I run a wood workshop and bought a CNC machine — work sped up but worker efficiency dropped, and the machine loan is still unpaid

If customer satisfaction is priority, you can find customers willing to pay a bit more. But you need patience.

Procedure: First, create a written policy. Have the customer sign it. Then enforce it.

Business view: If demand > capacity, we can do two things: 1) Raise prices. 2) Increase capacity.

Easy solution: go now identify the problem, solve it. You'll see results within a week.

Data analysis: As demand rises, capacity usually drops by 30-50%. That's your situation. You need to increase capacity.

The answer to this is simple: the door. Don't bother, just quit.

man this is a graet opportunity! go use it 100% right now!

Exactly like that. Pausing growth to breathe is also a strategy, nobody says that.

Hope this helps.

Let me summarize the topic, since several different answers were given. Solutions that work at a small scale collapse when you grow; I learned this late.

Most time waste accumulates in tasks waiting for approval. Correct me if I'm wrong.

The answer above hits the nail on the head. Trying to do this alone is the most expensive way.

If you post the result here, it will help others too.

The opposite happened to me, that's why I'm writing. The real issue isn't the number, but what it's based on.

I'm also curious if anyone does it differently.

Timely topic.

If you're going this route, sort this out first. Delaying bad news is the habit that causes the most losses in this job.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Let me summarize the topic, since several different answers were given. When the closure decision was made is as decisive as the decision itself.

If you post the result here, it will help others too.

Same here. People defend habits, not processes. Resistance comes from there.

Proven by experience.

You're right. When making decisions write down the worst-case scenario too not just the best.

The harder it is to reverse a decision, the slower you should make it.

correct.

This is exactly what we experienced. When we decide without measuring, we always end up in the same place.

If I were you, I'd go this route.