The first 90 days of a business can feel hectic, but the numbers you track in this period will tell you much more than your emotions. A clear set of metrics helps you see whether you have the beginnings of a real business or only a busy project.
Core Health Metrics
In the first 90 days, you are looking for proof that your offer works in the real world. You want to see leads turning into customers and money flowing in at a level that can realistically grow.
For a small service business, a useful starting target might be three to five qualified leads per week and one to two new paying customers per week by the end of month three. For a simple online store, you may aim for a first month with a few sales and a third month with at least 30–50 orders in total.
You can summarize core health metrics as:
● Weekly leads or inquiries: Aim for a steady increase, for example, from 3–5 in week four to 8–10 in week twelve.
● Lead to customer conversion rate: Try to reach at least 20–30 percent for service proposals and 1–3 percent visitor to buyer for basic e-commerce.
● Monthly revenue: Set a clear target such as covering all fixed costs by month three and reaching a minimum of 500–1,500 dollars depending on your model.
If leads stay flat at zero to two per week despite regular outreach, or if conversion rates remain close to zero, that is a strong signal to adjust your offer, pricing, or positioning rather than to simply push harder.
Marketing and Funnel Data
Marketing metrics in the first 90 days should show whether your message is reaching the right people and whether they move forward in your simple funnel. You do not need complex dashboards, but you do need reliable data from your website, social channels, or marketplace accounts.
As a rough benchmark, a new site may reach 100–300 visitors per month through personal outreach, social media, or basic search traffic. What matters more than the raw number is how those visitors behave. If at least 30–40 percent visit more than one page and a visible percentage request information or join your email list, your message is likely coherent.
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Customer Experience Indicators
The first customers are test cases for your entire delivery system. You want objective signs that they receive what you promised, on time and without excessive friction. Poor delivery metrics will undermine even strong marketing and revenue numbers.
A practical approach is to measure how reliably you meet commitments and how customers respond after working with you or buying from you. You can collect a simple rating at the end of each engagement and track operational issues in a basic log.
Useful customer experience metrics include:
● On-time delivery rate: Aim for at least 90 percent of projects or orders delivered on or before the promised date.
● Customer satisfaction: Ask for a 1–5 rating and work toward an average of 4 or higher in the first 90 days.
● Repeat or follow-up business: Monitor how many of your first 10–20 customers buy again or request another service within three months.
If you see frequent delays, confused customers, or ratings below 4, focus on clarifying expectations, simplifying your process, and improving communication before you invest heavily in bringing in more clients.
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Your Own Capacity and Sustainability
A business that looks fine on paper can still be unsustainable if it depends on extreme effort from you. Early metrics about your own time and energy help you avoid building a model that exhausts you as it grows.
You can track weekly hours worked and roughly categorize them into delivery, marketing, administration, and learning. In a healthy pattern, by the end of 90 days, at least half of your working time should go to revenue-generating tasks rather than constant setup and administration.
If you regularly exceed 50–60 hours per week just to maintain basic operations, you have an early signal that you must raise prices, narrow your offer, automate repetitive tasks, or delay expansion.
Turning Early Data Into Better Decisions
The value of these metrics lies in regular review. Setting aside one hour every week to log numbers, look at trends, and write down one or two decisions based on the data will keep you grounded. Over 90 days, those small adjustments create a clear trajectory.
At the end of this period, you should be able to state, in numbers, how many people you reach, how many become customers, how much revenue you generate, how satisfied those customers are, and how many hours it can cost you.
