Breaking Through Your Success Plateau

As a mindset coach for seasoned female entrepreneurs , I often hear a familiar refrain among my clients: "I feel too stagnant in my work, and it's affecting my self-worth and sense of what I can charge. I need something to up my game!"

If this resonates with you, you're not alone. Many successful entrepreneurs reach a point where they feel stuck on a plateau, unsure how to climb to the next level. It often leads to demotivation, which can be scary when you’re talking about your own business and don’t know how to rekindle that spark!

Let’s have a deeper look at how these plateaus occur and how to break through them.

1. Recognizing the Plateau

The first step in overcoming any challenge is recognizing it. For many seasoned entrepreneurs, a plateau often means you're working comfortably in your zone of competence or even excellence. You've mastered your craft, your business is stable, but something feels missing. This comfort, while reassuring, can be a sneaky adversary to growth.

Signs you might be on a plateau:

- Feeling stagnant or unchallenged in your work

- Your income has stabilized but isn't growing

- You're not excited about new (or even current) projects or opportunities

- Your self-worth feels tied to your current level of success, so if you feel demotivated, chances are that your self-worth is also being impacted (I hear the critical voices in your head!)

2. Understanding the Real Challenge

Here's a crucial insight: Breaking through this plateau isn't about finding the next hot marketing strategy or further refining your already polished skills. The real challenge lies much deeper. It's about:

- Unlocking limiting beliefs about your potential

- Challenging long-held assumptions about success and worth

- Expanding your capacity to receive abundance in all forms (money, support, opportunities…)

3. The Courage to Grow

As one of my clients beautifully put it: "I want to keep growing and stretching, bringing something fresh to the table, even if I don't feel competent yet." This sentiment captures the essence of breaking through plateaus. It requires courage to:

- Step into discomfort beyond your zone of competence, excellence or even zone of genius.

- Challenge beliefs about your worth and what's possible for you

- Dare to redefine success on your own terms

As you may have heard before, true growth happens in that space between comfort and competence. It's about being willing to be a beginner again, to risk failure in pursuit of new heights, knowing that as a seasoned entrepreneur, you’re not starting from scratch.

This last point is crucial. When you step into new territories of growth, you bring with you a wealth (like, a GOLDMINE!) of experience, skills, and wisdom. Your years of entrepreneurship have equipped you with:

• Resilience to navigate challenges

• Problem-solving skills honed through past obstacles

• A network of connections and resources

• Intuition developed through countless business decisions

• The ability to learn and adapt quickly

• And again, what I refer to as “the GOLDMINE”! Your countless years of experience, skills and wisdom from which you can learn and build on.

Think of it as building a new floor on a solid foundation, rather than constructing an entirely new building. You're leveraging your existing strengths to reach new heights. This perspective can make the journey less daunting and more exciting.

Your seasoned status doesn't exempt you from feeling like a beginner in new areas, but it does give you a significant advantage. You know how to learn, how to persevere, and how to turn setbacks into comebacks. This time, you're armed with the wisdom of your past experiences, making your growth trajectory potentially steeper and more impactful than ever before.

Embracing this growth mindset allows you to approach new challenges with a unique blend of beginner's enthusiasm and veteran's confidence. It's about honoring your journey while being open to new paths of discovery and success.

4. The Upward Spiral of Growth and Value

Here's a powerful truth to internalize: Your worth isn't tied to a price tag or a revenue goal. It's inherent. However, “upping your game” is a way to open yourself to receive more - whether it's money, opportunities, or support - and this often unlocks new levels of service and impact (and fears).

As you rebuild your foundation, realign with your values, and expand your capacity to receive, you naturally put yourself in a position where you can create more value for your clients, hence potentially more income for your business. It's a beautiful upward spiral:

Greater self-worth → Increased capacity to receive → Enhanced value creation → Improved outcomes for clients → Reinforced self-worth

5. Practical Steps to Break Through

- Audit Your Beliefs: Identify limiting beliefs about your worth, capabilities, or what's possible for you. Challenge these beliefs consciously.

- Expand Your Vision: Imagine what your business and life would look like if you allowed yourself to receive 10x more abundance. Let this vision pull you forward.

- Embrace Discomfort: Look at different areas that would challenge your zone of comfort. What is calling you now, but are afraid to take on? Look at projects that stretch you, even if you don't feel fully competent yet!

- Realign with Your 'Why': Revisit the core values and purpose that drove you to start your business. How can you align more closely with these values and purpose at a higher level?

-Practice Receiving: There usually is a zone that feels comfortable to receive. Challenge that. Look at ways you may be currently uncomfortable receiving (would it be doubling your fees, asking for help, or something else?), and practice receiving beyond your current comfort level. You may start small, like fully accepting compliments, gifts, and opportunities without deflection or diminishment.

FINAL WORDS (and a challenge!)

Breaking through your success plateau is about more than just "upping your game." It's about transforming who you are as an entrepreneur and as a person. It's about expanding your capacity to create and receive value in all areas of your life.

The path to your next level of success isn't always about doing more. Often, it's about becoming more - more open, more receptive, more aligned with your highest potential.

So, I challenge you:

What one step will you take today to break through your plateau? Your next level of success - and the increased impact you can make - is waiting on the other side.

I’ll see you soon,

Maria x

PS. If you're ready to break through your plateau and unlock your next level of success, I'm here to help! Book a discovery call to learn how we can work together to expand your impact and income.