Shortcut to Smarter Growth | ProductiveandFree

When you’re building a business on your own, it can feel like the only way forward is to chase everything, meaning every client, every order, and every possible opportunity. That makes sense in theory, but the problem is that that way of doing things doesn’t actually lead to growth - it leads to exhaustion. The real shortcut is basically about knowing the right numbers to focus on because in the end, those are the numbers that reveal where the real opportunities are and where you’re wasting your precious energy. With that in mind, keep reading to find out more.

Why Chasing Every Customer Leads to Burnout

When you’re just starting out, the instinct is to say yes to everything - someone wants a discount, so you give them one, or someone wants a service outside of your scope, and you’ll work it out. Perhaps someone asks for a call at 10pm, and you do it. At first, this feels like hustle and like it’s what you’re meant to be doing, but over time, it starts to wear you down.

The main problem is that not all customers are equal - some bring steady work, fair payment, and good referrals, but others drain your time, haggle endlessly, and leave little profit behind. So if you try to serve everyone, the difficult ones end up taking you away from the customers who could grow with you.

Burnout doesn’t come from working hard on things you believe in - it comes from spending energy on people and projects that don’t match where your business should be headed. The solopreneur’s secret weapon isn’t hustle - it’s focus, and focus starts with numbers.

The Simple Maths That Helps Find Opportunities

Let’s talk about Total Addressable Market, or TAM, which sounds corporate, but really, it’s just a business way of asking how big is the group of people who could buy what you offer? Understanding that number, even roughly, is one of the most practical ways to keep yourself from chasing the wrong leads.

TAM matters because if you know the size of your potential market, you can set realistic goals - you’ll know whether it’s worth chasing one hundred customers or if 10 high-value ones are enough, and you’ll see which opportunities make sense and which are distractions.

Learning how to calculate TAM isn’t rocket science - you can start simple and work out the number of potential customers in your niche, multiply it by the average spend they could make, and you’ve got a ballpark figure. That’s your ceiling, the total possible size of your market.

From there, things get clearer:

If your TAM is small but profitable, you’ll focus on quality relationships and higher-value offers.
If your TAM is massive, you’ll narrow it down into segments so you don’t waste energy trying to sell to everyone at once.
If your TAM doesn’t make sense for your goals, you’ll know to pivot before sinking years into something that can’t sustain you.
The maths for this gives you boundaries, and boundaries, strangely enough, give you freedom.

Total Addressable Market | ProductiveandFree — Photo by Andrea Piacquadio

Other Numbers That Can Help You

TAM isn’t the only number you should know - as a solopreneur, there are a few others that make the difference between thriving and struggling. One of these is Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), which is about how much do you actually spend to get one new customer. That means ads, time on sales calls, and even the free work you throw in to land them, and if your cost is higher than the money they bring in, you’re going backward.

Then there’s Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). This is the average amount a customer spends with you over time, and knowing it helps you decide whether to spend more upfront to win them over. If they stick around for years, the upfront effort is worth it.

Next you need to think about profit margins. The fact is that although revenue sounds nice, it’s what you keep that matters, and that’s profit, so understanding your true margins keeps you from mistaking busyness for profitability.

And what about your hours to earnings ratio? How many hours do you put in for the income you generate? This simple ratio reveals whether your business is sustainable or whether you’re just grinding yourself into the ground.

These numbers really mean your decisions are based on reality instead of wishful thinking, and that’s the right route to take.

Numbers Can Make Things Simple

The mistake most people make is that they try to build complex dashboards and endless spreadsheets, but the truth is you don’t need all that as long as you start with the basics, and just have one sheet and a few key numbers, updated regularly. Simplicity means you’ll actually use it, which is vital.

The whole point of these numbers is clarity. Clarity shows you where to put your effort, who to serve, and when to say no, and without it, you’ll keep spinning in circles, saying yes to anyone who asks, and wondering why your business feels stuck.

Turning Numbers into Action

Numbers don’t mean much if they stay theoretical, and the real impact comes when you use them to make choices.

Say you calculate your TAM and realise your market is smaller than you thought. That might feel disappointing at first, but it’s a gift because it tells you to go deeper with fewer customers instead of spreading yourself thin, so you’ll build stronger relationships and likely earn more than chasing endless new leads.

Or let’s say your hours-to-earnings ratio shows you’re working 60-hour weeks for the same money you could make in 30 - that’s a clear sign you need to raise prices, trim low-value services, or streamline your admin.

In other words, every number is a mirror that reflects where you are now but also points to what you should do next.

The Motivation to Do the Maths

It might sound like numbers drain the fun out of business, but it’s the opposite because when you know your numbers, you stop guessing, and you stop second-guessing. Instead, you start working with confidence.

Imagine the relief of knowing exactly how many clients you need to hit your income goal, or the satisfaction of dropping a customer who drains your energy because the math shows they’re not worth it… That’s motivation, and that’s going to help you keep going when things get tough.