Why Am I Working So Hard But Not Making Money? Run This 2-Minute Formula

There's a question I hear from business owners all the time: "Why am I working so hard but not making money?"

And there's a formula that answers it. It's hidden in plain sight, and it takes two minutes.

Income over effort.

That's it. Two numbers.

Income: how much money do I make? On a scale of 0 to 10. Do I make no money at all? That's a zero. Do I make as much money as I want, maybe more? That's a 10.

Effort: same scale. Zero is "I make money and I don't even notice it." Ten is "this business is killing me."

If you'd rather click than write, score your business here. Two sliders, same two numbers, and it tells you which of seventeen profiles you are.

These are not real numbers — and that's the point

The first thing people ask me is: "What's the difference between a four and a five on income?"

It's way simpler than that. There's no science here. It's gut feeling. You can think about it while you're taking a shower.

This is not about revenue. It's not about hours logged. It's highly subjective — and that's exactly what makes it so powerful. Because you might be making $2 million a year and still score your income a three. That tells you something no spreadsheet will: you're not happy with your income, and you're not happy with your effort. Whoever writes down a 3 over 9 is not happy with their business.

And when the gap between the two numbers is big — that's the signal. There's a problem here, now out loud, written in numbers you can see and start explaining.

The hidden truth: why busy doesn't mean profitable

Here's what most people miss about the 3-over-9 business.

It looks very glamorous.

Because a nine on effort is very visual. You're going to networking events. You're building cool products. You're hosting events. You're updating your website every other week. You're releasing new features.

The big number on effort is easier for people to see than a big number on income.

So from the outside, you look like the busy guy who's killing it. You may even look like you're making a lot of money — even if you aren't.

Now flip it. Nine on income, three on effort.

This is the dream — except it's not a dream, it's possible. But it's harder for people to see. You're not as active as other people. You're not doing a bunch of stuff at the same time. You're almost off the grid. But you're making a lot of money.

And usually, the more money we make, the quieter we are about it. We don't care about people knowing. We just enjoy it.

That's the honesty part of Income First: am I doing the things I do because I care about my business — or because I care about opinions and what people say about me? Do I care more about being the guy in the room, or about being with my family in Dubai?

What income-first companies actually do

Something very interesting about the companies that make tons of money — the income-first companies we studied very deeply — is that they do fewer things.

Fewer things, with more intention and more volume.

Maybe they don't do networking. Maybe they don't have a cool product. Maybe they don't even have a website. Maybe they only do events — but they do one event per day.

Or here's a better example: cold calling. Cold calling is something nobody sees. Only the people you call know it's happening. It's the thing most people avoid, because you're more sure they're going to say no the first time, the second time. People may not be super nice to you.

But I know a lot of companies that are highly successful, and most of their sales come from cold calling. A company with 20 SDRs doing cold calling all day long — that person makes a lot of money.

It's not glamorous. It's not fun. It may be boring.

But 9 over 3 is fun.

How to diagnose a struggling business with two numbers

When you're honest with yourself and you write down your real income score and your real effort score, you start understanding what's going on — and why.

Why am I spending so much energy, so much time, on something that doesn't even pay the bills?

Then you start finding the root cause:

• Is it my offer? Do people not care about whatever I sell?
• Am I spread too thin on many things, rather than doing one thing right, with the right volume?
• Do people like my product, but I don't have a sales channel? No sales process — I only sell through referrals and first- and second-degree connections?

Those are very different problems. And you can't fix any of them until the gap is on paper, staring back at you.

The first step to thinking Income First

If you really want to make money with less effort — which is something we all want, because money means you can travel, you can spend time with family, you can change the world if you want — it all starts by sitting down for two minutes and writing two numbers.

No science. No precision. Gut feeling.

If the two numbers are far apart, you don't have an effort problem. You have something to fix.

Be honest. Write them down. Then go find out why.

Those two numbers are also the first line of the one-page business plan I use, so if you're starting something new, write them before anything else. And if you want the fix and not only the diagnosis, score your business and I'll email you the plan for your profile.