99. The $10K to $20K Leap: Why Most Moms Get Stuck at 'Pretty Good Money' and How To Get Unstuck

Have you ever hit that point in your business where you’re making pretty good money—maybe consistently hitting $8K, $10K months—but you feel completely maxed out? You can’t take on another client without losing your mind, but you’re not quite at the income goal you want either?

We get it. You’re stuck at what I call the $10K to $20K ceiling—that specific revenue plateau where you’re making good money, but you’re trading every available hour for it. And as moms, we don’t have unlimited hours to give.

In this episode, I’m breaking down:
• Why the $10K ceiling hits mom entrepreneurs especially hard (and it’s not what you think)
•The three critical mindset shifts required to break through to true scalability
•The five specific leverage points that can double your revenue without doubling your time
•How to maintain your one-to-one work while building scalable income streams
•The biggest fears keeping CEO moms stuck at six figures (and how to overcome them)

If you’ve been feeling maxed out on one-to-one work, not hitting your income goals yet, but thinking “I literally cannot take on another client”—this episode is for you.

Resources Mentioned:

FREE Scalable Offers Snapshot - Get a personalized Loom video showing you exactly how to repackage your in-demand one-to-one service into a scalable, freedom-giving offer. Head to https://yaelbendahan.com/snapshot or DM “SNAPSHOT” on Instagram @theyaelbendahan

VIP Days & 90-Minute Intensives - Ready to stop spinning your wheels and actually BUILD your scalable offer? In one focused session, we’ll map out your entire scalable offer strategy, create your funnel, and design your sales plan—so you walk away with a complete roadmap (not just more ideas). This is deep, customized strategy work that would normally take months of back-and-forth, done in a single day. Perfect for the CEO mom who’s ready to move fast and finally break through that revenue ceiling. Very limited spots available. 

DM “VIP” or “INTENSIVE” on Instagram for details.

Stand Out and Sell Course - Learn how to create your signature framework and turn it into multiple streams of income - https://yaelbendahan.com/standout

LINKS
📈The CEO MOMS Growth Matrix - feeling stuck or plateaued at your current revenue? Snag your custom roadmap for sustainable growth from $0 to multi-6-figures in this FREE training! >>> yaelbendahan.com/matrix

🔥Join my FREE 3-Day Program, LEVERAGE - the process that’s creating multi 6 figure years working nap times and being a full time mama of 6. Claim your spot here >>> https://yaelbendahan.com/leveragepod

💰Offers in Your Pocket - 11 Offers You Can Pull Out of Your Pocket and Sell This Week! Only $9 - yaelbendahan.com/pocketoffers

💃 Apply for the CEO Mom Mastermind if you're ready to scale sustainably to $15-20K+ months. Read more about the mastermind here OR go straight to the application here.
Want to chat about the mastermind before you join? DM me on Instagram - instagram.com/theyaelbendahan

Transcript

0:00

As moms, we often operate from a risk averse mindset, which makes sense. We are responsible for these. Younger, younger humans, not necessarily tiny humans, and we tend to prioritize the stable, predictable income over potentially bigger but less certain revenue streams. Okay. It can be very hard to say scale back on your one-to-one so you can start adding in those more leveraged incomes streams. It's scary because you're like, but I need this money. Welcome to the Raising Your Business Podcast. I'm your host, Al Behan, founder of CEO Mom Academy, mom of Six and Lifelong Reading addict. This podcast is here to empower moms to run their businesses and lives like the powerhouse CEO. They are. I want you to believe that you can have the business success you desire. And be present with your family and to give you my best tips and strategies for how to make that happen. I'll be sharing the honest reality of balancing business and motherhood biz models that work for you. Marketing simplicity, and the mindset of A CEO, mom. Now let's dive in. Hey. Hey, welcome back to the podcast. And today we are gonna be talking about a really specific revenue plateau that I see all the time with mom entrepreneurs, which is like that eight to 10 K ceiling. So you're kinda like stuck around that six figures and it's like that point where you're making. Pretty good money, but you feel completely maxed out. And I call it the 10 K to 20 K leap. And it is the exact point where a lot of CEO moms get stuck. And my goal for you today is to walk away understanding exactly why this plateau happens, these specific mindset shifts that you need to break through it, and the really strategic leverage points that will double your revenue without actually doubling your time. And I know this sounds so cliche, but it's true. I didn't believe it until I did it. And then I was like, wow, this is a real thing. Okay, before we dive in, if you are feeling a little bit maxed out on one-to-one work, you're not really hitting your income goals yet, but you're like, I cannot take on any more clients. I just don't have the time, and you wanna know how to actually scale beyond that, I have got something all new for you. I have never offered this before. It is called these Scalable Offers Snapshot, and it is a free personalized loom video where I'm gonna show you exactly how to repackage your in-demand one-to-one service into a scalable freedom. Giving offer. Okay, so thinking more incomes, fewer hours, and a calendar that actually fits around your mom life and your kids' school schedule and your baby's naps. So I'm only doing a handful of these this month. So if you want one, head to yeah, al band.com/snapshot or DM me snapshot on Instagram, and I'll send you the link to get your intake form in. So here's the thing about that six figure ceiling. Okay. I've been there myself, and I've watched a lot of my clients hit it too. So back in 2020, I was pregnant with my daughter, baby number five. I was consistently hitting around 10 K months with my one to one. Services. I was doing launch strategy, I was doing ads, I was doing funnels, I was booked out. I had testimonials. I had happy clients, right? But I was also completely maxed out and I physically could not take on any more clients. And then when I was in my first trimester. I remember I had clients who I was building a webinar for, and I mapped out the structure of the webinar, and then I was also, my first trimester, I was so exhausted and I could not keep my eyes open past like 8:30 PM and so I. Hired a friend of mine who was a copywriter, who was an expert webinar creator to create the webinar for them. But these were existing clients of mine. I had done a lot of copy for them and they got the webinar and they were like, we hate this. This is, this doesn't even sound like you. It feels way too salesy. And I'm like, I knew that the webinar was. Within it was the industry standard webinar. This is the exact kind of webinar that was highest like most likely to convert. But they felt like it needed to sound more them, it needed to be more storytelling. It was more like the type of stuff that I would write for them. And so they were just like, we don't want this. We need a, we want a new webinar. Which, okay, fair. I'll never forget sitting there literally with tears like falling down my face. I had to pay my friend the full amount that I agreed to pay her when I subcontracted to her because she did the work. So I came in at a loss and I was sitting there like writing the webinar and my eyes were like closing.'cause I was just so freaking tired. And if you've ever been in your first trimester, you know that insane exhaustion where you're like, I literally cannot. Keep my eyes open another minute. Like I, I literally cannot. And I was like, this business model is not working for me because I cannot sustain this. This is not a business model that's going to be sustainable through this pregnancy and with a baby. And I'd had 10 K months, 11 K, 12 K, right? I'd had these five figure months. And that month I went down to, I think it was like a$2,000 month. I had not been at$2,000 in, at least over a year and a half. And I was like, okay, this something's gotta change here. Alright. And that was when I discovered product I didn't discover, but I got serious about productizing my services. I narrowed down to the one thing, the launch strategy, the launch copy. It was very systemized. And then I moved into from a$2,000 month, the next month it was$15,000. The next month was a$20,000, so literally 2000 to$20,000 in two months, which sounds again, it almost too good to be true. But I did have the credibility. I did have, the authority. I just needed the systems in order to make this happen. But I realized that if I wanted to grow beyond that point where I felt like I was working. Over time for those five figure months, something had to fundamentally change my entire business model because I could not just work harder or longer. I was already using every spare minute between caring for four children, being pregnant, managing our household and all we were starting to hear little, whispers about this virus that came out of China and Italy was shutting down. And I was like, okay, it's not gonna, it's not gonna come here. Like why would it come here from China? Little did we know and. I realized that the solution was not necessarily more clients, it was more leverage. And that is what I wanna talk about today because I see a lot of CEO moms stuck in this exact same place. So let's talk about why this ceiling is exists specifically for moms. Here is the truth that nobody's talking about. Growing to 10 K months with one-to-one services is actually pretty straightforward if you have valuable skills, okay? You find clients, you deliver results, you get referrals, you raise your rates, boom, 10 k months. You're fine. Like I, and I say this I don't mean to say this, like it's always gonna be a fluke, but like you can like accidentally get to six figures. It's possible. Okay. And you don't have to be very systemized about it either. I always talk about having that long-term mindset where like you wanna build it with a long-term mindset from the beginning. But yes, you don't actually have to build it with a long-term mindset in order to hit your first six figures. But there is gonna be a ceiling that hits around that point, and it hits moms especially hard for several specific reasons. So the first reasons that we have a really hard non-negotiable cap on our available hours, like we cannot work more even if we wanted to. Yeah, because other entrepreneurs might be able to hustle 60 hour weeks at the beginning when they need a scale. But we have school pickups, we have doctor appointments, we have bedtime routines. We have tiny little humans who need us. We have very much larger humans who also need us, like husbands and teenagers, right? So we literally we could say, I'd love to have more time. You don't have more time. Like the time you have is the time you have. And I do not find that you get more time, as your family grows. In a way, yes, because your kids are all in school all day. Okay, fine. But. There are just more needs and different needs. It's just, it's a whole new ball game. And now, especially, I know I currently have, my children run the gamut from teenagers to toddler, and they all need me in different ways at different times of day. Okay. Which I love, like I love this. I, and I sound like I'm getting emotional. I love it. This is like my, I feel like this is what I was meant to do. I love it. Okay. And seeing my, my, my teenager cuddling my toddler in the morning before he goes to school, like literally makes me choke up from joy. I love it so much, but it does require a lot of me. And so my business literally cannot take up more time than I have. Okay. And my baby isn't daycare right now. Currently I'm recording this. He's in daycare till one 30 every day. Realistically, I don't really start working till at least 9 30, 10 o'clock.'cause I usually run errands in the morning after I bring him to daycare. So I have about from like 10 o'clock to about one 30, maybe an hour or two in the evening. Maybe not always, because again, older kids stay up later. They need me. It is how it is. So do the math, right? 10, 11, 12, 1, there. So three and a half hours. Three, let's say three to four hours a day. Okay. Secondly, okay. You do need the money. Okay. And thirdly, we usually build our business around like these kind of flexible one-to-one delivery models that can accommodate our unpredictable lives. And the idea of creating something that's more structured and that requires systems that might require a VA and having things ready at certain times every single week can feel terrifying when your day revolves around nap schedules. That can change from like week to week.'cause I don't know about you. Like my baby's right now going through the one to two, sorry, two to one nap. Shift. And it is a little bit brutal because, he's, he has his long nap in the morning when he's in daycare or he has like a short nap in the morning. Then I have to get him in for a nap in the afternoon and hope he gets it in. It's a lot. It's a lot. Okay, so what is the result here? We keep on taking just one more one-to-one client.'cause I know I can, right? I know I can do it, like I, that's something I know how to do. Just one more intensive, one more small project and we stay kinda stuck at that, eight to 10 K ceiling or whatever that looks like for you. Five to eight K feeling simultaneously grateful for the income that we have, but frustrated by the limitations of that income. And so this is my hot take, okay? This is not just about money. Alright? This plateau. Actually represents a crossroads in your business where you're either gonna commit to staying small and having a kind of like a side hustle and being like, okay, I'm totally maxed out. I cannot make any more money than this, but I'm okay with it. This is just what I'm gonna do for now. Or you make the strategic gift to choose scalability, which is going to require a significant amount of personal growth. So what are those mindset shifts that are required to break through to true scalability? So to make the leap from 10 to 20 K, 20 K months, you need three very specific mindset shifts. You need probably more than this, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna give you three for now. First of all, you need a shift from service provider to intellectual property owner. Okay? That means recognizing what's in your head. The stuff that's in your head, right? Your methods, your frameworks, your approaches, your tools are valuable, assets that can be packaged and sold in multiple ways. And I remember when I first made the shift, I stopped seeing myself as just, yeah, El who does launch strategy. I'm the launch strategist, I'm the visibility person. And started seeing myself as the creator of the signature process that could be taught, could be licensed, could be delivered in multiple formats. And that's what I teach in my Standout and cell course, which is I talk all about how to create your signature framework. You can turn your signature process into so many different things and multiple streams of income and honestly into a seven figure business. Okay. You really can. The second thing is you need to shift from perfection to iteration. Most moms that I work with, because I tend to attract people like me, eldest daughters, type A, perfe what's it called? Procrastinating. Perfectionist. Procrastinating. Perfect. Oh my God. Perfectionistic procrastination, right? They'll refuse to create leveraged offers because they're waiting until they have more time to make it perfect. They're just like, I'm gonna just go over this offer again. I'm gonna do more market research. I'm gonna, build up all the pieces, every single worksheet, every single everything. And let me be clear, that perfect moment is never gonna come. Your first leveraged offer will be imperfect, and that is completely fine. Okay. My group program, my first group program was created during Passover in the middle of a pandemic, four kids at home while I was pregnant. Okay. It was not perfect. I basically sat down, I'm like what do I wanna teach? Divided it into weeks. They had an outline for each call, delivered each call every Monday, had a Q and a call every Wednesday. And that was how I started to build out my process and my intellectual property and my frameworks. Okay. And that was what contributed to that 20 K month. Okay. And it has evolved ever since. So you are going to have a messy first draft, and that is okay. That is why we have beta, right? That is why we have these these beta offers where like people understand that they're paying less because they are the. They're co-creating with you in this process. And the third thing is you really need to shift from either or to both, and thinking you do not have to abandon your one-to-one services completely to create more leverage in your business. You can maintain some high ticket one-to-one work while building leverage offers. In fact, I highly recommend that you do because working in that very close one-to-one capacity is going to give you more scope for. Honing your expertise even more inspiration for content because you're actually showing the process that you do with your clients. And this is not about choosing between models, right? It's creating that strategic mix. And my client, one of my clients literally said this to me. She goes, I love that you are not like, oh if you're gonna launch a course, then that's it. Stop offering your services. Go all in on your course and, cross your fingers and hope for the best. I don't even recommend doing that, like I, because we have that risk averse mentality a little bit. Keep those one-to-one clients and slowly shift out of it. Raise your rates, go down to less clients at higher rates and continue to build up that leveraged stream of income and so that is really what you need to think about, right? Like it's not one thing or the other. It's about. You can have both, and it can be a beautiful mix. It could be a beautiful offer suite that serves you at various points and that serves your clients at their various points in their journey. So let's get tactical. There are five specific leverage points that can help you make that 10 K to 20 K leap. So the first thing is group delivery models. So obviously, I think everyone knows about this. This is not a new idea, but. Instead of working with clients one at a time, create a framework where you can teach multiple people simultaneously. And this does not mean watering down your expertise. It means structuring it in a way that works for multiple people. So for example, I transitioned from doing one-to-one launch strategy and one-to-one visibility strategy to teaching my visibility and launch frameworks in a group setting. And the results for clients were just as powerful. Had clients who had their first had a 21 K sales month, right? For the first time ever. But she was doing, she was learning it in a group setting and I was able to help 10 people in the time it previously took me to help one. So that's the first part. And when I say group delivery models, it does not necessarily need to be a group program. Not all businesses are made for group programs. Sometimes they're made for courses, sometimes they're made for digital products and templates, right? Like a designer, for example, is probably gonna lean towards digital products and templates because that's what actually makes sense for them. Unless you're teaching people how to build a design business people do not wanna. Co-create a design with you. They want you to either do it for them or they wanna do it themselves with a template. So that will be your, your specific option. Everyone has their own version of scalability, and that's why I created my scalable snapshots, by the way, because it's not gonna just be like, oh, create a I, I've seen those things. Like the one thing you need to do is create a scalable group program. Okay, yes. I love that. And that could work for a lot of people, but it's not gonna work for everyone. And you wanna have that custom, that kind of custom strategy for you. I have one client. Who's scaling with courses? I have one client who's scaling with a membership, right? Everyone has their own version of scalability. The next strategic leverage point is a signature framework or a signature framework, honestly packaging your expertise into clear, repeatable processes that become your intellectual property. And this makes your knowledge scalable and also teachable to others. So when I created my CEO Mom's Method which is mindset, offers, marketing and systems, it gave me a clear structure to teach from. It made my content creation easier, and it positioned me as the creator of a unique methodology, which adds authority. And the truth is like I actually have. A matrix which I love to talk about the CO moms growth matrix. Where you are gonna focus on different aspects of mindset, offers, marketing and systems at each stage in your business. So my framework actually works across the board from zero to literally seven figures. Okay? Then we have the third leverage point, which is your front end offer funnels. You're gonna wanna create small and accessible offers that solve specific problems and naturally lead people to your bigger solutions. My high ticket, low hassle workshop was a$47 front end offer. It was a one day workshop that generated over 20 K in backend sales and became an evergreen funnel. For my group program, the accelerator. Okay. And I did this again, I did this as a one day workshop and then I did my six figure mom retreat. And that was a$27 front an offer that led to, I think it was like 60 K in, in the first launch. Alright, so this stuff really does work. The next leverage point is strategic pricing tiers. So instead of charging hourly or by project, okay. Although I do recommend charging project based versus hourly, a hundred percent, creating these value-based pricing tiers that allow clients to self-select into different levels of access to you. So I move from charging by deliverable to creating packages a different access level. So I mentioned this in a previous episode. I have clients who wanted more direct access when I read my six Figure Mom retreat. I forgot which, what month it was. I forgot what year. I can't remember what year it was. It was a couple years ago, but I ran it again. It was$27 offer. I had a client who literally came in, went through the six figure monitor tree, took notes, and within a week had signed up for an 18 KVIP package. She joined my accelerator, but at the VIP level where she had one-to-one access to me. Okay, so some clients want more direct access to you. Others are happy with just group support and some are happy with just self-study. And this allows you to serve people in multiple stages of their journey and multiple levels of access that they desire. And the fifth leverage point, although again, there, there are many, right? I talk about leverage a lot. It is automations and systems. So that's identifying the repetitive parts of your business that can be systemized or automated to free up your limited time. So I created client onboarding systems, email templates, content frameworks that saved me hours each week, and these are hours I could then reinvest back in my business into higher level leverage activities and work back into my family, which was like entire point of creating my business in the first place. Okay, so these are all things you're gonna wanna think about when you're thinking, okay, what do I do to scale? Here's where we need to get real, though. There are going to be fears that do keep us stuck at that six figure ceiling. Okay? So first of all, there's this fear that no one's gonna buy your leveraged offer. It can be like people only want one-to-one. People only want done for you. And this is the most common fear that I hear from my clients. And here's the truth, if you're already successful with the one-to-one clients, you have proven that people value your expertise and the delivery format is secondary to the transformation that you're going to provide. Okay? So like I really I know people who are like, I only buy self-study courses. I don't have time. To work, with a coach. I just wanna get through the process, learn it, do it, and move on. Alright, so everyone has their version of what they see as the highest level of support for them. The second fear that I see come up is that you don't have time to create a leverage offer, right? Because I'm like, I'm so busy with my clients, I just don't have time to do this, and this is the ultimate cash 22, right? You don't have time because you're maxed out with one-to-one clients, but you can't get outta being maxed out unless you create leverage. So the solution is starting smaller than you think. Okay? Like I said, your first leverage offer does not need to be perfect. It just needs to exist. Okay? Third, there's that fear that you're going to lose the quality of your work if you're not doing everything one-to-one. And this is a myth, okay? Leverage does not mean lower quality. It can, and if you've been in programs where you're like, I felt like a number and there were so many people and everything was templatized and AI and it felt like I really wasn't getting any personal feedback or any personal attention, I understand this fear. Okay. I will tell you that I remember every single one of my coaching clients who were in my group programs, every single one, and what they did and what they were selling. Literally, you could throw it at me and I'll tell you. And you know why? Because I highly value personal attention. That is a brand value of mine. So if that is one of your values, you will not lose the quality. Okay. Leverage, like I said, does not mean lower quality. It just means strategically delivering it. Some of the most transformative experiences happen in group settings, specifically because of the community component. Like I, I personally just signed up for a program with a coach that I've who's a friend of mine that I've wanted to work with for a long time, and she had a group thing happening and she also had a VIP option and I sent her, I'm like, I'm sending up the VIP option. That's it, because I want one-to-one attention. I would like personal coaching, but I also want the group experience. I really feel like the group experience really contributes. Okay. Getting, getting other people's feedback, getting other people's, like cheering you on, listening to other people's questions and being like, wow, I never even thought of asking that question. That's so good. And others helped me so much. I actually find that having a mix of, personal attention, one-to-one, and that group setting is actually the most valuable. And that's why my mastermind includes, one-to-one touchpoints, one-to-one audits. Personalized strategies, but also the group component because it is a mastermind, right? And finally, there's the fear of visibility that comes with leverage offers, right? When you're selling one-to-one, you can hide behind dms and referrals and just one-to-one outreach. Outreach one at a time. It's very like manual. But leverage offers are often gonna require more public selling, and that can feel vulnerable. Okay. And the solution, what I recommend is starting with your warm audience first. And that's what I did when I first launched my first low ticket offer. This was back November, 2019, and it was Black Friday, and it was an accident. I did not mean to launch on Black Friday. When I realized I was launching on Black Friday. I was like, shoot, no one's gonna buy this because everyone's busy buying other everyone else's Black Friday stuff. And I ended up making$4,000 in one week with just done for you like sorry. DIY offers. It was like, just like courses. Because I, and I actually got most of my, I looked at the at my traffic and most of my traffic came from my Facebook profile. Okay? So start with your own warm audience first. These people already know you. They like you, they trust you, and they're the perfect first customers for your leveraged offer. So if you learn nothing else from today's episode, I want you to remember these three things. First of all, the 10 K ceiling is not a sign that you've reached your limit. It is a sign that your business model needs to evolve. Okay? This is a growth edge. It's not a permanent limitation. 10 K. It could be 10 K, it could be eight K, it could be six K, right? Your ceiling does not mean that you are at the end of the of the road. Secondly, leverage is not just about make more money. It is about creating a business that respects your limited time as a mom, and also allows you to be both profitable and present. Okay. And thirdly, making this leap requires both mindset shifts and strategic action. Alright? You need to see yourself as the intellectual pro property owner and own that and also create the strategic systems that are gonna bring the intellectual property to more people. Remember, it is, again, it is pretty simple to go to six figures to 10 K months with one to one services, but to double your revenue without doubling your time does require strategic leverage. And you, my friend, are more than capable of creating it. I believe in you a hundred percent. So if this episode hit home for you and you're like, yes, I'm ready to scale, then grab your scalable offer snapshot. Okay? It is free, it's personal, and it will show you exactly how to take your first step into leverage. And if you're listening and you already know that you want deep customized strategy mapped out in one day. I've also opened a limited amount of VIP days and. 90 minute intensives where we're gonna build your scalable offer, your funnel, your sales plan together. So you can DM me, VIP on Instagram for the details. I have very limited spots because my time is very limited. But I would love for you to grab this if this does feel right, if this does feel ideal for you. So if you wanna hear more about what happens in a VIP day in an intensive. Just again, DM me, VIP or Intensive on Instagram and we can chat about it and I'll share exactly how it works and you can decide if it's the right fit for you. But either way, check out the scalable snapshot and if you're ready to scale, then grab your spot because I have limited spots this month and they're going very fast. Alright, hope you have a wonderful rest of your day and I'll see you next week. I can't thank you enough for listening to raising your business. I hope this episode has inspired you to take another step towards building a business and life that you love, and growing your income in a way that works for you and your family. If you enjoy this episode, please take a second to rate and review and let's connect that on Instagram screenshot and share it on Instagram Stories so we can get the word out to more mom business owners like you. Tag me at the El Behan and share your biggest breakthrough from today. See you next week.