When you measure purchases in sales needed instead of dollars spent, your wish list becomes your to-do list.

The only way to escape the tyranny of an hourly wage is to build a business where your earning power comes from sales activity rather than the market’s valuation of your skills. Sometimes that is not just about more sales. It is about better sales, higher-value customers, or smarter pricing.

When I was new to sales, I quickly learned I could not buy groceries or pay rent with the hopes and dreams I scribbled at my desk. I had to get out, meet people, bring value, and ask for each sale one at a time until I grew my earnings to the level I wanted.

Earning every dollar your business needs changes you. It builds confidence that no hourly or salaried worker can truly understand. Always getting paid the same leads to more of the same. If you want to see real growth, put someone on an uncapped commission plan, and you will see them begin to perform with an efficiency and purpose rarely found in the hourly or salaried worker. As a business owner, you have the authority to put yourself on an uncapped commission plan. Please do it.

Your business plan forecasts the sales needed for the business to succeed. But what about you? Do you know how many sales stand between the life you have today and the life you want? Between now and your next big goal? Between this morning and tonight?

The difference between where you are and where you want to be can only be measured in sales. Measure wrong, and you risk getting lost in the appearance of entrepreneurship. Busy calendars, constant planning, endless discussion, and no real progress toward the freedom you were chasing when you took the plunge to be your own boss.

You can’t manage what you do not measure, and you will manage it best when you measure it right. Measure sales and tap into the endless supply of self-motivation that comes from earning the life you choose.