What does good growth look like?

For too many years, my heart would race in a not-good panicky way every time another brief or meeting request landed in my inbox. 

When friends asked me how it was going, I’d reply ‘busy’, and they’d tell me that was a good problem to have.

It didn’t always feel good. For me, my mental health, my relationships, or my sleep. I felt like I was constantly working overtime just to keep my head above water.

I began wondering about all the paths I didn’t take, and how I ended up on a road to ‘busy’. 

Strategy is not just a series of decisions about what to do. It’s also a conscious choice about what not to do. It can mean setting boundaries. Defining what is enough. Consciously choosing what your life outside work looks like.

Business growth typically means ‘more’.

More income. More work. More people. More opportunities you wouldn’t have had otherwise. 

It can also mean ‘less’: less pressure on you to be responsible for everything. 

But not all growth is good. What goes on beneath the hood of a small business may not be sustainable. Or profitable.

I asked dozens of small business owners and freelancers to define what good growth means to them – and how they're working towards it. 

• Good growth is a mindset: being intentional about how you grow, rather than growing for the sake of growing.

• Good growth is not just about hitting financial targets, but professional and personal goals too.

• Good growth is about getting better, not just bigger. 

• Good growth feels like thriving, not just surviving.

• Good growth means my business works for me, not the other way around.

There are many different recipes for good growth, but they all require five essential ingredients. 

You'll learn what it takes and more, in Beyond Solo. 

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