Being in Business

Growing Past $100k Years: Boundaries, Offers, Positioning, and Sales

• Caley Dimmock • Episode 4

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Break the six-figure stall by fixing capacity leaks, pricing with real data, and turning sales into service. Boundaries, time tracking, simplified offers, leverage that fits, and magnetic positioning build a business that scales without frying your nervous system.

In this episode we break down:

• why blurry boundaries drain energy and profit
• how to find your true hourly rate
• simplify and specialize offers for scale
• low‑lift leverage before launching courses
• craft positioning that feels psychic to ideal clients
• sell with clarity and empathy, not pressure
• refine systems instead of burning it all down

You can find my mastermind offering at caleydimmock.com/mastermind

And please follow and subscribe to this podcast (and if you could rate it as well, that's a huge help!)

And finally, I always love a DM to tell me that you've listened and what you took away from it.


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SPEAKER_00:

You've got no wiggle room there to scale, and sometimes it just actually feels impossible because again, coming back to the energetic component, it's just not possible. You've got nothing left to give. And this can be just because of some of these almost structural things in your business that need to change in order for you to get past that 100k mark. All right, you did it. You hit six figures, but now it feels like you are stuck in molasses. You're doing everything you can to keep those 8 to 10k months rolling in, but instead of coasting, it's like you're dancing on a treadmill on full speed. You're exhausted, you're reactive, and you're wondering if you've hit your ceiling. And worst of all, you're starting to question if you even want the business you've built. Is this really the dream? Spoiler alert, no, it's not. And in this episode, I'm gonna walk you through exactly what I would do if I was still making 100K per year as a service provider, coach, freelancer, or consultant. This isn't gonna be fluff, this is the real talk, strategic guidance, and of course, it's nervous system aware as well that you actually need to scale to multiple six figures in a way that feels sustainable and still also feels like you. So this is for the solopreneurs who are no longer beginners but who feel stuck behind the curtain. Let's go. The very first thing I'm gonna talk to you about, and what I would do is audit how you're spending your time, not just on paper, but energetically. This is the big shift here. When your time boundaries are blurry, your business becomes a breeding ground for microinterruptions that destroy your capacity. And this might look like jumping on client calls at the drop of a hat or checking Slack messages constantly or replying to emails the second they came in, regardless of whether it's actually urgent. And over time, this reactive behavior actually trains your brain to exist in a constant state of alert. And that alert state is exhausting over time. It'll also lead to decision fatigue, shallow focus, and honestly, a nervous system that's just always braced for impact. So instead of only blaming burnout or maybe assuming you need to hire, I want you to start with structure. So have you clearly communicated your availability and response times? Do clients know when they can expect deliverables and how to reach you for different types of needs? Is your schedule structured to protect focus time? You need protocols, not just for your clients, but for yourself too. So if a client asks for more meetings than agreed upon, do you freeze, panic, people please, or do you have a go-to response that honors your boundaries while inviting conversation? If you don't already have this created for yourself, I would highly recommend having a personalized go-to communications guide for difficult situations and conversations with clients. And in a situation specifically like this, here's something that you could try, just a little response that you can throw in your own guidebook. Thanks for your message. I don't currently have capacity for additional meetings outside of our agreed schedule, but I would love to understand what you're looking to achieve with more meetings so that I can offer an alternative approach. This response conveys clarity, authority, and it still conveys care, right? It gives you space to regulate before responding. Your client still knows that they're important to you. And this is so, so, so important because all in all, if you're stuck at 100K a year, the problem sometimes isn't your offers or your pricing. Sometimes it literally just is your boundaries. You are leaking capacity and energy. Next up, I want to talk about time tracking. This is super boring, but we need to talk about this. So we're gonna talk about time tracking, even if you are not billing hourly. And here's why this really matters. So if you don't know how long it actually takes you to deliver your offers, you don't really know what you're earning per hour. You could be charging$3,000 for a website, but spending 60 hours doing it, which nets out at$50 an hour or less once you factor in admin, revisions, and communication. And most people who hit six figures get there through grit and hustle. This is true. But when you break down the math, they're often earning far less than they think they are. And then they've maxed out their time and they're still stuck wondering why I am not able to get past this point. And it's simply because that business model does not scale. And when you don't know where your time is going, it's impossible to price well, know if you can hire support or even create new revenue streams that won't burn you out. So I need you to track everything. Do this for a period of time. I usually do this still once a year where I'll go through a week, or sometimes if I feel I need longer than that, I will still track my time and see where it is actually going. I'm not making assumptions here. You can use a tool like toggle. I personally really like harvest for this, but it's just about whatever app works for you. I need you to learn how long it actually takes you to deliver your service and include the behind-the-scenes stuff too. So the emails, the prep time, the client hand holding. It can be really easy too if you track this per client if you're offering the same service or offering to a number of different clients. And once you have that data, then you can make decisions based on reality, not just vibes. And as a general rule, if you are averaging less than$75 an hour when you do out this math, you've got a profit problem, not a hustle problem. If you are booked and busy and this number works out to$75 an hour or less, again, you have a profit problem, not a hustle problem. The goal, I would say, is$100 an hour minimum. If you are somebody who is stuck at that six figures a year, you're trying to get past that mark, you need to be at$100 an hour minimum and obviously consistently booked because that is the point at which hiring and growth actually starts to become possible. If you're bringing in less than$75 an hour, you really don't have a lot of wiggle room there for reinvesting in your business, for investing in help. And it's just going to continue to feel like you're on the hamster wheel. Once we have this number, then you can go deeper and figure out okay, do I need to increase my rates? Do I need to reposition? Do I need to launch a new offer? It just opens up so much once you have this data. After boundaries and time tracking, I want to chat a little bit about optimizing your offers. So there is a chance that you might be underpriced. You also might be over-delivering. You might be offering too many different things. You might be doing custom work for every single client. That makes it really tough to scale. And all of this adds up. It adds up to a business that can oftentimes be way too labor-intensive to scale. You've got no wiggle room there to scale. And sometimes it just actually feels impossible because, again, coming back to the energetic component, it's just not possible. You've got nothing left to give. And this can be just because of some of these almost structural things in your business that need to change in order for you to get past that 100K mark. Because in order to do that, you really do need to simplify and specialize. Now you don't have to niche down in a way that makes you feel boxed in. I'm not all about that if that's not what you want to do, but you do at the very least need to become known for something. Because specialization is going to make your work so much easier to sell, easier to systematize, and easier to price at a premium as well. And once you're known for that thing, referrals also become a lot easier too. Authority builds a heck of a lot faster, and your time gets protected because clients aren't expecting you to be a Swiss Army knife, a Jack or Jill of all trades. So take a look at your current offers. I want you to ask yourself which ones are already profitable and light you up? And which ones drain you and don't sell consistently. Start streamlining now so your future self isn't stuck maintaining a patchwork of custom offers. Doing this now is going to be so much easier than trying to scale and then looking at this down the line where you realize that everything has just become such a mess and your systems are all over the place and your workflow is all over the place now, and everything's way too hectic. It's going to be so much easier for you to do this now at this point. And I would say this is actually the crucial time period to do it if you are already at that kind of 8 to 10K a month mark. Now let's talk leveraged income next. I think this is where most people jump too fast launching a course or program when their foundation isn't solid. So here's my take on all this: adding a course can be a smart move, but only if you've already built an audience that trusts you, you validated your framework through one-to-one work or done-free work, and you've created clear messaging that actually resonates with your people. Otherwise, to be honest, you're probably just going to create a digital product that collects dust, just to be very real with you. And instead, I would highly recommend considering some lower lift revenue streams first, such as referral commissions when you recommend other service providers. I think this is so underutilized and it's so important. And there's so many times I have these conversations with people and they deny the commission. They say, Oh, I'm just happy to refer people to you anyway. No, take the referral commission, make this an official agreement, be paid for your network. Okay. You will not regret this. Own it. Another tool is affiliate links and affiliate links for tools and platforms you already love or anything else that it is that your audience is already looking for recommendations, you can leverage that. And the next one is selling strategy intensives if you're a dumb for you service provider. So if you are doing services for clients and you don't already offer a form of consulting, instead of jumping to something like a digital online course that's self-paced, I would highly recommend getting into selling strategy sessions or one-to-one consulting sessions to start. This way it allows you to work really intimately with your ideal client. You get to learn more, you get to pull more insights, and that is going to help you later down the line if you do want to release something like an online course or an online program. What's really nice about these income streams is that they don't require huge launches or content machines. They actually just build on what you're already doing and they can meaningfully increase your revenue without doubling your workload. That being said, if you do want to add on a course or a group program, just make sure you're crystal clear on what problem it solves, who it's for, and why they choose it over working with you directly. And remember, group offers still require boundaries and structure, or else you're gonna end up with the same burnout just in a new container. And instead of building out an entire online course or program first, I highly recommend testing the waters first with either a shorter workshop format that is still paid. Highly recommend making these things paid so that you're actually testing if people are willing to put money on the problem or pre-selling it. So you're not building it out ahead of time and then risking a launch, risking all this work, and it may not be received, you may not make the sales that you were hoping for, but you can pre-sell something and then you can build it out as you go. That's actually what I did in order to launch Meta Ads Academy, and it was one of the best decisions I ever made because otherwise I don't think that program would have been created. All right. I also want to talk about positioning because scaling really isn't just about strategy, it's so much about perception, especially if you are a service provider, a freelancer, a consultant, or a coach. Because trust me, even with the best boundaries and a solid offer suite, if your positioning is bland and your messaging is generic, your dream clients are still going to scroll right past you. I even notice at this point in my business, and obviously I'm quite a bit further ahead now, that when my messaging is really on point, then my dream clients are stopping, they are signing up, they're engaging. And when I kind of let it go, when I get a little lazy with it, the momentum definitely slows down a bit. So you really want to be very clear about your message, and you really want to be magnetizing your ideal client to you. Because premium positioning, it really is more than just charging high prices. It's about crafting a brand experience and communication strategy that screams, I am the one for this. Okay. So this is gonna mean things like your visuals and your tone are consistent and intentional. This is another one that I slip on time to time, is the visual side, but it really does make a difference, you know? There are certain markets and certain archetypes of clients who it doesn't matter as much, but we cannot deny the impact of when something looks cohesive and we immediately recognize it and associate it with somebody. It also means your content reflects a deep understanding, not service-level regurgitation. And this also means that your messaging is so specific that it feels psychic. This is actually the big, big, big piece here that if you can understand this and implement it, it will absolutely change the game for your business. Because way too many people talking fluff, honestly. They say things like, I help you grow your biz or I support overwhelmed creatives. But premium messaging means showing, not telling. It means painting the movie scene of what your client is going through before they even open their mouth. And when you do this well, they're gonna say things like, It's like you're in my head. As an example of this, don't say you're overwhelmed. Say it's Monday morning, your inbox is already full of messages that shouldn't be urgent, but suddenly feel like they are. One client is asking for a weekly call, even though you clearly agreed on monthly. Another just sent you a quick list of revisions, that'll take two hours. You haven't even had coffee yet. Do you see the difference? That is emotional resonance. That is the kind of messaging that moves people. And you need to understand that premium clients aren't just paying for a service, they're paying for certainty, they're paying for clarity, peace of mind, and a sense of this person has got me. They need to know that you really understand them, their problem, their day-to-day, the things that they experience. And this means that your content and marketing really can't be wishy-washy. And if you're saying things like maybe or sort of or I think, people feel that and it does repel them. Confidence sells. This is something that I even need to remind myself of all the time. I can be so guilty of saying things like I think or sort of. Premium positioning isn't just about what you say, it's honestly about how you say it, how you show up, and how your energy matches the version of you that already has the results you want. Please, for the love of God, stop trying to sound like everyone else. Stop posting content that's watered down version of somebody else's opinion. I want you to go bold, get weird, get real. That is honestly how you go from just another service provider to the only person I trust to help me with this. When it comes to this online business space, trust me, you're not here to blend in. In fact, that is going to be a detriment. You are here to take up space. I need you to say the thing that no one else in your industry is saying, but everyone is thinking. That is honestly such a huge key to all of this. Okay. Lastly, we need to talk about selling. This is where I see even the most talented, ethical, big-hearted business owners falter. And it's not because they aren't good at what they do. It's definitely not that. It's just because they've been conditioned to see sales as manipulative, greedy, or gross. And that belief shows up in everything, from how you write content to how you show up in discovery calls. I need you to know, selling is not something that you do to someone. Okay. It's something you do for someone when you genuinely believe your offer can help them. If you know that your work solves a real problem, not talking about it is actually a disservice. I'm gonna say that again. If you know your work solves a real problem, not talking about it is actually a disservice. I need you to also know that great salespeople aren't pushy. They're just clear. They lead with empathy, they listen, they reflect back the gap between where someone is and where they want to be, and they show them what becomes possible with the right support. And if you want to break past the 100K a year mark, you have to start seeing sales in a new way. You have to start seeing it as a form of leadership. And yes, it is a skill. And it is one that you can learn, you can practice, and you can improve. I also want you to start paying attention to your body when you sell. What happens? Do you shrink? Do you rush? Do you overexplain? Do you feel like you're gonna throw up? That's your nervous system trying to protect you from rejection or disapproval. So the work around this piece, it's not just tactical, it's also somatic, it's internal. And the minute you stop seeing sales as a dirty word and start seeing it as an invitation, everything will shift. Because trust me, people can feel when you're showing up from power versus performance, and that energy is what sells. All right, let's wrap this up. So you didn't come this far to say stuck. I'm gonna tell you that right now. If you have made it close to or you're at that 100k a year mark, this is not the end for you. You've already done something that a lot of people don't do. You did not get this far to stay here. You've already proven that people want what you have, and now it's just time to refine. It really is about refining from here on out. It's not time to burn it all down, as much as it might feel like that. Trust me. And it is also not time to throw spaghetti at the wall. Again, just refine. So that means you're gonna tighten your boundaries, you're gonna track your time so you actually know where it's going and you actually know what you're making. And therefore, that can inform future decisions. You're gonna streamline your offers, you're gonna create leverage revenue that aligns with your strengths, you're gonna speak to your client's lived experience in a way that commands respect and action, and you're gonna shift your attitude towards sales and wealth so it stops cock blocking you. I can't believe I just said that, but here we are. I need you to know that you can get past this plateau. You really can. And you can do it without selling your soul or sacrificing your peace. I promise you that as somebody who has done it and who has helped tens and tens and tens of other people do the same. If you are looking for support on this inside a container that actually gives you both the strategy and the nervous system support to sustain it, you know where to find me. You can find my mastermind offering at kaydemick.com slash mastermind. And as always, please, if you got something out of this episode, I would love for you to follow and subscribe to this podcast. If you could rate it as well, that's a huge help. And I always love a DM to tell me that you've listened and what you took away from it. All right, we'll chat soon.