Gilberto Herrera built Profitable Pro around a connected path to growth
Gilberto Herrera, Founder & CEO of Profitable Pro, Inc., works with coaches, consultants and service-based business owners to connect positioning, marketing, sales, delivery and follow-up. The conversation traces the business from a request for coaching to a broader community, and explains why a complete customer path matters before scaling.
Growth depends on more than attracting leads: positioning, conversion, service, retention and follow-up need to work together. Herrera’s experience running ads before the full Profit Flow was in place shows why businesses should strengthen the entire customer path before trying to scale.
What’s the short story of how your business started, and what makes it genuinely different from the other options your customers have?
Profitable Pro started with one person asking for help. I had built a career in sales and marketing, and Ricco McAdory asked me to coach him. That became the starting point for something bigger: a movement for business owners who want all the parts of their business to work together.
I work with coaches, consultants and service-based business owners who are good at what they do but need a clearer path to growth. We connect their positioning, marketing, sales, delivery and follow-up through what I call the Profit Flow: Attract, Convert, Serve, Retain and Multiply. The difference is practical implementation and community. We don’t stop at an idea or a motivational conversation. We help people put the pieces to work so the business creates profit, freedom and impact instead of consuming the owner.
How did you win your first customers, and where does most of your new business come from today?
The first customers came through relationships and people asking me for help. Ricco’s request to be coached is what started Profitable Pro. It grew out of work people already knew me for, rather than starting with a program and hoping somebody wanted it.
Today, most of my new business comes from online. We have an outreach engine that attracts prospects daily. Community is still an important part of how I work. Our free monthly Profitable Pro Live workshops at the Birmingham Public Library give business owners a place to learn, connect and get practical help.
What’s one decision that changed the direction of your business, and one mistake that taught you the most?
A turning point was deciding to build a movement instead of a single coaching offer. That meant bringing live community events, coaching and practical implementation together. I wanted people to have somewhere to keep learning and doing the work, not just buy a program and be left on their own.
One mistake was trying to scale by running ads before I had the entire Profit Flow in place. Attracting prospects and being able to serve clients at scale have to work together. Before you try to grow faster, make sure the whole flow is ready: Attract, Convert, Serve, Retain and Multiply. Running ads is not a substitute for having those pieces in place.
What has changed in your industry or in what your customers expect over the last couple of years, and how have you adapted?
AI has changed the conversation. There are more tools available, but having more tools doesn’t automatically create a better business. The question is where they help the business serve people and grow.
My work now includes AI receptionists, chat assistants and automated follow-up alongside marketing and sales strategy. I start with the business problem, then choose the tool. If leads aren’t getting answered or followed up with, that’s a problem worth fixing. If the offer isn’t clear, adding another tool won’t fix it. The goal is to connect the pieces and help the owner spend less time holding everything together.
If you were advising someone starting out in your industry today, what would you tell them to do first, and what would you tell them to ignore?
Start with a real problem for a specific person. Talk to the people you want to serve, understand what they’re trying to accomplish, and build an offer that helps them get there. Then learn to sell it and deliver on it. Your next business may be hiding in the help people already ask you for.
Ignore the pressure to look bigger than you are. You don’t need every platform, every tool or a complicated funnel before you can help someone. Get clear on who you serve, do good work, follow up and build from there. A business should create freedom and opportunity, not become another job you can’t leave.
Headshot credit: JP Howard Photography.
Thank you to Gilberto Herrera and the team at Profitable Pro, Inc. for sharing what actually worked with Leaders Perception readers.
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