I’ve always been the kind of person who loves a good goal.
Give me a target, a timeline, a number to hit – and I’m on it.
But a while back, something shifted. I realized that somewhere along the way, hitting my goals had gone from being motivating… to feeling like a constant test of my worth.
And here’s the wild part:
I truly didn’t see it happening.
I thought obsessing over goals was what “serious” entrepreneurs did. I followed coaches who preached it, read books that glorified it, and surrounded myself with people who reinforced the belief that missing a goal meant something was wrong with me – not the strategy, not the timing, not the context… me.
Over the last year, I made the intentional choice to untangle my self-worth from whether or not I hit a revenue milestone, filled a program, or checked every box on my quarterly plan.
And what happened next still surprises me:
I became happier, calmer, more grounded – and ironically, I started hitting more of my goals.
Not because I worked harder.
Not because I found a productivity hack.
But because I changed what I believed about goals – and what they meant about me.
So in today’s episode, I’m sharing the three key beliefs that helped me transform my relationship with business goals…
…the same beliefs that will help you grow your course business with more ease, more profit, and a lot less emotional whiplash.
Let’s get into it.
My name is Caitlin Bacher, CEO of Scale With Success®, and I’m on a mission to help course creators all over the world grow their business in a way that is profitable and scalable. I’m sharing revealing insights about what it really takes to scale an online course business to millions of dollars per year. Join me here to discover the tough decisions I’ve had to make, the biggest failures I’ve had to bounce back from, and the learnings that emerged every step of the way. I’m so grateful that I have the chance to tell you everything right here on Scale With Success®: The Podcast. Let’s get started.
Today we’re talking about what it really looks like to intentionally shift your relationship with business goals – and I want to make one thing clear before we begin:
Goals were never the problem.
My unhealthy attachment to achieving them was.
If you’re still listening, there’s a good chance you’ve been in the same spot:
– Afraid to set goals because you might not hit them.
– Hitting a goal… but feeling terrified it won’t last.
– Missing a goal and immediately making it mean something about YOU as a business owner.
Goals matter – your business absolutely depends on having them – but there’s a very real difference between pursuing goals and obsessing over them. And when you cross that line, everything starts to feel black and white… when the truth is, business is mostly gray.
And that brings us to the first belief that changed everything for me – and will likely change everything for you, too.
Belief #1: You can’t control the outcome, but you can control the process that INFLUENCES the outcome.
Ultimately, you don’t have 100% control over how much money you make.
I want to pause for a minute because that statement may sound a bit shocking. Especially because we operate in a culture that constantly sends messages that if you’re not achieving your goals, it’s YOUR fault and it means you’re a bad business owner.
Realizing you don’t have 100% control over how much money you make can also feel scary, especially for those of us who LOVE having control.
Here’s why you will never be 100% in control of how much money you make: the act of enrolling isn’t done by you – that decision is made by your prospect.
I mean, you can’t FORCE someone to enroll in your program – you can influence them to make a decision that’s right for them, but your prospect is the one who decides whether or not to enroll and there are a million other things outside your control that are ALSO influencing your prospects’ buying decision.
This doesn’t mean you should throw your hands in the air and feel helpless or that there is NOTHING you can do to influence your income.
Because, there’s actually a lot that IS inside your control.
That’s because YOU get to determine what to include inside your sales and marketing process: the offer, the way you talk about your offer, the webinar, the objections you decide to call out and overcome, and so on.
YOU are accountable for observing and investigating your prospect’s behaviors inside your funnel to better understand what’s working and what’s not so you can make it better.
The amount of money you make isn’t fixed, it’s limitless. You get to decide what your revenue goal is and you get to decide how you want to reach it.
Belief #2: Growth isn’t always linear and results aren’t always visible.
The revenue results you’re experiencing today are likely caused by things you were doing (or not doing) months ago – which is why I always tell my audience the best time to build your Profitable Sales Engine™ is yesterday and the next best time is today.
It’s hard to keep going and have a positive outlook when you can’t SEE the results of your hard work immediately, but if ALL you do is focus on the distance between where you are now and where you want to be – it’s going to feel a lot harder.
It’s your responsibility to look for and appreciate the effort you’re putting forth and the inner growth that’s happening: learning new things, increasing your resilience, putting yourself out there again and again.
All those seemingly “little” things add up and the resilience that you are building now is preparing you to handle the success that is yet to come.
Posting content that nobody sees, making offers that nobody buys, every single successful entrepreneur on the planet has experienced that – not once, but hundreds or even thousands of times.
That’s why they’re successful. They built the muscle of resilience, they strengthened their growth mindset (even when things felt hard), and they continued to focus on the things they had control of (posting content) and let go of the things they can’t (exactly how many people see the content).
You have to do the work of becoming the person who can keep going even when results aren’t yet visible in order to have the results that ARE visible.
Belief #3: You don’t have to give up just because you didn’t meet a goal.
The only way to guarantee that you don’t meet your revenue goals is to give up on meeting them – which is something you do have 100% control of because YOU are the sole decision maker when it comes to giving up.
There is ALWAYS a work around, a solution, or a way to figure things out. So, the idea that “this is your last chance” to make something work just doesn’t exist.
Sometimes we create stories around how long our goals need to take or what the path looks like in order to achieve them. We tell ourselves, well – this goal didn’t happen in the time frame I wanted it to happen, so I guess it’s just not meant to happen.
I’ve made over $11m since I started selling courses and I can tell you that there have been loads of times I’ve set goals I didn’t meet. Where would I be if I quit the first time something didn’t go as planned, or even the hundredth time something didn’t go as planned?
We live in a society where achieving things as fast as possible is valued above all else. As women, we’re told if we don’t achieve X, Y or Z by age 30, 45, or 60, it just won’t happen – which is super convenient to tell a woman if you never want them to achieve anything.
So, what would life be like if you stopped placing artificial time lines to define your worth and instead, just do the work.
You are the only person who gets to decide whether you do or don’t pursue a goal and the only way to NEVER achieve it is to give up trying.
So, don’t do that.
Let’s recap what we covered today, because these three beliefs truly have the power to change not just how you pursue your goals… but how you feel while you pursue them:
Belief #1:
You can’t control the outcome, but you can control the process that influences the outcome.
When you shift your focus toward the actions, the habits, the inputs you do control, you become far more powerful – and ironically, far more likely to hit the goals you set.
Belief #2:
Growth isn’t always linear and results aren’t always visible.
Just because you can’t see the progress yet doesn’t mean it’s not happening. The work you’re doing today is planting seeds you’ll harvest months from now. Your consistency always counts, even when the scoreboard isn’t reflecting it yet.
Belief #3:
You don’t have to give up just because you didn’t meet a goal.
Missing a deadline or falling short doesn’t mean the dream is dead. It just means the timeline was artificial. You get to keep going. You get to keep deciding. And the only guaranteed way to never reach the goal is to quit.
Here’s the big takeaway:
Your goals are not a verdict.
They’re invitations.
Invitations to grow, to experiment, to show up differently, to notice what’s working, and to become the version of yourself who can hold the success you’re building toward.
Once you release the pressure to hit goals perfectly, you create the space to hit them more powerfully.
I appreciate you being here and be sure to tune in next time for another episode of Scale With Success® – The Podcast.
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Today’s episode is brought to you by Scale With Success® Accelerator — an online course designed to help you generate launch-sized revenue without lanching. If you want to learn MORE about our proven method for success, click here to watch my free masterclass. See you in there!
