[Podcast Episode #16] Unlock the Hidden 30% in Your Business

Every business has untapped potential—hidden rooms within its own house that, if opened, could create significant new revenue and profitability with surprisingly little investment. The challenge? As entrepreneurs, we often grow so accustomed to the familiar hallways we walk every day that we stop seeing the locked doors right in front of us.

This is why private equity investors excel. They arrive with fresh eyes, step into someone else’s “house,” and immediately see what the owner has overlooked. They don’t just look at what is; they focus on what could be. They search systematically for unrealized potential in four key rooms: strategy, product, technology, and people. Their goal? Not to tear down the house and build a new one, but to uncover the beauty and opportunity already there—hidden in plain sight.

But here’s the truth: You don’t need to be an investor to do the same. Every entrepreneur can step outside their own story and see their business as if they were an outsider buying it tomorrow.

So let’s try a simple thought experiment: If you became the outside investor of your own company tomorrow—knowing everything you already know—what would you change immediately? What “rooms” would you remodel? What opportunities are hiding in your blind spots?

Think of this as real estate investing for business. A wise property investor doesn’t simply look at a house and say, “Nice kitchen.” They look for underutilized space: an attic that could be a loft apartment, an unused garage that could become a revenue stream, or a small upgrade that dramatically increases rental value. One of my favorite examples came from a Medici case study: a tiny maintenance bathroom, converted with a $25,000 investment, created hundreds of thousands of dollars in new value through higher rent and appreciation.

Your business works the same way. And one of the easiest rooms to renovate is your marketing and sales. Using the “Before, During, After” framework, you can systematically unlock value. “Before” focuses on how you attract new prospects, “During” is how you convert and upsell during the transaction, and “After” is how you retain customers, generate referrals, and reactivate old leads. Improve each stage by just 10%, and you will see compound growth—not incremental but exponential.

Take, for example, an innovative car dealership that changed its entire approach to “lost” prospects. Instead of walking away when someone didn’t buy their vehicle, they formed referral partnerships with competing dealerships. The result? A customer who would have generated zero revenue suddenly produced income anyway. A lost opportunity became a new stream of profit.

The same principle applies to every business running paid advertising. Most companies focus on the 2–10% of leads that convert now. But what about the 90–98% who don’t? With the right follow-up systems, referral partners, and alternative offers at different price points, these “non-buyers” become valuable assets rather than wasted budget.

Sometimes the best innovations come from outside your industry. Bring in an idea from e-commerce if you’re running a service business. Take subscription-based community elements from software companies and apply them to retail. Breakthrough growth often comes from importing ideas no one else in your field is using.

The reality? Most businesses can unlock 30% more revenue with the assets they already have. No reinvention, no massive capital expenditure—just a willingness to see with fresh eyes and act strategically.

The Medici principle is simple: Get your house in order. Look at every room—your marketing, your people, your customer experience—as if you were about to buy it anew. Step outside your story, challenge your assumptions, and you will find value that has been hiding there all along.

So become a student of growth strategies, or bring in someone from the outside who sees differently. Either way, there are coins lying in plain sight in your business. It’s time to pick them up—and open the locked doors of your own house.