When I started my business and joined a group of individuals also starting law practices, I was prompted to think about the kind of business I wanted to build. People threw around the idea of a “million dollar business” as a common goal that any new business owner might strive towards. Not only did I not want that, I didn’t even know what it meant. Does that mean you make a million? In what timeframe? etc.

I soon learned that people were talking about bringing in a million in one year. It had nothing to do with what the owner actually makes – only the ‘sales’ or other items on the incoming side of the equation. Thus, plenty of business owners bring in a million a year but keep little of it or even lose money.

This seemed to me like a ridiculous metric. Who cares what you bring in? It has nothing to do with your efficiency as a business owner.

However, I recently heard someone say that becoming a million dollar business shows proof of concept.

That makes sense, and as I grow (not to a million yet) it makes more and more sense. As the incoming rises, there are more moving parts. There’s more to manage. And it demonstrates that someone cares.

I still think this metric of a million dollar business has a million faults to it. We need to be clear about what we want out of our business and why. However, I also can understand that this metric can legitimately be seen as proof of concept; or more accurately, one data point of many that should be considered to prove proof of concept.