This year so far, I’ve seen many founders, business mentors, and entrepreneurs making drastic shifts to the way they do business.

Big time creators (like this one – I highly recommend giving Vanessa’s post a read) are taking sabbaticals and burning down million dollar businesses.

And when you think about the actual number of small businesses that reach million dollar status (9%, and only 3% if you’re a woman…so ~925k businesses), it’s curious.

For so many entrepreneurs, hitting that million dollar mark is a dream come true. So, why give it all up? ?

After reading stories like Vanessa’s and hearing from other entrepreneurs who haven’t been as public…it got my mental gears grinding about what I want to take away from what they’ve shared.

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?‍♀️Scaling does not necessarily mean you’re working less.

In fact, for some people, it means working more, because you have more meetings, more team members who need your support, or possibly more investors/shareholders.

A big buzzword right now in the business world is “leverage”, and I LIKE leverage.

But the intention is, and always will be, greater than leverage.

• If you leverage your energy by hiring a housekeeper, even though cleaning is a huge stress reliever for you…is that really a win?
• If you use a meal delivery kit to save time, even though you love cooking and it brings you joy…is that really a win?
• If you hire someone to take on your client workload so you can spend more time selling, but working directly with clients is your favorite part of owning your own business…is that really a win?

If the intention is to have as much time, energy, and resources as possible to work on your business, then yes, those are wins.

If your intention is to do work you love or spend more time in joy, then no, those aren’t wins.

“I’ve created this machine that I don’t even like, and I’m realizing it’s a machine I no longer want to run.”

Powerful Quote from Vanessa’s Article

?Revenue isn’t everything. And revenue also ≠ profitability.

You could make $1 million in revenue and be taking home $100k. You could also be making $200k in revenue and be taking home $100k.

 A lot of people are hootin’ and hollerin’ about their revenue success (and I’m not knocking them down), but I think it’s good to note that there’s a lot of context you DON’T have if you’re trying to compare yourself.

There are infinite definitions of success, and if you could multiply infinity by 7, that would be the number of routes there are to get there.

?The world is changing incredibly quickly.

Call it Age of Aquarius (for my tropical astrologers), call it Saturn in Aquarius (for my Vedic astrologers), or call is New Paradigm (for my Human Design nerds). Whatever the reason…it’s happening.

Think about the adoption of cell phones. Just 15 years ago, phones looked like this…

Now, we can record full podcasts, tune into Video conference calls, and workout from home with an instructor all from our phones.

Social media managers didn’t even exist ~15 years ago, and now there are over 75k SMM roles in the US?.

Right now AI is in its T9 phase, and it’s a little bit headache-inducing to even try to imagine what it will look like at its iPhone 14 Pro stage.

While this is a little bit scary, it’s also pretty liberating.

None of us know wtf we’ll be doing or how we’ll be doing it in 5 years, or if it even exists in the same way!

Instead of letting this scare me, I’m actually excited about it. Because I don’t think it matters.

What matters as a business owner is that intention and the ‘why’ remain at “true north”?.

For me, my “true north” is to help small business service providers connect to their audience so they can continue doing meaningful work.

HOW I do that will likely evolve a million times over. WHY I do it will only change as my desires change.

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I’m taking away the following lessons for myself…

• Scaling isn’t a magical solution, so build consciously.
• ^^If I mess this part up, I can always pause, pivot, and try again.
• Avoid playing the comparison game.
• Stay focused on the present, because no one knows the future.

Xo, Rachel Jeffries Murphy, Founder of Rooted Strategy