Straight to the answer to the question of “how fast can I get to six figures”?
It could take you one week, one year or one decade.
I know… not the answer you wanted to hear! But the amount of variables required to answer that question and the future-telling needed to know how you’d do would be impossible to give you a “GOOD” answer.
If you know your exact business model, your prices on products, your traffic flow then sure you can do a decent prediction but most people are asking this question with none of those things.
In this article, however, I invite you to consider another idea… that a Six Figure Business is not really the goal, anyway, and how it’s not the big celebratory moment that you might think!
Is a Six Figure Business Really the Goal?
In 2018 I hit my first year of running what is commonly called a “six figure business”.
It was a goal I had been searching for for YEARS and YEARS.
It felt like a dream, like I might never get there.
As a single mom of one when I set the goal I really believe that a six figure business would change my life, would solve all my problems and would make me a money-smart person.
This is me, off to work on my six figure business dreams in 2017 (no longer a single mom and now with my second kid). I enjoyed working on my laptop at the library or coffee shop – need to start doing that again:
It seemed like a dream so far away. That it wasn’t in reach but I kept trying, kept believing anyway that if I worked and worked towards that goal, I’d get there.
And then one day I did.
And nothing changed.
WAh wah…
No parties in the street.
No parades to celebrate my six figures.
Nothing.
Everyone seemed to just carry on with life, and why wouldn’t they?
Business income goals – Maybe rethink that?
Before I got to that point I really thought that everything would be better when I hit that range.
I thought all my money issues would clear up.
That I’d have more than enough money.
I thought I’d go up and up and up from there.
But that wasn’t the reality.
What I didn’t realize what I HAD the dream all along.
I had the most invaluable success of all – a lifestyle freedom business.
THAT was the perspective I didn’t see until later, perhaps even until now.
So instead of asking how quickly you can get to your first six figures in business maybe it’s better to ask what you want your LIFE to look like and if you can make that happen now, or in short order?
I made a video with more thoughts on this, if you like. Or skip past it for my suggestion on what to do INSTEAD of obsessing over the money part, now that I’m on the other side or hitting that goal.
Here’s the video:
What does it mean to run a six figure business?
It’s hard to know what someone means when they say they run a six figure business.
It could mean that they earn GROSS six figures – before expenses and taking a salary and paying taxes.
If could mean that they earn six figures PROFIT – that’s after expenses but before salary and personal taxes.
It could mean they earn six figures INCOME – that’s personal income as a salary.
Or It could mean nothing. It could also mean big things.
It has a lot to do with how profitable a business is. If you earn seven figures but your business profit is only 10% and you only take 5% of that as personal salary then you are making only $50,000 a year.
Your six figure business could be 90% profitable and you take 90% of that and grow the business using zero-cost methods and you’d be earning $90,000 a year.
So people THINK they want the million dollar a year business when in reality you’d take home more money with the $100k a year business.
Six Figure Business GOALS Are Not a Great Idea
This is why it’s SO tricky to think about a six figure business as an income goal.
I think a MUCH better plan is to think about what you want out of your life and go after that as a business and life goal!
Even though my income has fluctuated year over year I have consistently, every year, had lifestyle freedom – and THAT is what I started my business for.
I love to teach others how to build lifestyle freedom and aim for the BEST income goals for them. My favorite training I have for working on your goals is called Outrageous Goalsetting and you can find it here on my offers page: online business courses
I know it’s super boring but if you want to not end up with a huge tax bill at the end of the years you DO generate profit make sure you know how to manage your taxes and pay them properly. There’s an article on Forbes I found about that you might like here: Understanding taxes for your small business.
Wishing you all the very best as you grow the business that gives you the monetary AND lifestyle rewards that are important to you!
