Your numbers are a map (and how mine reshaped my 2025)
Expanding on why dove into the "messy middle" in 2025
Your numbers are a map to revenue and profit.
Earlier this year, my husband and I were house-sitting in New Mexico. We’d spent six months traveling through Southeast Asia the year before so my life looked different from most people’s.
And yet, I was still trying to run my business like everyone else.
Usually, my path to success starts slower than most before it ramps up. But I got impatient in 2024 trying to half-do what worked for me and half-following all the "right" advice. And it just slowed me (and my revenue) down. I was posting on Instagram (and hating it), trying to be active on Threads (I’m not a short-form girl), and tired of it.
So I turned to something concrete to diagnose the problem: I looked at my numbers.
My profit margin was fine, but the total profit needed to be higher.
Expenses were under 30%, following the Profit First model I loosely use.
Project profit was improving as I priced better for new clients.
So the problem wasn’t spending; it was a revenue problem.
That meant something in my sales or marketing needed to change. But which one?
My conversion rate was strong (25–30%), but my lead volume wasn’t.
The data told me:
“Your problem isn’t sales, it’s visibility. You need more of the right people finding you.”
So that became my focus for 2025: connecting with the right people.
This year's "messy middle" has looked like:
Less Instagram
More conversations (especially virtual ones, those work best for me)
More focus on connection, not just posting
Tracking progress, not just revenue (because by the time that number shows up, it’s too late to adjust)
I experimented with finding my personal “metrics that move revenue” — things like how many genuine conversations I had each month. I even set a personal challenge to have 50 new coffee chats. I stopped at 28 when I realized I was burning out, but it helped me find more of my people.
SO did it work?
Well my revenue has been slowly climbing since March.
I’ve had less leads but better aligned ones (so less time on “Are we a good fit” and more on “How will we work together?”)
And even 1 lead from ChatGPT!
And out of that messy middle came something I hadn’t had in a while: confidence. Because I could see alignment reflected in both my mental peace and my P&L.
TLDR: Your numbers are a map to revenue and profit.
If you’re in your own messy middle, and trying to solve the problem by “starting with your why” feels overwhelming (like it did for me), start with your numbers instead. They’ll tell you more than you think.
If your business isn’t where you want it, start at the bottom of your profit & loss and work your way up to try to pinpoint the issue:
Are expenses too high?
Are you spending too much to make each sale?
Or is it a sales or visibility problem? Not enough of the right people coming through the door?
Your numbers point the way.
You just have to stop fighting them and trust yourself to use them for good.
