You’ve got a $10K job. You slap on $3K as your “30% profit” Looks good on paper. Feels like solid margins But when you log into the bank account? It’s tumbleweeds. Here’s the culprit: your markup math is broken. Here’s why: You THINK you’re adding 30%, 40%, or 50% markup. But markup isn’t margin. And those “profits” you think you’re banking are being eaten alive. On $10K of costs: $3K markup = not 30%, just 23% $4K markup = not 40%, just 28% $5K markup = not 50%, just 33% And that’s why you feel