Your grown-up, business version of a pony

It’s fun watching my kids — especially the littlest one — blow out her birthday candles. Her eyes are closed tighter than ever as she makes her wish and blows as hard as she can (allllll over the cake we’re all about to eat — Covid really changed the way we see things, huh? 😂).

I know she’s wishing for something big… Like a pony or a motorcycle. Sure, she doesn’t have a driver’s license, and we don’t even have a fence to keep a large farm animal in — but those little details aren’t going to stop her from dreaming.

And here we are — us smart adults — looking at next year’s targets thinking about raising our annual revenue goal by 10 or 20%.

“I just wanna do a little more than last year.”

Safe. Sensible. Comfortable.

If all we need to do is sell 1 or 2 more projects, or raise our prices by just a little bit, we won’t have to be disappointed by not hitting your target this time next year.

But our life isn’t going to look any different this time next year if we only increase our earnings by 10%. Half of that will be eaten up by inflation, the rest by taxes, and those extra little Starbucks treats we get ourselves for being on track for our goal.

I think we can do better. Much better.

Turn off the computer, go for a walk (without your headphones), and ask yourself “What would it take for me to double my revenue next year?”

Not what’s realistic. Not what’s comfortable. But what would need to be completely overhauled for my business to be miles — not steps — ahead this time next year.

It’s uncomfortable (at first). Your brain will fight it. “That’s too big! It’s too risky! I barley hit my goal this year!”. But don’t run from it. Sit in it. Give it time to marinade.

Instead of little bumps — more of what you’re already doing — you have to start imagining what you could do.

Maybe you’re already at capacity — so you have to start thinking about growing a team that will allow you to scale.

Maybe you’re stuck with clients you have to pry $20 out of — so you start thinking about applying and traveling to speak at events where you’ll get in front of bigger prospects.

Maybe you’ve got a lot of care plans, but they’re just not adding up quick enough — so you think about how adding SEO services could take your monthly retainer from $100 to $1,000 a month.

Don’t let the bad ideas stop you — just keep brainstorming. You’re looking for the kinds of things that make you nervous and excited at the same time. You’ll know you’re done when you wish you could teleport back to your office to get started immediately.

You probably have a dream for your business… Your grown-up, business version of a pony. But it’s just as unlikely to come true if you’re only thinking about 10 or 20% bumps year over year.

I don’t think my daughter is naive — she’s just unbound by the limiting beliefs we’ve wrapped ourselves up in over time.

There are agencies out there making double your salary — even triple or quadruple… Ones that don’t have any more skills, skins on the wall, or hours in the day.

The only thing they’ve done differently is not allowed themselves to be limited by what’s safe, sensible, and comfortable.

Why not you?