Why Profit Alone Won’t Build Your Wealth

Why Profit Alone Won’t Build Your Wealth”

When I first started my business, I believed that making a profit was the ultimate goal. If I could bring in enough sales and keep expenses low, I thought that would naturally translate into financial success. Profit is absolutely essential, but I have since learned that profit alone will not build true wealth.

That realization came not from a spreadsheet, but from conversations like the one I recently had with my friend and wealth strategist, Eunicia Peret. We met years ago at a high-performance event, and I have always admired how grounded and clear she is when it comes to talking about money. In our latest conversation, she shared some powerful truths that every entrepreneur needs to hear.

Profit Is Only One Piece of the Puzzle

Most entrepreneurs start by chasing revenue. We celebrate our first clients, our first big months, and those milestones that show we are gaining traction. But what happens after that? As Eunicia explained, too many high performers fall into the trap of reinvesting everything back into the business without creating a plan for their personal finances.

When all of your wealth lives inside your company, you are exposed. If something unexpected happens, such as an economic shift or a change in the market, there may be no safety net. We saw this during COVID, when even successful business owners found themselves cash-strapped because everything they owned was tied up in the business.

The lesson is clear. You need a strategy that connects your business growth with your personal financial security. Building wealth is not just about what your business earns, but what you intentionally protect, invest, and grow outside of it.

The Missing Link: Strategy That Serves You

One of the most eye-opening parts of our conversation was when Eunicia shared that many entrepreneurs outgrow their financial teams without realizing it. The same accountant or bookkeeper who was perfect when you were starting out may not have the expertise to guide you once you hit consistent profitability.

At that stage, what you need is not just compliance or bookkeeping. You need strategy. You need someone who can help you minimize taxes legally and wisely, someone who understands how to balance business growth with personal wealth building. It is about creating a long-term plan that aligns with your values and your goals, not just getting through another tax season.

The Fear of Not Being Ready

If you have ever thought, “I am not making enough yet to need a wealth strategist,” you are not alone. I used to feel that way too. Many of the most driven entrepreneurs I know hesitate to reach out for help because they think they have to hit a certain income level first.

But as Eunicia put it so perfectly, if that thought is going through your mind, it means you are ready. The earlier you start asking the right questions, the better off you will be. It is not about perfection or having every financial system in place. It is about starting the conversation.

Money can be an emotional topic. It brings up fears, insecurities, and sometimes even shame. The truth is, there is power in asking questions. When you engage experts early, you give yourself time, and money loves time. The sooner you have a plan, the more options you will have as your business grows.

Ask Better Questions, Get Better Answers

Another brilliant point Eunicia made was about the importance of asking questions, especially when someone uses the word “strategy.” She shared how many professionals talk about “tax strategy” but are really just listing standard deductions anyone could find online. Real strategy goes deeper. It integrates different financial tools and disciplines to create outcomes that are customized to you.

That means you need to ask more from the people advising you. Ask them to explain what their strategies actually accomplish. Ask for clarity. Ask for examples. When you start asking better questions, you will very quickly see the difference between surface-level advice and transformational guidance.

Taking Ownership of Your Financial Future

At the end of the day, wealth strategy is not about being rich for the sake of it. It is about freedom. The freedom to make choices, to take risks, and to have peace of mind knowing that you are secure no matter what comes next.

For me, that freedom started when I stopped being embarrassed about what I did not know and started being curious instead. I reached out for help, I asked “dumb” questions that turned out to be really important ones, and I gave myself permission to learn.

If you are realizing that your wealth strategy might need attention, take this as your sign. Schedule a conversation with a financial expert. Revisit your tax plan. Set up a system to pay yourself in a way that supports your long-term goals. You do not have to do everything at once, but you do have to start.

Final Thoughts

Profit is the oxygen of your business, but wealth is the foundation of your freedom. One without the other creates imbalance. The most successful entrepreneurs understand that they are building two things at the same time: a thriving business and a strong personal financial future.

So ask yourself: if your business stopped tomorrow, would your personal wealth still sustain you? If the answer makes you uncomfortable, do not ignore it. Start today. Ask the questions. Build the plan. Your future self will thank you for it.

Chapters List

00:00 Introduction to Wealth Strategies

02:48 Key Components of Wealth Management

05:37 Overcoming Financial Barriers

08:44 The Importance of Asking Questions

11:30 Connecting with Experts

14:25 Conclusion and Call to Action

Full Transcript

Eunicia Peret (00:00)

the entrepreneur, especially once they become profitable, they're going to be more inclined to say, you know what, they'll just take the money that they've made from profits and they'll put it right back into business. And they never really focus on the personal side as well. And what that ends up creating

is a situation where when they're scaling the business or they're looking to grow the company or perhaps they're even thinking about, what if they wanted to exit the company? There is no plan. Everything is in the business and the business is it.

Amanda Kaufman (00:46)

Well, hey, hey, and welcome back to the Amanda Kaufman show. And in this episode, I am so delighted to introduce you to one of my longtime high performance friends. Eunicia Peret here with her her her wealth strategy tidbits. I'm so excited about this. And dear listener, Eunicia and I go way back. Like we we. Goodness, we met in like Utah.

2018 and we just stayed in touch for years and I've always been really impressed with how Eunicia shows up. She is such a genius. She's the founder of Excelstra and she does wealth strategies. She helps high performers and high performing companies not just make money. There are so many people that promise to make money. She helps people to be so much smarter with how they manage their wealth.

by having them connected into the correct strategies. And I'm gonna mess it up if I speak anymore. So I'm gonna welcome Eunicia to the show. Eunicia , why don't you take 30 seconds and say hello and let us know what your genius is.

Eunicia Peret (01:50)

Thank you, Amanda.

And to you as you're listening, I'm Eunicia Peret I don't recognize the person Amanda's talking about. However, I think that there might be something there. I am a wealth strategist. I grew up in strategy consulting. And so the depth of expertise that I've had from my prior world always been focused on the areas of

finance has given me a very unique perspective into not just how do we grow wealth, but more importantly, what are the things that people are missing out on when it comes to how they're managing their wealth currently. Because what we found is that if we focus on the areas that nobody else is addressing, because maybe they're too hard or maybe they don't know, or maybe they're too intricate because they cross multiple industries, financially speaking.

Then we truly have hit the jackpot and are able to deliver that value right back to our clients. And that's me.

Amanda Kaufman (02:45)

That's amazing. And you know, I always really appreciate, appreciated and appreciate you, Eunicia, because you are very straightforward when you talk strategy. You know, I think there's a lot of people who, when they say the word strategy, they're kind of disguising that they don't know the details, and that's not you. You are somebody who is incredibly thorough, and I've always really appreciated it. you know, speaking as an entrepreneur,

a lot of entrepreneurs start from a place where they have very little financial literacy, very little financial education. And I'm one of them, you I have to learn a lot and I'm still learning every single day. What would you say is the top thing you see higher performing entrepreneurs miss when it comes to wealth strategy? Like what is that biggest missing piece do you see most often?

Eunicia Peret (03:34)

There are actually two pieces, if I could go into them, and they sit in some of those different categories that I was mentioning about earlier is the first component, which is a very, very slippery slope is the entrepreneur, especially once they become profitable, they're going to be more inclined to say, you know what, they'll just take the money that they've made from profits and they'll put it right back into business. And they never really focus on the personal side as well. And what that ends up creating

Amanda Kaufman (03:37)

Sure.

Eunicia Peret (04:01)

is a situation where when they're scaling the business or they're looking to grow the company or perhaps they're even thinking about, what if they wanted to exit the company? There is no plan. Everything is in the business and the business is it. And a time such as during COVID was very eye opening for a lot of individuals and business owners that had to either close doors or even those in the medical field, insurance companies completely changing how they paid. It rendered a lot of

individuals, it put them right back to the 2008-2009 time frame and they went right back to zero in most cases. So that's a big thing is the individuals do not focus on truly having a plan that transcends between the business and the personal as well to give them that level of confidence of, you know what, if the bottom falls out, they'll be okay. The other thing that we see a lot of entrepreneurs struggling with is this catch 22 of

minimizing their tax exposure because as they continue to grow, they could deduct a lot of expenses. They're seeding the business. They're growing the business. And now, especially as they're turning profitable, they have truly outgrown the support that has been provided to them, not because their financial team is not amazing. They're not amazing human beings. They do not truly have the strategies that bypass the, well, we're just there are no more deductions to take advantage of. so now they're looking for

how else could they minimize their taxes? And one of the things that we see there, there's a huge dichotomy. Either individuals pay because they don't know that they have a different option, or they do the same, they go right back to what we discussed in the first part. They invest back into the business because in their mind, they're thinking, if I invest back in the business, it's considered a cost. It comes off the taxes and it'll be okay. What they don't know is that just investing back into the business,

is may not necessarily deliver the best results. And so because of that, one of the things that we see as a prime example is individuals that might have grown a company to the tune of 20, 30 million dollars. guess what? They're cash strapped, meaning they can't even they're looking at huge tax burden. They cannot even really withstand being able to do anything to minimize that because they've invested so much money into the company. There is not any

cash to really play with. just because the revenue is there does not necessarily translate into great opportunities, especially when it comes to how do we minimize the impact that tax exposure could potentially cause on their business.

Amanda Kaufman (06:37)

Oh my gosh, so powerful. And I remember starting this business like a decade ago and I was like, okay, if I can figure out how to make a sale, my life will change. And it did, right? Like it did, it really did to launch the business. But what you're saying is like so resonant and dear listener, I don't keep it a secret that in my own journey, I've learned the hard way some of these things that Eunicia, even being friends with Eunicia, I still stumbled into some of these things.

where, because I simply just didn't know, right? And I didn't know to ask and I was, I would say embarrassed, right? Because I think one of the things about, you know, money is that you're supposed to be super crazy good at it, but no one really wants to talk to you about it. And that's why you have to take a lot of responsibility. And that's exactly what I did to like reach out and ask the questions and, you know, shift the team.

financially speaking from being focused on okay compliance with making sure that you've got everything filed on time to like no strategy strategies where you get the best result by Allocating your resources in better ways so that you get you know better outcomes But that it's matched to where you actually are with your business, which is very unique I think that's another reason why a lot of entrepreneurs don't get the kind of help that they could is They don't realize that their situation

is unique and they do need to talk to a professional. What would you say to someone? Oh, go ahead. I was just about to ask, like, what would you say to someone who is like maybe thinking about engaging with experts on strategic wealth building? But maybe they might be counting themselves out. Because I know that was definitely me in the camp. I was always saying like, well, I haven't made enough this year. I didn't make enough profit this year. And, you know, from speaking to you offline, I'm like,

Eunicia Peret (08:02)

A big re- Go ahead.

Amanda Kaufman (08:28)

probably should have called Eunicia like a lot sooner. So what would you tell that person who's feeling like they might not be ready or qualified to start looking at their finances through a strategic lens? Maybe they have debt or maybe they have some ideas about like, don't make enough money yet. What would you say to that person?

Eunicia Peret (08:48)

I would say you've probably, if you're in that camp, the people that you've been surrounded with have probably right, indifferent beaten you into this submission of you're not there yet. And what I would press on to say is if that thought is going through your mind, you are not just ready. If you do not take action,

There is no way, there is absolutely no way that you're going to be able to elevate from where you're at to the next level. And Amanda, you mentioned something that's very, very key earlier. A lot of people feel that maybe they're just not good enough. They don't have enough. They're afraid and they're embarrassed to reach out. That was me too. When I left my corporate job and all of a sudden there was no huge salary, I felt

this tiny as a human being because my worth was somehow tied to that money. And what I found was that the faster I was able to ask questions. Now, of course, we built our business on what are things that don't work. However, on a personal note, the faster I was asking questions of, OK, this doesn't feel good.

I don't feel comfortable talking even for myself with my bookkeeper or my CPA. my gosh, they're going to see that I'm not perfect. I'm no longer making the kind of money that I was making in my in my super amazing corporate job. The reality was that the earlier you can engage experts and the earlier you can ask those tough questions, the better off you're going to be. Now, it goes back to the team. If you're feeling that way.

chances are you're not in a position where you can actually talk to your team about it because if they knew different, you would have known different. And this is where it's upon you to say, hey, you heard Eunicia, let's chat or ask Amanda some, my gosh, where should I start? Who should I talk to? Ask someone and have those tough conversations, ask your questions. And if the questions still leave you.

high and dry or still leave you with kind of your stomach going, I don't think we're on the right path, then continue on and don't give up until you have that awareness of, finally, I feel like I'm getting something new.

Amanda Kaufman (10:55)

I love that and that's such good advice. know, people will take forever to select a new pair of shoes or, you know, to make a coffee order. And they're really considering and deliberating that decision. But sometimes, you know, the anxiety, I guess, around like the wealth makes us sort of feel like you're isolated, you're alone and all those kinds of things. And money loves time. Like if you can have a good strategy and the time to let that strategy unfold and you're making deliberate decisions today,

for your better future, like it's all better. And by the way, I would say the same thing about marketing. I would say the same thing about sales skills and delivery skills. Like the sooner you recognize that if you knew better, you would do better. And that asking questions, which honestly, like, I don't know about you, but for me, that's 80 % of it. Like if I can just work up the nerve to like, okay, I'm gonna ask the dumb question, like that I'm judging as dumb. And it turns out it's not a dumb question. It's an important question. And...

I love what you said about like, if you're not feeling in your jellies that you're getting a good, you didn't say jellies, that's my word. If you're not feeling good about the answer that you're getting from the person, give yourself that permission you give yourself when you're choosing different shoes to check in with a different expert. And that was my experience as well, is that I did need to talk to a few different people, which meant that it felt like I was ripping the bandaid off a few times.

But you know what, it was about half a sucky the second time and then was half a sucky again the third time because I realized the clarity of my question and I was better able to listen to my gut with who I ultimately chose to engage with at that time. And I'm gonna add to that, it's okay to level up. It's okay to level up your expertise as you go too. Yeah.

Eunicia Peret (12:37)

As a matter of fact,

I have a perfect example of how asking those questions will actually lead you to understand that the answers you've been getting, because there's that dichotomy of, you know that you've got the right answer? Do you know you're on the right path? How do you know? For example, talking about tax strategies, I was recently at a medical conference and one of the CPA firms that were there, they're talking about, you know, tax strategy this and tax strategy that.

the person that was next to me who very keenly, she's a fractional CFO, she very keenly understands what we do. She looked at me and she said, it just tickles me to no end when I hear those CPAs companies talk about tax strategies when all they're really talking about is deductions and things that all of these people could find on Google. Whereas when you say tax strategy, it truly means these are the things.

that the ultra wealthy do that 99.999 % of the population doesn't have access to. And yet people think that just because somebody uses the word strategy or whatever the word is that automatically they're at the next level. Well, ask the question because when you start asking the question and you start asking, well, tell me more about what are some of the strategies that you talk about, you will very quickly realize that those strategies are the exact same things that yes, they are Googleable. You can find them out there and then you will know that, okay,

There's something else out there that I'm not getting. Where do I know? Who do I need to talk to to get to the next level? And that's key.

Amanda Kaufman (14:04)

So key one extraordinary outcomes. You got to do a little extra and you got it You got to look at it a little bit differently you need to get Was it what is the best way for people to like connect with you to follow up with you to hear your latest wisdoms? What's the best way to do that?

Eunicia Peret (14:22)

The best way to do that is via social media. Best, best, best way is on LinkedIn. We're very present there. Obviously we talk to a lot of entrepreneurs, a lot of business owners and a lot of executives. So if you're on LinkedIn, if you're not on LinkedIn, get on LinkedIn. If you're there, look us up, send us a DM. When the show airs, let us know what are some of the things maybe that you would be interested on. We can dive in into more of the specifics and...

If you DM on LinkedIn, if you DM me the word strategy, we will send you a free gift that will help you elevate your mindset and really how you should be thinking about your wealth, tax optimization, all the things that you should be thinking about that frankly nobody's talking about. And of course, you can easily find me by just looking up my name, Eunicia Peret which will be in the show notes and should be very easy.

Amanda Kaufman (15:11)

Amazing. And yes, dear listener, we're going to make sure that we Eunicia's full details in the show notes. You should definitely follow her. Definitely connect. She's got some very exciting things that are coming out really soon and maybe have already been out depending on when you listen to this. So definitely go check it out. Eunicia, thank you so much for being here.

Eunicia Peret (15:29)

It was a pleasure, Amanda. And thank you to all of the listeners. Thank you for listening and tuning in and make sure that you stay connected with Amanda. She's got some unbelievable things coming in and coming out all the time.

Amanda Kaufman (15:41)

I love that. you know what, listener, if you if you heard something that was like a powerful nugget, make sure you grab the link to this episode and forward it to two or three of your friends. We need to have more open conversations about being financially competent and like strategic and not just relying on tax time and hope.

Hope it's just not a strategy. So make sure you grab that link and share it with a few people and if you haven't already Make sure you hit the subscribe button, you know, there's a lot of listeners that listen every single week But they don't hit that subscribe button it helps us to know whether you really want to hear more of what we're doing and Finally if you've got like two minutes a friendly rating

always does a lovely thing. know, people will have to decide where they're going to spend their precious time and you taking the time to leave an honest review of the show makes all the difference. So until next time, we will see you on the Amanda Kaufman show and until then make sure you do what matters.