I came across an interview recently with Ian Schwartzman, the CEO of the Joe Budden Network. Schwartzman helped build Budden's podcast into a $20 million a year business.¹ During the conversation, the hosts started doing what hosts do. They threw out the big numbers. "You're making a million a month. Somebody can make a hundred thousand."
Schwartzman stopped them mid-sentence.
"Stop throwing those numbers out. Why can't you tell people to get 100 people to subscribe for $10 a month? That's $1,000 a month passive. That changes your movements. That maybe frees you up one day a week."
Then he went further: "At some point, as leadership in this industry, we have to stop putting these ridiculous numbers in front of people."
Here's a person running a $20 million operation telling the hosts — educated, well-versed professionals with large audiences — that the numbers they're putting out aren't helping anyone. His point wasn't about being modest. It was about math. $1,000 a month might cover a bill. It might free up one day. It might change how somebody moves. And nobody talks about that number, because it doesn't sound impressive enough to say out loud.
That got me thinking about our industry.
The Number That Was Never Defined
The laundry business has its own version of this. The conversation tends to center on scale. More locations. Higher gross revenue. The numbers that circulate on podcasts, in forums, on social media, and at trade shows are almost always the big ones. Somebody went from one store to ten. Somebody else is doing seven figures.
There's nothing wrong with those stories. Ambition is a good thing. But here's what I've been sitting with lately.
Where did the number you're working toward actually come from?