Doing profit models and I want to understand what is Good, Better, Best for Profit Margin ranges. Based on my research. 20-30 is Good, 31-40 is Better, 41-50 is best. Just want to get ideas and feedback on this. Thanks.

What's your biggest bottleneck right now? That's the focus point.

Before I ever owned a truck with my name on the side, I was a Manufacturing Supervisor at Lucent Technologies in Omaha, Nebraska. Two different worlds, same building. Half my time was on the shop floor — hands on product, watching things get built in real time. The other half, I got pulled into New Product Introduction. That's the room where design engineers decided what we were actually going to build. If you've ever driven down the street and seen one of those metal cabinets on the side of the road — the ones packed with wires and electronic gear — there's a good chance we built something like it. Here's what I learned fast: the design engineers had a project plan. Testing, specs, sign-offs — all of it mapped out before a single unit hit the floor. When they did that work right, production was smooth. Parts fit. Specs held. The product went out the door and it worked. But when they skipped a step, or rushed a spec, or didn't test it the way they should have — we felt it on the floor. Process engineers and techs would be going back and forth for weeks, chasing a problem that should've never made it past the drawing board. And the real gut-punch was when it slipped through anyway — went out into the field, and failed. Now somebody's standing in front of a customer trying to unwind a bad design, hours and dollars deep, for a mistake that got made long before we ever touched it. That lesson never left me. Every business is a product. And somebody has to be the architect — the one making sure the spec is right, the process is tested, and the plan actually holds up before it ever reaches the customer. Skip that step, and it doesn't matter how hard your team hustles on the back end. You'll spend your days unwinding a bad design instead of building something that works the first time. That's why I take the "architect" role in this business as seriously as I do. Design it right, and success isn't a scramble — it's the natural result of the plan.

Understanding this and setting a goal to exceed daily,, is positively impacting my bottom line. Had no idea that I was flying blind in this area.

Your first job as a founder is not to look successful. It is to make the business work. Sell something people genuinely need. Charge enough to deliver it well. Keep your expenses lower than your income. Protect your cash. Learn what produces profit and repeat it. Document anything you do more than twice. Hire when the work is proven and teachable. Pay attention to customers, but do not let every opinion change your direction. Build the business so it becomes less dependent on you each year. Revenue gives the business movement. Profit gives it strength. Systems give it freedom. Integrity gives it longevity.