Imagine the open rate on the last email you sent to your subscribers.

Think about the net profit your business has generated already this year.

Consider how many people viewed your last video, clicked on your blog post, or listened to your last podcast episode.

Those numbers aren’t just numbers for a lot of us.

At best, they can be subtle points of validation that we’re headed in the right direction. At worst, they can be emotional landmines.

All this month, we’ve been exploring how metrics, traffic, and financial impact the decisions we make as business owners.

These are important conversations because we’re often missing key pieces of information that make decision-making easier. But let’s not pretend that knowing your numbers will make all of your decisions objective or black & white.

Every time I peer into my profit & loss statement or check on the click thru rate of an email, I’m confronted with my own expectations and mindset.

If I’m not careful about checking those expectations before I start digging into the numbers, I could (and have) end up berating myself for old mistakes or less-than-stellar performance.

The flip side of this is that, not only can getting clear on our metrics or financials help us make more objective decisions about our business, it can present a huge opportunity for cleaning up our mindset and setting clear expectations for ourselves. We can address the emotional weight that comes along with tracking sales, leads, or our time.

We asked 7 members of the What Works Network to share a time when getting clear on the numbers told them a surprising story about what was really going on under the hood.

As you listen to these stories, consider the emotional or mindset transformation that had to happen alongside each new decision made based on something as seemingly objective as numbers. Put yourself in these small business owners’ shoes and think about what it took to start operating in a new way, regardless of the evidence.

In this episode you will hear from Susan Boles from Scale Spark, Kirsty Starmer from Build@Beach, Natasha Vorompiova from Systems Rock, business strategist Michelle Warner, Parker Stevenson from Evolved Finance, photographer Trish Mennell, and Julie Treanor from Just Lead.

Do you have a story about learning something surprising about your business based on metrics or financials? Have you made a big decision because you finally got clear on the numbers? I’d love to hear about it! Share your story on Instagram and tag me, @tara_mcmullin and use the hashtag #explorewhatworks.

Ready to join the conversation?

If you’re ready to get real about your small business and talk about what’s really working without the hype or gimmicks, you’ll want to join us inside The What Works Network. We’re opening the doors to new members soon! Click here & sign up to be notified when we start accepting new members.