Five Unconventional Metrics of Success for Creative Entrepreneurs

Let's be honest - the world of online business is loaded with people telling you what to value, and how exactly you should be creating your business to make it happen.

Money and profit is an important metric of success, but when I decided to go all in on helping entrepreneurs create amazing businesses that express their soul work, I knew we had to talk about much more than cold, hard cash.

You aren't here to just make money - you're here to make meaningful money. To me, that means shaping a life & business that makes you experience the true richness of your life -- in a way that resonates with your gifts and the dent you'd like to make in the universe.

So how do you get there? Boundaries.

I don't mean boundaries about how you schedule your time or set the tone for your business. (Though those are important!)

You need to set boundaries around what you value, and what you choose to tell yourself IS success.

In other words, you need to remind yourself every step of the way that your version of success gets to look like you, and you alone.

(It's one of the perks of being a changemaker in business - you get to choose what you bring to the world!)

To help, I'm rounding up five unconventional measures of success that you can explore in your own business.

Keep what resonates, and add to them as you need!

#1 The number of failures & pivots you've experienced. (And the courage you've cultivated.)

I can't tell you how many dreams I've had that have turned out to be utter failures. In most cases, I can see in the rearview mirror that those goals weren't right for me, and that often, I was simply chasing something that I thought I should go after.

And sometimes, they were aligned dreams for me, but the destination the failure gave me was the perfect foundation to go in another direction.

We tend to understand that failures bring learning opportunities, but don't discount the power of cultivating courage!

#2 The amount of curiosity you experience every day.

Life is short. What's the point of spending all that time in your business if it doesn't drive you to explore parts of yourself & the world that truly interest you?

You don't need to shoot for constant curiosity and childlike enthusiasm every second of the day, but if you find yourself disinterested in the work you're doing or even the things you need to learn about to do your job, that's a sign for a shift.

Case in point: When I try to force myself to explore certain business strategies, my eyes glaze over. I could force myself to care, but why?! Instead, I let myself explore different strategies and watch for what piques my curiosity.

Your curiosity is a signal there's something useful for you there. Trust it enough to explore it.

#3 How much you're sharing the threads of the tapestry that matters to you.

This is a biggie that can not only give you motivation during tough times, but it can also help you stay deeply connected to the bigger picture of your business.

Every creative soul is tapped into a broader tapestry of values, ideas, or concepts that has meaning to them. If you're lucky (or in Creative Money Awakening!), you can do intentional work to turn your business into a canvas that expresses these values.

For example, I'm deeply connected to nature, science, spirituality, creative expression, and using these concepts to connect people to their richest possible experience on the planet. That's literally my entire career in a sentence!

Having this backbone of values-led work makes it much easier to stay on track with my vision, and it means when things feel sideways, I can remind myself: "If I'm sharing part of that tapestry, I'm succeeding."

To me, this is alignment in its highest form.

Sidenote: Tell me below in the comments what your tapestry is! It's okay if it sounds muddled or messy - you just need some key concepts to get started!

#4 How willing you are to let yourself be human.

This is one of the key things we Moneywakers are always working on.

How often do you make yourself wrong for feeling a certain way? For not achieving a certain milestone? For not being able to do All The Things and (gasp!) being a fallible human who can't actually create your millionaire dream life & business in five seconds flat?

Reminder: The more stressed, anxious, or beating-yourself-up that you are, the less capable you are of tuning into your deeper intuition and guidance.

Explore how much time you spend attacking yourself (in big and small ways), and, if needed, make a note to remind yourself that being a messy human isn't a problem. It's the whole point.

(Seriously: Write a Post-It note that says "Let yourself off the hook for that." and watch what happens!)

#5 How often you opt out.

If you're reading this, you've probably got a good idea already of what needs to be given a pass in your life.

Do you need to opt out of watching what everyone else is doing?

Do you need to opt out of unnecessary scrolling on Instagram that just makes you feel like an uninspired lump?

Do you need to opt out of avoiding that deeper visibility work you can feel hanging over you?

We can't change what we're not aware of, but we also can't change if we don't take that second step of shifting into action.

Your ability to opt out of what isn't right for you is what provides you the spaciousness to create your own success. Don't skimp on this!

I know how hard it can be to stay aligned with what matters to you in your business while you're still growing it.

But remember: You are a creative.

That means you get to be creative about how you set yourself up for success, and the metrics you use to determine what matters to you. You hold all the cards.

This is how you create a business and legacy, sharing the work that will truly leave your unique impact on the world - and how you make money in ways that feel good.

If you want more support to work through the deeper side of creating a beautiful business that makes meaningful money your way, then you'll find what you need in my Creative Money Awakening program.

It's built to help you dive into the five layers of your unique money ecosystem, and blend mind, body, & creative spirit, to help you heal all the blocks you have to creating, supporting, sharing, selling, & scaling the work of your heart. (And it's as awesome as it sounds!)

We're creating a movement of entrepreneurs where courage & creativity lead, so we can shape a richer world in every way. Come and join us when it feels right.