How to break through the 6 figure plateau

In the nearly six years that I’ve been a business mentor, I have noticed that quite often business owners plateau around the mark of $10,000 revenue a month or around the six figure mark. In today’s episode, I want to dive into my theory about why this happens and how you can break through this plateau if it’s something you’re experiencing now. Or you can learn about what it’s like and how to break through it when it does happen to you in the future. Let’s dive in.

Hello and welcome to The Clare Wood Podcast, where myself and incredible guests share about money mindset, financial successes, and how to manage your money in a fun and practical way to create wealth and abundance in both your business and your life. I’m your host, Clare Wood. I’m a business coach and a money mentor. I strongly believe that money has the power to positively change the world. I can’t wait to help you transform your mindset around money, create a love of numbers and build the business of your dreams. So you can live a life of financial freedom, giving and global impact.

So what is my theory about the six figure plateau? Well, it’s something that I’ve noticed quite a lot in my years of being a coach is that business owners hit about the $10,000 a month mark in revenue and their results tend to plateau. Business owners hit this plateau or this mark at different stages in their business. For some entrepreneurs that I’ve worked with, they scale their business quite quickly and they might get to this mark early on in their business journey, even six months in. Or for many business owners, it might take years to hit that amount of revenue per month. But regardless, it is something that I’ve seen happen again and again. So why do I think that this is a thing? How do I think this plateau around this mark of revenue tends to take place?

My theory is the time for money trade off. So many service-based business owners in the initial stages of business are offering their time for money. They are offering a service in exchange for their time. And perhaps as they start to grow a bit, they might increase their prices. But what happens about the $10,000 a month mark in revenue is that perhaps they feel like they can’t increase their price points anymore. And what happens is that their services get capped out. The business owner is feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, and they can’t take on any more clients. And so what happens is that they’ve hit this plateau in their income. They’ve hit this amount of revenue and they think, “There’s no way I can earn anything more than this. Because to earn more money, I’m going to have to work even more hours and I simply can’t do that. I’m already feeling burned out now.”

Why so many business owners get stuck on an income level because of fear

So why does so many business owners get stuck at this income level? Well, I believe it’s because of a number of factors. The first and most important is fear. Stepping into a new level is terrifying. And often scaling beyond the six figure mark means doing things really differently in business. And a lot of business owners get really overwhelmed by that idea. And the fear really kicks in. We are biologically programmed to keep on doing the same thing that we’ve always done. It’s our primitive brain or our lizard brain trying to keep us safe. Don’t go and do something different because we don’t know what will happen if we do things differently. So fear is there keeping us where we are. And particularly when the next level of growth requires a really different way of tackling things, the brain instantly goes into fight, flight or freeze mode. And we’ll tend to want to keep us exactly where we are.

Breaking old habits to move to the next level in business

The next reason why I believe a lot of business owners get stuck and this might resonate with you, is because of habits. Humans are creatures of habit. We like to do the same thing over and over again. And this is usually because of our subconscious beliefs. Our subconscious brain is used to doing the same thing over and over again, without really thinking about it. One particular habit that I have is going for a walk in the morning. It’s something I’ve done literally since I was a kid with my mom and it’s become so habitual to me, that getting up and going for a walk in the morning isn’t something I even consciously do. Most days, even when I’m on holidays, I put on my sneakers and my walking gear and I’m out the door before I’ve even really thought that it’s something that I’m doing.

Our habits are things that we repeat again and again. And I bet you in your business, there are things that you do all the time without even thinking about it. I know another particular one that I do in my business is posting on Instagram stories. It’s become such a subconscious habit of mine that I don’t even really think about doing it, it’s just something that I do in the every day. On the flip side, I have a lot of subconscious unhelpful habits, both in business and my personal life. But I won’t dive into those today, I’m just trying to highlight. But often our subconscious habits, the things that we do again and again on autopilot are things that repeat again and again. And you’ll see this playing out in your business.

So the habits that got you to the six figure mark, aren’t going to be helpful in getting you to scale beyond that.

What to do, when you don’t know HOW to move to a new level in business 

And the last reason why a lot of business owners get stuck, and this isn’t a mindset thing, it literally is strategy. It’s not knowing exactly what to do to get a different outcome. Sometimes it literally is the rubber hitting the road in terms of practical strategies and actions that are required to get a different outcome.

How I help business owners move through a plateau after the 6 figure mark

The way I help business owners shift out of the six figure plateau is simple.

1. I helped them realise that there is an opportunity that they are missing if they stay where they are.
2. I helped them realise that it is possible for them by shifting how they think about money and unlocking some next level thinking. Which means breaking through some old stories and reprogramming those subconscious beliefs.
3. I support them to take the big and scary actions required to create a multi six-figure or even a seven figure business.
4. I then helped them work through the stories that pop up when they are taking the action. And help them work on those beliefs so they can continue to take the big and scary actions required to get a different outcome.

If any of these is resonating for you, come along for my free training. This is three hours of training delivered over three days. And inside this workshop, we’ll be diving into how to break through an income plateau and start to scale your business. The training is called, 6 Figures, Now What? And it’s about how to break through an income plateau and start to scale your business.

Inside this training:

1. Day one, I’ll be talking about the six figure plateau, which is understanding how you got to six figures of revenue. And talking about why so many business owners get stuck at this income level.
2. Day two is called, What Got You to Here Won’t Get You to There. And in day two, we talk about understanding what more money could do for you in your life. We talk about reprogramming your limiting beliefs around money, creating a profit led business. And I talk about busting through the 10K month plateau.
3. Day three of the training is called, Let’s Do It. On day three I will help you uncover your unique strategy to scale beyond $100,000 of revenue. I’ll talk about growing your business in a way that feels good for you. And I’ll also be sharing money mindset hacks for income leaps to help you achieve some incredible growth in your business revenue.

If you would like to register for these free 3-day training, you can do so via the link in the show notes for today’s episode. I would love to see you that live. So, please come along if you are wanting to break through your income plateau.

To sum up today, lots of business owners find their results plateau at about the six figure mark in business. But I want to assure you, you don’t have to stay stuck there. The ways that you can shift out of being stuck is by realizing the opportunity that you are missing. To realise that it is possible for you to break out of an income plateau. To take big and scary actions required to achieve your next level of growth. And to continue to work on the mindset blocks that hold you back.

Don’t forget to check out my free 3-day training, 6 Figures, Now What? If you are ready to break through your income plateau, I would love to see you there at this live three-day immersive training. Thank you so much for tuning into today’s episode of the podcast. And I look forward to chatting to you again next week.

Thanks so much for listening. If you love this episode, please share it with your audience. And don’t forget to tag me on Instagram @clare_wood_coach. And also make sure you hit subscribe so you never miss an episode. Have an abundant week. And I look forward to talking to you again next week.