Retainers create an illusion of stability while hiding margin erosion. The death by a thousand cuts pattern is predictable — and fixable with the right data.
Agencies|Margins|Scope Creep
Patterns, perspectives, and practical thinking on AI-powered business operations
Retainers create an illusion of stability while hiding margin erosion. The death by a thousand cuts pattern is predictable — and fixable with the right data.
Trades businesses face specific margin challenges: variable material costs, site surprises, and hidden admin time. Visibility changes which jobs you chase.
AI for service businesses is not about chatbots. It is pattern recognition at scale — surfacing insights across hundreds of projects that humans miss.
A project can hit every milestone in Asana and still lose money. Task completion and financial performance are different problems requiring different visibility.
Cash flow problems often originate before invoicing — in inaccurate estimates. When projects cost more than quoted, cash flow suffers predictably.
Only 25% of professional services firms deliver most projects on budget. Industry benchmarks reveal what "good" looks like and how to measure yours.
Scope creep is typically blamed on difficult clients. The real issue: you cannot price for what you cannot quantify. Data changes the conversation.
Every finished project contains data that could improve your next quote. Most businesses discard this intelligence. Here's how to capture and use it.
Most service businesses know revenue but not profit per project. This blind spot means unprofitable work repeats while profitable work goes unrecognised.
Estimation errors are systematic, not random. Learn why intuition fails and how historical project data reveals patterns that improve quote accuracy.
Most service businesses complete projects, send invoices, and move on to the next job without capturing what actually happened. AI agents change this.