The Year I Almost Lost $1 Million and What Revenue was Hiding

 Let’s talk about a lesson that I wish I had learned much sooner.

Just because work is coming in the door doesn’t mean your elevator business is making money.

I know that sounds obvious sitting here reading this today, but at the time I was the business owner with more jobs coming through the door, closing bigger contracts than my competitors, bringing on more mechanics, saying yes to opportunities, and hitting financial goals faster than I originally planned for.

Our pipeline was full and from the outside looking in, Madden Elevator looked like it was thriving.

But on the inside, we were slowly losing visibility into what was actually happening behind the scenes.

And by the time I realized what was going on, we had lost nearly $1 million in profits.
I was beside myself.

 When Growth Starts Hiding Problems Instead of Solving Them

Growth was always the goal at Madden Elevator. I wanted us to create opportunities, serve more customers, and build a company much bigger than ourselves.

But what I didn't know was that growth would magnify every crack and gap in our business model.

And while the business was growing, we were making assumptions instead of measuring our reality.

The biggest mistake we made was thinking that because the business was growing, then profitability would naturally follow.

But here’s what was really happening behind the scenes:

We had work being sold below the margins we needed to properly support the business. Labor rates were being adjusted in ways that shouldn't have been happening, and because I didn't have the right visibility in place, it took months before I caught it.

We had projects falling behind due to circumstances outside of our control, which started creating pressure on our schedules, labor, and cash flow.

We were making hiring decisions based on immediate need instead of long-term strategy, which eventually created inefficiencies and additional labor costs.

And we assumed that because jobs were coming in and revenue looked healthy, the business itself was healthy.

And assuming that cost me... a lot. Because being booked and busy does mean you run a profitable elevator business.

And being busy does not automatically mean you're making money. Revenue by itself will never tell the full story.

A business can look successful on paper while margins are shrinking, labor is increasing, and problems are quietly stacking on top of each other.

The Turning Point: Learning to See the Business Differently

Once I understood the magnitude of our financial situation, I knew we had to make some serious adjustments to how we operated the business.

Or we were going to lose it all.

I wasn't willing to quit, or let our employees go, and I absolutely wasn't going to leave vendors hanging out to dry.

So I stepped back, brought in outside help, and started building a long-term plan backed by financial strategy.

One of the biggest shifts we made was changing the way we looked at our numbers.

Instead of treating financials like reports that got reviewed once a month, we started treating them like operational tools that helped us make better business decisions.

Here’s what we changed:

• We implemented cash flow forecasting (up to 13 weeks out), so we could see potential issues before they became emergencies.
• We tracked profitability at the job level so we stopped assuming projects were making money and started understanding where our margins stood.
• We built a hiring process based on real business data instead of filling seats whenever the pressure showed up.
• We created systems that allowed the business to operate with structure instead of relying on gut instinct and constant firefighting.

The result wasn't overnight.

In fact, it was years in the making before we could confidently see the fruits of our labor.

There was a lot of stress, a lot of learning, and probably some blood, sweat, and tears involved in the process.

But we rebuilt the internal structure of Madden Elevator, became profitable again, and continued growing until we eventually sold the company for over 2x market value.

 The financial side of the business stopped feeling so overwhelming once I understood what I was looking at.

Funny enough, the numbers were never really the problem, I just didn't know how to read the story they were trying to tell me.

Why This Matters for Your Business

The mistake we made at Madden Elevator isn't unique because I've seen many owners fall into the same cycle.

Bringing in more revenue can't fix weak financial visibility just like more employees won't automatically create efficiency.

If you don't understand what is happening inside the business, growth will create more pressure instead of more opportunity.

The good news is that your numbers are already giving you clues.

They're showing you where you're winning, where you're leaking, and where you need to focus before the problems arise.

You just have to know where to look.

Once you learn how to understand what your elevator business is trying to tell you, the numbers start becoming one of the most valuable tools you have.

Get Ahead of it

Not every business problem starts as a major crisis.

Sometimes it begins with shrinking margins, rising labor costs, or numbers that look fine on the surface while something underneath is brewing.

You've got all the financial reports you could need.
But are you sure you know exactly what you're looking at or which levers to pull when things start shifting?

If you're not quite sure, let your next move be one that gets to the root of the numbers and simplifies them, by booking a diagnostic with me.