How to Measure Your Success as an Entrepreneur

Starting your own business is one of the most worthwhile things a woman can do. Worthwhile doesn’t mean easy, but how many wonderful and worthwhile things come with zero effort? 

We get it. You want results. And here’s the thing—you will get them. You can absolutely achieve everything you’re dreaming of right now. The wealth, the freedom, the recognition. The caveat is … that these things usually do, indeed, take time and effort. 

Along the way to all that good stuff, we’ve got some things for you  to keep in mind when it comes to measuring your growth (professional and personal—because your business is a part of who you are). 

Compare and Despair

It’s hard not to compare yourself to others when every day you’re hit with advertisements that flash in big, bold font:  “I made $100k in 6 months! And you can too!” 

Scrolling through your social media  feed and looking at stuff like that rightfully will get you thinking “Why can’t I get there? Why am I working so hard and not seeing even a fraction of these results? What’s wrong with me?” 

The short answer: There’s nothing wrong with you. 

The long answers: Everyone’s path is different. You can’t see the work that someone put in to get where they are today. Especially not in an Instagram post with less than 2,000 characters.  Those people you’re putting on a pedestal? They might have spent the last 30 years learning about marketing, sales, or design. Which means that naturally, they’ve seen some serious results only six months after starting their business. 

A lot of success—the kind people love to post about—is the result of a lot of very unglamorous years of work. But they don’t always write that into the inspirational caption. 

Remember that your story is your own. And your journey is your own. Don’t compare yourself to others. If you put in the time, make strategic moves, and dedicate yourself to learning—you will get there, too. 

Honoring where you are today will serve you well in the future. 

Embrace Cycles of Learning

In a society that demands things NOW, we’ve been taught to lean into instant gratification as a measure of what’s right for us or good for our future. 

So when you’ve been building your empire for the last six months, eighteen months, five years, whatever it is, you might get frustrated. You’re putting in the time. You’re putting in the effort. Why then do you still feel like you’re at square one? 

As an online entrepreneur, there’s A LOT to learn. You have to brand yourself, craft your messaging, create an offer, market it, and remarket it … to name just a few. If you don’t have a background in digital marketing, product development, or social media management—why do you expect to master those things in a few weeks, months, or even years? 

The Cycles of Learning is something we like to remind people of. When learning anything we, as humans, learn in cycles. Think about school; we take reading, writing, and math every single year to increase our understanding and breadth of knowledge—the same applies to what you’re learning in entrepreneurship.

Give yourself a little grace. And give yourself time. Give yourself five years even! You’re getting a whole education that will serve you for a lifetime. 

Enjoy the process of learning and never stop. Change is inevitable, and when you continue to allow yourself to evolve, you stay on top of your game. 

Stay In Action 

Action is what makes everything possible. 

In fact, it is the prerequisite for success. 

No matter what you’re learning or where you’re at, keep taking action. Try new things out. Apply what you’re learning to your business as it grows. The shortcut to mastery is trial and error. Believe us, no successful business owner got to the top of their game without making a lot of mistakes along the way. So start making moves in spite of fear, and we guarantee—there will be a lot of unexpected wins, too. 

We believe staying in action is foundational. That’s why we’ve developed all of our programming to help women integrate new techniques, methods, and ideas without skipping a beat. It’s the fastest way to find out what works for you and the unique needs of your business. 

Keep Expectations Reasonable 

We believe in dreaming big. 

And we want you to hold a big, powerful vision for the possibilities of your business and your life. 

But we also don’t want you to become discouraged on the way to reaching that dream. 

Keeping your expectations in check is necessary to stay motivated and inspired. You can’t craft the life you’re after from day one, but you can take little steps everyday that get you closer to it. 

When you measure your own progress against where you were last year you’ll be able to see that you are, in fact,  moving closer to your goal. If you measure your progress against others (comparison-itis) you’ll constantly feel that you’re behind. There’s no such thing as being behind. It’s your journey, nobody else’s.

Don’t Feel Guilty About Side Gigs and 9 to 5s

We all have to survive. And to do that, we should all be smart with our finances. Success (and increased cashflow) don’t happen overnight. And giving yourself security (which can take the shape of being an employee for a while) makes space for creativity.  We happen to believe creativity is essential when it comes to business success. 

Because if you’re not stressing about making ends meet and wondering if you’ll be able to pay the mortgage, you have many more opportunities to plan, problem solve, and innovate. 

We’ve taken side gigs when we needed to. In the past we even made our businesses our side gigs while we worked our 9 to 5s. You don’t have to risk it all to get big rewards. Be smart and take care of yourself and your pocketbook. 

Security is an asset to your wellbeing, your relationships, and your business. 

Invest in Yourself and Your Business

Where you invest your resources, time, and energy you will see results. Want to nail your advertising? Take a course in copywriting. Want to overcome your mindset hurdles? Get a coach. 

Need to figure out your finances to feel empowered? Enlist the help of a CPA. 

The money you make from your business shouldn’t get deposited directly to your bank account. Well, not if you want to scale, anyway.  You have to return a portion of those funds to your business in order to see an exponential return on investment. Remember that old saying “you have to spend money to make money”? Well, it’s actually true. 

Kickstart Your Growth 

Nothing but action, tailored strategy, and consistent effort will get you where you need to go. But that’s not to say you have to go it alone. If you need a little push, some accountability, reliable strategy,  and expert coaching—Encore Empire has got your back.

If marketing’s on your list of things to learn, we invite you to consider joining The FREE Marketing Methodology Workshop. Give us 5 days, and we’ll give you a marketing plan for the year that will transform the way you generate leads and create conversions. 

It’s your mini-course in all things marketing.  So you can keep learning and use all that new knowledge to take action.  

Ready to get rolling? Enroll here.  

If you want weekly live learning ,  join us in our Facebook Group, the Empire of Unstoppable Women.