Have you ever felt like you’re doing everything right…
posting consistently, tweaking your funnel, launching again, investing in programs…
…and yet your revenue refuses to move?
It’s one of the most frustrating experiences in business.
Because when you can see the path to more, when you know you’re capable of more, but your results won’t budge, it starts to feel personal.
You question your strategy.
You question your work ethic.
Sometimes… you question yourself.
But here’s what I’ve learned after more than a decade of growing and scaling online courses:
Revenue ceilings are rarely strategy problems.
They’re belief problems.
Every level of income requires a new version of you – new thinking, new decisions, new standards. And if you’re holding onto beliefs that helped you get here, they might be the very same beliefs preventing you from getting there.
Today, I’m sharing five personal beliefs that secretly cap course creators’ revenue, beliefs that feel logical, responsible, even smart… but are actually keeping you stuck.
As you listen, I want you to notice which ones feel familiar.
Because we can’t outgrow what we refuse to examine.
Let’s dive in.
My name is Caitlin Bacher, CEO of Scale With Success®, and I’m on a mission to help course creators all over the world grow their business in a way that is profitable and scalable. I’m sharing revealing insights about what it really takes to scale an online course business to millions of dollars per year. Join me here to discover the tough decisions I’ve had to make, the biggest failures I’ve had to bounce back from, and the learnings that emerged every step of the way. I’m so grateful that I have the chance to tell you everything right here on Scale With Success®: The Podcast. Let’s get started.
Alright, we’re back. And before we jump into belief #1, I want to say this clearly: if your revenue feels stuck, it doesn’t mean you’re lazy, or not cut out for this, or that your course is doomed. It usually means you’ve outgrown the belief system that got you to this level. And the tricky part? These beliefs don’t sound “negative.” They sound responsible. They sound like good business advice.
Until you realize they’re actualy keeping you on the same hamster wheel. So as I walk you through these five beliefs, just notice what hits a nerve – not to judge yourself, but to get honest. Because awareness is where change starts. Okay… let’s get into belief number one.
1. Doing more of what works is always the answer.
Whenever I speak with course creators about scaling their business, they think they need to do more of the same. “I’ve found what works, so I just need to do more of it to increase my results.”
You know you have this belief when you find yourself thinking:
– I made some money with this launch, so now I just need to do more launching.
– I made some money when I came out with a new product, so now I just need to come out with more new products.
– I made some money when I posted on social media, so now I just need to post even more.
The problem with doing more of what works now is that what you’re doing now has brought you to where you are right now. But, you don’t want to be where you are right now. You want to be way over there.
There is a concept called the Law of Diminishing Returns and what that means is that doing more of one thing will increase your results – but, at a certain point doing more of “what worked” won’t work and will actually keep you stuck.
I see this play out when people are building their product suite. They think the more courses they continue to create – the more money they make, so that by the time they come to me they’re selling 3 or more courses and not a single one is generating a million dollars.
Offering too many courses is confusing to your audience and creates an enormous amount of work for you as you have to create, market, sell, and deliver not one – but THREE OR MORE programs…and to make matters worse you’re doing it with a tiny team or no team at all.
The year I made my first million I was focused on selling ONE course with ONE automated funnel. I didn’t add extra programs to my product suite until AFTER I was making over $1m/year and could start building a team to help me do it.
2. Believing that you just aren’t good at sales and marketing.
It’s not about being “good” at sales and marketing, it’s about finding a method that works for you, and feels sustainable so that you can practice and get better.
There are loads of sales and marketing methods floating around the internet – but, the truth is that many of them are wildly ineffective – which means that no matter how hard you try, they just won’t work.
So, if you are struggling with online course sales right now – there’s a good chance it’s NOT you – it’s your strategy…and that’s great news because your strategy can change, but you have to be WILLING to change it.
We have clients that have gone from 1 or 2 sales a month, to 52 in their first week. Same person selling the same course, but marketing and selling that course in a different way.
Another client went from $30k in annual online course sales to over $650k in less than a year. Same person selling the same course at the same price, but marketing and selling that course in a different way.
One of the best parts about selling your course with an evergreen model is that things don’t need to be perfect when you start selling in order for you to end up with a wildly profitable course.
That’s because when you’re selling an evergreen course you’re able to identify what’s not working, make a small tweak, and then see the results of that tweak play out the following week.
This is exactly what we teach our clients to do – so that the better it gets, the better it gets.
3. Believing that conflict is bad and should be avoided at all costs.
Growth requires change and change isn’t possible without conflict, which means avoiding conflict is avoiding growth.
Learning something new can create an abundance of internal conflict for course creators. On one hand, you’ve got the Struggling Course Creators who are making the resistance, questioning, and discomfort that comes with learning something new mean that they should go back to the safety of their comfort zone – where they get the same disappointing results…
…On the other hand, Successful Scalers understand that all those feelings are normal and they recognize this internal conflict as nothing more than an opportunity to strengthen their resolve and come back stronger.
Resilience is a muscle and if you haven’t worked out or pushed yourself out of your comfort zone in a while – you might feel a little soreness – but, that’s not a sign that you’re doing something wrong, it’s a sign you’re doing something right.
I had one client who was really building momentum in her business, but a stranger left a rude comment on one of her posts, so she stopped posting altogether – and of course her revenue began to dip.
She felt conflicted because she wanted to continue to serve her audience and help them solve their problems with her course – but, she also felt terrified of disappointing someone.
Ultimately she decided that she was more committed to make a positive difference in the world with her course than she was to avoiding rude comments from complete strangers. She began promoting her course again and her business quickly grew past $500k/year.
Putting yourself out there to help others isn’t always easy, but each time you do it, you’ll keep getting stronger.
4. Believing there is only one right way to do something.
There is no such thing as “ONE right way”, only a “right for you way”.
…and that “right for you way” will change as your business grows and your priorities shift.
Launching does not make sense for my lifestyle. It just doesn’t. It never did and it probably never will.
But, that doesn’t mean that some people don’t LOVE launching…and that’s fine for them.
There are so many different ways to scale an online course business to 6 or even 7 figures, it’s just a matter of finding a method that is right for you and is aligned with your values, goals, and lifestyle.
The same thing goes for organic and paid traffic. Both work very well – it’s just a matter of figuring out which is best for you at the level you’re at now and capable of taking you where you want to go.
We teach a combination of paid and organic traffic strategies, but we always recommend people start with organic.
Getting to your first six or seven figures doesn’t require tons of ad spend – it requires focus and simplicity.
5. Believing that a bigger business only leads to burnout.
A bigger business doesn’t lead to burnout, behavior leads to burnout.
Have you ever heard that phrase, “Everywhere you go…there you are”?
Whenever clients ask me what it’s like to grow a multi-million dollar online course business, that’s my answer.
The reality is that if you are desperately holding onto old beliefs and behaviors as your business grows, eventually you will burn out. There’s no way around it.
I’ve spent years working with new and experienced course creators who have struggled with burnout and I can assure you that the bigger business is NOT what caused the burnout – it was the behavior.
And I’m not saying that growing doesn’t come with discomfort – discomfort is required when it comes to growth. But if that discomfort triggers you to hold on even harder to everything you believe to be true then you will turn that initial discomfort into pain, and even worse – burnout.
There have been a number of times in my business where I’ve found myself in that exact situation.
I remember one of my coaches years ago told me that essentially, watching me trying to grow my business was like watching someone slam their foot on the gas AND the brakes at the exact same time.
The problem with being in that situation is that most times, you aren’t able to “see” it. The harder it becomes, the harder you hold on until you suddenly realize that you absolutely cannot hold on any longer and you believe that you failed to hold on when in reality you failed to let go.
The faster you let go to beliefs and strategies that no longer serve you, the faster you’ll grow.
So let’s bring this home.
If your revenue has been stuck… if you feel like you’re working harder but not really moving forward… chances are it’s not just about strategy.
It’s about belief.
Today we walked through five personal beliefs that secretly cap your growth:
- That doing more of what already works will automatically get you to the next level.
- That you’re just “not good” at sales and marketing.
- That conflict and discomfort mean something is wrong.
- That there’s only one right way to scale.
- That a bigger business inevitably leads to burnout.
And here’s the truth: none of those beliefs are facts. They’re interpretations.
Interpretations you probably picked up from the industry… from culture… from past experiences… maybe even from early success.
But what got you here won’t get you there.
Every new level of revenue requires a new level of thinking. A new level of emotional flexibility. A willingness to let go of beliefs that once felt safe but now feel tight.
And I want you to hear this clearly:
You don’t need to overhaul your entire business overnight.
You just need to identify the one belief in today’s episode that hit you the hardest… and start questioning it.
Because the moment you loosen your grip on the belief that’s keeping you small… you create space for something bigger.
More clarity.
More profit.
More ease.
Growth doesn’t require you to become someone else.
It requires you to release what no longer fits.
So ask yourself: what am I holding onto that I’ve already outgrown?
That question alone can change everything.
I appreciate you being here and be sure to tune in next time for another episode of Scale With Success® – The Podcast.
Are you sick and tired of launching and looking for a proven method to generate consistent revenue from your online course on autopilot?
Sign up for my free masterclass, “How To Generate Launch-Sized Revenue Without Launching” and I’ll show you how our clients are making MORE money in LESS time than they ever did while launching.
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Today’s episode is brought to you by Scale With Success® Accelerator — an online course designed to help you generate launch-sized revenue without lanching. If you want to learn MORE about our proven method for success, click here to watch my free masterclass. See you in there!
