Contributed by SBOC Member:
Founder of the Small Business Owners Community
The bad news? You’re not thinking big enough. The good news? Neither am I—yet. But awareness is the first step, and once you realize you’re limiting your own potential, you can start making powerful changes that transform your business and your life.
In coaching sessions with small business owners, I’ve noticed a pattern: we often aspire to make “enough money to be comfortable and free.” This mindset sounds great at first—especially if your point of reference was a corporate salary—but it can become a ceiling that limits your true potential.
Many of us, intentionally or not, focus on replicating or slightly exceeding our corporate salaries. The unspoken assumption is that hitting that familiar figure means we’ve “made it.” But does it really? Or are we simply placing our horizon at our feet instead of looking to the farthest reaches of possibility?
One big catalyst for me was Dan Sullivan’s book, 10x Is Easier Than 2x. It challenges you to consider: If you absolutely had to grow your business by 10 times, what would you do differently?
Aiming for 10x growth scrambles your normal idea of “success.” Suddenly, your cautious, incremental steps look small and inefficient. Even if you don’t actually achieve 10x growth right away, you’ll likely surpass your original goals because you’re thinking bigger and taking bolder actions.
Another major insight hit me when I started hanging around digital entrepreneurs—those who build software platforms or massive online communities. Their primary question isn’t, “How much money can I make?” Rather, it’s “Where can this idea go if everything works? How do I reach 100,000 or even 1,000,000 users?”
These folks obsess over product-market fit and scaling exponentially. Money isn’t the only metric; it’s a byproduct of creating something so valuable that growth becomes organic. Whether you’re a software founder or a service-based small business owner, there’s a lesson here: adopting a “big growth” mindset opens doors you didn’t even know existed.
When you lock onto “comfortable and free” as your end goal:
It’s easy to see how this mindset creates unnecessary roadblocks. For example, if you’re thinking, “I’ll charge $17 for my new class,” pause and ask yourself why. Are you providing a $1,000 transformation at a bargain-bin price out of fear or habit? Are you losing out on a bigger mission simply because you’re used to doing things on a small scale?
Maybe you’ve been planning to write a book “in the next three years.” Why not finish it by July? What if you decided to 2x or 3x your business in six months? Why not 10x? The point isn’t just to inflate your numbers; it’s to challenge the limits you’ve unconsciously set for yourself.
If this resonates with you—if you’re feeling a spark of motivation to aim higher—I invite you to join an Idea Slam. Think of it as a mini-mastermind where we tackle big visions and practical next steps in one energetic session.
You deserve more than “comfortable and free.” As entrepreneurs, we have a unique opportunity to define and build our own version of success. So why not dream bigger? Why not see how far you can go?
Thinking small won’t help you break new ground or serve the world in a transformative way. But daring to think bigger just might. Ready to see what’s possible? Let’s do it together.
Pat spent two decades in broadcasting management and hosting. After leaving the radio industry, he spent time consulting small businesses and realized the support system for entrepreneurs was broken. Where could you find help for improving small businesses and building real connections with other like-minded people. In June of 2020, the Idea Collective Small Business Community was born.
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