Every small business owner I’ve met has a target profit. Most often it’s as much as I can without killing myself (and their employees). But they all have a minimal amount they know they need to make so that it’s worthwhile.
Many small businesses run more like a family. They will take cuts themselves down to the minimal amount before cutting trusted people that make their life better. i.e. The operations manager that closes one of your stores every night will be kept whole as long as possible.
The owner may be able and willing to run the business at breakeven for a year or two. It often depends on how close to hoof to mouth the owners themselves are working. If the owner is diligently working every day in trenches, you’ll get cut faster. If the owner is running more like Warren Buffet, doing oversight and hiring managers to run things, they’ll go thin longer.
