2 Reasons You Might Have Hit An Income Ceiling (and 8 ways to move past it)
Income ceilings can be really frustrating.
It’s really exciting when we start to make money and it starts to be consistent. You can feel like, “Oh my gosh, it's finally happening. I'm getting traction! I can actually count on this amount of money coming in every month!”
And then it comes to a stall. The growth plateaus. You can’t seem to make it to the next level.
And while it's amazing that we’ve finally reached a point of consistency, it can be fraught with frustration to bump up against that same level. We want to keep our business moving forward; we want to make forward progress; we want to keep raising the bar for ourselves.
This post troubleshoots the two major issues that cause these plateaus!
Are you at the income ceiling because...
you've run out of time to take on more clients?
Or is it because you're struggling to get clients?
You’ve Run Out of Time
Option 1: Raise Rates
If you are fully booked and you have a waiting list, then maybe it’s time!
I know this can bring up a lot of emotional stuff.
But it's truly a great place to be, even if it doesn't feel like it. It means that people see the value in what you do and they want to work with you. And that you've done a really good job of delivering a high quality service or product that people want.
People know and trust you!
Raising your rates doesn’t mean escalating them. You could increase them by a small percentage.
And you should be raising your rates sometime anyway because let's say you could take on five clients at a time and they're all paying you $1,000, just for easy math.
5 clients x $1000/month each = $5000/month income ceiling
If you raise that $500, and the next five pay you $1500, then you've pushed past that income ceiling.
5 clients x $1500/month each = $7500/month >> pushed past the income ceiling!
Option 2: Delegate or Eliminate
When you don’t love doing something, it’s time to reassess.
Maybe you have been hanging onto delivering a service that you're like, “Yeah, I don't even think I would actually want to do it even if I doubled the rate on it.”
Or maybe you feel like you should keep doing it because it's something that people love or makes for a lower point of entry to working with you.
Delegating is an option you should consider.
Outsource part of the client work to a subcontractor or a VA or a junior person in your industry that you're training.
Maybe you're doing the strategic consulting with the client and then you have somebody else doing deliverables and getting a portion of the revenue from that project.
Or you could change the terms of how you do it to make it that it is more enjoyable for you to do.
You can also get rid of it completely!
I'm here to give you permission, that no matter how much revenue is coming in from an offer, if you no longer want to offer that offer, you don't have to do it anymore.
If you really don't want to do it anymore, you do not have to. And then you can focus on offers that you will actually enjoy delivering.
Option 3: Create a New Leverage Offer
The most common “leverage offers” are courses and memberships.
But there are other options as well!
It could be something as simple as doing a once-a-month workshop that is entirely paid, that brings in an influx of cash, and doesn't take you a lot of time to do.
Or you could toggle it on and off as you see fit when you want a cash injection.
It’s really a matter of deciding what you want your next big thing to be.
Side note: BTW I love doing offer design in case you didn't know already. It's one of my favorite things to do. It's one thing I'm really, really good at.
Struggling to Get More Clients
If you're on the other side of the troubleshooting above and you're like, “Well, no, actually Erica, I'm at an income ceiling because I'm not getting enough new people in the door”, here's what I want you to look at:
#1 Visibility
Are you consistently doing visibility activities?
Pick your two or three channels and stick to them -- and those aren’t just social media channels!
Also consider channels like being a guest to people's paid membership groups, podcasts, or guest blogging! There are all different ways that you can be visible.
The key is to be consistent.
You don't need to be in all the places.
In fact, you probably shouldn't be. That's an easy way to burn out.
Pick two to three and then show up there consistently.
#2 Clear Marketing
Are you making it crystal clear who you serve and how you help them?
There might be lots of folks online who follow and love your content but… they might not know what you do!
It doesn’t mean you're bad at your work, there’s just room to make it clearer in your marketing!
It’s okay to be clear and up front about what you’re selling.
It’s not sleazy or pushy; I promise it's not any of that.
Use your content to make it very clear and to remind people, “This is who I serve. And this is how I serve them to help them with this problem.”
Make it abundantly clear! Don't leave it murky!
#3 Clear CTA
Are you giving clear calls to action and talking about your offers?
A lot of times we get nervous because we think that talking about our offers sounds pushy, sleazy, salesy, etc.
All the “gross” words.
But it’s not!
You're literally giving people information. You are empowering them to make their own decision!
They cannot make a smart, educated decision if they don't even know what it is that your offers are.
And when I say offer, I don't even always mean paid offers.
If you have a killer freebie, or an upcoming workshop or webinar, and you want people to sign up for it, you should make a call to action for that as well.
What do you want them to do? Do you want them to go look at a sales page? Do you want them to book a call? Do you want them to DM you? Do you want them to put in their email?
Make sure that you tell people very clearly what you want them to do if they are interested in what you have. Otherwise they have to figure it out for themselves, and you’ll lose them.
#4 Speak to the Right People
Are you speaking to the wrong people?
It's really great to want to be able to help everyone.
But we can only market to the people most likely to pay us for our offers.
That sometimes doesn’t include our most engaged followers and commenters. It's great that they're there and that they're obviously getting value from you.
Instead, speak to who you want to be there; speak to who your offers are perfect for.
And trust that when you speak to their pain points, to the things that they're struggling with, to their frustrations, to their goals, to any of that, it will work like a beacon and it will attract the right people.
The onus is on you as the business owner to be sure that your messaging is going to the people who your offers are the best fit for.
#5 Make It Better
Can you raise your rates or improve your existing offers?
It might just be that you are ready to raise your rates and/or repackage your offer into something new.
There are many different ways that you can do this.
Here are some questions to consider if you offer done-with-you services:
Is there another touch point that they need help with after your current offer?
Do they need some sort of ongoing support? That's like a level down service.
Could they be moved into a group program or a membership?
Should you have quarterly check-ins with them?
There's all different ways that you can offboard people into ongoing offers, once you've already served them.
Alternatively, there might be room for another offer that preps people before they work with you in your current offer.
Let’s say you are a brand designer.
You might have people who need to figure out some things before they can spend the money on a branding package. And you could sell something for a few hundred that walks them through the fundamentals of your process.
They can at least get off to a good start on their own for a lower cost.
Prime the pump!
As they are getting their business going, be there for them.
And then as they have more revenue coming in, they can come back to you and buy your actual done-for-you package.
Kudos to you for getting to a point of consistency with your income.
It can definitely be something that’s really hard to do. Sometimes, even with all the right questions, it can be overwhelming to figure out the next step, so I hope this post helped with that.
And whether your income ceiling is because of needing more time or needing more clients, I can help!
Are you maxed out in time and need a new leveraged offer?
I have an intensive for that called Your Next Big Thing that will be perfect for you.
If you are at that point, and you need the full design of that offer and a really simple launch plan, that is one thing that I absolutely love to do.
Are you feeling confused about marketing and messaging and products?
That is what I help my clients with through my six month 1:1 coaching! I’ve helped my clients with all kinds of businesses figure out the perfect simple marketing plan for them, and I’d love to help you figure out yours.
