There's an entire movement in the online entrepreneur world and it revolves around the "$20k month".
The message is that anyone who DOESN'T achieve this is a lazy POS, hopeless, not working hard enough, not hustling - not doing it right.
... and there are a lot of women carrying around a sense of "shame" for not making $20k/month - even though they are fucking amazing at what they do, they're good people, caring service providers and do 100% by their clients. Every time.
But the truth is - the $20k month is NOT easy - and on NO FUCKING PLANET whatsoever does it become easier by printing out some dumbass empty workbook and being asked to divide $20,000 by $97 (or whatever your product is). KNOWING how to use a calculator is NOT the same as ACTUALLY getting sales!
It's not an overnight success. It is months upon months upon years of failed launches, tried & failed strategies, new tactics and bombing!
But what interests me is the idea that we all MUST achieve the $20k month and that if we don't, we can just file ourselves in the drawer marked loser! 😉
Well - let's talk about the other side of this coin.
The online coach who doesn't WANT to be tied to her desk 5 days a week - or even 4 hours a day. The course provider who's happy to launch a few times a year and the creator who creates because it brings her joy, keeps her mentally stimulated, happy and sane - and who actually if push comes to shove - cannot be arsed marketing herself 24/7 just to push through to the "next level".
And here's where it gets honest.
Your next level does not need to be the $20k month.
It can be the "paying the bills and buying a designer handbag every winter". It can be really fucking enjoying that new handbag with the utter glee you earned it!
It can be "keeping you in fancy restaurants and upgrading the family to the suite on the annual holiday" and the joy of knowing that your online efforts allowed your entire family to have a fancier hotel than previously.
It doesn't need to be flashy, show-offy or a BRAGATHON. It can simply be your confidence - and being content with what you do, happy with where you are in life GENUINELY living your "best life".
And there really is fuck all wrong with that!
Hustle is fun. Can be fun.
When your brain is all fired up and the war is against you and your laptop battery before you need to plug it in again and recharge. 😁
The hustle of wanting to get all your ideas out there but knowing that you NEED to sleep because hey, we're not 22 years old anymore - and if we stay up past midnight to work - we'll be "rewarded" by a small child vomiting down the stairs at 4am - because y'know, that's just the way life rolls!
It's OK to say you want to make an extra $500/month, $100k/month and everything in between.
There are no rules and there are no limits.
You get to decide what you truly want to do - outwith the visions, demands and bragging of those frequently exalted as the "gurus" - who ime are frequently "not nice people*" - everyone is a mark/victim/prey and they are the predators.
*I've met a few "household names" of online entrepreneurship in the flesh. Not all cool people!
It's OK to take your vision into the world without employing shady tactics or engage in marketing practices which make you feel icky.
It's 100% to do it your own way - because there is an ARMY of women out there just like you who are in this because it fits best around the life they're in RIGHT THIS MINUTE - without needing to "fast-forward" to a perfect future where it's raining diamonds and cash - and actually... aren't those who are PERFECTLY CONTENT right now the winners?
The ones who wake up every day excited to get on with the day because they actually ENJOY their life rather than wishing it away upon success yet to come.
Berating herself for "only" having made a few $1000 last month, not $20k.
Did she enjoy every fucking minute of it? Her heart soar with every Stripe ping? Glee every time she spoke to a new client? Delight at delivering her message and being lucky enough to get to do this online at her own pace?
Yet, the narrative in the online world is that unless you're PUSH, PUSH, PUSH 24/7 then somehow you're a personal failure - and let's not even get started on the "image" around online work. Anti-fat, anti-middle-aged, anti-neurodiverse, Boring Stepford Bitches of Online Business.
We are the change. Those of us who stand up to be counted because we are doing things OUR way - not looking for approval from a "23 year old Instagram influencer" 😂 - whom I'm sure are perfectly nice... but I only need approval from me.
What about you? ❤️
Loved this, ringing so very true for me. Let’s get real and slowly corrode that online perfect image one at a time.
Yes! And like you said – make sure you carve out that family time. The skies won’t fall in just because you spend Friday night on the couch with the kids and a big packet of crisps!
Oof! This post is everything. Especially about the marketing practices that make you feel icky. I have been in that situation and it didn’t make me feel genuine at all. Anything I do online, now, is true to who I am and I do it the way I want to do it. I have seen so much more success that way.
There is a LOT of ick out there 🤮😂 – but the more of us who stand up and say “nup, not doing it like that” – hopefully it’ll give confidence to all the other women who know on some level that it’s ick (nice technical term right?) – and they too will decide enough is enough.
And I’m bloody thrilled to hear you’re doing it YOUR way and are 100% happy AND successful with it. Perfect! 🥃
Such an important message. So many people get started as online entrepreneurs so that they can enjoy life more (whatever that looks like for them) but get so caught up in the hustle to earn more money that they don’t enjoy it.
Absolutely – “whatever that looks like for them”! I don’t know about you – but the trigger for me leaving corporate was the ridiculous hours and then to be asked to indicate whether I was “available as normal” or “only by phone” during my vacation. Err…. 😂
You’re right though, there’s this whole thing going on where you should be “seen” to be working 24/7 and always chasing more – and actually… if it weren’t 70mph winds here today – I’d be just as happy walking my dog on the beach.