Three Years and $3 Million to Break Even

Doesn’t that show that you can achieve breakeven on a total investment much lower than $3 million?

Yes. In the real world I find that new catalogers who do everything reasonably well can achieve profitability in year three or four, on a total investment of around $500,000.

If all I need is 15,000 prior buyers on my housefile to achieve breakeven, why spend three years acquiring them? Why not get them all at once with a single huge prospect mailing in my first year?