Hitting 10,000/Month Was Like Opening A Pair Of Socks From Grandma At Christmas

The 10k Myth

Photo by Garrhet Sampson on Unsplash

For years I strived for $10,000 months.

Hammered into me from the moment I entered business like a parent teaching their kid to clean their room.

Every marketing message I saw. Every mastermind I joined. Every coach I talked to. Everyone was trying to hit $10,000/Month.

It was like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Then I reached it.

Hitting 10k was like opening a pair of socks from Grandma at Christmas.

All I wanted was more.

I breezed past that goal barely even acknowledging it. Realizing that not a single thing in my life changed. I felt no different except there was a new pot of gold to chase.

This wasn’t what Instagram made it look like.

Aren’t I supposed to be poppin’ bottles, taking trips to Bali, and working from the beach?

That’s when it came to me.

I realized it was a complete and utter sham.

10k left me barely able to pay rent.

Seriously, pull out your calculator and break it down.

• 10-30% aside for taxes.

• $1,500 for the subscriptions I had.

• $1,000 for my mentor.

• $350 for my VA.

• $200 of misc.

Very quickly $10,000 can dwindle to $3,950.

$47,00 per year.

$24 per hour.

I spent all this time striving for a gold star that made me less than a Part-Time Customer Service rep at Costco.

It all made sense years later.

As a marketing consultant, I had the opportunity to peek behind the curtain of many ‘successful’ businesses.

I was a little shocked when I looked at their books.

• Making $50,000/Month but only taking home $7,000.

• Making $100,000/Month with a 5% profit margin.

• Making multiple 5-figures and unable to pay themselves.

It was a flashback to my failed gym business where my overhead was so high there wasn’t anything left over to pay myself.

These financial targets were made up.

Arbitrary aspirational targets for us to use as BHAGs (big hairy audacious goals) and put on our vision boards.

Then used to persuade us to purchase mentorships, masterminds, and $5,000 programs that chip away at our profit.

While some accomplish wild success, in my experience it’s not the norm.

Here are some startling facts I recently read:

• Less than 12% of coaches are making $10,000/Month.

• Less than 1% of coaches are making $100,000/Month.

• And 76% of coaches aren’t even making a full-time income.

Ahh, that makes more sense I thought to myself.

It’s nothing like what’s portrayed on social media.

Profit and quality of life are the real flex.

I don’t care how much money you make.

I want to see how much money you take home.

And I want to see how many hours you work. The quality of your life. And the quality of your relationships.

I had a wonderful conversation recently:

“I don’t want to make more money if it means I have to work more.”

Damn. I liked this guy. It took me years to realize that’s what mattered.

We spent enormous amounts of time, money, and energy in the hopes we’ll accomplish something.

In reality there’s a chance it may have been a lot closer — even there — if we simply adjusted our perspective on building our business.

Fast-forward to today.

My expenses are less than $1,000 per month.

I take home the equivalent of 2-3 months pay when I owned my gym. And my days are relaxed. I control my schedule. I have the control, autonomy, and everything I once lacked.

Ironically?

This was everything I thought hitting 10k months would give me.

Landon.