The Boss of You

I’ve come across a couple of stories lately about high-rolling women entrepreneurs — that is, women who are breaking the stereotypes of female business owners playing for small stakes. My first stop was Inc.’s blog, Fresh Inc., where Athena Schindelheim posted a couple of weeks back about the Make Mine a Million program. From there, I followed a link in the comments to Rick Spence’s blog, Canadian Entrepreneur, where he had posted about Profit Magazine’s list of the top 100 women-owned businesses in Canada for 2007 (based on annual sales revenue).

I’ve posted here before about my skepticism re: assessing businesses based on gross revenues, but I will allow that it’s still an interesting metric to look at in some regards. For instance, it’s very interesting to me to note that the #50 slot on Profit’s list brought in just over $8.5 million — hardly chump change, but neither is it an unthinkably large sum. (The top slot is occupied by Energy Savings Income Fund, with over $1.5 billion.) Unfortunately I didn’t see a comparable list of companies owned by men; I’d love to know what the range is there. I’m guessing the top end is significantly higher, and I’d be very surprised if the low end wasn’t as well.

For me, personally, these lists serve primarily as a reminder to think big — not because I am particularly interested in helming a billion-dollar company, but rather because if there’s one thing that’s anathema to the entrepreneurial mind, it’s stagnation. And as such, I like to entertain notions like how our company’s systems would need to change if we were planning to grow to that level. Often, this kind of lateral thinking will lift me out of my day-to-day reality enough that I’m able to pinpoint weak spots I might not otherwise have noticed.

There was a time when I felt only alienation when I read these kinds of reports, as though my business were somehow insignificant by comparison. But now that I’m clearer on my own business goals, I don’t feel so emotionally invested in the question of revenues. I’m comfortable with my definition of success, so I don’t worry so much about how other people define it.

I’d love to know from you whether you read these kinds of lists, and if so, how you interpret them.