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You win or you learn.

(Unfortunate) updates on my house + SaaS fixer-uppers š ļø

Almost a year ago, I shared how I was in the trenches with two fixer-upper projects:
One a house and the other a SaaS company.
I called them āfixer-uppersā because they were both things I knew could be amazing with the right effort, but they were far from perfect when I acquired them.
Well, buckle up because both projects took some unexpected turnsāand thereās a lot to unpack. š¬
In both cases, we thought we were smooth sailing with wind in our sailsā¦
But turns out, we werenāt even close. And as much as I wish I could say these were wins, they were more like lessons.
Hereās how it all went down.

Today in 3.5 minutes or less:
āļø Twice bitten, but still learning š
āļø Know when to cut your losses āļø

TWICE BITTEN, BUT STILL LEARNING š
When youāre on the verge of thinking youāre finished, itās tempting to call it a day and move on. But hereās what Iāve learned: just because it looks ādoneā doesnāt mean itās really finished.
For the house, we were 90% doneā¦ or so we thought.
The contractor had convinced us everything was almost finished, but a little digging revealed the truth.
The kitchen island (with the sink) had no water line connected to it. The beautiful, fancy wood floors my wife picked out. Installed like they thought they were tile with 1/4in grout lines. The bathroom showers. Not waterproof because they installed a layer of drywall directly behind the tile. Not to mention 10+ other discoveries that convinced me I may have actually been their first-time practice house.
Yeah. We were so far from done, it was like starting from scratch.
The SaaS business? It looked great on paper.
We were scaling ad spend, bringing in new customers, and everything seemed to be clickingā¦ until the money stopped hitting the bank.
We dug deeper and found some skeletons in the closet.
It turns out that our partner had an old Stripe loan for another business that had defaulted and Stripe found their way to collect. Instead of scaling up revenue, we were scaling up costs.
This was a gut punch.
But hereās the thingāwhen you strip it all down, you get to see the truth.
And thatās when you can really start making progress.
Takeaway 1:
Abdication is not delegation.
Iām a high-trust kind of guy so I donāt like to feel like Iām micromanaging. The truth is that freedom without accountability is chaos. I would have been able to identify issues earlier if I had a better system for measuring true results. For the house, I should have been checking in weekly to actually see work ābeing done.ā For the SaaS, we should have cut our spending in the first few days where the bank account wasnāt reflecting the funnel sales. It took us almost a month to uncover the root of the problem and that extended grace period cost me heavily.

KNOW WHEN TO CUT YOUR LOSSES āļø
Here's the tough part: When things arenāt working, you need to know when to cut your losses.
Thatās a hard call, especially when youāve invested so much time and energy.
But hereās the thing: youāre not losing if youāre learning.
Itās only a loss if you give up.
I couldāve just settled for āquirksā in the houseāHoney, this sink is not for dishes, itās more of a conversational art pieceābut I didnāt. I was still committed to the original vision. I doubled down, found a new contractor, and in two months, the place looked better than I ever thought possible.
But with the SaaS, the trust was broken.
Once I realized what was happening behind the scenes, I had to make the hard decision to cut my losses. I walked away from that partnership, knowing it wasnāt the right fit for me anymore.
The numbers didnāt lie, and sometimes, the smartest move is to walk away.
Takeaway 2:
Stay true to your standards.
Your entrepreneurial vision is usually hard for people to understand so you need standards you can fall back on. For me, Having a home we love and having 100% trust in partnerships are both non-negotiable. So I doubled down for the house and cut my losses for the SaaS.

So hereās what Iām left with: neither of these projects were wins.
They were lessons.
And those lessons? Theyāve shaped everything I do moving forward.
The house will get finished. It hasnāt been easy, but weāre getting there.
The SaaS didnāt make it, but I learned a ton.
You donāt always win right away. But you always learn if youāre open to it.
You win or you learn. š¤·
So, whatever you're facing right now, donāt feel disheartened. Learn. Grow. And get back to work.
THOUGHTS ON TODAY'S MARGIN MAKERS? |

To profiting more and working less. šø
-Matt

šļø COOL FREE THING
Most businesses bleed customers without realizing it.
You work hard to win themābut are you keeping them?
I just read Never Lose a Customer Again, and it changed how I think about loyalty, retention, and turning first-time buyers into lifelong fans.
Want the biggest takeaways (and a roadmap to keep customers for life)?

And if you want to read it yourself (I highly recommend!)āgrab the book on Amazon.

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