What if these were some of the metrics against which you measured your success?
1. The impact your company is making
2. How much flexibility the founder and team have to do what truly matters to them
3. How much the company is a vehicle for everyone’s personal growth
4. How the founder feels while running and growing the business
Head count, gross revenue, profit, years in business, clients onboarded, and capital raised — these might also be what you track and celebrate, and how might things look (and feel) different if you added in 1, 2, 3, and/or 4?
While we’re on the subject of success in your business (which is up to you entirely to define), here are some ingredients that I’ve found to be essential in the creation of all definitions of success:
- A deep desire to solve a problem for an audience who wants to pay to have it solved
- Persistence, perseverance, diligence, and resilience
- Willingness to do it all when you have to and let things go as soon as you can
- Openness to bouncing back from noes
- Ability to overcome self-doubt
- Flexibility to iterate as you learn
- Not taking yourself too seriously
- Humility to ask for the help you need
What ingredient(s) would you add?