2 Kilometers, 12 Projects, and $13,000 — Not a Millionaire Yet, and Not a Marathon Runner

I love numbers. They have one unpleasant property — they couldn't care less about your ambitions.

You can talk about big plans all you want. Then you pick up a calculator — and your mood gets a little worse.

Today I decided to fix two starting points. One for me, one for the business.

Story one. 5 kilometers.

Before the war, I ran three marathons. Now my achievement is walking 2 kilometers without stopping.

And that's not a metaphor.

My current average pace is about 10 minutes per kilometer. In October 2027, I want to walk the Chicago 5K.

There's a small problem. Actually, two.

The first is distance. I'm missing another three kilometers.

The second is speed.

The finish limit is 45 minutes 59 seconds. At my current pace, I'd cover the five in 50 minutes. If I could walk all five, that is.

So I don't just need to increase the distance 2.5 times — I also need to get about 48 seconds faster on every kilometer.

I haven't told my prosthesis about my plans yet. I'm afraid it doesn't share my optimism.

Story two. A million dollars.

As of today, my Professor Web Studio has completed 12 projects.

Total revenue — $13,000.

Sounds not bad, until you remember the target is a million.

That's 1.3% of the plan.

The average project came to $1,083.

If I keep going at the same pace and with the same ticket size, reaching the million would take roughly 911 more projects.

Nine hundred eleven, Karl!

I even checked the calculator. Unfortunately, it works correctly.

So what do a prosthesis and a web studio have in common?

More than you'd think.

In the first case, I need to increase distance and speed.

In the second — the number of projects and the average ticket.

Just walking my two kilometers faster isn't enough to finish the five.

And cranking out thousand-dollar websites faster isn't enough to build a business with a million in revenue.

The model itself has to change.

And here's the most interesting part.

I don't know if I'll make 45:59 at the Chicago 5K.

I don't know when Professor Web Studio will reach a million.

But I know exactly where I'm starting from.

And that's far more useful than telling everyone how great everything is when you don't even know your own numbers.

Today we have:

• 2 km without stopping.
• 10 minutes per kilometer.
• 12 completed projects.
• $13,000 in revenue.

No records. No millions.

But also no fairy tales about wild success.

Next week we'll see if these numbers moved at least a little.

And if they didn't — I'll have to write the truth again. The most unpleasant part of this experiment.