What does business growth and success mean to you? Business growth and success often go hand-in-hand, and they’re both used interchangeably to dictate whether a business is profitable. But there is no single metric that defines business growth or success – so how can you decide whether you’re doing well or not?
Traditionally, the revenue of a business, the number of sales it has and the profitability of its bottom line all combine together to signify growth. Have growth, and you’ll have success, right? Well, not necessarily! Business success is subjective. It’s based on what’s important to you. If your top value is family, yet you’re working 80 hours a week and spending no time with your loved ones, you’re not going to feel very successful!
And it’s the same with growth. You could be achieving higher levels of income each month, but if money isn’t the metric you hold dear, that growth will mean nothing to you.
If you’re wondering how to measure the growth of your business, here are some pointers to help.
Start with knowing your why
Business has to mean something to you, and that’s where your why comes in. You can only feel successful if you know what’s driving you and your business growth and success. What is your why? Why did you start your business, and what do you want to achieve with it?
Your why doesn’t have to be huge or world-impacting – it could be anything from wanting a global client reach through to simply earning enough to pay your bills and have a little left over. But once you know what it is, you can use that to help measure your rate of growth and level of success.
Know that business growth isn’t always about the money
Once you know your why you can focus on what’s really important to you. Because it isn’t always about the money. Growth can mean any number of things, including:
- Having a team or outsourcing work
- Hitting a specific income level
- Creating a passive income
- Achieving work-life balance
- Impacting on others
It’s about ensuring that you’re building your business on the right foundations and being honest with yourself over what path you even want to be on.
Don’t get hooked on vanity metrics
When you know your why and understand what growth looks like for you, you’ll be able to avoid defaulting to those vanity metrics. You’ll understand what metrics you’re going to use to measure and monitor growth in your business.
And as mentioned earlier, there are often several metrics you’ll want to measure – happiness, income, working hours, mailing list subscribers, customer leads, conversion rates and even engagement and conversations.
Go all-in on achieving your definition of business growth
Once you know what’s important to you, you can start going all-in on achieving it. Before you plan your business goals, and regardless of whether you plan weekly, monthly or quarterly, begin by reminding yourself of your why and your definition of growth. You can then make plans to improve results in those areas.
Going all-in is a lot easier when you know what actions will get the results you want. You’re more focused on your work and more productive with your time. You’re also more willing to do what’s needed to achieve your goals – even if it feels a little scary or daunting. You’re able to look past those limitations and focus on your future.
Celebrate growth, no matter how big or small
No matter how you’re measuring growth or the steps you’re taking along the way, take the time to celebrate growth. It’s not always easy to celebrate the wins you achieve – and it’s even harder to celebrate steps forward in your growth. But every single hour you save or client you onboard is worth celebrating. It’s a step in the right direction and an upturn in your growth chart. It shows you’re on the right track, and you just need to keep going if you want to reach the level of growth that matters most to you.
Ready to grow your team and scale your business? We’d love to help – so why not reach out and let’s talk! Here at Virtual Hand, we help busy, ambitious business owners find time and get stuff done, so they can share their gifts with more clients and have more time off. We provide a wide range of different services, designed to help you in a multitude of different ways – you can find out more about the various services we provide here.
