A SIMPLE TEST

If you want to know whether you’re actually close to profitability, ask yourself this:

If I doubled my sales tomorrow, would I make significantly more money…or just work twice as hard?

Don't lie to yourself. If the answer isn’t obvious, you don’t have clarity.

And without clarity, you’re not building a business—you’re managing survival. The business is running you!

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I remember thinking I was just one good month away. One strong sales push. One clean month without some unplanned distraction (ie client loss or pandemic pivot). I just needed one break going my way. Just a little bit of luck!

That was the story I told myself.

And for a while, it felt true and possible.

Revenue was coming in. Customers were buying. Business was growing. I was busy—constantly moving, constantly solving problems and putting out fires. From an outsider’s perspective, it looked like progress.

But underneath it all, I wasn’t getting closer. I was working in quicksand.

I was just staying alive with just another energy left to start the next day.

Every day was survival. My body was breaking down. I had nowhere to turn for help. I carried the anxiety and made a quiet promise to myself that no one would see the weight I was under.

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So what happens next?

What do you do when you realize you’re not getting closer?

How do you respond?

Do you lean into character—or give in to avoidance and fear?

Can you turn a loss into something that builds toward a future win?

Writing to himself in Meditations, Marcus Aurelius said:

“The elements move upward, downward, and in all directions. The motion of virtue is different—deeper. It moves at a steady pace on a road hard to discern, and always forward.”

Moving forward. Always.

It’s an interesting idea—and not an easy one to live out. I definitely lost my direction on more than one occasion. Why is it so hard?

Because continuing forward, especially when things aren’t working, requires more than effort. It requires clarity. It requires discipline. It requires honesty with yourself. We must stop to be present before we can move forward productively.

Whats the alternative?

If we choose to stop, we guarantee the outcome: nothing. Or worse...failure. We'll never know what "could have been."

If we choose to continue, we at least give ourselves the opportunity to improve.

The real reward isn’t just in the outcome.

It’s in having the courage and clarity to keep moving forward—without compromising who you are in the process.

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Because the Stoics had it right:

You don’t control the outcome. You control your response to reality.

And reality doesn’t care how hard you’re working.

Business has a way of exposing everything.

It’s the ultimate lie detector for ambition and ego.

What will you do when your back is against the wall?

How will you act when the pressure is real?

I never sacrificed my character or integrity to boost sales.

I could have cut corners. I could have sold something less than what it was. I could have taken the easier path—I had seen it done before in other places I had worked.

But I chose not to.

Knowing what’s right and wrong is easy. Acting on it—especially when it costs you something—is the real test.

The path will be hard.

It will challenge you in ways you don’t expect.

And the outcome may not be what you hoped for.

But if you continue forward—with clarity, with discipline, and with integrity—you will know that wherever you end up, you got there by choice.

Not by avoidance. Not by chance. By action.

And the next time you’re faced with the same challenge, you’ll be better prepared.

Stronger in your judgment. Sharper in your execution.

And one step closer to where you want to go.

Disclaimer: My blog is written in journal entry form. I write to improve my writing skills. There might be grammatical errors, but that is okay, because I am human. So please forgive me. It’s not perfect, but neither am I.