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Refuse to Lose Money in 2026

Refuse to Lose Money in 2026

Intentional profitability is a must

John Wilson
January 09, 2026

Hello home service operators,

As 2026 gets underway, I keep coming back to the same idea. Winning is less about top-line growth and more about refusing to lose money.

Below, I share my thoughts on this (after a conversation with Jack Carr about how companies can stop losing money in 2026).

Before that, check out these links…

Looking back at M&A in 2025
Homepros shares updates on heat pump water heater advancements
How we tripled our HVAC average ticket and finally made sales profitable
The National Weather Service released its first-quarter temperature forecast
Could you spare a minute to leave a review of the Owned and Operated podcast on Apple and/or Spotify?

Kickstart the Year With FieldPulse

If you want a cleaner, more organized operation in 2026, this is the right place to start.

FieldPulse field service management software is built for small and mid-size service businesses. It helps you manage estimates, jobs, scheduling, invoicing, and customer communication all in one place so your team stays on track, and your customers stay happy.

Between now and January 31, FieldPulse is offering an exclusive partner deal when you book a demo:

20% off an eligible annual FieldPulse subscription
50% off Premium Support for your first year

This offer is available to new FieldPulse customers who onboard at least three users.

If FieldPulse has been on your shortlist, now is the time to take action.

The Only Rule That Matters In 2026

The real divide in 2026 was not the market. It was a decision.

Some operators decided they were done losing money.

That single mindset shift changed how they planned, how they cut, and how they invested. Growth became secondary. Profitability became non-negotiable.

Going into 2026, that distinction matters more than any new tactic.

Stop Planning From Revenue

A lot of businesses still plan the same way.

Set a revenue target. Back into leads. Hope margin shows up at the end.

The operators who held up flipped the order.

They started with EBITDA, then worked backward. Not as a vague goal, but as a constraint that forced real tradeoffs. If profit had to improve, something had to change. Immediately.

That meant fewer “we’ll fix it later” decisions and more uncomfortable ones now.

Budgets stopped being aspirational. They became enforceable.

EBITDA Is Built, Not Turned On

One of the most dangerous assumptions is that profitability can be switched on when things improve.

It cannot.

EBITDA compounds slowly through dozens of small decisions that rarely feel important on their own. Over time, they decide whether a business has runway or not.

The operators who improved margins focused on fundamentals like:

Cutting inconsistent marketing spend, even if it occasionally hit home runs
Auditing software licenses and user counts that quietly grew out of control
Renegotiating vendors early, knowing savings take months to show up
Tracking cancellation rates and fulfillment efficiency, not just lead volume
Fixing material overbilling and rebate leakage that had gone unnoticed

None of this was exciting. All of it worked.

Consistency Beat Optimization

Many teams spent years chasing optimization.

New channels. New tools. New experiments layered on top of old ones.

In a tighter market, that approach broke down.

The operators who stabilized did the opposite. They removed volatility. Anything that produced wildly different results month to month became suspect, even if the annual ROI looked fine.

Predictability became the priority.

When cash flow stabilized, everything else got easier. Planning improved. Stress dropped. Decisions became mechanical instead of emotional.

Profit Created Optionality

The biggest benefit of refusing to lose money was not higher margins.

It was flexibility.

Profit created room to absorb slowdowns without panic. It allowed teams to invest deliberately instead of reactively. It turned vendor conversations from defensive to assertive.

That optionality showed up as:

Fewer rushed hiring decisions
Stronger negotiating leverage with suppliers and software providers
Cleaner pricing discipline in the field
Better positioning for acquisitions or expansion

Profit was no longer a scoreboard. It was protection.

The Real Lesson Heading Into 2026

The market did not expose bad operators in 2025. It exposed fragile businesses.

The ones that held up were not the fastest growing or the loudest. They were the most disciplined. They planned from profit, cut without sentiment, and treated consistency as a feature.

Going into 2026, the most important rule is simple.

Do not lose money.

Everything else gets easier once that is true.

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This is the year you take a different view on growth and profit.

How do you feel about today's newsletter?

👊 John

Disclosure: Some of the content and links in this newsletter are sponsored or affiliate links, which means we may receive payment or earn a commission if you click through or purchase. However, all opinions expressed are entirely my own.