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# The Stoneforge Newsletter

Long-form writing for owners of established services businesses. Each issue goes out to subscribers through LinkedIn and is published here in full.

[August 25, 2026 ### Profit is a dirty word A dealership sells the car at a loss and makes its money on the servicing years later. Why profit stopped being something owners aim at, and what the number actually measures. Read It →](https://stoneforgegroup.com/insights/profit-is-a-dirty-word/)
[August 19, 2026 ### How to get ghosted with your next proposal Hear a yes that was never said, skip discovery, propose the moment the business checks out. The five stages a deal moves through, and how to close out a proposal that has gone quiet. Read It →](https://stoneforgegroup.com/insights/how-to-get-ghosted/)
[August 10, 2026 ### Ten thousand hours in, and my belly flops still don’t win medals Thousands of hours off a diving rock bought competence, not a medal. Why the plateau arrives after the proving rather than before it, and how to tell which of eleven areas to work on first. Read It →](https://stoneforgegroup.com/insights/ten-thousand-hours/)
[June 19, 2026 ### Honoring instinct Three of us wrote a bid on a blank page, cold, and came within five percent of the number three weeks of work produced. Why an owner’s gut is almost never the part that is wrong, and what the numbers are actually for. Read It →](https://stoneforgegroup.com/insights/honoring-instinct/)
[June 16, 2026 ### What your price funds A photographer told us to double our price, and then double it again. What changed was not the money – it was what the work could become, and who turned up to buy it. Read It →](https://stoneforgegroup.com/insights/what-your-price-funds/)

### Run the eleven areas on your own business

The free assessment takes the framework above and asks you to rate each statement twice – how true it is today, and what leaving it would cost. No email asked for, and nothing you answer is saved.

[Start the Anatomy →](https://stoneforgegroup.com/anatomy-of-a-well-run-business/)