If your revenue has plateaued and you can’t figure out why, this will give you the clarity you’ve been missing. Many service-based entrepreneurs assume something is broken when growth stalls, but the truth is revenue plateaus are a normal part of scaling. In this episode, we break down exactly why you’re stuck at your current revenue level and what needs to change to move forward.
If you’re unsure what’s actually holding your business back right now, start with the Business Growth Quiz to identify your next strategic move.
There’s a moment that hits differently in business.
You’re not struggling to make money anymore.
You’ve proven your offers.
You’ve signed clients.
You’ve seen what’s possible.
And then… everything just levels out.
You’re working. You’re selling. You’re showing up.
But your revenue?
It’s not moving.
Maybe you’ve been sitting in this longer than you expected.
Thinking:
“I just need a better strategy.”
“Maybe I need to do more.”
“Something has to be missing.”
So you try more.
More content.
More networking.
More offers.
And nothing changes.
Why Revenue Plateaus Happen (And Why It’s Not Random)
Here’s the truth.
Revenue plateaus are not a sign that something is broken.
They’re a sign that something in your business structure has reached its limit.
Plateaus happen when there is a structural constraint in your business, not because you’re doing something wrong.
And until you fix that structure…
Nothing else will move.
The Biggest Mistake You’re Making Right Now
When revenue stalls, most people react the same way.
They start throwing tactics at the problem.
- More content
- More offers
- More strategies
- More effort
But tactics don’t fix structural issues.
It’s like taking painkillers for a deeper injury.
You might feel temporary relief.
But the root problem is still there.
The 3 Reasons You’re Stuck at Your Current Revenue Level
This is where everything starts to click.
Because your plateau is not random.
It’s coming from one of three places:
- Your pipeline
- Your pricing and capacity
- Your business model
And each one shows up at a different stage of growth.
If You’re Between $40K–$80K: You Have a Pipeline Problem
At this stage, you’re making money.
But it feels inconsistent.
You might have:
- Great months followed by slow ones
- Leads coming in randomly
- No predictability in sales
This is a pipeline issue.
The problem isn’t that you can’t sell. It’s that your pipeline isn’t consistently feeding your business.
What This Looks Like
- You rely heavily on referrals
- You don’t have a consistent lead generation strategy
- Leads fall through the cracks
- There’s no clear follow-up system
What Needs to Change
You need structure.
- A way to generate leads consistently
- A system to track and follow up
- A clear path for moving people through your pipeline
Because without that… Revenue will always feel like a rollercoaster.
If You’re Between $80K–$150K: You Have a Capacity or Pricing Problem
This is where things get frustrating.
Because leads are coming in.
But you’re maxed out. You don’t have more time. And you can’t take on more clients.
This is where most people hit a ceiling.
This plateau happens when your business is full, but not scalable.
What This Looks Like
- Your calendar is full
- You feel constantly busy
- Revenue stops growing even though demand exists
What Needs to Change
You have two levers:
Capacity
- Where are you spending time that isn’t driving revenue?
- What can be removed, delegated, or simplified?
Pricing
- Does your pricing reflect your current value?
- Are you undercharging for the results you deliver?
Because if you are fully booked…
The only way to grow is to increase value per client or free up time.
If You’re at $150K+: You’ve Outgrown Your Business Model
This is where things shift again.
At this level, your strategy itself becomes the constraint.
What got you here…
Will not get you to the next level.
This is where business owners realize they’ve outgrown their current model.
What This Looks Like
- You rely heavily on 1:1 work
- Your income is tied to your time
- Scaling feels impossible without burning out
What Needs to Change
This is where you evolve your model.
- Shift to one-to-many offers
- Introduce scalable offers or systems
- Add recurring revenue streams
- Redesign how you deliver your work
Because you cannot scale indefinitely with the same structure.
The Missing Piece: You’re Solving the Wrong Problem
This is the part that keeps people stuck the longest.
You’re trying to fix a pipeline problem with more content.
Or a capacity problem with more leads.
Or a business model problem with small tweaks.
And none of it works.
Because you’re solving the wrong issue.
How Do You Know What’s Actually Causing Your Revenue Plateau?
- Look at your pipeline: Are leads consistent and moving?
- Look at your time: Are you at or near capacity?
- Look at your model: Can your current structure scale further?
- Look at your pricing: Does it match your expertise and demand?
- Look at your data: Where are things slowing down or stopping?
The Shift That Breaks the Plateau
You don’t need to burn everything down.
You don’t need a complete overhaul.
You need the right adjustment in the right place.
Most revenue plateaus are solved with targeted structural changes, not massive reinvention.
What to Do Next
Before you try anything new…
Pause.
Look at your numbers.
Ask:
- Where is the actual constraint?
- What stage am I in?
- What am I trying to fix incorrectly?
Then focus on that one area.
Not everything.
Just the thing that’s actually limiting your growth.
If you want help identifying exactly what’s causing your revenue plateau and how to fix it, book a CEO Strategy Call. We’ll break it down, find the constraint, and build a plan that gets you moving again.
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- Business Growth Quiz
- Book a CEO Strategy Call
- Focused Visionary Accelerator
- Lead and Conversion Tracker
Full Episode Transcript
Michelle DeNio (00:01.486)
All right. If you are stuck at a revenue plateau and you can’t figure out why I’m going to break it down for you in this episode. Okay. Today we are talking about the different revenue plateaus at different levels because likely the thing that is holding you back around the 50, 40 to 50 K. Mark in revenue is not the same thing that’s holding you back. Once you hit that, like 80 to a hundred K Mark. And if you are applying the wrong.
fix, right, to the wrong problem, you’re going to continue to stay in this plateau. And that’s what I want to really kind of chat about today is kind of the three areas where I see things start to break down and where I start to see these plateaus happen at the different levels and stages. Of course, this is not 100%. Every single person has this problem. I’m not saying that these don’t kind of cross each other at different levels. It’s not to say that, but it’s the most
And that’s what we’re dealing with and talking about today. So if you are ready, let’s dive in. Okay, real quick. If you’re new here, you’re listening to the real truth about business. am Michelle DeNio and this podcast is for service-based entrepreneurs who are done with generic advice. We don’t do surface level around here and we don’t do bullshit strategies. All right. We talk facts, not feelings, and we look at everything through the lens of data. So
If that sounds like something you’re interested in, stick around. All right, so revenue plateaus, let’s talk about them because I think a lot of times people look at a revenue plateau and they immediately think something is broken. Something is not working. Something is, you know, like wrong in their business. And that’s really not the case. And it’s not random. They don’t just happen, right? Like revenue plateaus are a direct result of growth and something going astray in your business. Okay.
They happen because you’ve hit this like structural constraint in your business, right? And until you kind of fix the structure of it, you can’t grow and get past it. And so that’s why so many people get stuck at this plateau. Now, let me preface this to say, there is so much mindset work that goes into that, but you know, mindset’s not my jam. Mindset is things that I have worked on personally in my own.
Michelle DeNio (02:23.412)
business and things that I do and things that I could speak to from my own experience, but it is not what I teach. It is not my zone of expertise. And so I’m not saying that all revenue plateaus, some revenue plateaus are stuck in your body, right? They are truly deep rooted, stuck in your body, and you’re not gonna get past them until you deal with like the internal. But that’s not what we’re here to talk about today. We talk strategy around here, okay? And so…
One of, that’s what we’re talking, that’s what I’m diving into and I just want to preface that because I know that there’s people out there that are like, I’ve tried every single strategy and it just doesn’t work. That is likely that there’s, well, A, maybe you’re trying to fix the wrong problem, which is what we’re talking about today, or B, maybe there’s something more going on internally, like in your mind body that needs to be dealt with. So that’s just a little bit of a preface there, okay?
But here’s what happens. This is what I see happen over and over and over with my clients, especially when they come to me. Most of the time they come to me when they are at revenue plateaued, right? Like that’s when people start to reach out and like ask, like, I think I need a strategist. I think something is wrong. Right. And the reality is, that they’re plateaued. And so when they don’t know what to do and they don’t know why it’s happening, they just start throwing all these new tactics at it. Right. It’s like, it’s not strategy. It’s literally tactics. like, try this, try this. Somebody said this. Somebody said that.
Let’s try this, let’s try more content, let’s do more networking. Maybe I need to create a new offer. Maybe I need to spend a little bit more time online. Maybe I need to engage more, right? And then none of it works. And the reality is it doesn’t work because tactics don’t fix structural problems, right? Like if you’re not dealing with the root cause, this is like typical medical advice, right? Like you can throw a moat, you can take an Advil and it’ll get rid of your aches and pains, but it’s not going to change the thing that’s actually causing the joint problem or whatever.
Right, and so that’s really what happens when people at these revenue plateaus, it’s like, let me pop this tactic in here, let me try this, and then wonder why it doesn’t really fix it, okay? So let me talk about what I mean by the structural constraints. So you know everything that I do, I work in those three main pillars, and that’s where I always look first. Is it in your pricing, is it in your pipeline, or is it in your sales? This is my Focus Visionary Framework 100%.
Michelle DeNio (04:36.554)
And so I feel like at different levels and what I see at different levels, those different pillars become the constraint. And so that’s where we’re going today. If you’re kind of stuck in that 40 to 80 K range, I would likely bet that is sitting somewhere in your pipeline. If you’re in that 80 to one 50 range, it’s likely sitting in your pricing or your capacity. And if you’re at like one 50 plus, you’ve likely outgrown your business model. You’ve outgrown your strategy, right? And that’s.
We’ve talked about that. We talked about that in the episode around the middle. There is nothing wrong with outgrowing your strategy. It is a great sign that things are moving, right? You want to be outgrowing your strategy unless you’re comfortable where you’re at. But if you are actively growing and trying to increase revenue and increase profit, then you are going to outgrow your strategy and that’s okay. All right, but.
Here’s the thing is like, if you’re now revenue plateaued in that 80 to a hundred thousand dollar range and you’re trying to fix it with things that you did when you were stuck at $40,000, it’s likely not going to work because the problem isn’t the same. All right. So you’ve got to really look at and diagnose what is actually causing this constraint here. Okay. So let’s break this down. What do I mean by a pipeline problem? So in the 40 to like 80 K range, right? You’re obviously making money. You’ve got a proven concept.
but revenue can likely be a little bit inconsistent, right? A lot of people in that like 40 to 80 K range are like, I have a really great month and then the next month it drops down. Then I have another really great month and then maybe I have two months where it’s good. And then there’s something like then some months it goes quiet, right? So it’s like this up and down, up and down, and you really can’t predict what’s coming. And so this is why I say this is a pipeline problem because if you had a full pipeline and your pipeline was moving with ease and you were moving people through it on a regular basis,
Right. You should always have new leads in your pipeline so that your revenue maintains a level of consistency. Okay. So again, it could be that you don’t have a predictable way to generate leads. A lot of times what I see people in that 40 to 80 K range is they have really done a lot of business relying on referrals, word of mouth. Right. And so when those things start to dry up or there’s not as many referrals or word of mouth coming in, then it’s like, crap, where am going to find those new leads? Right. And so.
Michelle DeNio (06:58.712)
then it’s, that’s what I mean by it’s like a pipeline problem because you’re not doing the things to feed the pipeline, right? Or you’re doing that, but here’s what’s where the breakdown is, is that the leads are getting lost, right? So you’re getting inquiries, but you’re not tracking them. Someone DMs you, you respond and then you kind of let it go because next thing you know, your DMs are full. And if you’re like me, you have some conversations in your DMs that are sales conversations, some that are friendly conversations, right? And so,
sometimes your sales or leads conversations can get fall to the bottom of the list because you’ve added all these other conversations, people replied to a story, whatever it looks like. And so they’re just getting lost, right? Because you don’t have a way to track them and you’re not tracking them. And so you can’t follow up with them because you don’t even realize that they’re being lost. Okay? So that’s one of the things. The next thing is that they are getting stuck.
They’re expressing interest, but they don’t know how to move through your pipeline. We have talked about this so many times on this podcast around it being your responsibility to move people through your pipeline. If you don’t have a clear next step, they are going to sit there. They’re gonna sit there or they are going to work with the person that gives them a clear next step. So this is what I mean by not having like…
this is a pipeline problem, right? Because your leads are either getting lost because you’re not tracking them, they’re getting stuck because they don’t know what their next step is, right? And if that’s the case, like your revenue is going to feel like a roller coaster, or you’re doing a bunch of things to create awareness, right? Or maybe you’re not creating awareness. Maybe your pipeline problem is that you’ve got all these things set up for like conversion and decision.
but you’re not doing anything to draw new people into you, right? Maybe you’re posting on social media inconsistently. Maybe you’re networking once in a while, right? Like what are you actually doing? This is marketing, right? This is the marketing aspect of your business. What are you doing to market your business? What are you doing to stay top of mind? What are you doing to draw new people into you? Again, if you’re used to relying on referrals and word of mouth, it’s likely that you’re not doing a whole lot to draw new people into you. And so you can’t…
Michelle DeNio (09:10.668)
It’s not even that your leads are getting lost or that they’re getting stuck. It’s that you don’t have any way to drive new leads into your business on your own in general, right? So build a lead tracking system, right? I’ve got one for you. I already did it. I built it for you. You don’t even have to create it. Just click the link in the show notes. The leading and conversion tracker is there. It’s free and it will show you exactly where your leads are dropping off because it’s broken down by pipeline stage.
So you’re gonna know, are some people sitting in awareness and they’re not moving to interest? Are they getting interested but then like you can’t get them over the hump to actually consider saying yes, right? Do you not know how to get them to that consideration stage? Again, if you have word of mouth referrals, you likely have never had to set up all of these stages in your business because people come in, they’re warm, they move through, they make a decision, right? Because they’re coming into you warm and already like,
ready to make a decision. So if you’ve never actually had to set your pipeline up where you’re moving people and you’re responsible for moving people through the entire thing, that will cause a revenue plateau. And I see it a lot. So first and foremost, find a lead tracker system. If you want my free one, click the link in the show notes, right? And then create a clear pipeline. We’ve talked about this. I actually just did a episode on this inside of Backpacket Insights as well on the four stages.
of your pipeline, so if you wanna dive deeper into that, you can jump into the Back Pocket Insights podcast, which is now free. So you’ve got no excuse not to do that, right? And then you should have a clear next step, right? So that there is no like, let me think about it, right? And also I want you to set up like a follow-up process. What is your follow-up process? I just did a discovery call with a client and I literally said to her before we got off the call, when do you want me to follow up with you? Here’s what I’m thinking.
If I don’t hear from you by Friday, I’m gonna reach out. And I put that in my calendar. Like I don’t leave it up to chance. I don’t leave it up to fate. I don’t leave it up to my memory to try to remember that I told her this because I’m gonna have multiple conversations between now and Friday and I’ve got to remember that, right? She’s not the only lead in my pipeline. And so of course I need things to, I need to create a way to make this so I remember. And so I put a note into my calendar, follow up, right?
Michelle DeNio (11:28.648)
find a way to create a follow-up system, right? Because most deals are probably being lost simply because you’re not following up, right? It’s not that they weren’t interested. They were interested. They were probably even getting ready to consider you and make a decision. But then like life happened. You both forgot. They didn’t know how to reach back out to you. I can’t tell you how many times people say to me like, my God, I’m so happy you reached back out because I couldn’t find your information somewhere. We think that we are easy to like
get a hold of and we think people can find us. again, like that’s putting a lot on your prospect to remember like, how do I find them? How do I get ahold of them? Again, is that standard business? Like, yes, I do believe that. Like I do believe like if you’re interested in something, you figure out a way to like make sure you stay in touch with them. But again, business, life, noise, all the things. Okay, so that is first and foremost where I see that we talk about this all the
time inside the Focus Visionary Accelerator. Pipeline is one of the things that we deal with on a regular basis that comes up in our group conversations and calls. So I want you to realize, regardless of where you are, this is not something that, this is not just a revenue problem that you solve once and it goes away. Again, as you evolve, your pipeline needs to evolve. As your business grows, the way people move through your pipeline is going to grow. So that is why this is such a core component.
to the Focus Visionary Accelerator because this is the money. This is where your money is, right? Like, you know everything I do comes back to revenue and profit. That is where I stand firm in the ground, okay? And I wanna make sure that you are not like simply losing leads and cutting into your profit because you’re like lacking a simple system like this. So if you are feeling like you’ve got this revenue plateau in that 40 to 80K range, start there, okay? Now,
Let’s talk about like 80 to 150 because once you get to that like 80 to 150 range, it’s likely that like leads are coming in, Like leads are coming in, your pipeline is working, but you’re maxed out. This is the problem I see all the time is like they get maxed out on capacity. Like your hours are full. There’s no more dollars in hours, right? You can’t, not that even, not that everybody trades dollars for hours.
Michelle DeNio (13:51.207)
But even if you’re working on a value base, like you’re still going to get to capacity at some point because there’s still all many, so many hours in a day. Okay. So if you’ve hit that ceiling where it’s like, there’s literally no more time, I can’t make any more money. Like you’ve got to look at your capacity or your pricing. And what I mean by capacity is that like you’re, you don’t have any more time left, right? Like you, every single moment that you have available to work is being spoken for.
that is a capacity problem and one of the things we need to look at is where is that time going? And I know when you’re listening to this, you might think like, capacity, being at capacity is great, right? But what I find is that there are so many people at capacity doing things that are non-revenue generating, right? They are spending their time doing things that have absolutely no direct ROI, whether it’s short-term or long-term. And so that is always the first place I look is like, where are you actually spending your time?
because if you have hours that you can free up that is going to open up your capacity, then you’re gonna get past that revenue cap. But if you’re continuing to do things and stay committed to things that are keeping you stuck at full capacity, I get it. We all have friends, we all wanna be at all the events, we have all the things, we wanna say yes to everything, right? But at some point, you’ve gotta look at, okay, I’m literally capped time for dollars. I cannot make any more money.
Right? So then we’ve got to look at your capacity. There’s a little bit of business model that comes into here, but that usually hits at like a little bit beyond 150. I’m going to talk about that next. But first, I always look at like, where are you spending your time that has no direct ROI? Right? Like just because you love to attend something or you love to show up at something, if you’re hitting up against a revenue plateau and you’re still like going to an event that you know is like literally never going to drive business to you.
But it’s like, but I love it. They’re my friends. like, I’m sorry, but like from a business perspective, you’ve got to start cutting. You have to start cutting. can’t say yes to everything, especially if you’re at this point in your revenue, like keep it growing. Right. The other thing is your pricing, right? Your pricing, if you’re at capacity, that means that you’ve got to raise your pricing. And I know that not every, you know, if you’ve listened to this podcast for any length of time, are, you know, for 1000 % that I am not just one
Michelle DeNio (16:19.842)
the person that’s like, raise your pricing, because that is not the answer to everything. But it is sometimes the answer when your revenue plateaued, right? If your revenue plateaued, you’re at capacity, there’s literally nothing else you can cut out, then we do have to look at your pricing, okay? We have to look at how many hours you have available, how much you’re charging, how much has your expertise changed, what value are you bringing to the table now that maybe you weren’t bringing to the table two years ago, because again, we grow, we evolve, we continue to.
add value to our clients, right? Like even with FBA, right? Like I had to raise the pricing because I added additional things. Like I’ve added additional calls to the calendar. I’ve added additional experts that I’m paying to be there, right? So again, like there’s so much more value, not only that, but as I grow and as I get better, the results come faster because I can then, I can spot things quicker. I can work through things faster. I can point things out better.
I can just see things clearer than I did two, three years ago because I’ve grown, I’ve evolved, my business has expanded. And so I know that I can bring results faster to people. And so of course, the value I want to, I want that to be reflected in the pricing. Okay. And if you’re at capacity and you still are wanting to grow, like the only, one of the only ways to increase revenue at that point is to raise your price, right? Because you can’t just take on 10 more clients. You don’t have the capacity for it.
So we’ve gotta look at how much capacity do you have and what does it really look like to fill that in a way that hits and gets to your next revenue goal, okay? And that’s what this really looks at is like, are you over committed, right? Are you over committed and like, do you also have clients that you said yes to that maybe aren’t a right fit?
because in the moment you needed the cash, you wanted the cash, I get all of that. Do not let anybody sit here and tell you that we haven’t all done it. We’ve all said yes to the client at whatever, a special rate or a lower rate when it’s like we needed the money, we wanted the cash, we did the thing, but now is it causing a little bit of resentment? Is it causing it to where you’re spending so much time with them and you can’t take on any more clients because you’ve committed to this?
Michelle DeNio (18:33.102)
We’ve got to look at that. You got to look through the lens of like facts over emotions, business is business, friendship is friendship, right? And you have to make a decision. And then you can really look at, do I raise this price? Is it time for us to take a break to open up space for a new client, right? There’s so many different ways, but it all a lot of times sits in that capacity and pricing. That is where you’re getting revenue plateaued in that 80 to 150K range. Then.
If you’re past that, right, let’s say you’re in this again, I’m giving revenue ranges. I think this is, it’s very hard to define exact revenue ranges. I’m giving a, what I see most happen most often, right? Based on the nine years that I’ve been doing this and the hundreds of clients that I’ve seen the backend of their business and looked at their numbers and everything else. But in the 150 plus plateau,
That’s likely that business model. That’s what I mean by like you’ve outgrown your business model, right? You’ve got this solid business, you’re making consistent money, but you’re stuck again. like you either don’t want to take on more one-to-one clients or it’s not scalable, right? And so you’ve got to look at like, what does the act, what needs to actually change in the entire business model, in the entire strategy?
If you’re still doing everything yourself, which at this point you shouldn’t be, but a lot of people are, and I get that. A lot of people bootstrap it to death, right? But if your offers are still one-to-one or highly customized, done for you, where you’re having to spend time on calls all the time, that’s only gonna get you so far, right? You can only scale that biz model to a certain degree. And I’m not, you can scale one-to-one. You can scale one-to-one.
very quickly if you move it to asynchronous style coaching, right? But if you’re in this one-to-one business model where you’re meeting with your clients every other week on Zoom, that business model is only gonna take you so far. So if you love doing one-to-one work, then we’ve got to switch and look at like, how can I still serve one-to-one, but in a different capacity? How can I change this business model where I’m still feeling fulfilled, my clients still getting the support that they need, but I’m actually freeing up some of my time so that I can scale it.
Michelle DeNio (20:45.324)
That is one way that you can do it, right? You can hire out certain tasks. Like if you’re still getting bogged down by your social media or your email marketing or some of the tech stuff and you love doing it because it’s like a good brain break for you, that’s fine. And you can continue doing it, but not if you wanna get past this revenue plateau, right? So you’ve gotta look at like, where can I hire and do I need brains versus hands? This is something I always talk about my year-end program of like whether or not you need brains or hands.
Like do you need somebody to come in and help you strategize and help you really look at and see like where can we make changes? What do I need to do? Or do you need the hands? The people that can just get in there and take it off your plate, right? That’s something that you can look at when you’re in this revenue plateau of like, okay, if I wanna get through this, do I need to bring in brains or hands? If I’m gonna hire anybody, what type of help do I need? Because I think a lot of times people just…
think that they need hands, but sometimes they’re not ready to just hire done for you. Like if you don’t have the system set up, if you don’t know how you’re gonna do this, if you don’t have a strategy around it, like bringing in hands doesn’t necessarily help the situation, okay? And then the next thing I see is like your strategy is just completely outdated, right? Like what is going to work to get you to $150,000 in revenue is likely not gonna get you to $300,000, right? You need a different strategy, you need a different thinking.
This is where, like I said, the entire business model a lot of times needs to shift a little bit. So are you needing to do more one to many work? Are you needing to raise your prices? Are you needing to do more cohort-based work? You can do cohort-based. You can run memberships. this point, again, I’m not always a huge membership fan, but again, you’ve got to really look at what got me to 150, but how am going to get to 300,000? Because that’s a big gap, right?
Again, depending on your pricing, depending on your capacity, depending on your pipeline, your audience, all those things, it’s likely that what got you to 150 is never gonna get you to 300,000. And I had a client that kind of hit this. She hit like $200,000 and like in her business model, she was doing a lot of the VIP day business model, which worked really well and she scaled it beautifully. Like it was insane how fast she scaled it and she did wonderful, but like she couldn’t get past that point.
Michelle DeNio (23:04.15)
with that business model because again, the VIP business model requires done for you. It requires time on your calendar. And yeah, she kept raising the price and that got so far, but eventually she priced herself out, right? Like there’s only so far you can raise your prices before you’re not gonna, before you price yourself out of the market. So raising price is not only the only thing that’s gonna get you outside of a revenue plateau, right? So we had to really look at and completely revamp her strategy a little bit to maintain what she had.
but also to create some more reoccurring revenue, right? So if you’ve never had reoccurring revenue in your business, that’s what’s gonna help you to get past this point. If you do have reoccurring revenue, do you need to project-based work, right? There’s so many different things that play into this. And again, we’ve gotta look at it through the lens of profit, profitability. It’s not just about getting to $300,000. If getting to that $250,000, $300,000,
range gets you there in revenue, but your expenses go up at the same time. Like that’s not gaining you anything. You may as well stay at 150. That’s why I really tell everybody like, look at the profit because adding more revenue, if you can’t add more revenue without decreasing expenses or maintaining your expense, you’re literally just making the same amount of money, but on paper it looks different. But at the end of the day, you’re bringing home the same amount and that’s
Complete, that’s not what we’re trying to do here, right? We’re not just trying to break through a revenue plateau just to break through it, just to bring home the same amount of money. The whole point in breaking through the plateau is to actually scale the business and make more money, bring more money home, make more profit. It’s all about increasing profitability at this point. And that is done very differently than just increasing revenue, okay? And then the other thing that I do see is,
at this point is this does require a different level of leadership in your business, right? Like this requires you truly to step into and own that role of CEO. I talk about this all the time. I think everybody should be owning the role of CEO regardless of what your revenue number is at. Like I think that every single business owner, if you’re a business owner, like at some point you need to put that CEO hat on because again, CEOs just make decisions. That’s all that really requires. I know that that term scares a lot of people, but at the end of the day,
Michelle DeNio (25:25.034)
CEOs make decisions and that’s what your business likely needs from you at this point is it needs decisions and it needs clear decisions. It needs decisions based on facts. It needs clear based on data, right? Not emotional decisions, not I think, I feel, you know, whatever. It’s like, does this make sense? Where is this going? What does this look like? And how are we going to do it? Okay. So again,
These are revenue ranges. There’s no way I could accurately predict and be like every single person in the $40,000 to $80,000 range has a pipeline problem. No, some people are incredible with that, but this is pretty typical of what I see. This is what we work on all the time inside of the Focus Visionary Accelerator. It’s why I created it. I created this, the accelerator so that you had a framework
to grow at every single level so that when you hit these plateaus, you can just go back to that framework that you have that create and revamp your structure because the structure is there. We’ve talked about this so many times on the podcast and I just can’t reiterate it enough. Every level of growth requires a new structure. Like it requires a new foundational structure and the focus visionary framework is that foundational structure that is going to grow with you at every level so that you can look at it and go.
Is this a pipeline problem? Is this a pricing and capacity problem? It’s all built into that and you can just go back and look at it and re look at your strategy so that you can move through those revenue plateaus without feeling like you have to start over because that is something I see happen all the freaking time is like somebody hits a revenue plateau and they freaking change everything. And it’s like, what in the actual F are you doing? You don’t need to change everything. It’s not an entire overhaul like
You don’t need to do that. And then they burn their business to the ground because they like literally blew the whole fricking thing up. And it could have just literally been a small change that will get you through that revenue plateau. Revenue plateaus do not require these massive, massive overhauls. Even when you’re at that 150 to plus range where your business model’s kind of outgrown, it’s still not like an entire revamp and starting from scratch, right? It’s building on what’s already there, what’s already built.
Michelle DeNio (27:50.607)
All right, that’s what I want you to take away from this is that like when you hit a revenue plateau, it’s a sign that something is you’ve outgrown something or that there is a structural problem, right? This is not a motivational problem. I mean, again, it could be, I can’t sit here and say like every single person that has a revenue plateau is not dealing with some type of lack of motivation. Like I’m sure there is some people there, but.
From my perspective, from a strategy perspective, from a profit perspective, I want you to really think about, like, I would start in these three areas. Is it your pipeline? Is it your pricing or is it your business model? Sometimes I talk about sales too, right? And we talked about that pricing pipeline sales. The sales is likely sitting in your 40 to 80K range as well, simply because you’re probably not selling enough. That’s what I see. I think sales comes into play at every range.
In the 40 to 80k range, it’s likely that you’re literally, like I just said, you’re not selling enough. In the 80 to 150k range, it’s that you’re selling but you literally can’t take them on, right? And so you’ve got to sell differently. You’ve either got to get people on a wait list, you’ve got to change up your offer a little bit, we’ve got to find a different type of way to sell, we’ve got to find a new offer or product to sell because you’re currently capped out.
And then at the business model, when you’re at that 150 range, again, you likely are have to sell to a different audience or shift the way you’re selling in the sense of that you’re likely going to sell from a more passive standpoint in some ways. So again, all of these things show up in every layer and you just got to take the minute to pause and really ask yourself like, what is actually happening here? Right?
Is it that I’m revenue plateaued because I don’t have enough leads or is it that I actually have leads, but they’re just getting stuck. Like I can’t seem to get them moving. Right. Am I maxed out on my time? Am I undercharging? If I outgrown my strategy, right? Like just sit and ask yourself, like, where am I actually sitting with this? Right. So that’s what I’m seeing. Hopefully this was helpful to you. If you’re like, Michelle, I’m plateaued. You’re totally right. You’re speaking my language.
Michelle DeNio (30:09.142)
and I don’t know how to fix it, right? That’s, you got multiple choices, multiple choices. And I know we’re not supposed to give multiple choices. I don’t really give a shit. You know this, right? First and foremost, I’m always gonna recommend the Focus Visionary Accelerator. That is by far the best program that is going to help you grow at every single level. And it’s going to give you that structural foundation that you need to grow at every single level.
However, if you’re kind of like, I’m just in the stock right now and I just need to like get through it, I know it’s a pipeline problem, that’s the only thing I wanna work on, that’s where the revenue intervention comes into play because it’s a 90 minute deep dive, we work on one thing, okay? So those are your two options if you’re feeling like I definitely am stuck and I need to get through this revenue plateau, start there, all right? And again, facts over emotion.
Look at the facts. What is your business actually telling you? Remember, the answers that you are looking for are likely hiding in the data you are not looking at. Okay, go look at the data and see what it is telling you before you just start throwing all this spaghetti at the wall, trying to fix something that is likely not broken. All right, I love you. I believe in you and I will talk to you soon.
