I get notified when a member makes an exceptional purchase. Today, one of our travel vendors let us know that a member completed what sounds like a really, really nice vacation. It cost over $12,000. After I got over my envy, I started to add up what that meant for her (guessing gender from the email address alone) and for iConsumer.

Wow.

We made over $600. She earned over 4,200 shares. At yesterday’s close of the stock market, those 4,200 shares were valued at $735. No small potatoes. And if we succeed at getting our stock price to $4? Those shares would be valued at $16,800.

Here’s a little bit of market math. Of that $600, about $480 will make it to the bottom line. For those that care, our EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, Amortization) will go up by $480 for the month of August. Another way to look at it. We have $480 more cash to spend on growth.

Best of all, she’s helping to make that $4 number happen.

How she’s helping is the fun part. I’ve talked about multiples before (not twins or triplets), but a number you multiply by one of our metrics (e. g. revenue, EBITDA/earnings, cash flow) to come up with a valuation for iConsumer. Today, I’m going to use EBITDA/earnings. And I’m going to arbitrarily use a 25 multiple. Not completely arbitrary. It’s high, but within reason. At its height, RetailMeNot had a 47 P/E (stock price to earnings) multiple. Right now, Microsoft’s P/E is about a 29. To get the worth (market capitalization) of Microsoft, you take their earnings, multiply that by 29, and you get a very, very big number.

If you take that $480 and multiply it by 25, you also get a big number … $12,000. Yup, one member, going on a nice vacation, can feel responsible for increasing the value of iConsumer by $12,000. At least in this example. And if the market decides a better multiple to use is 47? She could take credit for increasing our valuation by $22,560.

P.S. Here’s my usual disclaimer. I remind you that iConsumer is a long-term proposition. It’s risky, and I talk about stock price because it represents what might happen when every shareholder is a customer, and every customer a shareholder. No guarantees that it will happen. No guarantees that you’ll be able to sell your stock at a price that will make you happy.