A business owner I work with spent one hour in December reviewing all the technology tools her 12-person company used.
By the time she finished, she realized her team was:
- Using three different project management tools
- Storing documents in two different places because no one could agree
- Entering the same client info into four applications
- And swimming in email threads titled “RE: RE: FINAL FINAL v7”
Once she added it up, her team was losing 12 hours per person, every week just switching between tools, searching for files and doing the same tasks over and over.
That’s 7,488 hours a year or $262,080 in wasted productivity.
By mid-January she had streamlined her tech stack, automated repetitive tasks, and cleaned up workflows.
Her team got their time back.
Her budget stopped bleeding.
And yes… she booked the Hawaii trip.
Here’s how you can find your vacation money hiding inside your tech stack.
Money Pit #1: Communication Chaos
Cost: $4,550–$6,100/month for a 10-person team
Most teams are using way too many communication channels:
- Slack
- Microsoft Teams
- Texts
- Phone calls
- Plus whatever someone downloaded “just to try”
Files get buried. Messages get lost. People spend half their morning searching for an answer that already exists… somewhere.
The real cost:
Teams lose 3–4 hours every week just hunting for information.
For 10 employees at $35/hour, that’s about $54,600–$72,800/year disappearing into the void.
Real example:
A marketing agency needed to check four systems just to answer a client question. Onboarding new employees basically required a treasure map.
The fix:
Pick one tool for each type of communication:
- Urgent → Phone call
- Quick questions → Slack or Teams (choose ONE)
- Project updates → Your project management tool
- Formal communication → Email
- Client updates → CRM
And enforce this rule:
“If it’s not in the designated system, it doesn’t exist.”
Your Hawaii Fund:
Even a small cleanup usually saves $2,000+ per month.
That’s beach money.
Money Pit #2: Tools That Don’t Talk to Each Other
Cost: $400–$1,900/month in wasted time
A lead comes in.
Someone enters it into the CRM.
Someone else enters it into the project system.
Then accounting does it again.
Same info. Three different places. Three different people.
Real example:
A real estate team was spending 14 minutes per lead doing manual data entry. With 60 leads a month, that was 14 hours wasted monthly, over $5,800 per year for work a computer could do in seconds.
They implemented simple automations. Now the entire process takes 30 seconds.
Another example:
A 15-person company moved from a messy tool stack to an integrated suite and saved 12 hours per week or $21,840/year.
Your Hawaii Fund:
Even modest automation saves $5,000–$20,000 annually.
That’s your flight AND your hotel.
Money Pit #3: Paying for Tools You Don’t Use
Cost: $500–$1,500/month
Most businesses don’t know every piece of software they’re paying for. Until they look.
Then they find:
- Trials they forgot to cancel
- Duplicate apps doing the same thing
- Tools they used once
- Old subscriptions still billing monthly
Real example:
A consulting firm discovered:
- 2 project management tools
- 3 communication platforms
- 2 file-storage systems
- A pile of apps no one remembered signing up for
Annual waste: $8,400.
The fix (20 minutes):
- Pull up your credit card/bank statements from the last 3 months
- List every recurring software charge
- For each one, ask:
- Did we use it in the last 30 days?
- Do we already pay for something that does this?
- Would we buy this again today?
- Cancel anything that fails the test
Your Hawaii Fund:
Most small businesses can reclaim $6,000–$18,000 per year just by cleaning up subscriptions.
Add It All Up: Your Vacation Awaits
Let’s stay conservative. A typical 10-person team might save:
- $36,400/year by cleaning up communication
- $4,000/year by automating one workflow
- $6,000/year by canceling unused apps
Total reclaimed: $46,400 per year
That’s:
- A family trip to Hawaii
- A week at an all-inclusive
- Year-end bonuses
- New equipment
- Or just straight profit
And these aren’t one-time savings; you keep saving every month.
Stop Throwing Money Away
The business owner in our story didn’t overhaul her entire operation.
She spent one hour looking at her tech.
Then she fixed three problems.
Then she went to Hawaii.
Your turn.
If you want help figuring out where your money is leaking, we can audit your tech stack and show you exactly where the inefficiencies are, including tools you’re paying for and not using.
And now, with Better Tracker, we can even help you replace those money-pit tools with smarter ones. Better Tracker is a cleaner way to keep track of what’s actually happening inside your business.)
Book your free discovery call here.
Because your money should be paying for ocean views and piña coladas, not forgotten software subscriptions.