Working More Isn’t a Strategy for Service Business Owners
This clip expands on a pattern I see often in service businesses: working more hours in the name of “someday” while the business isn’t actually paying off today.
The post below goes deeper into the math behind that thinking, why “I’ll cash out later” is rarely a real strategy, and when cutting is more effective than adding.
In search of growth, many service business owners find themselves doing more, more, more, more, more.
More services.
More projects.
More responsibility.
More hours.
But the money isn’t following.
What I hear instead is some version of:
“I’m building something for the future.”
“This will pay off one day.”
“I’m creating a legacy.”
That sounds responsible.
Until you slow down and actually look at the math.
The uncomfortable math behind “I’ll cash out someday”
Here’s a situation I see all the time.
Someone is working 70–80 hours a week.
They’re making okay money, but not what an 80-hour-a-week business owner should be making.
When you ask why, the answer is usually:
“I’m building something for the future.”
So let’s talk about the future.
When people say that, they usually mean 10 to 15 years from now.
That feels reasonable.
Then I ask a simple follow-up question:
How many businesses just like yours have actually sold for a million dollars or more?
Usually, only a couple hands go up.
Now let’s assume everything goes right.
You sell your business in 15 years for $1,000,000.
That’s roughly $66,000 per year of value spread across those 15 years.
Before taxes.
Before risk.
Before discounting the fact that the money arrives far in the future.
Which means today, right now, you’re underpaying yourself by about $66,000 a year —
on the hope that it all works out later.
That’s not a strategy.
That’s a gamble.
Why doing the same thing tomorrow won’t fix it
The real problem usually isn’t effort.
Most service business owners already work hard.
The problem is repetition without change.
If tomorrow looks the same as today…
And next month looks the same as this month…
Tomorrow doesn’t get easier.
It gets harder.
There will be more competitors.
Margins will tighten.
Customers will have more options.
You’ll be more tired.
Burnout doesn’t show up all at once.
It arrives quietly, one long week at a time.
Where “adding more” quietly breaks the business
When pressure builds, the instinct is to add:
Another service
Another market
Another hire
Another idea
Another thing that “might help”
But every addition comes with weight.
More decisions.
More coordination.
More complexity.
More dependency on you.
Eventually, the business stops serving you, and you start serving the business.
Why cutting is often the real leverage
This is why I keep coming back to subtraction.
Not because minimalism is trendy.
But because cutting creates space for clarity.
Sometimes the most responsible question is:
What am I doing today that doesn’t actually move the business forward?
What am I tolerating that’s draining time and energy?
What would improve if I removed something instead of adding something?
Cutting isn’t quitting.
It’s choosing intentionally.
Legacy doesn’t come from burnout
There’s nothing noble about building a “legacy” that costs you your health, your time, or your sanity.
A business that works should:
pay you well now, not just someday
require fewer hours over time, not more
get clearer as it grows, not messier
If the only payoff is in the future, and the future keeps moving, it’s worth stopping and reassessing.
Where real progress usually starts
Most service businesses don’t need:
a new brand
a new offer
a new 80-hour workweek
They need to cut first, then rebuild with intention.
That’s usually where real progress starts.
Not chasing more ideas.
Not piling on more responsibility.
Just seeing the business clearly again.
If this feels familiar
If any part of this feels uncomfortably accurate, you’re not behind.
You’re just carrying more than you need to.
And in a lot of cases, the fastest way forward isn’t adding something new.
It’s finally letting something go.