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What Does a Successful New Business Have in Common with Liam Neeson? A Very Particular Set of Skills

March 4, 2024

By Barbara Nuss, CPA
Profit Soup

“… I can tell you I don’t have money, but what I do have is a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career.” Liam Neeson, Taken

The particular set of skills all business leaders need won’t make them action movie heroes, but experience shows us they will become the fastest to grow sales and profits. The best thing about this particular set of skills is that it doesn’t have to take a very long career to master them.
Businesses grow faster when they have a command over what we call “Breakeven PLUS.” They must understand how their costs change as sales grow and master a small amount of math.

What’s our evidence? We hear it from many clients who use our online training to onboard new franchisees and network members. We’ll use one franchise system that conducts water damage restoration services as an example. Their goal was to help new their owners become comfortable with the numbers side of the business. They discovered an added benefit when they required the Breakeven PLUS training for all new franchises. By learning to set growth goals with the volume needed to meet their profit goal in mind, owners were more intentional about sales and profits and grew faster.

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