This week my business turned 5 years old.
Absolutely no one and no thing could wipe the big, cheesy smile off of my face because …
We made it!
For five years, I have helped business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs like you get their legal stuff in order so they can focus on building an amazing business. As a business owner, I have had to do some of the hardest things I have ever done (like firing an employee or asking for the business when I was terrified or that one time I had to tell my employees that I couldn’t make payroll). I have also experienced some of the joyous moments of my life (like $80,000 launches, getting notes from clients about how grateful they are for the work that we do and getting opportunities like presenting for Creative Live or speaking at a big conference).
When I first started my practice, my only goal was to replace my $40,000 annual salary that I received from my clerkship. I had no idea that I would be generating more than that in a month on a regular basis.
In fact, my business has generated over $1.5 million in revenue, most of that in the last 3 years. And I did it without 25,000 twitter followers and without a mailing list of 15,000 or more.
As business owners, we get really caught up in metrics that may or may not have an impact on the most important metrics. These are the ones that matter to you as a business owner. These are the metrics that let you know whether you’ve accomplished what you set out to accomplish and should be unique to your own personal measures of success.
So I thought I would share some of the stats from my business over the last 5 years that really matter to me:
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Revenue: $1.5 million+
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My salary: the illustrious six-figures (no, I’m not telling you my exact salary … stop being so nosy!)
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Clients served: 180
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Customers served: 1,678
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Products sold: 1,850+
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Full-time employees who have earned their living at my company: 5
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Humans taken care of: 5 of my family members (including myself) + 5 employees + 6 family members of said employees (this makes my heart sing!)
My most proud accomplishment has nothing to do with the size of my mailing list.
Instead, I am most proud of providing a wonderful place to work for my employees; the kind of place I wanted to work at, but couldn’t find, when I graduated from law school. Additionally, I am exceptionally proud of solving so many legal problems for my clients; completely taking the legal stuff off of their back so their businesses could soar. Taking good care of my employees and solving problems for my clients, these two things make me so proud and bring me so much joy.
I really can’t imagine caring about the number of likes on our Facebook page after receiving a note like this, along with a lovely 5th year anniversary gift, from my employees (I’ll just be over here bawling in the corner while you read this):
Honestly, screw mailing list size, the number of unique visitors to your website and other vanity metrics. This is the stuff that really matters. This is the stuff that will keep you going when it gets hard. This is the stuff that will make you look back, with a big cheesy grin on your face, and say “we made it.”
What are the metrics of success for your business? What would make you so proud you could cry?
