This post is all about why so many six-figure CEOs are stagnant in their progress. So many of them stay stuck where they are for years or even decades. In fact, only about 9 percent of male business owners ever make it to the seven-figure mark, and for women it’s only one percent.

That means it’s a low rate of business owners who make it to that elevated earning mark. That’s why I wanted to talk about this today, and talk about the things that I’ve noticed getting in the way of amazing visionaries making the vision and impact that they crave. Not being able to do that holds them back from that freedom.

Lack of Delegation

Many CEOs don’t know how to delegate effectively. That means they keep doing tasks that someone else on their team should be doing. That’s the first thing I’ve noticed holding visionaries back.

For example, I had a CEO who was taking the time to copy and paste social media posts from one account to another. Or, I’ve had visionaries that are managing their own calendars. These are things that a virtual assistant can easily do for them. These little tasks take time, but they don’t add a lot of value to the mission or business.

No Time to Think Strategically 

The next thing I’ve noticed is that most CEOs don’t have the time to think strategically about their business. They don’t have the spaciousness to focus on the right things to grow the business and the impact. That’s because just keeping up with their day-to-day and keeping the business on track is eating up all their time.

Many successful business owners get stuck here. The truth is, though, that time is our most useful resource. We can always make more money, but you can’t make more time. When we don’t have enough of it or we’re not guarding our time well, we’ll never get it back. It’ll be gone forever. That’s a big challenge for many visionary CEOs.

A Lack of Bandwidth 

Up next is a lack of bandwidth. This keeps CEOs from thinking strategically about their business, too. The truth is that every visionary CEO needs a lot of spaciousness to think and find ways to grow their business. This should be unstructured time not really to figure out a problem, but to just have a clear mind to think.

I’ve noticed that when visionaries are forced to figure something out, they end up just banging their head against the wall. Instead, the best solutions or thoughts come once CEOs slow down and have room to unwind and breathe. 

Having this space also allows CEOs to be more present for their team and clients. It ensures that they do their best work and are their best version of themselves, with more energy.

Low to No Profit Margin 

Many businesses are operating barely breaking even. The rest of businesses are in the red or are completely upside down. When this happens and there’s little to no profit margin, it’s hard to grow and scale when there’s a lack of profit coming in. CEOs also need to make sure they have the money to pay themselves for the energy they’re putting into the business. It’s discouraging to continue working to not be paid and be able to amass personal assets and build for the future.

A good measuring stick for profit margin is the profit first formula. This provides a great strategic breakdown and wonderful suggestions, so it’s a great resource for visionaries to check out. 

A Refusal to Hand Off Tasks 

Many CEOs believe that they’re the only one that can do the task and they refuse to hand them over. They don’t think other people are smart enough or productive enough to do the tasks well. That results in them holding onto things that should be delegating to someone else. 

That further prompts a lack of capacity for the CEO. As the CEO, you have to remember that your business runs off of your energy. You’re the engine of your business. When you’re maxed out, have no time, have no money, and feel overwhelmed and frustrated, the growth of your business will shut down.

Your business grows in direct proportion to how much you are willing to grow. When you find yourself in this space where you’re just spinning and trying to keep up with it all, you will have to start doing things in different ways in order to grow and get things accomplished the way you want to.

Not Trusting the Team 

The last thing I see is that CEOs will delegate tasks, but then they ultimately take it back time and time again. This happens because CEOs don’t know how to accurately depict expectations and then they become worried that the person they delegated it to will be able to do it well.

This causes them to get nervous about the idea of something not getting done well and having to clean up a big mess, so they take it back and just do it themselves. When this continues happening, CEOs fail to fix underlying issues with their team. That means they’ll be stuck in the cycle of hustling, not making enough money, and not making the impact they yearn for.

This cycle results in the feeling of hopelessness and a CEO not feeling supported by their team. They feel let down because they don’t trust their team to follow through with tasks to their standard. That means the CEO will constantly need to be there micromanaging to avoid mistakes and keep their business on track.

Having to be on all the time and constantly tending to their business is draining and exhausting. It takes away the ability to be inspired and excited about the prospect of making an impact and causes CEOs to lose sight of their vision.

A New Perspective: The Bottom Line

It’s important to realize that these factors can really make it impossible to free up enough time, energy, and money to break through to the seven-figure mark. There is an easier way to do this, but it requires you as a CEO to see things from a new perspective and do things differently. That’s what we’re here for with our done-for-you business scaling program, so if you’re stuck feeling hopeless or unsupported – we’re here for you.

I would love to get connected on Instagram or The 7-Figure Freedom Club Facebook Group so we can chat about your takeaways from this episode. If you’re interested in learning more schedule a call with me today or visit my website!

And if you want to take the next step, take the business assessment quiz to get started.