Yearly Revenue/Sales Number Expectations?

[olimits7]

Hi,

I know all businesses are different depending on labor costs, overhead costs, shipping costs, profit margins, etc... but what revenue/sales number expectations would you one day like to reach?

Or if you are satisfied with your current revenue/sales number:
1. What is your yearly revenue/sales range ($)?
2. What is your yearly profit margin range (%)?
3. What is your yearly revenue/sales growth rate (%)?
4. How many years did it take you to reach your revenue/sales goal?

I have a small operation, and I'm trending to do $100,000 in revenue/sales this year; I know compared to other companies this is pennies but it's a start. And I would say my profit margin would be around 15% of revenue/sales; so profit is around $15,000 (before taxes) a year.

When I do the math it sometimes takes the wind out of my sails because of all the hard work I put into this ecommerce site. Plus, I still have a full-time job at another company and I make more money even after taxes than the $15K I'm trending to make now; so sometimes I ask myslef is it really worth it to keep going with the ecommerce site...hmmmmmmm?

My goal one day would be to reach $1,000,000 in revenue/sales, and if my profit margin is still the same at 15% that would be $150,000 (before taxes) in profit. My growth rate so far has been pretty aggressive so maybe this number isn't that far out of reach, but who knows if my growth rate will stay the same each year.

Maybe hearing about other people's yearly revenue/sales increases will help put the wind back in my sails. I still enjoy running my own ecommerce site, but I will definitely like to make decent money from it to as well!

Thank you,

olimits7

[HRoth]

I don't make much money compared to what I was doing before I had this shop; in fact, I make less than the average annual income for my state. But I sure have been enjoying myself since deciding to switch from work that was more lucrative but boring.

Right now, my goals are to
a) keep working for myself in this terrible economy instead of having to try to get a "real" job at my age,
b) keep creating more weird stuff for more weird people,
c) convince more people that my weird stuff is just what will bring them satisfaction, even if it costs more than sweat-shop dreck,
d) continue to manage to support myself doing this.

IOW, my advice to you is not to focus on the bottom line cash-wise but to focus on what is important for you. If it is money, there are a lot easier ways to make money than working for yourself, and less stressful too. OTOH, it can be far more rewarding to be your own boss and do something you really love than it is to make plenty of money. It's not that those are the only two choices, but often they are the primary ones in our society. You might find out that you like being "poor" just fine when you get a lot of satisfaction out of what you are doing. It seems like this is becoming an important issue in US society lately. I hear a lot of people talking about concentrating on the satisfaction you get out of life instead of the stuff and making the decision to pare down in order to have more enjoyment than stuff. 'Bout time, I think.

[olimits7]

That's great to hear that you are sticking to something you enjoy doing.

I also like owning my own ecommerce site, but I hope one day I can leave my fulltime job and work just on my ecommerce site but at the same time make enough money to support my family...this would be my main goal right now!