Revenue is for Show, Profit is for Dough

I come from a golfing family, my dad even played on the PGA Tour for a few years back in the day. Naturally, I was introduced to the game at a very young age. There’s a well-known saying in golf: “Drive for show, putt for dough.” While I never knew the exact origin growing up, it traces back to the mid-1900s and is attributed to legendary putter Bobby Locke. The idea is simple: hitting the ball far off the tee looks impressive, but it’s putting that ultimately wins tournaments and makes the money.

The same concept applies to revenue versus profit in business.

Revenue growth is obviously a good thing. It’s the starting point of the cash cycle and one of the most common benchmarks used to describe a company’s success. Phrases like “I run a $XX-million construction company” are often shorthand for the scale of the business someone has built. But revenue alone only tells part of the story, and it’s not always a reliable indicator of true success.

In construction specifically, revenue can grow quickly compared to other industries. The ability to subcontract work, combined with the size of individual projects, means that landing just a handful of jobs can put a company into the multi-million-dollar revenue range. And don’t get me wrong, revenue is important. But profit, in my view, should be the focus of the business owner.

Profit is what tells you how much of that revenue actually makes its way back into your (or your business’s) pocket. Gross profit reflects the profitability of individual jobs before overhead, while net profit shows what remains after all overhead and operating expenses are paid. These are the numbers that determine whether growth is actually sustainable.

A recent client transformation is a great example of “revenue is for show, profit is for dough.” Leading into this year, we spent significant time refining pricing strategies, staffing levels, and the overhead budget. The business had grown to roughly $5 million in annual revenue, which is an accomplishment in itself. However, the bottom line hadn’t kept pace, the company was essentially breaking even year after year.

In 2025, total revenue is expected to come in closer to $4 million, below both budget and the prior year’s $5 million. On the surface, that looks like a step backward. But despite the lower revenue, the business is on pace for a 5% improvement in gross profit and a higher net profit than the prior year.

That’s a 20% decrease in revenue with an increase in net profit.

That’s why I believe revenue is important but profit should remain the primary focus. At the end of the day, revenue is for show but profit is for dough.

To be clear, there are situations where prioritizing revenue over profit makes sense such as during a growth phase when you’re building overhead in advance, entering a new market, or making strategic investments for future scale. The key is understanding the tradeoff and making that decision intentionally.