Let’s be real: getting to your first million in EBITDA is hard. It’s not polish, it’s not systems, it’s not some secret hack. It’s brute force.
In the early days, I was carrying everything. That meant running lean, reinvesting every dollar, and chasing top-line growth just to stay alive. We had years with 45–48% overhead and maybe 2% net profit.
Jack said it best on our recent podcast episode:
“None of that money goes into my pocket. It all goes straight into growth initiatives.”
Been there.
But once you cross that first million, something shifts. Suddenly, you can build the systems that actually help you scale profit. Not just revenue.
Here’s the formula I’ve followed:
Get revenue big enough to justify real EBITDA
If you’re doing $5M and showing 20% margins, chances are you’re underinvesting. It looks good short term, but it’s not sustainable. We didn’t hit $1M in EBITDA until we were doing over $20M, because we were in heavy growth mode. I was buying companies, adding staff, expanding facilities. That’s expensive—but necessary.
Tighten office ops and track ROI
Last year, we unlocked a full $1M in EBITDA just by dialing in office operations. We switched CRMs in one department. We cut waste. We leaned hard on automation and overseas support. That margin didn’t come from raising prices—it came from running tighter.
Report fast and make it visible
We track gross margin daily. Break-evens by department. Days to profit. We went open-book with the P&L. Everyone sees the score. That visibility changed the game for us. It turned every team into a profit team.
Once you’ve built the machine, it’s not about pushing harder. It’s about turning the right dials. A new product line, better scheduling, flipping weekends on. That kind of stuff adds six figures in EBITDA when the foundation is right.
But getting to that first million? That’s all guts. The next ones are systems.
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