"I have an idea and some savings. I don't know if the numbers work."
Twelve steps, ninety days, idea to income. We prove the profit on paper before you spend a dollar you didn't need to.
Start it profitablyPSS Launch Acceleration
Profit & growth advisory for small business owners
Your small business.
Start it right. Grow it profitably. Sell it for what it's worth.
I'm Michael Hanle, Profit & Growth Architect. One system for the whole life of your business, built to be profitable at every stage, from your first dollar to your final sale. Pick the sentence that sounds like your week.
Where's your business right now?
Three stages. One goal: a business that pays you.
"Our revenue is up. Costs are up more. My paycheck hasn't moved at all."
Revenue is the easy number to grow. We find the profit hiding in the business and make sure it grows with you.
Grow it profitablyPSS Growth Acceleration
"I'm thinking about selling in the next few years. I want top dollar. I don't know what to fix first."
Buyers pay for profit that doesn't depend on you. We score the 11 areas they look at and fix what's costing you the most.
Sell it profitablyPSS Exit Acceleration
Not sure which one? Tell me where the business is at and I'll tell you which door fits, even when it isn't one of mine. 20 minutes together
Sound familiar?
"I'm not sure this is going to work."Starting one
"Every decision in this business still comes back to me."Growing one
"I have a number in my head. I don't know if it's real."Selling one
"I don't want to find out in month eight that I priced this wrong from day one."Starting one
"I can't take a week off without the phone lighting up."Growing one
"If I got hit by a bus tomorrow, I don't know what happens on Monday."Selling one
Every one of those is fixable. Most of them faster than you'd think, once somebody reads the business with you.
No hype on this page. Just three numbers worth knowing.
About half
of new businesses close within five years. Most of them at a turn the owner didn't see coming.
61% more PROFIT
is what a 10% improvement in five separate profit levers adds up to. Not 10% more profit. 61%. Small levers compound.
About 80%
of businesses listed for sale never close.
Five-year survival: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics. The 61% is compounding math on five levers, each improved 10%: 1.1 to the fifth power. The 80% figure is widely cited across the business brokerage industry.
The PSS Profit Acceleration Operating System
One system. Three stages. Profitable at every one.
Launch Acceleration, Growth Acceleration and Exit Acceleration all run on the same method, so the business you start is built to grow, and the business you grow is built to sell.
Starting oneLaunch AccelerationProfitable from the first dollar.
Growing oneGrowth AccelerationProfit that grows with the business.
Selling oneExit AccelerationBack to the peak from either side. Then you decide.
Whichever door you come through, the work runs the same four steps.
First
A real conversation
20 minutes. You tell me where the business is at. I ask where it hurts.
Second
We read it together
LaunchRight if you're starting. The 3-minute scorecard if you're growing. The Exit Readiness Assessment if you're selling. Your numbers, on screen, live.
Third
What to fix first
A short list in the right order, in place of twelve competing ideas.
Fourth
Install it and track it
The work gets done and measured against the numbers we started with.
You can't prescribe medicine until you know the diagnosis. So we always diagnose first.
Build it so you could sell it for top dollar. Then decide you don't want to.
A business a buyer would pay well for is the same business that runs without you, pays you properly, and survives a bad year. That's the target from day one, whichever door you came through.
Aloha, I'm Michael.
I spent eleven years with Ritz-Carlton, eight of them as Director of Sales & Marketing on an $800 million residential property at Kapalua Bay. That's where I learned what billion-dollar discipline looks like from the inside.
Then I went to work inside a Lahaina investment group running seven businesses. We were set to grow from 50 people to 250, with two restaurants weeks from opening, when the fire came in August 2023. Five of the seven were gone in one night.
Rebuilding taught me which parts of a business hold when everything else goes. That's what I read for now, whether your business exists yet or not.
My favorite part of this work is the moment an owner finally sees the plan working. The stress drains from their face. The spark comes back. They breathe for the first time in maybe years.
The longer story →What the profit work has done.
Local contractor
$150,000+ in annualized profit potential found through cost and pricing changes, with no new sales.
Wellness center
Client lifetime value up more than 40% in 90 days through upsells and bundling, with less reliance on paid ads.
Retailer
Owner got back 10 to 15 hours a week, and monthly profit grew $8,000 within 6 months.
Consultant
Close rate doubled to 50%+ and $200K in booked annual revenue added, with no extra lead spend.
Results from PSS Growth Acceleration engagements. Every business is different, and your numbers are the only ones that count.
Questions people ask first.
Is this coaching?
It's advisory. I read the business with you, we decide what to fix first, and I stay in it with you while it gets done. You won't get pep talks or a one-size program.
Is the first conversation a sales pitch?
It's 20 minutes to find out where you are. If one of the three fits, I'll show you what working together looks like. If none of them do, I'll say so, and usually who might help instead.
I'm not sure which door is mine.
Most people aren't. Start with the conversation. One question usually sorts it out: tell me where the business is at right now.
Do you value or broker businesses?
No. Exit Acceleration gives you a clear read on what's dragging the number down and what to fix first. A formal valuation or a listing is a different professional, and I'll tell you when it's time for one.
Do I need to be on Maui?
No. Most of the work runs over Zoom. Maui is home, and local owners can meet in person when it helps.
What does it cost?
Launch Acceleration is $4,500 for the full 90 days. The profit work starts at $497 a month, and the scorecard tells us which level fits. Exit Acceleration is quoted as a defined engagement once we've seen the assessment.
Most of the small business owners I talk to aren't stuck because they're doing the wrong things. They're stuck because they're doing the right things for the wrong stage.
Not sure which door is right for you? Tell me where the business is and I'll tell you which door fits, even when it isn't one of mine.
20 minutes together
Virtual coffee over Zoom. No pressure either way.