Growing Broke: Why Operations-Driven Businesses Struggle - And What Actually Fixes It

Most business books are written from the conference room.
This one comes from the job trailer, the shop floor, the field truck, the fabrication bench, and the back office at 10:47 PM when payroll still isn’t done.

Growing Broke is a book for owners who didn’t inherit a business, but built one. The ones who learned by doing, solved problems by rolling up their sleeves, and took on more than anyone will ever truly understand.

But somewhere along the way, the business that was supposed to create freedom began consuming every hour, every dollar, and eventually, every thought.

This book explains why that happens, and how to fix it.

At the core of most struggling operation-heavy businesses isn’t laziness, ignorance, or lack of effort. It’s that the business was built to “go fast,” not built to scale. The systems never caught up to the growth. And the harder the business tries to grow, the tighter the financial pressure gets.

In other words: The business is growing broke.

Inside, you’ll learn:

• Why adding more projects, customers, or crews often increases stress more than profit

• The hidden identity shift every owner goes through when the business outgrows their original role

• How margin leaks hide in plain sight, and how to find and eliminate them without cutting quality or people

• Why “working harder” stops working, and what replaces it

• How to stabilize cash flow with systems that fit the real world (not spreadsheets designed by people who have never set foot on a job site)

• The mindset shift that allows you to step out of firefighting and into leadership

This book is not theory.
It’s based on real conversations, real financials, and real businesses where payroll had to clear, not just in principle, but in practice.

If you own or run a business in:

• Construction

• Manufacturing

• Fabrication

• Marine or trades

• Earthwork, landscaping, or field services

• Logistics or operations-driven production

…you will see yourself in these pages.

Growing Broke will not only help you understand why the business feels like it’s always one step away from losing control, it will show you what to do next, in a way that is clear, grounded, and practical.

This is not about hustle.
This is about getting your life back.