Why Popping the Champagne for Small Wins Fuels Big Dreams
From the Heart: Lessons, Laughs, and Leadership
— Why Popping the Champagne for Small Wins Fuels Big Dreams 🥂
We love to glorify the big milestones in business—massive funding rounds, splashy launches, huge client wins. But here’s a little truth bomb from the trenches of startup life: it’s the tiny victories that keep the whole thing moving, and pump your tires along the way.
The champagne shouldn’t just come out at the finish line. Sometimes, you pop the cork just for making it to Friday without swearing at the universe. And guess what? That matters.
The Myth of the “Big Win Only” Mindset
There’s a weird pressure in the startup world to hold off on celebrating until something is “worthy” of celebration. Like unless you've just closed a $1M round or hit 100,000 users, you’d better keep your head down and hustle in silence.
I disagree.
That mindset? It’s not just joyless—it’s a fast track to burnout. Because startups (and honestly, life) are built in the in-between moments. The late nights that lead to functional automations. The tiny tweaks that double your email open rates. The scary conversations that strengthen your leadership.
These aren’t footnotes. They’re fuel.
Wins Are Momentum, Not Just Milestones
Think of small wins as checkpoints. They give you energy. They remind your team (and yourself) that you're not just spinning your wheels. You're building something, brick by brick, moment by moment.
Every time you pause to acknowledge progress, no matter how incremental, you’re reinforcing a culture of resilience. You’re saying: We’re not waiting for the perfect outcome to feel proud. We’re proud because we showed up.
And if you’ve ever been in the thick of a pivot, a funding dry spell, or just a gnarly month, you already know how important that mindset is.
Celebrating Small Wins Is a Leadership Strategy
As a leader, this isn’t just about morale—it’s about momentum.
Your team is watching you. If you only cheer when the mountaintop is reached, they’ll start thinking the climb doesn’t matter. But when you recognise the first foothold, the halfway point, the ingenious shortcut someone discovered—you’re telling them this journey is worth it.
And let’s be real: you also need to see your own progress. When you’re stuck in the chaos of building, it’s easy to forget how far you’ve come.
Take five minutes and look back. What felt impossible six months ago? What decision took guts last week? What feature, hire, or habit have you added that’s quietly improving your world?
Progress Is the Path, Not the Perk
The small stuff accumulates. Those little yes', the tough but necessary no’s, the emails you actually sent, the process you cleaned up, the one extra person who saw value in what you’re creating—that is how you get to the big stuff.
So many dreams die not because they were too hard, but because the builder didn’t stop to recognise their own effort. That’s what makes small wins so powerful. They’re like breadcrumbs leading you back to belief when you get lost in the overwhelm.
How I Celebrate (And Why You Should Too)
Some of my mini-joy moments had nothing to do with flashy success metrics.
Our first complex automation sequence was deployed and worked flawlessly.
We sent over 17,000 emails in a day to our list, and not one was marked as spam.
Someone outside my network organically complimented the brand.
Booked our first Discovery Call.
When our Marketing Lead said if she had to leave Roamlii she'd get separation anxiety.
The first lead that booked a meeting with us without having received a call.
While we were mapping out the second version of our Booking System and I realized that it will be competitive with other stand-alone booking systems...but we have a marketplace and an entire ecosystem to offer, setting us apart in a dramatic way.
When I was reviewing our marketplace and I noticed a business we've never directly spoken to had claimed their profile and built a couple experiences.
And the list goes on.
I’ve celebrated all of those. Loudly. Because they meant something. Because they were proof that we were moving in the right direction. Because they’re the things I’ll remember when I’m asked years from now how we built this thing.
Celebration doesn’t need to be champagne (let’s be honest, I'd pour an Old Fashioned). It could be an emoji storm. A quick team shoutout. An impromptu walk around the block with a fancy coffee. A moment where you simply let yourself feel the win before rushing to the next thing.
That pause? It’s powerful.
Let’s Redefine Success
What if we stopped saving our joy for some hypothetical “there”? What if we treated here like it matters?
Because it does.
The pitch you were nervous about but nailed? That’s a win.
The client who rebooked? Win.
The moment you decided to try again, even when you were tired? Win.
You’re not being frivolous. You’re fuelling the dream. And that’s worth raising a glass for.
Here’s to the Builders
At Roamlii, we see you—the founders, the doers, the scrappy geniuses making something out of nothing. You don’t need to wait for a press release to celebrate your progress.
So the next time something clicks, something lands, or something just plain works, pop that champagne (real or metaphorical), smile like a lunatic, and say it out loud: We did that.
Because big dreams are built on small wins.
Need help turning your small wins into something big? Let’s chat.
👉 #GetRoaming and see how we can help fuel your next milestone.
Yours in tourism, innovation and startups,
Founder & CEO
Roamlii
