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INDUSTRY ARTICLEProfit Clarity

Leveling Up: From Identify Crisis to Competitive Advantage Part 2

July 1, 2026
BrandingLeadershipOperationsProfitabilitySalesProduction Workflow

In Part 2 of "Leveling Up: From Identity Crisis to Competitive Advantage," Marshall Atkinson moves from diagnosis to action. He walks shop owners through a simple exercise: pull yesterday's production data and check whether the work you actually ran matches the shop you think you're running. From there, he shows how to calculate Value Per Hour by decoration method, using real numbers to prove that two production days can consume the same hours and produce wildly different revenue. The article closes with a free tool, the Shirt Lab Value Per Hour Calculator, so shop owners can run their own numbers instead of guessing.

INDUSTRY ARTICLE

Leveling Up: From Identify Crisis to Competitive Advantage Part 2

"Being busy is not the same as being profitable. Routing decisions, not harder work, determine whether production hours generate value or quietly drain it."

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Get Marshall's newest articles, proven strategies, and practical ideas on profitability, leadership, operations, sales, pricing, and AI for decorated apparel businesses. Built from 33+ years of industry experience and helping more than 3,000 shops improve performance.

Free Shop Growth Insights

Get Marshall's newest articles, proven strategies, and practical ideas on profitability, leadership, operations, sales, pricing, and AI for decorated apparel businesses. Built from 33+ years of industry experience and helping more than 3,000 shops improve performance.