We’ve all heard about entrepreneur milestones.

They usually include things like:

• Being able to quit your day job and finally making your side-hustle into your main hustle
• Launching your website
• Getting your first client
• Getting your first repeat client
• Hiring your first employee

It’s important to celebrate milestones when you are a business owner. Owning those victories will give you the motivation to continue on your entrepreneurial journey.

Taking time to notice and enjoy your successes will remind you that you are making progress, even when it might feel like you are stuck.

But what about the other small business owner milestones that no one seems to talk about? What about the inner battles that we face, that go unseen in the “outside world”?

Here are 3 entrepreneur milestones that we should all celebrate, but might overlook if we’re not careful:

 

1.    Turning down a client

 

You never forget your first real client.

And, you never forget the first client or prospect you turn down.

There is so much power in being able to say “no”, for whatever the reason.

Maybe it’s a bad fit because they don’t want to pay you what you’re worth.

Or, maybe you just don’t feel like your brand values are aligned with theirs.

It could just be a feeling you have.

You could be too busy to take them on, or maybe they are not as big as you would like them to be.

Perhaps you are thinking big picture and you know this client won’t stick around or be good for you in the future, even though their offer is tempting right now.

The “old you” would have said “yes” to the work and the money in a heartbeat. But, the “new you” wants something better.

That is when you as an entrepreneur have made the jump from being someone “who has to” to someone “who wants to”.

This is a big stepping stone for any business owner, so do not dismiss it.

 

2.    When you stop spending and start investing in your business

 

We are all nervous when it comes to spending resources on our business.

Whether it’s time, money, or focus, entrepreneurs can’t afford to lose.

However, there comes a point during the entrepreneurial journey when that fear of loss becomes something else.

Rather than feeling like an expense, it starts to feel more like an investment.

Part of the reason why this shift happens is because we become more comfortable with taking calculated risks.

We believe in ourselves more, and we get better at trusting our decisions.

Also, we learn how to forgive ourselves if things don’t work out exactly as we planned.

Probably most importantly, we begin to trust in our ability to recover if our investment doesn’t pan out.

We don’t stop anticipating loss, we get better at taking hits.

A lot of emotional growth has to come before being able to see an expense as an investment, which is why it is a significant milestone to celebrate.

 

3.    When you work to live and not live to work

 

We all have our different reasons for becoming business owners.

But we share something in common…

At some point, we took the leap into entrepreneurship because we wanted a better life for ourselves.

This is hard to remember because the first few years of launching and running a business can be very difficult.

It takes a lot. Many of us can feel like all we do is work.

Sadly, a lot of business owners get stuck in this stage, and their businesses continue to take a lot out of them.

An important milestone to look out for (and to hope for) is that moment when you realize that your business doesn’t run your life – it’s the other way around.

Your business makes the life you want possible.

Maybe you are finally able to put in fewer hours because you’ve hired and trained a capable team.

You’ve scaled, so you make more money with less investment.

Perhaps you’ve figured out a way to make a passive income stream in your business.

Repeat business comes in steadily and effortlessly.

Whatever the method, make sure you celebrate when you figure out a way to achieve true work-life balance.

It’s important to celebrate milestones along the way to our small business goals. They keep us motivated and feed us with a sense of accomplishment. Along with the typical entrepreneurial milestones you achieve, make sure you celebrate the lesser known, more quiet milestones, such as: being able to turn down a client, making the shift from spending to investing on your business, and achieving true work-life balance.