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When my business hit its peak in 2024, it earned over $4M in profit that year. I probably won't make that much money ever again in a single year, nor am I interested in trying.
Some people just can’t fathom that.
Every single day, I get emails, comments on my social posts, and DMs from people who say something like this:
“Justin, if you just did advertising, you could add another million dollars in sales…”
“Justin, if you just hired a team of content creators, you would sell so much more…”
“Justin, if you opened a community, built a membership, ran events, and just…”
On and on and on. And the thing is, they might be right. I can imagine running ads successfully, or hiring some talented people who would help me sell more. These aren’t necessarily bad suggestions.
And it’s not that I don’t like making money. I do. I’m wired to look at opportunities and immediately begin figuring out the best way to monetize them. So when somebody tells me how I could add another million dollars in sales, I understand the appeal.
But let’s say I take their advice and it works. Then what?
Maybe I hire that team of content creators. They’re good at what they do, produce more content than I ever could by myself, and sales go up. All of the people who told me to hire a team get to say, “See? Told you so, Justin.”
But now I have a team of people who need direction, feedback, and decisions from me. Someone has a question about process. Another person has an idea and wants to meet with me to talk about it. Two of the content creators are in an argument about how to do something, and I need to get involved. Now, I could hire someone to manage all of that, too, but I’d have to find that person, interview them, onboard them, and manage them.
That wouldn’t mean I made a bad choice. That’s all just part of having a team. But even if they were excellent and freed up some of my time, managing people would still be part of my business. Which is something I specifically decided against when I started this business. I already had 10 years of leadership experience, and I was looking for a change. I wanted to run a business where I could make any decision I wanted without having to consult another person.
The people encouraging me to grow are always operating under the assumption that increasing revenue is priority number one for me. For everyone, really. So if I follow their advice and make more money, the advice worked. But the advice ignores that I’m the one who has to get up every morning and run the business.
That’s why making peace with what the best version of your business looks like is so important. And the best version for me and the version that makes the most money are not the same.
Back in 2020, when I realized this little business had some traction, I wrote down a few decisions that I always wanted to stand by, which would help remind me of why I started it in the first place:
- I didn’t want to manage any employees.
- I didn’t want to work more than 30 hours per week.
- I wanted the ability to take most Fridays off completely.
- I never wanted any day to have more than two meetings.
- I never wanted meetings to last longer than 45 minutes.
- I never wanted work to interrupt weekends or evenings with family.
That was my list of non-negotiables. Seven years into this crazy ride, I’ve had to adapt, shut some things down, pivot, and make tough choices. I don’t always get it right, but I rarely stray from the six rules I jotted down.
A list like that makes some decisions pretty easy. Hiring a team could be a great way to make more money, but it breaks the very first rule on my list. Even if I doubled the money I could make, it wouldn’t change that.
Most people struggle to set boundaries. An opportunity comes along, and we spend all our time figuring out whether we can make it work. We run the numbers, ask other people what they think, and try our best to imagine what could go wrong. If everything looks good, why wouldn’t we do it?
Because we still have to consider what happens when it goes right.
An opportunity can work exactly as promised and give you a business you don’t want to run.
So before you build your business, write down how you want it to work. What would a great workday feel like? What are you unwilling to spend your days doing? Be specific. “More freedom” sounds great, but “zero meetings on Fridays” is a rule you can actually plan around. Even if you’ve already started, you can still make your list.
Your list might look nothing like mine. Maybe you love managing people, or you’d happily work more hours to make more money. That’s absolutely fine. Write down the things that matter to you, and keep the list nearby when opportunities start showing up. Some of them might be “great” opportunities and still break the first rule you wrote down.
I may never have another $4M year. But getting back there would only interest me if I could do it my way.
Otherwise, I’d rather leave the money on the table.
