From $47K in Profit to a Life-Changing Exit.

A Family Business. A Lot of Potential. And Almost No Controls.

CIT Sewer Solutions had been in the family for years. The father built it. His sons worked in it. It was a real business doing real work — servicing municipalities and local governments with the kind of infrastructure work that keeps communities running.

But when they came to ActionCOACH Benefic Group in 2017, the business was in a difficult place. Personal expenses were running through the company. Controls were loose. And in that particular year, the business wasn't just unprofitable — it was losing money, roughly $200,000 in the red.

They knew something had to change. They just weren't sure what.

"What happened over the next seven years — and especially in the final twelve months — is one of the most remarkable business transformations we have seen."

What Actually Changed

The work Andy did with CIT in that final year wasn't complicated. It was disciplined. It was consistent. And it was exactly what the business had needed for years.

The Five Ways Framework

ActionCOACH's Five Ways framework focuses on five specific levers that drive business profitability: leads, conversion rate, number of transactions, average sale value, and margins. Andy worked with CIT to identify which of those levers had the most room to move and built a plan around each one.

The $100 Approval Threshold

For a business where equipment costs can run into six figures, requiring approval on any purchase over $100 sounds almost absurd. But that was exactly the point. The discipline wasn't about the $100. It was about building the muscle of financial control at every level of the organization. Every manager, including the family members, had to operate within the system.

It was uncomfortable. It was also transformative.

Leadership Accountability

One of the specific focus areas was simple but significant: managers and leaders showing up on time. In a family business where boundaries between personal and professional had always been blurry, this was about more than punctuality. It was about establishing that the business had standards — and that nobody, including family, was exempt from them.

The Profit Account

Following the Profit First methodology, Andy helped CIT set up a dedicated profit account and commit to building it consistently. The idea is simple: take your profit first, before operating expenses, and watch the business find ways to operate within what remains.

CIT did more than follow the methodology. They maxed it out.

The Outcome Nobody Expected — But Everyone Deserved.

When a business goes from $47,000 in profit to well over a million in a single year, people notice.

Private equity came calling. Not one offer — multiple offers. The kind of attention that only comes when a business has transformed from something that depends on its owners to something that runs on systems, accountability, and documented performance.

At the end of 2025, CIT Sewer Solutions sold at a significant multiple. The founder — the father who had built this business over decades — walked away with a life-changing liquidity event. And in a structure that reflected how well the business was positioned, he retained a meaningful equity stake for when the business sells again in the future.

"The son is now CEO. The second son continues to lead key departments. The family didn't just exit — they built something that carries their legacy forward."

That outcome — a family business transformed, sold, and continuing to thrive under the next generation — is what years of coaching work can produce when a family finally decides to fully commit to the process.