Do You Know Your Numbers?
I want to share something from a place of support—especially for those of you who are building, growing, investing, and stretching yourselves right now. This is a follow-up to what I shared earlier about the four stages everyone goes through in meaningful growth:exhilaration, frustration, exploration, and determination. What I want to talk about today often shows up right in the exhilaration stage—when things are working, momentum is strong, and results are coming in. Let me take you back for a moment. When I first started my business, things were moving fast.I was helping people write books and become bestsellers—and it was working. People were paying. Clients were winning. Momentum was real. My very first book client paid me $10,000.That year, I worked with ten clients at that same level. My salary at the time was right around $98,000, and by the end of that year, I had essentially matched it through my business. The next year, I did it again. From the outside, everything looked like success—and in many ways, it was. I was exhilarated. Then one day, at a Rotary Club meeting, a woman named Ms. Vernada pulled me aside. She believed in my business. She supported what I was doing. And then she asked me a question that completely stopped me: “Tell me about your chart of accounts.” I had no idea what she meant. She followed up with more questions: - “What’s your ROI?” - “How does your P&L look?” - “What’s your balance sheet telling you?” And one by one, my answer was the same: “I don’t know.” Finally, she said something that changed the way I see business forever: “If you don’t know your numbers, you’re running your business blind.” That hit me like a ton of bricks. Here’s the contrast I want you to see. On the outside, I was making money.On the inside, I was guessing. I wasn’t failing—but I wasn’t fully informed either. And that’s a dangerous place to stay. What I’ve learned since then To this day, I’m still learning my numbers.I haven’t mastered everything. I’m still growing.