I once saw a bumper sticker on a new Mercedes that said “This is what success looks like.” My first, purely visceral thought was, Man, I am so getting a Mercedes like that.

My second thought was, what kind of dunderhead slaps a cheap bumper sticker on such a fine automobile?

So it occurred to me that people spell success very differently from one another. And of course, broadcast it differently, too. Ahem.

Let’s compare our lives, shall we?

Let’s see, who is more successful – you or me? Or any number of people in our circles?

Really, I can only say what success looks like for me, in my little world. My idea of success is (hopefully) very different from yours.

Let’s pretend we’re in third grade and we’re comparing what Mom put in our lunchboxes. We’ll both go back to class feeling like we’re missing something. Somehow we both feel like we could have had better.

How’s that for irony? It’s a “the Twinkies are always creamier on the other side of the table” kind of thing.

Way back in the olden days (art school), I sat next to Alex, the most amazing illustrator I had ever met. Every day that we worked together I struggled with my envy. I would never live up to his work, I was pretty sure. Shoulders hunched, I soldiered on toward the front lines of mediocrity.

One day I complimented him on his project. He kind of snorted and admitted that he felt like it would never be as good as mine.

I was eyeing his chocolate cake and he was coveting my Twinkies. See what I mean?

Make More Money, the Easy Way!

Maybe you’ve seen the same things I have online and promptly retreated to a corner to weep uncontrollably about how much you suck. Do any of these sound familiar?

“…and now I make $10K a month!”

“This year I’ll bring in a six figure income with my products.”

“Last year I was living in my car. Now I own the Chrysler Corporation; all from blogging about my underwear!”

I’ve never seen anyone post their income when it’s lower than six figures. Seeing that over and over again it’s easy to imagine that earning anything less means you are unsuccessful. It’s a trap.

It’s a trap because you’re only comparing one thing. Money. It’s also a trap because it assumes that what those people do is easy, which I know isn’t true. The people making all that sweet cash online work their arses off.

Money is sweet. It’s awesome. I like money. A lot. Have you ever had money toasted with peanut butter? It’s a tasty treat.

Money is not success. It can be part of success but it’s not the whole lunchbox.

What success really looks like

I’ve been pontificating about what success looked like two years ago compared to what it looks like today. Jump in my noggin and take a look:

Salary

Two years ago, as Director of Operations at a nationwide graphics firm, I made about $130,000. This year (my second official year in business) I will report about $34,000. Actually, that’s my revenue. I paid myself much less after the expenses of running my biz.

If you’re in the design biz, you know this is low. The AIGA reports a median salary for a solo designer in Portland to be $50,000. The 25th percentile is $36,000. I could be making more as an entry-level designer at a local firm. Not including all the free Costco snacks.

So let’s analyze this.

First, I don’t even want to say what I made last year. It was low, okay? If I hadn’t started with a hefty savings account, I would have folded in my third month.

My revenue for next year (as in what’s in the pipeline) is already more than what I made this year. Already. It’s not even January yet. My revenue goal is significantly higher.

See? This is how it works, people.

I started with my own capital. I had very few connections. I had no idea what running my own business would be like. I quit my job before I got started. I learned quite a few lessons the hard way.

See, if I blog about my six-figure income in two years without having posted this first, people will think it came out of nowhere or it was easy. It didn’t. It wasn’t.

What I Do Every Day

If I had to report “level of rewarding” on my taxes, I would be taxed out of business. What I did two years ago had it’s share of rewards, definitely. I worked with some great people. Mentoring, guiding, art directing, and motivating employees could be pretty awesome.

Now it’s just different. There’s really no comparison. I work directly with some amazing clients, directing and creating artwork that truly helps their businesses. I get paid for it, yes. I also get t-shirts, cards, shout-outs on Twitter, seeing my stuff on TV, and hugs from people I didn’t know before they hired me.

Like I said, if I got taxed on that stuff…

I get to travel. I meet tons of new people. I produce drawings and animations that are weird and awesome. I blog. I create products that people use to learn how to do what I do. I lead workshops about working with clients. Sometimes I don’t get dressed until dinner.

I pretty much do whatever I want, frankly.

Mi Familia

We’re so poor we have to add sawdust to yesterday’s soup. Kidding.

In 2007, we lived in a luxury $4,000/month D.C. apartment. Wow, that was stupid. Okay, it wasn’t stupid, just extravagant. We would been better off buying a house but I would have seen my family for about an hour every day. Weee!

So now I see them frequently throughout the day. Our two-year old has his Daddy almost whenever he wants. If I could have given my other two the same, I would have. I just didn’t know how to do this back then.

We eat really, really well. The best coffee, local craft beers, amazing meals. We eat out every now and then. We just took a 3-week vacation to Phoenix and California. We see movies, eat cake, hang out with other people, buy new shoes when feet get too big, play video games. Jenni and I both have iPhones. We’re a three-laptop household. We have ridiculous credit card bills from our cross-country move.

For now we rent a house in a gorgeous 5-acre wooded wonderland.

All this on less than $30,000.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not preaching the virtues of living on a low income. I plan to double my income every year. I’m not living in some Frank Capra fantasy world. My point is that even after fumbling at the starting gate, we’re not dead. I’m not submitting resumes.

Is this success?

For me, yes. This is what success looks like. I’ll let you know what it looks like next year.

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