From The Desk of Charles J. Kelly
Dear Fellow Business Owner,
Most businesses don’t have a revenue problem, they have a focus problem
If your business’ revenue is unpredictable even though you're doing all the right things from implementing systems, hiring people and trying new marketing then this video will help your business find the ONE thing to increase your business’ revenue.
I'm going to show you how to identify what's actually blocking your growth.
Not five things. One thing.
Because most business owners are trying to optimize everything at once. And that's why they stay stuck.
The businesses that break through don't do more.
They find the one constraint holding everything else back. They remove it. Then everything else gets easier.
That's what we're covering today.
The Inconsistent Revenue Problem
Here are the commonalities among business owners.
Business owners who are smart. Capable. Working long hours.
They've read the books. They've implemented systems. They've hired people. They've tried new marketing strategies.
And revenue is still unpredictable.
Some months are good. Some months are terrible. There's no clear pattern.
And the worst part? They can't figure out why.
Because they're doing everything they're supposed to do.
Why This Happens
Here's what's actually going on.
Most businesses try to grow by doing more:
• More marketing channels
• More products or services
• More systems and processes
The assumption is: if I do more things, revenue will grow.
But that's not how it works.
Because when you add more without removing constraints, you just create more complexity.
More complexity means more decisions. More coordination. More things that can break.
And that makes revenue less predictable, not more.
The Real Pattern
The businesses that actually scale do the opposite.
They don't add first. They subtract first.
They identify the one thing blocking momentum. They remove it. Then everything else starts moving.
Apple in 1997 is a clear example.
What Was Happening
Before Steve Jobs Returned (1997):
15+ product lines (computers, printers, servers, peripherals)
Annual revenue: $7.1 billion
Net loss: -$1.04 Billion
Market share: Declining
Employee count: Approximately 13,000
They had plenty of products. Plenty of smart people. Plenty of effort.
But revenue was unpredictable. The company was losing a billion dollars a year.
The problem wasn't lack of capability.
What Jobs Did
He didn't add more products.
He didn't hire more people.
He didn't create more marketing campaigns.
He cut everything except four product categories:
• Desktop Consumer (iMac)
• Desktop Professional (Power Mac)
• Portable Consumer (iBook)1998
• Portable Professional (PowerBook)
That's it. Everything else got eliminated.
What Happened
After Jobs Simplified (1998-1999):
• 1998 Revenue: $5.9 billion (actually lower than 1997)
• 1998 Net profit: $309 million (returned to profitability)
• 1999 Revenue: $6.1 billion
• 1999 Net profit: $601 million
Revenue became predictable again.
Not because they did more. Because they removed the constraint.
The constraint was complexity itself.
Now, you're not running a $7 billion company with 15 product lines.
But the pattern is exactly the same at your scale.
You might have 3 service offerings instead of 15 product categories. Or 5 different client types. Or 4 revenue streams.
But if 80% of your revenue comes from one of them, and you're spending equal time on all of them, you have the same constraint Apple had.
Just at a different size.
The 4 Part Approach
There are four parts to this:
Part 1: Revenue Audit
Where does your money actually come from?
Part 2: Time Audit
Where does your time actually go?
Part 3: Find the Constraint
What's the gap between the two?
Part 4: Remove It
How do you eliminate or reduce the constraint?
Let me walk through each one.
PART 1: Revenue Audit
Where does your money actually come from?
Not where you think it comes from. Where it actually comes from.
Most business owners don't have clarity here.
They treat all products as equally important. All clients as equally valuable. All services as equally profitable.
But that's not true.
What to do:
Pull your revenue from the last 12 months.
Break it down by product, service, or client type.
Then ask: which 20% of what I offer drives 80% of revenue?
This is almost always true.
A small percentage of what you do generates most of your money.
Everything else is noise.
Amazon
What They Know
The Data (2023):
Total products available: 350+ million items
Active sellers: 9.7+ million
Products generating significant sales: ~12-15 million (3-4%)
Top 20% of products: Generate 75-80% of retail revenue
They know exactly where the money comes from.
What They Do About It
Prioritize inventory space for high-velocity items
Fast shipping (Prime) focused on bestsellers
Recommendation engine optimized for high-margin products
"Frequently bought together" pushes profitable combinations
They allocate resources based on where revenue actually comes from.
Not evenly. Strategically.
Most business owners don't do this.
They spend equal time on everything. Even the things that don't generate revenue.
That's why revenue stays unpredictable.
Amazon has 350 million products to track.
You might have 5 services. Or 3 client segments. Or 8 different offerings.
But the math is probably the same: 20% of what you do generates 80% of your money.
The question is: are you allocating your time based on where the money actually comes from?
Or are you treating everything as equally important?
Part 2: The Time Audit
Where does your time actually go?
This is where most people find their constraint.
Because what you'll discover is this: most of your time is not spent on things that generate revenue.
What to do:
Pull up your calendar for the last two weeks.
Go through it hour by hour.
Highlight everything that directly generated revenue or moved a deal forward.
Now look at what's left.
That's where your constraint lives.
What you'll probably find:
Most business owners spend 60-70% of their time on non-revenue activities:
- Operations and admin
- Internal meetings
- Email management
- Problem-solving and firefighting
- Managing people
None of this is bad work.
But it's not revenue work.
And if most of your time is spent on things that don't generate revenue, your revenue will stay unpredictable.
TOYOTA
WHAT THEY DISCOVERED
The Problem (1950s):
Toyota looked at their factory floors and tracked where workers actually spent their time.
What they found:
80-85% of time spent on non-value-adding activities:
- Walking to get tools and parts
- Waiting for materials
- Searching for information
- Fixing defects after production
Only 15-20% of time actually assembling vehicles
The constraint wasn't effort. Workers were busy all day.
The constraint was wasted motion.
WHAT THEY DID
They built what became lean manufacturing:
- Tools placed within arm's reach (eliminated walking)
- Just-In-Time delivery (parts arrive exactly when needed)
- Andon cord (any worker can stop line to fix problems immediately)
- Visual management (problems visible instantly)
They removed the wasted motion.
WHAT HAPPENED
The Results:
- Assembly time per vehicle: Reduced by ~50%
- Defects per vehicle: Reduced by 80-90%
- Inventory costs: Reduced by 75%
Became world's most efficient automotive manufacturer by 1980s
They weren't trying to work harder.
They were removing what didn't add value.
You're doing the same thing. Just with your calendar instead of a factory floor.
Toyota was tracking thousands of workers across multiple factories.
You're just tracking yourself. Maybe a small team.
But the principle is identical.
Most of your time is probably spent on motion that doesn't add value. Walking to get tools was Toyota's version. Checking email, attending meetings, and solving operational problems is yours.
The constraint isn't effort. You're working plenty hard.
The constraint is wasted motion.
Part 3: Find The Constraint
What's the gap?
Now that you know where revenue comes from and where your time goes, the gap becomes obvious.
Most of your time is probably not spent on the 20% that drives 80% of revenue.
That gap is your constraint.
And the constraint usually shows up in one of three ways.
Constraint Type 1: Low-Value Work
You're spending time on tasks someone else could do.
Administrative work. Operations. Email. Scheduling. Problem-solving.
None of it requires your skill level. But it's taking your time anyway.
Constraint Type 2: No System
The revenue work takes longer than it should.
There's no documentation. No process. No checklist.
You're rebuilding the wheel every time. Which means it takes twice as long as it should.
Constraint Type 3: You're the Bottleneck
Every decision runs through you.
Nothing moves without your approval.
The business can't operate when you're unavailable.
The constraint you have determines what you need to fix.
Netflix
WHAT WAS HAPPENING
The Problem (Early 2000s):
- Reed Hastings, the founder, personally approved every major decision.
- Product launches delayed waiting for his approval
- Hiring decisions bottlenecked
- Marketing campaigns stalled
Company couldn't move fast enough
The constraint wasn't talent. They had smart people.
The constraint wasn't strategy. They knew what to do.
The constraint was Reed himself.
He was the bottleneck on every decision.
What He Did
In 2009, Netflix created what they call their "Freedom & Responsibility" culture.
They documented decision-making principles.
Then they gave authority to managers:
• VPs could approve up to $10M without CEO approval
• Directors could approve up to $1M
• Individual contributors given authority for their domain decisions
They removed the approval layers.
What Happened
The Results:
- Product launch cycle time: Cut from months to weeks
- Company scaled from 12M subscribers (2009) to 247M subscribers (2022)
- Hastings removed himself as bottleneck
- International expansion accelerated (now in 190+ countries)
Reed wasn't adding value to every decision.
He was blocking speed.
Once he stepped back, everything moved faster.
Now, Reed Hastings was bottlenecking a company with thousands of employees.
You might be bottlenecking a business with 5 people. Or just yourself and a couple contractors.
The scale is different. But the constraint is the same.
If every decision has to go through you, nothing moves when you're not available.
If every client interaction requires your personal involvement, you can't scale past your own hours.
If every problem needs your input to solve, your team can't operate independently.
Same bottleneck. Different size.
Part 4: Remove It
How do you eliminate or reduce the constraint?
Once you've identified the constraint, the fix is usually simpler than you think.
Here's what to do based on which type you have.
If it's low-value work taking your time:
→ Hire someone to handle it
→ Automate the process
→ Stop doing it entirely
Most of the low-value work you're doing either doesn't need to be done at all, or someone else can do it for $25 an hour.
If it's lack of system:
→ Document your process
→ Create a checklist
→ Train someone else to do it
The revenue work shouldn't take as long as it does.
If you write down how to do it once, you never have to rebuild it again.
If you're the bottleneck:
→ Give someone else decision-making authority
→ Set spending limits they can approve without you
→ Create principles they can use to make decisions
You don't need to approve everything.
Most decisions don't need you. They just need clarity on how to decide.
The key is focusing on one constraint at a time.
Don't try to fix everything.
Just fix the thing blocking everything else.
When Apple cut their product line to four categories, they didn't immediately fix marketing or supply chain or retail.
They fixed the constraint first.
Then everything else got easier.
How To Apply This In The Next 48 Hours
Here's what to do:
Step 1: Revenue Audit
Pull your numbers.
Identify which 20% of your work drives 80% of revenue.
Write down the specific products, services, or clients.
Step 2: Time Audit
Look at your calendar for the last two weeks.
Highlight what actually moves revenue forward.
What's left is where the constraint lives.
Step 3: Find the Constraint
What's the biggest gap between time spent and money earned?
Is it low-value work?
Is it lack of system?
Is it you as the bottleneck?
Step 4: Write Down ONE Action
What would remove or reduce that constraint?
Just one thing.
That's what you fix first.
The Bottom Line
The businesses that grow aren't doing the most.
They're doing the right thing first.
If you can identify what's blocking your growth, everything else gets easier.
Because once that constraint is gone, momentum returns.
And momentum solves a lot of problems on its own.