20Aug

3 Tips to Breaking Through Your Business Plateau

There are few things more frustrating than being stuck at a plateau — whether it’s a losing-weight plateau, a business-growth plateau or any other plateaus.

So what do when you ARE stuck at a plateau, more specifically a business-growth one? Well the below 3 keys should put you on the right track to busting through.

1. Are you ready to grow? The first thing you need to look at is your mindset. A lot of times the reason why you’re stuck is because you’re just not ready to grow. It could be any number of things. You’re hiding out. You don’t want to be more successful than your spouse and/or parents. You’re afraid people won’t like you if you’re too successful. Only evil capitalist pigs are successful. You get the idea.

If you have a block like that standing in your way, it really doesn’t matter what you do or don’t do you’re not going to bust through your plateau.

So how do you know if you have a block? Well if you haven’t done any self growth work, I suspect you probably have a block or 2 lurking around. It’s nothing to feel ashamed about — it’s very common. In fact, I would venture to say every entrepreneur, even the most successful ones, encountered a block or 2 in their business growth. It’s just the successful ones had a way to get around it.

One place to start is by doing a little journaling. Take a piece a paper and draw a line down the middle so you have 2 columns. In one column, write down all the reasons why you want to break through this plateau and reach your goal. Then in the second column, write down all the reasons why you DON’T want to reach your goal. Yes, something will bubble to the surface if you don’t brush this off as being silly. And whatever bubbles to the surface will give you the next clue as to what you have to do to get rid of the obstacle.

The other thing you can do (which is my fave) is to hire a coach. Coaches are great for helping you get past your blocks.

2. Do you know what you need to do to grow? You can get past all the blocks you have, but if you have no idea what you need to be doing to be successful, then you’re not going to get very far.

Some of my most successful partnerships are with clients who have their mindset in order and they’re looking for copywriting and marketing expertise. When that happens, look out! Their businesses end up taking off in a really big way.

So how can you tell if you’re in this camp or if your mindset is blocking you? Well, I agree, it can be a little tough to do on your own — there are clues (which I can spot when I’m talking to people but it’s more difficult to explain). One clue is you’re ready to do what it takes to make your investment back. You might be really worried or scared about making this investment in yourself, but you feel confident you’re going to follow through and do what needs to be done. If you feel like you won’t do it, or it doesn’t matter what you do, you’re only going to get X people buying because that’s all you ever get, then you have a mindset block.

Another way to know is if you feel like you’re ready to step out in a big way and this is the next step.

3. You’re in that “uncomfortable” space right before you’re going to breakthrough your plateau and you just need to go a little further. What happens to water at 212 degrees F? It’s turning to steam. What happens at 211 degrees? It’s still liquid.

If you know you’re doing what you need to do to be successful and you haven’t broken through your business plateau yet, it could be you’re about to and you just have to keep doing what you’re doing. You’re at 211 degrees and you just need a little more umph to make it to 212. (This one is probably the most frustrating of all. I was here so I know what you’re going through. It’s like you’re at Mile 23 of a marathon — which is 26.2 miles — you’ve done all this work to get to mile 23, you just need to walk 3.2 more miles and it’s some of the hardest miles you’ll ever walk. But keep going, you really are almost there.)

Michele PW (Michele Pariza Wacek) is your Ka-Ching! Marketing strategist and owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting LLC, a copywriting and marketing agency. She helps entrepreneurs become more successful at attracting more clients, selling more products and services and boosting their business. To find out how she can help you take your business to the next level, visit her site at http://www.MichelePW.com Copyright 2009 Michele Pariza Wacek.