Intro

Have you ever thought about the incredible ability that babies have to get their needs met?

You have these tiny, precious beings who know that their survival depends on how actively they can engage you in meeting their needs, and so they will cry, coo, and charm you into making sure they are cared for.

Babies can’t just hang back and hope you throw some milk their way. They show up and actively manage you until they have gotten what they need to sleep and grow. 

And here I am, with way more experience in the world, and I barely have the guts to ask a stranger to check out my website. 

Success isn’t Passive. It’s Active and Alive

In the very early days of building Be The Data Hero, I was super passive about my days and how I spent them. 

I would:

• Build a website and hope people would show up and want to hire me
• Write an optin and hope for new subscribers to say yes
• Write an email newsletter and hope people would click “buy”
• Avoid talking to real humans out of sheer fear and imposter syndrome

My problem? I thought the mere fact that I did these things was enough, that I could sit back and wait. 

What I learned the hard way?


Being passive doesn’t bring results. Actively defining what success looks for my business brought results. 

I was busy, but I wasn’t making any money. 

So I defined success: Find one client and make one sale this month.

Once I knew what success looked like, my to-do list and priorities completely changed. 

I stopped hiding behind my laptop and started networking. Finding people to talk to and connect with. Talking to my own network to see if anyone needed help with anything. 

Dangers of The Passive “Hope Trap”

The hope trap is tough because you’re doing so many things in a given day, and success feels like a very blurry concept. 

My question would be: How are you defining success in your business this month? 

If you can’t answer that concretely, there’s a good chance you are taking a passive approach to success. 

BUT: that’s not a bad thing. It’s just something to know. Being passive is not bad! Please don’t take this as anything bad if you’re here because you need to be here right now. 

If you’re here and frustrated that you aren’t growing… keep reading.

How to Define What Success Means for You

Daring to define what success looks like can be hard and confronting, because it means you might fail to meet that. 

That’s a good thing! 

It’s only through defining what success looks like that we will get there – it’s like daring to enter an address into Google Maps instead of wandering around in your car – hoping to find a 4.5 star restaurant that serves cheeseburgers.

Here’s my process for defining success:

1. Close your eyes and take 3 deep breaths. 
2. Ask this question: What would feel successful in my business right now?
3. Allow all the thoughts that come up 

Now, your mind may chatter and lots of stuff might come up. Write all of it down without judgment.

Here’s my test for knowing what to choose:

For each item that comes up, close your eyes and say that item to yourself. How does your body feel in response to that?

Usually, I let myself try on ideas by feeling into them. My body will usually light up and feel energetic and excited when I say one of the things.

Supercharge Success with Specificity

Now that you have some idea of what success looks like, let’s supercharge that. 

Assign a number to that idea for maximum impact. Numbers are critical when it comes to defining something and measuring progress. The more specific you are, the easier it will be to take action every day. 

Instead of:

Make more money → make $5,000 this month

Work less → No work after 5:27pm

Spend less time on admin → spend only 2 hours on admin this week

Find new business → Talk to 10 people this week

Success isn’t A Solo Venture

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

I’ve spent my career helping businesses become purposeful about success – defining success through numbers we call metrics – and then relentlessly tracking and pursuing those numbers – because they mattered for success. 

All successful people get help along the way. 

I’m speaking at an upcoming free online workshop called Metrics That Matter where you’ll learn:

• Discover a *new* way to prioritize your day
• Learn my easy process for creating powerful metrics 
• Craft your own valuable metrics for your business
• Peek behind the curtain & see how I use metrics to prioritize my days and grow my business.

Sign up Today!