You’re Working Hard… But Is It Working? What Your Metrics Are Trying to Tell You with Amy Traugh
- Amy Traugh
- Jul 30
- 13 min read
🎧 The Metrics Maven: Data Driven Business Growth Strategy for Solopreneurs is streaming on all platforms. Listen here. Also streaming on YouTube.
The Real Reason You’re Stuck (Hint: It’s in Your Metrics)
Why understanding your numbers is the key to sustainable growth—even if you’re not a “numbers person."
If your business feels like a constant cycle of trial and error, it might not be your offer, your price, or even your content. It might be that you're guessing your way through growth instead of letting your metrics guide you.
Most solopreneurs didn’t start their businesses to play in spreadsheets, and I get it—metrics can feel overwhelming or downright intimidating. But here's the truth: your numbers aren’t just extra admin. They’re the clearest way to know what’s working, what’s not, and what to do next.
Let’s break it all down in a way that actually makes sense—and helps you grow.
The Problem With Guessing
Many business owners rely on gut feelings when things aren’t working.
“This launch felt quiet.”
“No one’s watching my content.”
“People must think my prices are too high.”
Sound familiar?
Feelings are valid—but they’re not the full picture. When you base your decisions on how things feel instead of what your data says, you end up second-guessing everything and spinning in circles.
Your metrics give you concrete, objective feedback so you can stop chasing random tactics and start making strategic decisions that lead to real results.
What Your Metrics Are Actually Telling You
Your business is already giving you clues—your numbers just help you see them clearly. Here’s what to look for:
Visibility Metrics
Are people even seeing your content? These metrics show your reach and exposure. If the numbers are low, you don’t have a sales problem—you have a visibility gap.
Look at: Website traffic, social reach, podcast downloads, sales page visits.
Lead Generation Metrics
Are the right people entering your world? This tells you how well your visibility efforts are turning into actual interest.
Look at: New email subscribers, DMs, discovery calls, leads from collaborations or ads.
Conversion Metrics
Are your leads turning into clients? If people are interested but not buying, this is the metric to dig into.
Look at: Lead-to-client conversion rate, checkout page clicks, opt-ins that don’t convert.
Sales Metrics
Is your business actually profitable? This gives you the full income picture.
Look at: Total revenue, average order value, customer lifetime value.
Retention Metrics
Are clients sticking around or disappearing after one purchase?
Look at: Renewals, referrals, upsells, repeat purchases.
Quick Recap: What Your Metrics Help You Do
✅ Make confident decisions (even in slower months)
✅ See progress before the revenue shows up
✅ Spot gaps early—before they impact your income
✅ Customize your strategy instead of following cookie-cutter advice
✅ Focus your energy on what’s actually working
Final Thought: Simple is Sustainable
You don’t need to track every number under the sun—you just need the right data to guide your next step. When you know how to read your numbers, you stop guessing and start growing with clarity, confidence, and ease.
If you're ready to finally ditch the data drama and create a simple, repeatable process for growth, this is exactly what we do inside Metrics Mastery.
Get started for free at amytraugh.com and let’s build a business that’s backed by strategy, not stress.
Until next time, stop guessing and start growing.
Episode Links
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Transcript for Episode 428. You’re Working Hard… But Is It Working? What Your Metrics Are Trying to Tell You
@0:06 - Amy Traugh (Amy Traugh)
What is the real importance of numbers and metrics? And why do businesses need to track them in order to succeed?
What are these numbers actually telling us? And why do they even matter? This is by far one of the most frequently asked questions that I get from amazing business owners just like you.
And this question was recently submitted by Dr. Emily Jacobs. She's the founder of the Empowered Moms Community, and she's hosting her third annual Empowered Moms Live Event in Michigan on October 5th.
You definitely want to check this event out. You can find all the details at EmpoweredMoms.co. Emily, thank you so much.
Asking the question that so many business owners are thinking, but may be afraid to say. In today's episode, we are diving into my favorite topic under the sun, numbers and metrics.
But we're not talking about the really overwhelming kind that make your eyes glaze over or make you want to hide underneath your desk.
No, we're talking about the kind of numbers and metrics that give you clarity. The kind that will help you make strategic decisions for your business and grow it in a way that's sustainable.
Because I know that you did not start your business because you love spreadsheets. In fact, they probably even make you cringe because tracking metrics feels like just one more thing to add to your already busy schedule.
You're here because you love the work that you do. But ignoring your metrics is like trying to drive across the country.
towns street Now Without a GPS and hoping that you somehow end up at the right destination within a reasonable amount of time.
And your metrics aren't just a nice-to-have thing. They're actually the difference between guessing your way through business and growing your business.
And while guessing a lot of times feels productive, it leads to burnout, frustration, and that rollercoaster of inconsistent income that so many business owners are stuck on.
So in this episode, let's break down exactly what your metrics are trying to tell you and why they matter even more than you may even realize right now.
So let's dive in and start with the million-dollar question. Why do metrics actually matter? Right now, the vast majority of business owners are making decisions based off of how things feel.
This launch felt quiet. at. time. I don't think anyone's watching my content. I feel like people aren't buying because my price is too high.
But feelings, while valid, they're not always giving us the full picture. And when we are basing decisions based off of how things feel, we do this because it's familiar, it's fast, and it's really less intimidating than actually taking the time to dig into the data and metrics.
Because most business owners haven't been taught how to use metrics in a practical way. And many carry the belief that, you know what, I'm just not a numbers person.
So with so much already on their plate, it just feels like one more thing you have to figure out.
So they go strictly with their gut, even if they're getting inconsistent results, and they feel like they're second-guessing themselves constantly.
And this isn't because of lazy. No, this is actually a deep rooted underlying fear because subconsciously what we worry is that, okay, if I look at these metrics and they're not where I want them to be, this confirms that something isn't working and that can feel really, really personal.
And we just talked about this a few episodes ago in just the skill of detachment. So make sure you go back and listen to that episode.
I'll link it in the show notes. So instead of using our metrics and data to make these strategic decisions, we're defaulting to what feels good in the moment.
But at the end of the day, your data is not here to judge you. It is simply information. And when you know exactly what to track and what it means, it becomes your most powerful asset to grow your business with clarity and ease.
Because what's happening is your metrics will actually show you what's happening inside your business. We're living in a world where there's so many different cookie cutter strategies out there.
And it's so easy to get sucked into them because you think your last launch flopped because the offer wasn't strong enough.
So you invest in a course all about launching. But maybe it was actually your email rate or maybe your sales page views were really high, but no one clicked the checkout button.
Metrics take the guesswork out of business and show you the objective facts about what's working and what's not for you.
They strip away all the noise, all the drama that's swirling around in your head and help you respond strategically, not based off of pure emotion.
And what this does is it helps you make really, really confident business decisions. So if you're noticing these things, if you're approaching your metrics with curiosity and you notice, okay, you know what?
My conversion rate's really, really low. It's just information. It's a signal saying, hey, the breakdown is here. If you're having leads come into your world, your list is growing, everything's growing, but you're not actually making sales.
That gives us valuable information because now we can identify exactly where the breakdown is and stop chasing every new tactic that we see advertised in the online space.
And this helps us stop overthinking because now we start to see patterns. And when we can identify patterns, we begin to see growth.
So knowing your numbers gives you that. That concrete foundation to stand on, especially when you hit a slower month and start second-guessing everything.
So instead of spiraling, now you have the ability to step back, get curious, look at what your metrics are telling you so that you can make a plan that works for you.
Again, this is the custom plan versus the cookie cutter strategy because what's happening is we're constantly chasing more, right?
But metrics actually help us see the progress we might otherwise be missing because sometimes it really feels like nothing's happening in your business.
And then you look at your metrics and you realize, oh my gosh, my email list grew 12% last month.
Or maybe your lead to client conversion rate improved, or maybe your retention rate is rising. So what it does is metrics...
Help you see those tangible wins and help you celebrate to stay on track even before the revenue shows up.
Because the revenue is the result, not the full story. But you cannot grow what you don't measure. And tracking and understanding your metrics is one of the most powerful ways to really simplify your strategy.
Focus on what's actually moving your business forward. And ditch the data drama for good. Now, you're probably thinking, well, this seems great.
But when I pull up my metrics, I don't know what the heck any of it means. So let's start back at the top of any sales funnel with visibility.
So we can start by looking at something as simple as content and traffic metrics. We want to see if anyone's actually seen.
Seeing and engaging the content that we're putting out there. And that's what your content metrics help you figure out.
This can be things like website visits, sales page visits, podcast downloads. These numbers show us how people are interacting with your overall online presence.
Because you need to have traffic. You need to have people to sell to. So if your content isn't being seen at all, what this tells us is your visibility strategy might need a simple little adjustment.
And what this is doing, it's helping us spot these gaps early on before it impacts your sales. So we're not talking vanity metrics, just like likes and followers.
We really want to get curious and look at clicks. How much time are people spending on your page? What are people sharing out?
What are people saying? What's the total reach? Because those numbers will tell you if people are actually taking action.
Because if you find that something's not converting, this is just feedback. It's just information. And in fact, these numbers help you address these things early on before they impact your sales.
And that matters. So once we take the time to look at, okay, here's my traffic metrics. Here's how I'm getting visible.
Let's move down to lead generation. This shows us whether people are actually finding you. So this is a step deeper than visibility because we want to be positioning ourself in front of the right people.
So if your lead flow is slow or really inconsistent, your sales will be as well. I know this does not mean that.
You need to post more. It just means that you need to dig a little bit deeper into the visibility strategy and see where are my people at?
Are they truly on this platform? Are there other things that I could do to position myself in front of them?
So lead generation tells us how many new people are actually entering your world each week or each month. So this could look like new email subscribers.
So your total list growth. This could look like discovery calls that you're getting on. This could look like leads from paid ads, collaborations, or even DMs with people asking about your service.
At the end of the day, you could have the most valuable offer on the planet. But if no one knows it even exists, it's not going to sell.
And when this number dips, this is when we get stuck in that frantic. Okay. let's Okay. Oh my gosh, my business, I need to burn it all down.
Where are the clients? I have no clients. I have no sales. This puts us into that spiral. But when we realize that, oh, I just have a low lead flow, what we're doing is we're actually seeing, okay, where are these people coming in?
We can start to track our lead generation source. Did that podcast interview bring in 12 new leads? Are referrals off the charts while Instagram isn't bringing me in anything?
What this does is it tells us where to focus and what to let go. So once we've done that, we want to move further down and look at our conversion rate.
This shows how well you're converting leads into clients. Again, you can now, if you don't have a visibility problem, you're getting tons of engagement.
You're getting lots of reach. You're getting eyes on your content. People are commenting. People are resonating with your message.
But if there's not conversion happening, what we're realizing is that, you know, I'm not really effectively turning interest into income.
So, for example, if 10 people reach out to you over a month's time and two people say yes, your conversion rate would be 20%.
And this number helps you figure out where things are getting stuck. So is the challenge bringing people in or is it more so guiding them to a yes?
So when we know that on the flip side, if our conversion rate's solid but our lead flow is low, your offer's likely working.
You just need more eyes on it. So we have one number here, but two totally different decisions. And when we lean into it and get curious...
This is how we stop guessing and start growing our sales, which brings us down to our sales metrics. So these numbers show us whether our offers are actually profitable and sustainable.
Basically, comes down to, are people buying? And are they buying enough? Sales metrics help us cut through the busy work and see what's actually driving our income.
So this includes revenue, the total amount of money coming in, our average order value, how much each sale brings in on average, and our customer lifetime retention value, which tells us how much income one client is generating over the lifetime that they are in our world.
And together, they tell us if our pricing, packaging, and client experience are built for long-term growth. So if your revenue feels stuck, again, the numbers and metrics help you figure out.
Why? Is it a volume problem? Is it a pricing issue? Is it a retention issue? So now instead of defaulting to, I just need more clients, you're asking better clients like, okay, do I really need more clients?
Or do I just need to adjust my pricing? Are clients buying once and disappearing? Or are they coming back for more or referring their friends?
So when we look at these metrics, we understand where your income is really coming from and whether your pricing and client experience are supporting your growth or slowing it down.
And finally, we move down to client retention. So we just touched upon this briefly, but if clients are renewing, if they're staying in your world, you're doing upsells, downsells, they're referring others.
That's a really strong sign that you're delivering an experience. But if no one is sticking around, they buy one time and then they don't ever buy anything from you again, it's time to take a closer look at your client journey.
So what this metric is really telling us is, are your current clients happy and satisfied enough to stay, refer others, and buy again?
Because what we forget so often in the pursuit of more is that it is so much easier and cost-effective to retain and serve an existing client than to find a new one.
So if you notice your retention rate is low, it doesn't mean that you're doing anything wrong. It just means there's room to improve.
So maybe the onboarding process could be smoother. Maybe your expectations need to be more clear up front. And on the flip side, if you're seeing that you have high retention,
It's a sign that what you're doing is working and it's totally scalable. And it shows you that you're building a business based off of long-term relationships.
And I will tell you, if you want sustainable growth in your business, strong retention is key. It all comes down to this.
Your metrics give you so much power in your business. The kind of power that's so grounded and confident. It's the power that lets you run your business like a CEO.
Not a stressed out solopreneur working 24-7 crossing your fingers every single month going, oh my gosh, I hope I can pay my bills this month.
No. Your metrics tell you why your business is growing or why it's stuck. Instead of guessing what to fix, your numbers show you.
You exactly where to focus your time and energy. And once you know how to read them, you can stop trying all of the things and start focusing on the right things for your business.
The things that actually lead to growth. Your metrics are the custom strategy. Your business has been trying to tell you like, hey, it's right here.
This is what you've been searching for all along. And when you know and track the metrics consistently, you stop wondering, is this even working anymore?
You know what's working. You know what needs adjusted. And you can make clear, confident decisions without even adding anything else to your plate.
Your business is always giving you. But if you're not looking for them actively, you're going to miss them. It's not about tracking every metric under the sun.
It's not about having more data. It's about having enough of the right data to guide your next decision. Simple is sustainable and clarity feels so much better than confusion.
If you want the opportunity to have your business featured on the Metrics Maven podcast, just like Emily did, and ask your question, click the link in the show notes.
And also, if you are ready to finally dig deep and understand exactly what all of these metrics are trying to tell you so that you can generate the sustainable business growth, income, and impact that you've been craving, this is exactly what we do inside of my signature program, Metrics Mastery.
You can get started for free. And until next time, stop guessing and start growing.
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