How Profit First Helped Me Save My Donut Shop (and Myself)
Facing the Hard Truth
I thought being a “good” business owner meant keeping everyone happy: my team, my customers, my suppliers.
But five years in, I realized there was one person I hadn’t been taking care of at all — me.
After reading Profit First, I decided to finally look at my numbers, and what I found shocked me. Despite years of hard work, I hadn’t given myself a profit once. I was operating in survival mode, constantly putting out fires, and always last in line to get paid.
That book made me do the uncomfortable thing: open up my expense sheet.
When I compared my income to my labor costs, it was obvious. Our biggest expense wasn’t rent, supplies, or ingredients. It was people. And the truth was, I didn’t have a staffing problem, I had a schedule problem.
The Wake-Up Call
My first store was located in a tourist town and my team turned over every two weeks (no exaggeration). Employees often came to make quick cash and then left. I was constantly hiring, training, and starting over. By the time someone was fully trained, they were already planning to leave.
When I moved the business to Hermosillo, a more stable city, I finally had a consistent team. That stability gave me a clearer view of how the business actually operated. It also exposed the truth: we were overstaffed for our actual demand.
After breaking down our numbers, I realized that if we reduced our hours, we could eliminate one full-time position and still meet sales goals. I could finally give the business a profit, and even pay myself something as the owner.
It wasn’t an easy decision. I knew it would mean shorter hours and fewer people, but the alternative was worse: burning out, falling behind, and eventually losing everything.
The Decision That Changed Everything
When I told my team, I was met with the usual objections:
“But you’ll lose customers!”
“People hate when businesses change!”
The irony? Those same people had just complained about how slow it was.
I had already done the analysis. I knew exactly when sales were coming in and what hours were costing me the most. I reminded myself that a few lost customers were a smaller risk than continuing to operate at a loss.
Then it happened. One person quit right after I made the announcement, which honestly made the hard decision easier. Two days later, my best employee quit. That’s when I started to sweat. I was down to one full-time employee trying to cover everything.
I called in for backup and reached out to two former employees. One was a student who could work part-time, and the other was a dependable full-timer who knew our systems inside and out. Both said yes.
The same day they agreed to come back, my last remaining employee quit. Just like that, my entire team turned over within a week.
It was chaos — but it was also clarity.
Rebuilding from the Ground Up
What could have been a disaster actually turned into one of the best things that ever happened to my business.
With my two returning team members, I suddenly had a leaner, more reliable setup: a part-time student to cover the donut decorating and a full-time employee who could take ownership of daily operations. The shift saved me even more money than I had planned, since the student worked as a freelancer and didn’t require benefits.
Payroll dropped. Stress dropped. Profit went up.
But what really surprised me was how well everything continued to run. Even though the team was new again, they stepped right in because the systems were there to support them.
Recipes, checklists, cleaning routines, daily opening and closing procedures — all documented. My systems carried the business while I focused on something even more important: my life.
The Unexpected Test
It just so happened that all of this unfolded during my son’s birthday week. Between party planning, errands, and family time, I didn’t go into the shop for three full days.
And yet, everything ran flawlessly. Donuts were made, displays were stocked, supplies were ordered, and sales stayed steady.
That was my full-circle moment. I realized that the work I had done behind the scenes in documenting, simplifying, and systemizing was what allowed the business to run without me.
What Profit Really Means
For years, I believed profit was something that happened if things went well. But I’ve learned it’s something you build intentionally.
Profit isn’t about luck or hoping for a busy weekend. It’s about designing your business in a way that supports your goals, not drains them. It’s about making smart, sometimes painful decisions that create long-term stability.
This shift not only gave my business breathing room, it gave me breathing room. More time for family, more time for my freelance clients, and finally, a paycheck.
Takeaway for Business Owners
If your business feels like it’s constantly in crisis mode, you’re not alone. But profit doesn’t magically appear at the end of a busy month. Profit is built through intentional choices.
Start by tracking where your money actually goes. Question every expense, especially the ones you’ve convinced yourself are “non-negotiable.” Then look for opportunities to simplify. Sometimes less staff, fewer hours, or a smaller menu doesn’t mean failure — it means focus.
And if you ever wonder whether documenting your systems is worth the effort, remember this: when everything fell apart, my systems held it all together.
If you haven’t read Profit First by Mike Michalowicz, I can’t recommend it enough. It completely changed the way I look at money, expenses, and what it means to actually own a profitable business. It’s not a quick-fix book — it’s a mindset shift. And for me, it was the difference between running a business that drained me and building one that finally supports the life I want.
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