The One Thing That Changes Everything

Profit leaks happen when you don’t track costs from day one. Fix it with a simple budgeting system anyone can follow.

I was thinking about a set of challenges one of my clients was facing—challenges that were affecting him both personally and professionally. The more I thought about it, I realized there was one thing that, if it changed, would make everything else easier and better for him.

He was struggling with financial clarity. Every month, he’d review the numbers and feel frustrated.  Projects weren’t as profitable as they should be, costs were inconsistent, and tracking job performance felt like a guessing game. And at the core of all of this? The production order form . . . the budgeting process.

The lack of a structured, completed budget for labor, materials and subcontractors before jobs started was leading to uncertainty, mismanagement, and ultimately, financial stress. This wasn’t a one-off problem . . . it was a recurring frustration that rippled across the business. And it was fixable.

So I asked him:

What if before any job starts, you’re given a completed budget? 

What if you’re notified every time a budget is finalized and ready for approval?

What if one of your “Rules of the Game” was . . . No job starts without a budget approved by me

In my own experience, I needed to see the budget before any reconstruction job began. As I became more confident in my team and more comfortable with our process, I only needed to approve the budget if it was budgeted below our target gross profit margin.

I left it up to my team to decide how they wanted to present it to me . . . whether on a piece of paper, an Excel file, or in our production management platform. The format didn’t matter as much as the consistency. Before any job started, I reviewed it. Period. No exceptions. And that small step made a huge difference.

So here’s the challenge:

• Can you integrate this step into your process so it’s not wishy-washy?
• Can you get your team to follow it consistently?
• Can you impress upon your team why it’s important . . . not just to the company, but to you, and ultimately to them?

When you explain the why, people are far more likely to buy into the what. 

If you want your team to adopt something that may feel like an extra step or a hassle, they need to understand its impact. In this case, it’s about ensuring financial clarity, improving profitability, and eliminating frustration at the leadership level. And when the business wins, the team wins.

I know processes and paperwork aren’t the most exciting topics. But the truth is, that small changes like this can create massive shifts in business performance and personal peace of mind.

What’s the one thing in your business that, if fixed, would make everything else easier?