“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” -Tim Cahill
Not too long ago, someone asked me how scalable Tiny Buddha is, and how I plan to expand the site to reach millions of people and generate substantial revenue.
My answer was (and is) that I don’t. I have absolutely no concrete plans to reach certain benchmarks for readers or dollars. I do, however, have plans for the site’s growth–but they’re focused more on creating new features than attracting new people to use them.
It’s not about expanding Tiny Buddha’s reach; it’s about how deeply we can all reach each other.
I realize that in business, particularly when you’re not working alone, you sometimes need to focus on numbers. But there’s something to said for checking in with why you’re doing what you’re doing and choosing to focus on that.
I suspect that if we peeled away the layers of our motivations, most of us would discover that what we really want is to connect with other people and make a positive difference in their lives. Sure, we also want to make a comfortable living, and it wouldn’t hurt to leave behind some kind of legacy.
But focusing on the numbers–putting all your energy into plans to go the distance–can be a huge distraction from why you started this journey to begin with. It can pressure you to sell when you’d rather just engage, or promote when you’d rather create, or brand yourself when you’d rather just be who you are.
When you’re focused on how far you can go, it can be difficult to appreciate how far you’ve already come, and how beautiful it is, right here.
Today if you find yourself dwelling on where you want to be–how many followers, fans, subscribers, page views, or customers you want to have–remember: Your success is only about the numbers if you choose to measure it that way.
Photo by lok_lok 05
About Lori Deschene
Lori Deschene is the founder of Tiny Buddha. She started the site after struggling with depression, bulimia, c-PTSD, and toxic shame so she could recycle her former pain into something useful and inspire others to do the same. You can find her books, including Tiny Buddha’s Gratitude Journal and Tiny Buddha’s Worry Journal, here and learn more about her eCourse, Recreate Your Life Story, if you’re ready to transform your life and become the person you want to be.
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Though I run this site, it is not mine. It's ours. It's not about me. It's about us. Your stories and your wisdom are just as meaningful as mine. 
I don’t remember how I found this site, but I get a lot out of the posts here.
if you expanded to the point where you lost your original message and just became another cookier-cutter web page where your readers get pressured by Ads then it would be a sad day. Please don’t lose sight of your original vision………………..
This is a pretty inspiring post about what the prize really is. Thankfully, from the start, I’ve been concentrating on trying to inspire and help others ( I wonder how much due to reading your blog). My only “numbers” goal is to be able to feed and shelter the two of us.
Lori,
Your message is a refreshing divergence from the usual ones. If you concentrate on features that resonsate with you and your reader’s then you are sure to continue your success. Thanks for the inspiration. It is especially welcome as the “noise” about scalabilty, growth, generating mega-revenue, get really loud.
Lori- A heartfelt “THANK YOU” for your positive contributions to ALL of us! We do appreciate the “pearls of wisdom” contained in your blog and I regularly share them with my friends!
Sanity.
A breath of fresh air.
One wonderful person who doesn’t want to be a giant, or as they used to call it, “A Captain of Industry!”
Thank you LORI!
Since most businesses are future oriented, the simple pleasures in the day’s work have disappeared.
The Western world has generally believed that if one is good, then more is better, and lot’s more is great.
Because of the unquestioned assumption that growth is necessary, fields like health have become impersonal industries.
Even coaching which was once one-on-one, face-to-face, or one with a few, got bit by the giantism bug. Coaching trainers now teach that you can coach 1000’s online with the same effort as coaching one in person. The wealth is in the numbers.
I don’t believe it.
The wealth is in the personal satisfaction of helping someone with their goal, a goal that will make their life easier, more enjoyable because they will be less overweight, or have normal lungs, or avoid diabetes.
The wealth of Tiny Buddha is in the writing:
the pleasure of birthing each day’s post
the pleasure of reading comments on how the writing has affected another’s life the satisfaction of helping a first time writer focus the pleasure of reading a first draft, then participating in it’s transformation into a jewel of a piece the pleasure of sharing experiences with strangers, and finding we are not so different after all.
Numbers are stressful.
Making the numbers makes us pre-maturely grey!
Small is beautiful!
(Small is Beautiful, Economics as if People Mattered, is E.F Schumacher’s book, He suggested local community is a sensible scale)
Such great advice Lori. I’m asked those questions a lot and my answer is very similar. I’m not interested putting ads on my blog that distract from my original mission. All in good time.
Thanks!
Thank you, Lori, for this simple wisdom — so inspiring to read these words, a wonderful reminder to stay true to what’s really important.
It reminds me of a quote (sometimes attributed to Albert Einstein) that I’ve always loved:
“Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.”
Thank you Lori for all of the beautiful and inspiring messages you post daily.
Reading the topics has helped me’ personally and I’ve tried to implement them into my daily life.
Please remain true and you will soar within your business by staying where your first intentions were from the beginning. 🙂
Thank you, Lori – I love this post! It really resonates with me, and with many discussions I’ve been having recently, as I ponder the increasing use of social media in particular.
The motive for using such tools seems to have been lost or not considered at all sometimes, which then seems to lead to the chase for numbers, which then further hides the true essence of the original communication – or so it seems to me!
Then comes the constant striving to keep up – just another version of keeping up with the Joneses, I guess – to a certain extent, this can appear to be necessary from a business perspective – but that is a bit of an illusion as well, as business is not only about numbers.
In the end, what matters is that we’re each true to our own nature – then whatever comes from that will energize us, and we will become more powerful manifestations of our own uniqueness – this is success 🙂
Beautiful! Love receiving my weekly newsletter and reading the blog’s – this one has been very grounding for me! Thankyou Lori 🙂 You write so beautifully! 🙂
Lori,
If and when the time comes that you need to scale your site… there’s no need to worry. People like me are working on that 😉
If and when that time comes, you can rest assured that there will be solutions out there for that problem. My company is working on making it easy to install web applications in the cloud, with a mindful eye on scaling in the future.
Reading articles here gives me some motivation and positive attitude:) Very good site, glad I found it:)
Hi Lori,
Thank you so much for this post. It’s funny I think I read in one of your emails that your stories and blogs come at just the right time, and you bring up a point I was most recently thinking about in my own business.
You bring up “how deeply we can reach other”, and as a personal trainer I have always practiced delivering the best results to my clients, rather than trying to train as many people as I can with mediocre results. In the business world, you can get caught up with doing more and selling more of a product, that we often times forget the purpose behind the product.
I am also very happy to hear that you are staying true to yourself and not “branding” yourself to fit a certain market.
Awesome post, thank you again Lori!
Best,
Sirena
You’re most welcome. I love that quote! It really makes you think about what’s valuable, and what’s just adding extra stress and pressure.
Your comment perfectly captured so much of what I’ve been thinking! You’re so right about “giantism.” And in terms of coaching, I’ve heard a lot of people talking about “one-to-many” services as the ultimate use of your time. I can’t help wondering: Who decided that the most valuable use of our time is universally the one that generates the most money?
Thank you for your kind words about Tiny Buddha. It’s really rewarding to know that you see the site as I’ve tried to create it. =) Thank you also for the book recommendation. I will definitely check that out!
Thank you, Lesli. That noise is definitely getting loud, but even if this conversation is a lot softer, I’m so glad that we’re having it. =)
Hi James,
Thanks for commenting. I feel very fortunate that I have a wonderful team in place to create new features for the site, however, it’s nice to know there’s other help available if I need it!
Lori
I know what you mean. I’ve really scaled back on my personal social media use these past couple of years (outside Tiny Buddha) because it got somewhat overwhelming. On the one hand, I think we’re fortunate to have the ability to make so many connections with people all over the word. On the other hand, it’s possible to get so overloaded with new connections that it’s hard to make them meaningful. For me, less is definitely more.
You’re most welcome, Jade! Thank you for taking the time to comment. I’m so glad the site has had a positive impact on your life. =)
That sounds like a wonderful focus. =) I say the same thing to my boyfriend–I’m not looking for excess or abundance. I’m just happy to do what I love in a way that makes a difference and earn enough. Enough is, well, enough!
This idea always reminds me of the end of Jerry Maguire, when Rod Tidwell has his moment in the sun and it means so much to Jerry because of all the heart he put into their relationship. I know it’s just a movie, but it’s something I keep in mind when I engage with people. I want to give them more than my services–I want to give them my heart. And that’s less likely to happen if I focus on reaching as many people as possible.
It sounds like your clients are very lucky to work with you =)
Thanks so much! I’m glad you found it, too. =)
You’re most welcome, Jo, and thank you, too!
You’re most welcome! I think ads can make or break the reader experience. I’ve seem some sites with ads in the middle of blog posts–and often animated ones. And then there are those sponsors, double-underlined parts. It’s just such a major distraction. I think forgoing this type of advertising can ultimately build a much more engaged, loyal community–and in the end, that is far more valuable than (what generally turns out to be) fairy minimal income from the maximum number of ads.
Thanks so much! Though I don’t expect it, it makes a difference in my day to see “Thank you.” So thank YOU for that. I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed the posts and that you’ve chosen to share them with your friends =)
I totally agree–and I won’t! It would really pain me to sell out in that way. There are a lot of things that I could do that make me cringe when I consider them. That cringing is what tells me to steer clear.
I’m so glad! I get a lot from the posts here, too (I’m referring to the ones other people write–not my own!)
Hi Lori.
What an uplifting post. As I’m a Buddhist, and an Ethical Marketing Advisor, it’s very uplifting to see you using the Tiny Buddha web site and Facebook, not for placing and pushing product, but for friendship with others.
Your post reminds me of two quotations.
From A View on Buddhism (http://viewonbuddhism.org/index.html).”Don’t try to use what you learn from Buddhism to be a Buddhist, use it to be a better whatever you already are.” His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso.
“With friends there is no judging good or bad or ugly. Just caring and sharing. That’s what makes them beautiful.”
Namaskar _/_
thanks for being kind hearted in sharing all your knowledge and wisdom… tinybuddha is inspiring and uplifting 🙂
Thank YOU for the comment, Gel! I’m so glad you enjoy the site =)