Couverture de Profit Answer Man: Scaling with Profit First & Beyond

Profit Answer Man: Scaling with Profit First & Beyond

Profit Answer Man: Scaling with Profit First & Beyond

De : Rocky Lalvani
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 Hi, I'm the Profit Answer Man! The Profit Answer Man podcast is a weekly show hosted by Rocky Lalvani, a business coach and Certified Profit First Professional. In each episode, Rocky shares his expertise on how to scale profit and cash flow for 7-8 figure businesses. Episode 1 is the why, 2 - is Mike Michalowicz, and 3-13 are Rocky's take on each chapter in the book. The Profit Answer Man podcast is designed for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and anyone else looking to improve their financial management skills. Rocky covers a wide range of topics, including how to prioritize profit, manage cash flow, and grow your business. One of the things that sets the Profit Answer Man podcast apart is Rocky's engaging and entertaining style. He uses anecdotes, humor, and relatable examples to make the concepts he's discussing easy to understand and apply. If you're a small business owner looking for practical advice on how to improve your financial management and increase profitability, the Profit Answer Man podcast is definitely worth a listen. Whether you're just starting out or have been in business for a while, you'll find plenty of valuable insights and tips that can help you take your business to the next level. Sign up to be notified when the next cohort of the Profit First Experience Course is available! http://bit.do/profitblueprint More about making profitability simple: http://profitcomesfirst.com/ Profit Answer Man Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/496018144624882/ My podcast about living a richer more meaningful life: http://richersoul.com/ Any financial advice is for educational purposes only and you should consult with an expert for your specific needs.2022 Direction Economie Management et direction
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    Épisodes
    • Ep 308 Contractor Cash Flow Fix — The 4 Numbers Every Subcontractor Must Track with Dustin Young

      Ep 308 Contractor Cash Flow Fix — The 4 Numbers Every Subcontractor Must Track with Dustin Young
      Feb 17 2026
      Contractor Cash Flow Fix — The 4 Numbers Every Subcontractor Must Track with Dustin Young Find Rocky Lalvani @ www.ProfitComesFirst.com or email him at rocky@profitcomesfirst.com Pay-When-Paid Cash Flow: How Subcontractors Survive Long Payment Terms Subcontractors and GCs don't usually go broke because they don't have work—they go broke because cash timing, contract terms, and decision-making lag quietly squeeze them until payroll becomes a crisis. In this episode, Rocky Lalvani sits down with Dustin Young, a fractional CFO who works specifically with construction companies doing roughly $3M–$30M in annual revenue. Dustin shares the patterns he sees across contractors: "pay-when-paid" bottlenecks, contracts signed without understanding payment terms, books that are months behind, and owners stuck fighting fires instead of building systems. In This Episode, You'll Learn: Why subcontractors often get stuck with "pay when paid" terms—and how to reduce the damage with cash forecasting and up-front negotiation before you sign. The question Rocky asks that exposes a common blind spot: most contractors don't know payment terms before signing, and that can mean funding payroll for 90 days without cash coming in. The 4 numbers Dustin wants contractors tracking consistently (weekly/monthly): cash, sales, gross profit, net profit—so you can make decisions based on reality, not vibes. Rocky's gross profit mindset shift: top-line revenue can fool you, but gross profit tells you what size business you can actually run. Why Dustin's "field + finance" background matters: construction companies often have a disconnect where field operations and accounting don't speak the same language, which leads to waste, margin surprises, and chaos. The failure pattern Dustin sees: businesses die when they can't make decisions fast enough—especially when job margins are unknown and the books are months behind (he mentions a company six months behind that still "thinks" they did ~$40M). Why the hardest bottlenecks aren't spreadsheets—they're people problems (trust breaks, safety incidents, long-time employees) and why owners delay decisions even when they know what has to happen. The real cost of "tax advice" spending and shiny purchases (like the $120,000 truck example), plus how to pressure-test big spends (including marketing retainers) using a cash forecast before you commit. The Big Takeaway: If you don't know your contract terms, don't measure job-level profitability, and don't keep your books current, you're not running a construction business—you're financing projects for other people and hoping you survive the wait. Forecasting and a few core numbers create the clarity to negotiate better, avoid cash traps, and make faster decisions before problems become payroll emergencies. Bio: helps construction company owners get their lives back. Most contractors he meets are doing good with sales but are trapped—working 70-hour weeks, constantly putting out fires, missing their kids' games, and wondering why they built a business that owns them instead of the other way around. He knows because he's been there. He grew up around construction and spent the last decade building and scaling construction companies—some successful, some that taught expensive lessons. He's been in the field getting projects through the finish line and in the back office building financial systems to make the whole thing work. What he learned is this: revenue growth without the right systems just means you're working harder for less freedom. And freedom—time with family, the ability to step away, actually enjoying the business you built—that's what matters most. Now, as a Fractional CFO for $3M+ construction firms, he helps owners build the financial clarity and systems they need to scale profitably and get their time back. Because hitting $5M or $10M in revenue means nothing if you're still drowning in cash flow problems and can't take a week off without everything falling apart. Links: Website: https://www.raveninsights.co/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dustinhyoung/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dustinhyoung/ Conclusion: Dustin's message is simple: construction businesses don't need more hustle—they need visibility. Know what you signed, know when cash actually arrives, and track the numbers that tell the truth. Then build systems so the owner isn't the firefighter, estimator, and bottleneck all at once. Want to stop guessing and start running your business with real numbers? Listen to the full episode and then pick one action to implement this week: review your next contract's payment terms before signing,build a simple cash forecast for the next 13 weeks, orstart tracking Dustin's 4 numbers consistently. #ProfitAnswerMan #ProfitFirst #ProfitComesFirst #ConstructionBusiness #Subcontractors #GeneralContractor #CashFlow ...
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      38 min
    • Ep 307 Outgrowing Your Team: The Loyal "Mike" Problem Every Business Owner Faces with Kurt Wilkin

      Ep 307 Outgrowing Your Team: The Loyal "Mike" Problem Every Business Owner Faces with Kurt Wilkin
      Feb 10 2026
      Outgrowing Your Team: The Loyal "Mike" Problem Every Business Owner Faces with Kurt Wilkin Find Rocky Lalvani @ www.ProfitComesFirst.com or email him at rocky@profitcomesfirst.com "Every growing business has a 'Mike'—the loyal early employee who quietly becomes your biggest bottleneck." Most entrepreneurs don't fail because they lack hustle. They get stuck because the team that got them here… can't get them there. In this episode of Profit Answer Man, Rocky Lalvani talks with Kurt Wilkin—entrepreneur, former founder of HireBetter (a recruiting firm that partnered heavily with EOS companies), and author of Who's Your Mic?—about the moment every growing business eventually faces: you outgrow a "key person," and your loyalty delays the decision that growth requires. Kurt breaks down the "Mike" problem (the early employee who handled the finance/ops/integrator work), why founders wait too long, and what to do before the bottleneck starts costing you profit, time, and momentum. In This Episode, You'll Learn: What "Who's Your Mike?" really means—and why every entrepreneur either has, had, or will have a "Mike" if they keep growing. The classic growth pattern: how "Mike" goes from bookkeeper → accountant → controller → "CFO"… until the business hits a level where he's in over his head (banks, credit lines, bigger deals). Why business owners delay the hard conversation—and why it feels like firing a lifelong friend. Why you don't always have to fire Mike (reassignment can work)—but keeping a struggling leader creates a ceiling on the whole team. A key hiring truth: you can't attract A-players to join a team when a C-player is running the department. The "Pipeline Paul" warning for sales hiring—and the red flag Kurt calls out (repeated ~18-month stints). Why founders struggle to hire salespeople: the owner can sell because they are the business, but a salesperson can't replicate that without a real sales system. The difference between traditional sales and business development (solving the customer's problem vs. forcing a fit). The integrator affordability question ("Next Level Natalie")—and Kurt's view that many businesses have "money in the couch cushions" through waste and inefficiency. Rocky's take on the "everyone is busy" trap—and how sometimes one person is effectively creating fires the team constantly fights. Why peer communities matter: Kurt's perspective on EOS as a business operating system, and YPO as a broader peer group that includes family and personal balance. The Big Takeaway: Growth doesn't just demand better strategy—it demands better people alignment. If you're scaling and your leadership team hasn't scaled with you, you may be running a "lifestyle business" for everyone except the owner: the team hits goals, stays busy, and the founder is left holding the stress (and sometimes the lack of profit/cash flow). The question isn't whether you'll face a "Mike." The question is whether you'll address it early—before it becomes the reason growth stalls. Bio: Kurt Wilkin is an entrepreneur and former founder of HireBetter, a recruiting firm that helped entrepreneurs build next-level teams and partnered with EOS companies. He previously built and sold a finance and accounting consulting firm (growing to ~120 employees), and he hosts the podcast Unlocking Moves. Kurt's work focuses on helping entrepreneurs build strong teams and healthy businesses—what he calls "capitalism for good." Links: Instagram: @Kurt.Wilkin and @UnlockingMoves Facebook: @KurtWilkin Twitter: @KurtWilkin LinkedIn: Kurt-Wilkin Conclusion: If you want to grow, you can't avoid hard people decisions forever. Start by identifying your "Mike," getting clear on where the business is going next, and mapping the real gaps on your leadership team. Then have the honest conversations early—because once you see misalignment clearly, waiting only makes it more expensive (in profit, time, and momentum). Listen to the full episode to learn how to spot your "Mike," make the hard people decisions sooner, and build a team that scales profitably. #ProfitAnswerMan #ProfitFirst #ProfitComesFirst #CashFlow #BusinessOwners #Leadership #TeamBuilding #Hiring #Recruiting #PeopleOps #CompanyCulture #LegacyEmployees #EOS #Traction #Integrator #Operations #ScaleUp #Entrepreneurship #SalesHiring #BusinessDevelopment #SalesProcess #SmallBusinessGrowth Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@profitanswerman Sign up to be notified when the next cohort of the Profit First Experience Course is available! Free Copy of the Profit Blueprint Book: : https://lp.profitcomesfirst.com/landing-page-page Monthly Newsletter signup: https://lp.profitcomesfirst.com/newsletter-signup Relay Bank (affiliate link): https://relayfi.com/?referralcode=profitcomesfirst Profit Answer Man Facebook group: https://...
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      40 min
    • Ep 306 Hourly Billing Is Nuts: How to Boost Profits with Value Pricing with Jonathan Stark

      Ep 306 Hourly Billing Is Nuts: How to Boost Profits with Value Pricing with Jonathan Stark
      Feb 3 2026
      Hourly Billing Is Nuts: How to Boost Profits with Value Pricing with Jonathan Stark Find Rocky Lalvani @ www.ProfitComesFirst.com or email him at rocky@profitcomesfirst.com Most business owners don't realize the hidden cost of hourly billing. It's not just that it can feel annoying. It's that it can cap your income, misalign incentives, and create friction and distrust with clients—especially when estimates blow up. In this episode of Profit Answer Man, Rocky Lalvani sits down with Jonathan Stark, former software developer and author of Hourly Billing is Nuts, who's been on a mission since 2006 to help experts stop selling time and start pricing for outcomes. Together they break down why hourly billing creates an "artificial ceiling," how fixed pricing changes the client relationship, and how to protect yourself from scope creep by tying everything back to outcomes. In This Episode, You'll Learn: Why hourly billing creates an artificial ceiling on income (even at high hourly rates). Why clients hate hourly projects when estimates go wrong—and how it destroys trust. How fixed pricing rewards efficiency (and why hourly pricing financially punishes smart shortcuts). The difference between selling inputs/deliverables vs selling the outcome. Why most people think "value pricing won't work in my industry"—and what's really missing (the "why" conversation). How to handle "scope creep" by using the agreed outcome as a filter—and parking non-essential requests. A practical bridge for hourly billers: offering an estimate vs a higher fixed-price option to shift risk and provide certainty. The Big Takeaway: Hourly billing isn't just a pricing method. It's an incentive system—and it often incentivizes the wrong things. When you price by the hour, you cap your upside and risk creating tension with clients when projects run long. When you price for outcomes, you align incentives so both sides win when the work gets done faster (without sacrificing quality), and you create a healthier, more trusting relationship. Bio: Jonathan Stark is a former software developer who is on a mission to rid the world of hourly billing. He is the author of Hourly Billing Is Nuts, the host of Ditching Hourly, and writes a daily newsletter on pricing for independent professionals. Links: Website: valuepricingbootcamp.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanstark/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheJonathanStarkShow Conclusion: Hourly billing feels normal in a lot of industries—but as Jonathan explains, it often creates an artificial ceiling on your income and puts the client in the risky position of betting on an estimate that may not hold up. That's when trust erodes, projects get contentious, and both sides lose. A fixed price (and ultimately value-based pricing) changes the game: incentives align, efficiency gets rewarded instead of punished, and you can protect the work by filtering scope decisions through the agreed outcome—parking anything that doesn't contribute until after you "declare victory." If you're currently billing by the hour, this episode is your reminder that the goal isn't just to charge more—it's to price in a way that supports better relationships, better results, and a business model that doesn't depend on maxing out your calendar. Ready to stop selling time and start selling outcomes? Explore Jonathan's work at https://jonathanstark.com/ and check out http://valuepricingbootcamp.com to learn practical ways to move away from hourly billing. #ProfitAnswerMan #ProfitFirst #ValuePricing #HourlyBilling #PricingStrategy #Consulting #ProfessionalServices #BusinessProfit #CashFlow Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@profitanswerman Sign up to be notified when the next cohort of the Profit First Experience Course is available! Free Copy of the Profit Blueprint Book: : https://lp.profitcomesfirst.com/landing-page-page Monthly Newsletter signup: https://lp.profitcomesfirst.com/newsletter-signup Relay Bank (affiliate link): https://relayfi.com/?referralcode=profitcomesfirst Profit Answer Man Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/profitanswerman/ My podcast about living a richer more meaningful life: http://richersoul.com/ Music provided by Junan from Junan Podcast Any financial advice is for educational purposes only and you should consult with an expert for your specific needs.
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      50 min
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