Hi Reader,
I have more to say on the topic of what to do based on what your traffic is telling you. One of the wonderful shop owners we helped with a Shopify redesign replied to my newsletter to say, "Looks like we are in the low-traffic group, but it's great for the two of us! We are meeting all our business goals."
Of course, that's great! "Low traffic" is a descriptor, not a judgment. I've used three traffic groups to determine what to focus on next, but I am not recommending growth for growth's sake.
Aeolidia has grown tremendously over the last twenty years. We're a team of twenty now, experts in our craft, and I no longer do any of the day-to-day work that we get paid for. This is all much more than I expected as a solo freelancer.
I could continue to grow Aeolidia in many ways, but so far I haven't landed on one that's super appealing. I like having a smaller team and being able to know what's going on. Obviously, the business needs money to thrive, and I want to be able to live comfortably, but beyond that, I'm not in this for the money; I'm in it for the challenge, the team, and the ability to help so many other small businesses grow to the level they want to be at.
As for retail shop owners, there are many ways to "succeed." Depending on their expenses and structure, a business owner with a shop making a million dollars annually could feel like they're barely hanging on. Or, you could be a "mom and pop" shop of two people and feel rich with the same revenue.
From our viewpoint, sometimes multi-million dollar shops don't have a budget for our work, while single-person shops with digital products have such low overhead that it makes perfect sense to hire us.
All this to say, there's no right amount of traffic or revenue to tell you you've made it. Profit is important (I recommend reading Profit First if you haven't), and beyond that, the big question is about your motivations for growth.
Growth can be great for so many reasons:
- Creating more cool jobs for great people!
- Getting your core values out into the world more
- Solving a problem for more of your customers
- Hiring help so you don't have to do every job yourself
- Hiring help so you can go on vacation for real
- Feeling like you're "winning" the game you're playing with your business (is that just me?)
- Having the resources to complete more of your business initiatives
- All the relationships and communities that spring from running a business
- Okay, fine, money, too: more money for you to live in your expensive city, or take care of your family, or have more options, and help more people
Growing just to grow or making it entirely about money can be exhausting, stressful, and probably not worth it. If you know why you're growing and do it deliberately, it's a win-win-win for you, your team, and your customers.
What's your next step with your business, and how can I help?
Read email one | email two | email three on this topic.
