Why I don’t care if you make 6 figures

A few months ago, I was invited to be a guest on Melanie Padgett Powers podcast, The Deliberate Freelancer. I’m a long-time fan of Melanie’s and was delighted to get to chat with her about my recent journey. I shared more about my fears and challenges than I have publicly anywhere else, especially related to working with my partner.

One of the most important parts of the conversation, though, happened about three-quarters of the way in. Melanie asked me about “six-figure freelancing,” a term that gets thrown around a lot as a goal state for self-employment. Both she and I share our financial numbers publicly (and we both make over six figures), which has led to a lot of pushback, admiration, and everything in between. And I was very clear in our conversation when I said that I don’t care if you make six figures in your business. To me, that number tells me virtually nothing about your success. I care so much more about you building a right-sized, sustainable business.

Today, I want to share that part of our conversation. You can also listen to the whole episode here: The Deliberate Freelancer

Our conversation about money starts at around 26 minutes. Here’s the transcript:

Melanie: I want to ask you about some successes that have come from making this change. And you’ve talked about some personal ones…