“Wow, you must be killing it!”

That’s what people told Jacob when his marketing agency crossed $1M in revenue. His team was growing, his client list was impressive, and on the outside, everything looked like success.

But here’s the catch: Jacob was broke. His payroll drained him, expenses ballooned, and despite the shiny revenue milestone, he was living paycheck to paycheck. He’d built a business that looked strong—but felt like quicksand.

This is the revenue illusion. We’ve been conditioned to believe revenue equals success. But the truth? Revenue is vanity. Profit is sanity.