What will building a million dollar business cost me?

This week, I had about 25 conversations with applicants for my Million Dollar Badass mastermind. There was a recurring phrase that came up among several of the applicants:

“I want to hit seven-figures,” they'd say, “I’m just scared of what it’s going to cost me.”

This week I've talked to designers, lawyers, co-working space owners, a bicycle manufacturer and many more. With each one the scenario was pretty similar, they are making between $100K and $300K in revenue and it's nowhere near enough.

“What’s it costing you to have a $200K business?” I would ask.

Turns out, it’s costing them a lot. I heard stories of not having a Sunday off since 2015 (when this particular applicant was in the hospital, giving birth), of working long hours with barely en

ough leftover to take home to her family for over 10 years, of employees gone wrong (which led to one applicant making less money than every other member of her team), to not being able to visit her adult children in another city because she can't ever get out of the office for more than 1 day per week. For almost all of these women, their families rely on the income of their businesses to make ends meet (hello childcare, mortgages, car notes, and college tuition!) and yet it's costing them and their families way too much to continue to work this hard (cause they are literally ALWAYS working).

“I need to make more money,” they'd tell me. “But I don't have the hours in the day to make more money.”

Trust me, I get it.

I’ve seen this problem time and time again among my clients and have experienced it myself. In the early years of running my law firm, I was regularly bringing in $20,000 to $25,000 per month. And I was killing myself doing it. I had a spreadsheet with all of my client work called the Spreadsheet of Doom. I had a regular flow of new clients, which was both a godsend and a curse. I was making more money (but still not enough to stop worrying) and the amount I was working was costing my young family far too much. Don’t even get my husband started on the time we moved from South Dakota back to the NYC area and I was in the front seat working on my laptop for almost the entire four-day drive.

By the time we got back to New York, I had an emotional breakdown and my husband forced me to take a week off. I spent that week “off” unpacking our many boxes. The labor was neverending.

But that’s bullshit.

Here’s the problem. It takes more out of you mentally, emotionally, physically, financially to run a $200,000 business than it does to run a $1,000,000 business.

Why? Because a million dollars forces you to scale. To think big. To get clear. To get to $200K, you have to work your ass off. To get to $1M, you have to become a boss.

Now that my business brings in over a million dollars a year, I work less than I did at $200K. I see my family more. I travel. I turn my phone off. I have SO MUCH MORE FUN.

And just a few years ago, I was feeling hopeless and thinking I would be in this endless cycle of working too much and still somehow not having enough forever.

I call this disease the six-figure stall out.

Here are the symptoms:

You’re making over six figures but only because you’re busting your ass day and night to do it.
Your income is closely tied to your hours. When you’re working, you’re making bank. When you’re not working, you’re making zip.
You need to outsource but you don’t have enough time or money to outsource.
You can’t think of any way to grow your business without putting in more hours.

Does this sound familiar? Do you think the struggles will end once and for all if you can just add another $2,000 – $5,000 to your monthly income? Well, I can tell you, it probably won't.

If this sounds like your life, you might be stuck in the six-figure stall out. What are you going to do to change it?

xo,