Your business can generate revenue and still have serious problems underneath the surface.

In this episode of Built By Doing, we're answering real questions from business owners dealing with the kinds of problems that don't always have an obvious answer.

One owner did $410,000 in revenue last year but only took home $38,000 — while two of his employees made more than he did. Is that normal when you're building a business, or a sign that something is seriously wrong?

Another business owner is about to lose her top employee, who's leaving to start a competing company and already knows every client in the business. We talk about protecting client relationships, non-solicitation agreements, controlling the narrative and what to do when an employee becomes your competitor.

We also break down what happens when you raise your prices 20% and immediately lose customers, whether you should keep funding a second location that's losing $6,000 every month, and one question I think a lot of business owners need to ask:

If you're spending $5,000 a month on advertising, can you actually prove it's making you money?

We get into marketing attribution, misleading ROAS numbers, tracking leads and sales, evaluating your marketing agency, understanding where problems exist in your sales funnel, and why business owners need visibility into where their revenue and profit are actually coming from.

There isn't one universal answer to every business problem. Sometimes making less money today is part of building something bigger tomorrow. Sometimes losing customers after a price increase is actually a necessary reset. And sometimes that gut feeling that something isn't working is telling you it's time to dig into the numbers.

We're not pretending we know every answer. We're sharing what we've learned from actually building businesses, making mistakes, losing money, hiring people, opening locations and figuring things out along the way.

If you're an entrepreneur or small business owner dealing with profitability, employees, pricing, expansion, marketing or growth, this one's for you.

Do you have to become successful before you can start giving back? I don't believe you do.

In this episode of Built By Doing, I'm looking back at ten years of David Alan Fashion Shows and why giving back became part of our business long before David Alan Clothing became the company it is today.

The first Fashion Show started in 2016 almost by accident. I was raising money for the American Cancer Society's Real Men Wear Pink campaign, had a young clothing brand, knew a few professional athletes and WWE wrestlers, and thought: Why don't we put on a fashion show?

We had no idea whether 20 people or 500 people would show up.

That first event had a budget of roughly $16,000. A decade later, we're producing a Fashion Show that costs more than $200,000 to put on — but the purpose behind it hasn't changed.

I share some of the craziest stories from those ten years, including the year an event planner canceled our entire Fashion Show one hour before it was supposed to begin, leaving us scrambling to move the event to a completely different venue in about 60 minutes. We called every ticket holder, sponsor and celebrity, found a new location and somehow pulled it off.

But this episode isn't really about fashion shows.

It's about why I believe businesses and entrepreneurs have an obligation to positively impact the people around them.

Stan shares a story I'd nearly forgotten: years ago, we were sitting at Panera discussing how broke I was and what would happen if I ran out of money. A veteran walked in, and I got up and bought his lunch. Then I sat back down and continued talking about how I might lose my house.

That story hit me hard.

Because I've always believed you don't have to wait until you have everything figured out to help somebody else.

This year, the 10th Annual David Alan Fashion Show: Dreaming On benefits Casey's Clubhouse and its incredible athletes with special needs. We're taking over the heart of downtown Pittsburgh on September 19, 2026, and we've set our biggest charitable goal yet:

Raise $100,000 in one night.

Whether you're an entrepreneur, business owner or simply someone trying to build something meaningful, I hope this episode challenges you to think beyond revenue and growth.

Build the business. Chase the dream. Become successful.

But bring other people with you.

Does entrepreneurship ever actually get easier?

Year one is hard. Year five is hard. Year ten is hard.

The difference is why.

In Episode 28 of Built By Doing, David Alan and Stan Kleja break down how the challenges of entrepreneurship change as a business grows — from fighting to survive in the early years to learning how to lead people, delegate responsibility, manage multiple companies and decide which opportunities are actually worth pursuing.

David looks back at the earliest years of building David Alan Clothing, when every dollar mattered. He shares what it was like putting roughly $60,000–$70,000 in business expenses on personal credit cards, defaulting on debt, going months without paying himself, prioritizing employees and vendors before his own paycheck, and reaching points where the question wasn't how to fund the next year — it was how to find money by next week.

Success eventually changes those problems, but it doesn't eliminate them.

With more money, a larger team, multiple businesses, national expansion and more opportunities comes an entirely different challenge: Where should your time go? Who should you trust? What should you delegate? Which opportunity deserves a yes — and which needs a no?

David and Stan discuss the transition from entrepreneur to CEO, why learning to trust other people with your business is essential for growth, what David looks for when hiring, and why time may be one of the best tests of whether someone truly belongs on your team.

They also tackle one of the most consequential decisions a business owner can make: giving away equity. When does an employee deserve more compensation versus actual ownership? What level of value should a potential equity partner bring? And why can giving equity away too early become a mistake you can't easily undo?

The conversation ultimately returns to a truth that applies whether you're in your first, fifth or tenth year of business:

The challenges don't disappear. You become better equipped to handle them.

If you're starting a business, scaling a company, building a team or trying to make the transition from entrepreneur to CEO, this episode offers a candid look at what changes — and what doesn't — as your business grows.

Built By Doing is a business and entrepreneurship podcast about what it actually takes to build, lead and grow companies — told through the decisions, mistakes, lessons and experiences happening in real time.

What happens when you set ambitious business goals and reality has other plans?

In Episode 27 of Built By Doing, David Alan and Stan Kleja revisit the goals they publicly set for August and give an unfiltered assessment of what worked, what failed, what got delayed, and what those setbacks actually cost.

The biggest miss? The new Columbus location still isn't open. Construction delays, permitting issues, architectural decisions and unexpected problems have pushed the timeline back, while rent, payroll, utilities and other expenses continue adding up.

But August wasn't all losses. The team built a new sales dashboard that's changing how they coach and manage performance, added another key member to the Closets by David Alan team, hit the Fashion Show sponsorship goal ahead of the event, and continued making progress toward expansion into Charleston and Nashville.

More importantly, the setbacks exposed weaknesses in their processes that can now be corrected before opening even more locations.

David and Stan break down the lessons they're taking from August, including why entrepreneurs need to trust but verify, why spending money on the right expertise can actually save money, how seemingly small problems compound during expansion, and why missing a goal doesn't mean the goal was a failure. Then it's time to put themselves on the record again.

They lay out their September business goals, including opening Columbus, advancing Charleston and Nashville expansion, growing the closet business, testing custom hardwood installations, launching a potential new custom blinds service, hitting company-wide sales targets, and an ambitious goal of raising $100,000 for Casey's Clubhouse through the David Alan Fashion Show.

This is entrepreneurship while it's actually happening; the wins, the misses, the money, the mistakes and what happens next.

If you're building, growing or scaling a business, this episode is a reminder that the plan rarely survives exactly as you wrote it. What matters is how quickly you learn, adjust and keep moving.

Built By Doing follows the real-world process of entrepreneurship, business growth, leadership and building companies — without pretending everything goes according to plan.

www.builtbydoingpodcast.com

What happens when your business starts working, but suddenly you become the bottleneck?

In Episode 26 of Built By Doing, David Alan and Stan Kleja answer real questions from entrepreneurs and small business owners navigating the challenges that come with starting, running and growing a business.

From building systems and learning to delegate to securing business financing, opening a second location, managing seasonal cash flow and improving customer retention, this episode tackles the real-world problems business owners face once an idea becomes an actual company.

David and Stan break down questions from business owners across plumbing, manufacturing, Pilates, home services, meal prep, pest control and event planning.

• How do you build systems so the business doesn't depend entirely on you?

• What do banks and lenders want to see before approving business financing?

• When should you open a second business location?

• How should seasonal businesses prepare for slow months?

• Why aren't your customers coming back, and how can you improve retention?

• Which financial numbers should every business owner actually be tracking?

• Can entrepreneurship really give you more freedom?

The conversation also gets into one of the biggest misconceptions about entrepreneurship: starting a business doesn't automatically buy you freedom. In the beginning, it often demands more nights, weekends and responsibility than working for someone else. Building the right people, processes and procedures is what can eventually change that.

Whether you're launching your first company, scaling an established small business, considering another location or trying to build a company that can operate without you handling every detail, this episode is packed with practical business advice learned through real experience.

Built By Doing is a business and entrepreneurship podcast about what it actually takes to build, grow and lead without pretending there's a shortcut.

Entrepreneurship looks exciting when you're watching the wins. But what happens when you're exhausted, overwhelmed, burned out, and the work still has to get done?

In Episode 25 of Built By Doing, David Alan and Stan Kleja get candid about one of the hardest realities of building a business: staying disciplined when the motivation is gone.

David shares one of the wildest stories from the early years of David Alan Clothing, a high-pressure WWE project involving Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair, KFC and a Colonel Sanders suit that went very wrong before it went right. With his reputation on the line, David found himself racing around New York City looking for supplies, spray-painting a suit in a Brooklyn hotel room and desperately finding a tailor hours before the garment had to be delivered.

It's a story about much more than clothing. It's about entrepreneurial resilience, problem-solving under pressure and refusing to quit when everything seems to be going wrong.

The guys also discuss:

• Entrepreneur burnout and how to recognize it

• Motivation vs. discipline in business

• Why consistency matters more than feeling motivated

• Building routines that keep you moving during difficult periods

• How accountability can help entrepreneurs stay consistent

• Using goals and business plans to navigate burnout

• Why processes become increasingly important as a company grows

• Finding motivation before your business is making money

• Turning criticism and negative feedback into fuel

• Protecting your reputation as a new entrepreneur

• The changing pressures of going from entrepreneur to CEO

• Why successful business owners still experience stress and self-doubt

• Finding solutions when quitting feels easier

Whether you're launching a startup, growing a small business, managing a team or trying to push through a season of entrepreneurial burnout, this episode is a reminder that you don't have to feel motivated every day to keep moving forward.

Problems will happen. Energy will disappear. Plans will change.

Find the solution. Do the work. Keep going.

That's what it means to be Built By Doing. (www.builtbydoingpodcast.com)

When you start a business, pursue an entrepreneurial idea, or try to grow something that doesn't fit the traditional mold, everyone seems to have an opinion. Some advice can change the trajectory of your business. Other advice can create doubt, unnecessary complexity, wasted money, or convince you to give up before you've really started.

In Episode 24 of Built By Doing, David Alan and Stan break down how entrepreneurs should approach business advice: who deserves your attention, when expert advice actually applies to your situation, and why blindly following advice from social media, friends, other entrepreneurs, or even professionals can be dangerous.

David also looks back at the early years of building David Alan Clothing, when people told him the idea wouldn't work, that Pittsburgh wasn't a market for fashion, and that he should abandon the business and find a job. He shares how criticism became fuel, why entrepreneurship requires an unusual level of mental resilience, and how his approach to seeking advice has changed after more than a decade in business.

The conversation also explores:

• Why business advice is rarely one-size-fits-all

• How to determine whether someone's advice actually applies to your business

• Why 10-second social media business advice can be misleading

• The difference between listening to advice and blindly following it

• Why your company's size, industry and stage of growth matter

• How entrepreneurs can turn criticism into useful information

• Why some business decisions require patience before you know whether they're working

• The danger of overcomplicating a young business

• How David nearly gave away equity during the early years of David Alan Clothing

• Why good advisors ask questions before giving answers

• How building the right team changes the speed at which a company can grow

The lesson isn't to ignore everyone.

It's to listen, understand, filter, and then make the decision that's right for you.

Built By Doing is a podcast about entrepreneurship, business growth, leadership, risk, failure, and the lessons you can only learn by actually doing the work.

www.builtbydoingpodcast.com

Nothing goes smooth. Ever. In Episode 23 of Built By Doing, David and Stan open a new monthly series: every month they lay out exactly what they're working on across the David Alan businesses, then come back the next month and grade themselves on what actually happened.

This month: the Columbus store was supposed to open in June. It's August. The landlord sent the wrong address, the internet contract collapsed, and an HVAC unit that should have taken two months took six. They planned for delays, built in an extra month of buffer, implemented lessons from the last opening, and STILL behind.

Also in this episode: negotiating LOIs in Nashville and Charleston at the same time, the strategy behind picking expansion markets, prepping the 10th annual charity fashion show at PPG Place in Pittsburgh, rolling out a high-end hardwood line in the closet business, and the live sales scoreboard that has the whole stylist team competing.

If you're opening a location, signing a lease, or juggling more projects than you can control, this one is for you.

Questions for a future episode? Sent us a message at www.builtbydoingpodcast.com.

A med spa owner asked when she should hire help. David's answer: six months ago. That's the energy of this entire episode, real business owners asking the hard questions, and David and Stan answering from experience, not theory.

In Episode 22 of Built By Doing, David and Stan field questions from business owners across different industries; from pricing and profit margins to hiring, outsourcing, employee retention, and how long it really takes before a business makes money.

Inside this episode:

- Why David Alan Clothing has never run a single discount or promotion — and never will

- The furniture store trap: how training customers to wait for sales kills your business

- How to A/B test pricing without tanking your brand

- The reverse-engineering method for setting profit margins (start from how much you want to make)

- Why "six months ago" is always the right answer for when to hire

- The exit interview strategy that stops you from losing your next good employee

- Why David would pay for a mobile detailer to service his clients’ cars during fittings

- The 5-year rule: if you haven't grown by year 5, something fundamental needs to change

- Why it takes 90–120 days just for marketing to start showing results

- How much money to have saved before you start — and why starting on the side is always the right move

This is the second Q&A episode of Built By Doing. If you’re a business owner, aspiring entrepreneur, or thinking about starting something, these are the questions you’d ask if you had two entrepreneurs and a CPA in the room.

Subscribe for weekly conversations on entrepreneurship, small business strategy, hiring, pricing, and building companies the right way.

If you have a business question that you’d like us to answer on a future episode, send us a message on www.builtbydoingpodcast.com, or leave us a comment!

David's first business was selling creepy crawlers for 25 cents at school. He got sent to the principal's office. Decades later, he's built an expanding successful brand that's donated over half a million dollars to charity.

That arc, from getting in trouble for hustling in first grade to running David Alan Clothing and David Alan Dreams, is the whole point of this episode. It all started with a dream.

In Episode 21 of Built By Doing, David and Stan go deep on the one thing that separates entrepreneurs who make it from the ones who quit: the dream that started before the business did.

Inside this episode:

- How selling candy from Gabriel Brothers at school taught David more than any business class

- The necktie company, the failed startups, and why each failure led directly to the next opportunity

- Why David's house — kitchen table, pool table, family room walls — became his first warehouse

- How listening to podcasts about Phil Knight, the Whole Foods founder, and other first-generation entrepreneurs reprogrammed his mindset

- Stan's music industry dream — from Grammy-winning studio to realizing it wasn't the dream he actually wanted

- David Alan Dreams: closing down Grandview Ave for a fashion show, $500K+ donated, and the Children's Hospital kids who inspired it all

- The September 19th fashion show at PPG Plaza for Casey's Clubhouse (Sean Casey, former MLB all-star), and next year's partnership with St. Jude

- Why "every day is a Saturday" isn't a flex — it's the result of years of sacrifice most people never see

- The practical advice: just start, take calculated risks, and stop comparing your Chapter 1 to someone else's Chapter 20

This episode is for anyone who's ever looked in the mirror and thought "who am I to start something?" David's answer: you're exactly the person who should.

Subscribe for weekly conversations on entrepreneurship, mindset, business growth, and building something that matters.

Questions? Leave us a comment or send it to us on www.builtbydoingpodcast.com