When Can I Expect Profit?
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You may not want to hear this but…
It takes the average small business YEARS to become profitable- as in, revenue minus expenses equals a positive number. The current “standard estimation” is 2-3 years (see here, here, and here).
Of course, averages have outliers and estimations vary wildly based on startup and standard operating costs. (I had fairly low startup costs and achieved profitability in 3 months.)
But: if instant profitability is your expectation, know you’re expecting to shoot the moon.
Nothing wrong with that, but audacious, bold expectations require audacious, bold ACTIONS to bring about the results you want. You don’t get there that fast with same-old, same-old moves and your up-to-now mindset and approach.
Help Before Profit In Order TO Profit
Here is a common mistake that I want to help you avoid:
Many new business owners know they need help but want to wait til that profit money comes in.
And, as dramatic as it sounds, in all seriousness, I think that’s largely why 1 in 5 businesses don’t make it past the first year and half of all businesses go under by their 5th year.
Because they put off getting the help they need to wait for profits that may be months or years away.
Ironically, in so doing, they limit their ability to do what would actually get them the profits. Help. Help would get them the profits.
Because:
💸 Doing it all on your own is mentally, emotionally, and spiritually EXHAUSTING.
💸 You have no window into your own blind spots.
💸 You’ll have to spend a lot of time researching and doing stuff you don’t enjoy - pulling your focus from the work you LOVE and the people you want to serve.
💸 You’ll be faced with a lot of choices: strategies you could adopt, directions you could go… and the analysis paralysis is real.
💸 All that pressure is going to stress test your nervous system in the best of times. But we’re currently plummeting into a recession and the news is scary AF. Which means you are signing up for a whole lot of EXTRA PRESSURE to get your business up and running. And if you don’t have adequate coping skills, mindset shifts, self-care practices and SUPPORT- well, we’ve lost a lot of good entrepreneurs and the businesses that could have been to a state of freeze.
💸 If you struggle with imposter syndrome, believing in the value of your work, or “whether anyone will ever buy”- that’s going to be conveyed in your marketing. Delaying sales, delaying clients, delaying profits.
Or…
You could set yourself up for success - and save yourself a whole lot of heartache - by investing in adequate support now.
💎 So you can keep the pressure & expectations on yourself manageable- this way you can build a profitable business that is sustainable for you to continue running long term without burning out.
💎 Crucial information isn’t lost to your blind spots, because you have someone to help you see what you’re not seeing and put it into a useful, actionable context.
💎 You’re no longer expecting yourself to become an expert in areas of business that don’t excite you and light you up. There are people who LOVE that thing you’re not excited about. Who have lived and breathed it for YEARS! Who could tell you in 5 minutes what it would take you 5 months or more to figure out on your own! You can benefit from an expert’s 10 years of study, practical experience, and hard-won wisdom from trial and error- rather than having to replicate that path for yourself. Oh, the costly mistakes and TIME you’ll save!
💎 They can also help you pick the best strategy for you, and give you a reasonable timeline for how long it takes to see results- so you don’t fall into the trap so many newbie entrepreneurs do of starting and stopping endless new marketing strategies before any one of them has had a chance to actually work. Y’all, CLARITY is priceless. It saves you so much time and energy.
💎 When things get hard - and they will - because becoming a CEO requires a major identity shift for most of us, support is SO important to ensure you’re treating yourself well when faced with challenges you’ve never had to face before. To help you stay plugged into the vision, rather than stuck in a doom-spiral about what could go wrong. Also, not to fall into the trap so many entrepreneurs do that leaves them miserable: misinterpreting business data and drawing cruel conclusions about what it means about them, the viability of their dreams, and the value of their work.
💎 With support, you can ensure you’re positioning your work effectively to sell EVEN/especially in times of economic crisis- when wishy washy messaging is not going to cut it. With me as your Cheerleader, your inner critic no longer gets to be the creative director of your marketing- as so often delays results for entrepreneurs stuck in the echo-chamber of their DIY efforts.
Getting Help IS The Financially Responsible Choice
So many definitions change when you become a business owner. What is “success,” what is “safety,” what is the financially “responsible” choice.
The hard, direct truth is that saving money in the short term by trying to go it alone is going to cost you profits in the long run. Because it’s going to push that profitability date out further and further.
You could get where you want to go so. much. faster. with a little help.
That’s what I’m here for! Here’s how I can be your Marketing Confidence Cheerleader:
If you want my undivided attention to help you accelerate smashing through your revenue, reach, and impact goals, sign up for Season of Support, my high-touch, high-efficiency, highly-transformative 1:1 program. Season of Support clients enjoy complimentary Squad🎉 membership.
The Squad 🎉 is a fabulous community of big-hearted, black sheep, rebel entrepreneurs who are done playing small and make a habit of regularly shooting the moon. The Squad 🎉 is part marketing mastermind for motivated, never-been-done-before businesses, part neurofestive entrepreneurial support group, part transformational group coaching as we melt what’s blocking you from making the power moves that will get you the big results you want from marketing. You get TONS of strategic, tactical, AND emotional support from me - your Marketing Confidence Cheerleader - PLUS accountability, friendship, and inspiration from some of the most interesting, unique, glass-ceiling-busting entrepreneurs around.
Also, make sure you’re following me on LinkedIn where I offer periodic free workshops. The next one is Marketing Through Fear of Visibility: How To Emotionally Afford the Cost of Being seen on April 29, 2025. Register here.
