One big thing that I’ve come to realize in business is that there are 80/20 principles wherever you look - and the big one that I’ve discovered is in the mix between growth and celebration.
Virtually everyone reading this knows that spending too much time celebrating or too little time celebrating a milestone can be equally damaging - but in different ways.
I have found that unfortunately, most entrepreneurs fall into a 95/5 or 5/95 split between growth/normalization and celebration.
I was guilty of this as well.
I fell into the category of 95% normalization/growth & 5% celebration - if I could even call it 5% quite frankly it was 1% or less for most of last year.
But before I get into what this looked like & how I respond now, I must first explain the difference between normalization/growth and celebration
Whenever you hit a new milestone you are faced with two different ways to react:
Celebrate - Celebrate the milestone, do something to commemorate it, embody the gratitude for the achievement you’ve made - let yourself experience the moment.
Normalize/Growth - Normalize this new level as your new ‘floor’, focus on what can be further improved, there is always room for growth & focusing on what to double down & what to cut. Keeping focus pointed towards the next goal & milestone
Now I will say it’s very important to let yourself experience both of these when you hit a new milestone in business.
Depending on your goals you should strive to tilt the scales towards one or the other.
If you’re looking to grow FAST then emphasizing the normalization/growth recipe is definitely the route to take here because it will keep you focused on that next moving target and milestone.
On the other hand, lifestyle entrepreneurs tend to favor the celebration/fun side of things and tilt the scales on this side. They gain more enjoyment in the moment while understanding that taking the focus off growth will cause it to be slower.
I think where people go wrong here is tilting the scale too far:
95/5 or 5/95 towards either growth or celebration
Late last year I found myself tilting the scales so far towards the growth side of things that I was forgetting to enjoy & live in the moment & celebrate the wins I had.
I remember in October of last year we crossed the 8-figure run rate category (833k+/mo) and I barely celebrated or acknowledged the achievement for more than a couple of hours.
Yet the next month when things weren’t quite going as well I didn’t hesitate to beat myself up for weeks. (See my November 2020 Recap for the lessons I learned here - I grew a lot that month).
On the flip side, I have seen far too many Entrepreneurs overcompensate on the “celebrate/fun” side - achieving a milestone and then partying, vacationing, celebrating so hard that they lose momentum and/or never stack momentum to get to the next milestone.
Both extremes have the power to be devastating in the long run.
But I also think that too many people try to achieve the elusive 50/50 balance
I think that 50/50 target is in itself a trap.
Because achievers like myself are never going to want to celebrate that much, it’s too much. And lifestyle entrepreneurs want to enjoy more than that.
That’s why I’ve concluded that the best way to tackle milestones is with an 80/20 approach.
And which side of the coin you’re on depends on whether you’re an achievement-oriented growth entrepreneur or a lifestyle business entrepreneur.
For me the perfect balance is 80% growth/normalization & 20% celebration/gratitude.
So when I hit the $1,000,000 Month in March I made sure to take some time to celebrate with my team:
• I had a nice dinner with the local Austin team!
• I took time to show gratitude towards my clients and team
• I’m looking at getting a memento to commemorate the $1 million month.
• We did a team virtual escape room!
• I committed to attending x2 events/masterminds (which yes also spur growth, but I also get a lot of enjoyment from!)
And most importantly I told my team that this is a major milestone and to take some time to reflect, have gratitude & celebrate the achievement!
At the same time I also imparted the wisdom that has allowed us to grow:
What’s even more exciting than a record-breaking month is that we achieved this $1 million month even when we know we didn’t hit all the KPIs we set for ourselves, even when we know there are things we can improve and do better. What’s even more exciting is that we hit this goal but still have lots of room to GROW from here! 🚀
When you adopt this mantra, impart it to your team and also apply the “Marketers Mindset” to see what you can double down on and what you can improve, that is the key to massive growth!
Alright now let’s dive into some of the more tactical lessons & strategies we learned & applied in March!