Stephen Edwards, 6 November 2026
🎧 Listen to the episode on THE Profit First Podcast (6 mins)
There's one objection I hear about Profit First all the time.
"Surely I can only cut my expenses so much?"
You're right. And you're also not right.
I hear this one a lot
It's so common I hear it most weeks, and I've had it twice in the last couple of weeks alone.
One of those was from someone who's been running a photography business for 36 years. That's a long time, and a lot of experience. It also means you're looking at your business through a very specific lens.
And it's a fair question. If you haven't read the book, Profit First can sound too simple. Put your money into pots. Run a leaner business. Grow without piling on costs. Pay yourself more. For some people it sounds too good to be true.
So let's talk about it.
Why it's true (and why it isn't)
You can't just cut your rent. You can't just cut your team. Your bills and your fuel still need paying.
That's all true. But it's true with your current thinking.
Your current business. Your current system and setup. Your current knowledge and experience. That's the lens you're making the judgement through.
Life isn't black and white. It's grey. There's more than one way to be successful.
That doesn't mean there isn't a better way to run your business.
You don't know what you don't know
The worst thing in business is being closed minded and not seeing our own blind spots.
This is where a sounding board comes in. A coach, a mentor, a proactive adviser, a strategic accountant, a Profit First accountant. Whoever it is, someone to challenge your thinking.
You've probably heard the line that the definition of insanity, according to Einstein apparently, is doing the same thing and expecting different results.
Say you're a £300,000 business making £30,000 profit. You might think that's it. I'm stuck. I've cut my expenses enough.
But do we really think it's impossible for that business to go from £30k to £60k?
We've flown rockets to the moon. We've done some amazing things in this world. I think we can find an extra £30k of profit.
What's true is we might not have the knowledge, the thinking or the support systems to get there yet.
The personal trainer test
Take losing weight. Say you want to lose three stone.
With your current habits, your current diet and your current exercise, it might feel impossible.
Get an expert personal trainer who specialises in exactly what you want to achieve, and it absolutely is possible.
That's where Profit First comes in. And what we see is that most owners find the solutions themselves. The system lays the foundation. It facilitates the change.
One client's story
A client of ours ran a £600k business with two sites and 13 team members.
Within three months, he decided he didn't need both sites. He went from two sites to one, and from 13 team members to nine.
The revenue stayed the same. The profit went up by £200,000. And he paid off over £100,000 of debt within 12 months.
That's not true for everyone. Not everyone can make those sorts of changes. But he challenged his thinking, and he challenged his model.
The three pillars
It comes back to the three pillar system we talk about on our £5K Growth System webinar.
- Finance foundations. Do you understand your numbers? Are they up to date? What's the story they're telling you? No surprises, no cobwebs.
- Profit improvement. The levers you can pull: pricing, margin, client retention, how often people buy from you, and yes, cost cutting too.
- Wealth maximisation. Tax planning. If you're making more money, you want to keep more of it.
Think of it as a flywheel. You keep evolving it and challenging it.
If you'd like the webinar recording, drop me a line at hello@wearegro.co.uk and I'll send it over.
What To Do This Week
Pick one cost or one part of your model you've told yourself can't change.
Write it down. Then ask yourself: is that true, or is it just true with how I'm running things today?
Final Thought
If you're locked into your current thinking and your current model, nothing changes.
Profit First forces you to adapt. It forces you to evolve. A bit like Covid, when everyone had to change how they worked.
Want a hand with your numbers?
If you'd like to talk it through, drop me a line at hello@wearegro.co.uk.
- Watch the £5K Growth Model webinar: free training on building a business that can generate an extra £5K a month.
- Explore the Gro Academy: get free access and learn more about Profit First.
- Book a free meeting: we can look at what profit may be on the table, along with any tax saving opportunities.