Are you beating yourself up because your company isn’t big enough?

Or, are other people not taking your company seriously because you're still whatever they define as small?

Are you beating yourself up because your company isn’t big enough?

This has been coming up a lot recently in coaching conversations and here are are few of the thoughts I’ve discussed with my clients: 

First, you can’t build fast without sacrificing something else - quality, integrity, health, time with people you love, and much more.

So when you look at peers who seem way ahead, take a breath and remember you will never know what it cost them.

I was recently chatting with a client who’s radically disrupting her industry and is constantly hard on herself for not reaching a bigger valuation faster.

So we took stock: what does she have? 

A lean high-performing team she loves to work with.

A company culture she’s proud of that treats all her employees as full humans.

Sustainability creds that knock the socks off anyone else in her industry.

Money in the bank enabling her to grow on her terms.

And an exciting strategy mapping out a path to a nine-figure valuation and beyond.

This is a strong foundation she can build almost anything from, in the ways that feel right to her.

Which brings me to my next point. 

You and only you get to define what “big enough” and “fast enough” mean to you.

We live in a culture that idolizes speed and scale.

But truly not everything needs to become the biggest or move the fastest it possibly can. 

In fact, when you look in the rearview mirror you’ll see that many projects (and even whole companies) were lily pads you created to tide you over and launch you into the next big chapter.

There is no shame in deciding something was right for then but not for now, 

for choosing to put something down, 

or to let it tick along to keep the lights on as you make space for something else that’s calling you. 

There are no rules apart from living in integrity with yourself, 

and only you get to decide what that means for what you create.

And finally, the only way to build a big business is to build a smaller one first. 

There’s only one way to make a $100m business…  

And that’s to make a $10k one, 

and then a $100k one, 

and then a $1m one first.

So every time you catch yourself internalizing any version of “my company isn’t big enough”, take a breath and remind yourself it could be the right size for right now.

Then smile and add “It’s not as big as I dream of… YET”. 

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The Idea Shift will be taking a break next week as I’ll be 100% off comms and, frankly, letting my hair down at Burning Man.

I’ll be back at my desk in September and can’t wait to be harnessing that back-to-school energy for myself and my clients. 

If this feels like your moment to get support with visioning, strategy, or unpicking a knotty challenge, you can learn more about how I work with my clients here and book an Exponential Clarity Session or 30-minute consultation call.