event decorators struggling to find balance between worth and affordability. Starting out, two years ago, I thought I needed to be the most affordable to attain the most clients. I’ve since learned increasing your prices will insure you are reaching the “dream clients” you are looking for. I am able to do higher quality work, less on-site events and have higher profits then two years ago working 3 events each weekend. Read more>>

Ashleigh Mrozek

Technology. Everyone has a cellphone equipped with a high quality camera now adays. Don’t get me wrong it’s super convenient to just been able to take high quality photos with a gadget that fits in your pocket. But, it causes a lot of people looking to save a few bucks to be DIYers, because “why pay for a professional portrait when i can do it with my phone at no cost”. If not a cell phone, high quality dslr camers are cheaper and more accessible than ever… so now, not only does your local professional have to compete with other nearby professional for clients but now we have to compete with everyone else. Read more>>