Self-Made

11Sustainable growthBuild your business from your values not your ego

It took me just over four years to realise I had wasted so much money trying to build Shhh Silk into a big business overnight. Throwing money at every opportunity that came my way, from trade shows in America, to gifting thousands of products in the first few years to PR events, spending over $100 000 on a business coach … the list goes on.

You do need to be willing to try a lot of different things when you are building your business, however, not at the expense of making a profit year after year as a self-funded founder. This is where my ego really did get in the way of how I was operating Shhh Silk in the early years. It is not easy to admit it publicly, but it is the absolute truth. It is so easy to get caught up in comparison — something I have touched on throughout this book.

We're going to revisit this topic again, as I know it is something you will face (or have faced) with your business. It can be one of the biggest reasons why small businesses overspend on the wrong things and don't make profit sooner. The feeling that, unless your brand makes more than $1 000 000 in revenue you haven't really succeeded, comes from a place of your ego. And once you hit your first $1 000 000 year, you need to get to the next milestone, and so on and on it goes.

Your business revenue is not the most important metric for your business. When you are self-funded, the most important metrics you should be obsessing over ...