I’ve always promised to keep it real with you and share the behind-the-scenes of my business.
As we close out 2021 and get ready to look forward to next year, I want to give you a transparent look at some of the numbers I’m celebrating in my business this year as well as some context around what they really mean.
Because numbers get thrown around all the time in the online space and don’t mean much for your business unless you understand why they matter and how you can apply that to your business for next-level results, right?!
My hope is this will be permission-giving, normalizing, and help you tap into what’s possible (and more) for you next year so you can go out and make that happen (and do it your way!).
This is a long one, but worth it
A look behind-the-scenes at 2021’s numbers and what they *actually* mean (because it’s never just about the money or metrics):
$132k cash = the amount of ADDITIONAL revenue my business brought in during 2021 (99% from 1:1) to add to our already multi-six-figure revenue from last year.
I’m celebrating the heck out of this because yes, $132k extra cash received is lovely, but more importantly I’m walking my talk and showing you can scale *your* way.
This number represents scaling MY way, doing work I LOVE with clients I adore, running a business I love working in and on, without adding on another offer, and by focusing on what lights me up and my zone of genius, 1:1 coaching, which, the industry has told me over and over again isn’t the way to scale or what I ‘should’ be doing.
I hope you’ll take this as evidence of the importance of keeping your eyes on your own paper (because let’s be honest: the online space says we should all be growing and scaling faster than this and by doing and selling all the things), and that you truly can make more money doing what you love, and that you can do it on your terms.
11 = number of clients who made $100k or more for the FIRST time in 2021
This is such a celebration because for me, it’s truly about the work and my clients. It literally makes me cry happy tears to witness my clients’ success, and to see them all truly doing it *their* way on *their* terms.
Please take this as evidence of how truly possible it is to make real money doing what you love, and that clarity, mindset, strategy, and action WORKS to allow you to build, grow, and scale on your terms.
None of these clients have the same exact business, business model, strategy, or background.
The other piece for you to take in with these numbers that I’ve found to be true, supporting so many clients to their first $100k and beyond, reaching and making your first $100k is, in my opinion, the most challenging phase in business. Things get much easier from here as you grow and scale, and the work you put in on the front side is so so worth it. Don’t give up on yourself or your business.
$40k cash = our highest cash month to date at Kim Argetsinger Coaching LLC made from 1:1 work…without a big launch, ads, complicated strategy, or raising my rates
An exciting ceiling to break, and there are a few important takeaways to highlight that can’t be seen in this number for you and your business.
This number represents a new peak, and it’s a metric that’s fun to celebrate for various reasons. But, what’s also important to highlight is the sustainability in this business comes from consistent multi-figure-cash months, not a one-month peak. And, it’s the average of the higher and lower months that allow you to grow and scale over time.
What you don’t always see when people share income wins are the very normal revenue fluctuations that happen month-to-month. Business revenue isn’t a straight line, that’s why we tend to look at quarters. Meaning, yes, this is a cash month I celebrate, and the other months are just as important and what really tell the whole business story.
This $40k month also isn’t from doing one thing, one time. This number is the result of the compound effect of working on my mindset daily for years and consistently working on my strategy, and trusting both to work for me and my business.
A thousand and a million plus = the range of revenue my clients have made in a year while working with me.
This is SO important to see for a few reasons. First, I want you to see that range so you can stop making yourself wrong wherever you’re at.
My clients are epic, do incredible work, and they’re all at different places on their business journey. They’re also all at the right place for them, and that’s so important to acknowledge because that $1k milestone is JUST as celebration-worthy as that million-dollar mark (if not more celebration-worthy because I’d argue it’s the most work mindset-wise and business foundation-building-wise to book those first clients and make that first $1k - it truly does get easier as you grow and scale past the first $100k mark.)
One place isn’t better than the other. They’re simply different spots on the journey. As we head into a new year, PLEASE stop making yourself wrong for where you’re at in your journey by comparing yourself to someone at a different place in theirs.
Business success isn’t a race, and I promise, you’ll get ‘there’ faster when you stop making where you’re at wrong.
1 = the number of new things I introduced and added in my business in 2021
That’s the podcast ONE Question: Unapologetic Questions for Unapologetic Results.
I share this because I KNOW the temptation is to think doing all the things at the same time is what creates success. I also know, because I coach my clients around this daily, how much the brain wants to keep adding on new strategies and offers when it feels scared or in scarcity or when it hasn’t seen results roll in, yet.
I put a podcast from my first year of business on hold so I could “oil” my core strategy, get fully booked, and wait until I had the team support to layer on a podcast again.
I hope you’ll take this as evidence that adding on one new thing at a time, getting that strategy or offer well-oiled and profitable first, before you add on anything else, is what will support your income and impact growth and scalability.
4-5 = the number of people on my team (we’ve had a team member on maternity leave). This number doesn’t include my coach, therapist, masterminds, accountant, or people we hire for individual projects (like design, website updates/coding, photography, etc).
This number is important to share because this is a HUGE part of how I’m able to support a very full roster of incredible clients (at one point this year, I was accidentally overbooked, and the ONLY way I was able to fully show up and hold space for my clients was because of my team).
I’m NOT running this business solo or doing any of this alone. (A massive shout out and thank you to my team and coach.)
3.75 = the number of years I’ve worked with and invested in my current coach
I’ve worked with a coach or been in a coaching container of some kind since I started coach training and my business.
This number feels important to share for a few reasons. First, ditto to above, I’m so not an island and creating business success on my own, I invest in and receive A LOT of support. This feels essential to normalize. Aside from my coach, I’m also in two masterminds (one with my coach, one peer), and work with an EMDR therapist.
I often get asked why I *still* work with a coach at this level. Usually I joke back that I still need a mirror and can’t spot the spinach in my own teeth.
I’ll also offer that I find this support just as, if not MORE, valuable at this level and stage of the game. It’s my job to show up “clean” for my clients so I can best support them, and it’s my commitment to myself and my business to do the real work - which is mostly mindset work (!) to continue to grow as a person, coach, mentor, leader, and business owner, and upper limiting is a very real thing, friend, and I personally like to stay out of my own way.
What also feels relevant to share about this number for you, is that I also didn’t get massive income results right out the gate with my coach. NOT because she isn’t brilliant at what she does. She’s just as epic a coach now as I make consistent multi-five-figure cash months as she was then when I was struggling to book free calls and get fully booked. My coach and her level of support haven’t changed, I’ve simply grown and changed within the container.
I’m SO grateful to my past self for doubling down and continuing to bet on myself and invest in my business to get the support I needed instead of deciding coaching doesn’t work for me, or my business doesn’t work, or now it’s time to go solo because I wasn’t seeing the income results the way I wanted right away.
I share this with you because I think our space can sometimes get fixated on the quick-fix, overnight success. But the truth-truth is most businesses take time to grow and scale (and, yes, it’s also possible and we’re also available for fast income growth). Most humans take time to heal, grow, and expand. It’s all doing it right, not wrong.
I also share this because I think sometimes coaching and the responsibility for the work and results gets confused in the online space - and unintentionally can take your power away. What I’ve seen to be true from both sides: no one has the answers for you or the magic pill, and that’s not what coaching is about (and will leave you very disappointed in your investment). Coaching isn’t meant to erase your discomfort, in fact it’s often very challenging, but it will give you the support of someone sitting with you in your muck until you clear it out.
Coaching also isn’t an ATM that spits out dollar bills the second you invest. Again, of course, that DOES happen, but coaching also asks you to take personal responsibility for your shit, to do the inner work, to co-create, and to keep taking your own power back so YOU know how to and can go out there and create clients and cash.
Personally, I think coaching is magic, and one of the biggest gifts that’s changed my entire business and life in every.single.way. It’s the best investment I’ve ever made and continue to make.
I also want you to see the benefit of reinvesting in yourself and your business when you find the right support (personally, I think it’s costly in many ways to bounce around). I take this same mindset with my team and believe in investing in long-term relationships because those will serve you and your business as your team, coaches, and other support get to know you (and your patterns, likes, dislikes, etc) and your business better, which allows for ease, efficiency, and compound results over time.
5.5 = the number of years I’ve been in business as a coach (I’ve been coaching for 6.5)
I share this number to help you see the time that’s allowed for consistency to compound and for the business (and myself) to create some of these metrics - so you can see the years behind 2021’s numbers! I also share this number so you can pause and remember where you’re at in your business journey so you don’t spin out in comparisonitis.
These are a highlight of some of the numbers from this year in my journey, which are VERY different than the numbers from my first year in business, and I assume will be very different than where I’m at on my path in five more years (because the better it gets, the better it gets, and the easier it gets, the easier it gets).
I hope these numbers will give you a real look at how much is possible for you in business this upcoming year. I hope sharing them normalizes talking about money, metrics, and business results. More importantly, I hope they give some context around what numbers being talked about *actually* mean and also give you permission to make your own rules and find your way to your version of success.
And, if you’re ready to step into your own business numbers to celebrate at the end of 2022 and want to do it *your* way, here are my takeaways and reminders for you:
You get to build, grow, and scale your business *your* way, and the more you lean into your path and stay on it with the blinders on, the faster and easier the numbers you want will roll in.
There isn’t one strategy that will get you ‘there’ whatever there might be for you. However, getting clear on your strategy, sticking to it, and rinsing and repeating it until it works is how you leverage the compound effect to grow and scale with more ease. Allow yourself to do this before you add on something new.
Business is a journey. Celebrate where you’ve come from instead of looking at the chasm between you and where you want to go. There’s always more room to grow; don’t let that opportunity for next-level growth become the way you get stuck. “There” isn’t better than “here”, it’s simply a different dot in your journey. Stop making yourself wrong for where you are, and you’ll find you actually enjoy the process and get “there” a whole lot faster.
Focus on your mindset like it’s your job. Truly, while these numbers are so not the result of doing ONE thing, one time, if I could offer one piece of advice, it would be this.
Just because everyone else isn’t doing it, doesn’t mean you can’t. And, just because people tell you that’s not how it’s done, doesn’t mean you can’t. As the kids say, “You do you, boo” and then do the work (the clarity, mindset, strategy, and action work) to create *your* version of business success any damn way you want.
No one does it alone. No one is creating epic success in any industry without support. Stop trying to be a business island: Invest in support. Ask for help. Be open to receive support. And, take your power back and remember your personal responsibility in the equation with the support you invest in.
And, seriously, do the mindset work.
Wishing you your version of success.