Starting a Small Business, the Reality of the Third Year. Our 'True First Step' Seen by Facing the Numbers

Starting a small company, now in its third year.

When you are chased by the work right in front of you every day, there are things that inevitably get pushed to the back burner.

That is the time to face your company's 'true challenges'.

The biggest theme right now for the company I started, MIRAIYA Lab, is precisely the 'balance between sales and profit.' While I am grateful that sales have started to grow little by little, I have been harboring a vague anxiety: 'Aren't we left with very little profit despite how much we are moving?'

Wanting to clear up that fog, I recently participated in a business seminar hosted by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The theme was about how to manage a company's 'numbers'.

During the seminar, there were words that struck deep into my heart.

'Even if sales are growing, if labor costs and outsourcing expenses pile up, no profit will remain. What is important is not the surface-level sales, but discerning how much 'actual profit' there is in that project.'

The moment I heard these words, I was startled.

Because it was exactly the image of us right now.

Having just started, our sales approach is all trial and error. We were moving recklessly, and whenever we received a project with a large number (sales), we were happy and jumped at it.

But, when I look back carefully...

There might have been projects where, even if the sales were large, most of it disappeared into arranging craftsmen (outsourcing costs), or where we spent too much 'moving time (sales man-hours)' through repeated meetings, making the actual profit negative.

Conversely, there must have been projects where, even if the sales were small, the construction proceeded smoothly and a solid profit remained, making it a happy outcome for both sides.

'True Profit = Surface Profit - (Time Spent × Value of Time)'

Although I understood this simple formula in my head, I was not calculating it at all, using the busyness of my daily life as an excuse. Perhaps I was running away a little from the fear of facing the numbers.

We don't have a perfect system yet.

We don't have a surplus of funds, either. That is precisely why we spend our days desperately managing the site while finding ways not to hold inventory.

And it is my role to apply the knowledge I have learned to the reality of the field.

Returning home, I shared what I learned today with my husband, who had just come back from the site, in my own words. Not as difficult logic, but as a story about the future: 'How can we continue to do good work in a healthier way?'

First, I plan to create a simulation tool that can instantly calculate the 'appropriate price we should truly be charging' for each project, with the help of AI.

To stop 'doing our best' based solely on intuition, and to continue delivering long-term, sincere value to the customers who need us.

Precisely because we do work that improves the quality of space (QOL), I want to gradually make the quality of our own work and lives 'better' as well.

We are still feeling our way, but we will move forward one step at a time, true to ourselves.

I hope this reaches those who are running while struggling with the same concerns.