3 Principles You Need to Know to Identify the Barriers to Your Next Breakthrough: Breakages, Blockages, and Bottlenecks

Ever feel like every day is a repeat of the last, stuck in a never-ending loop where time always seems to slip through your fingers? You’re not alone. Many entrepreneurs hit a ceiling where there’s so much going on that you default to what you know works—even if what’s “working” is exactly what’s keeping you stuck.

What you’re experiencing is likely one of three things: a breakage, a blockage, or a bottleneck. And let’s be real, it could be a combination of all three. These are the areas where you’re blinded to your next breakthrough, where your mindset is preventing you from elevating to the next level. But don’t worry, I’m going to help you easily identify what’s holding you back so you can shatter that ceiling and move forward.

Breakages: The Pieces That Fall Through the Cracks

A breakage is something in your business that just doesn’t hold up. It’s a part of your process that never seems to reach completion, or if it does, the success rate is abysmally low. Think of it like this: you’re putting effort into something, but it’s like pouring water into a bucket with a hole—it just leaks out, and all that effort goes to waste.

Take marketing, for instance. If you’re creating content, hosting events, or pushing out media, but none of it is converting into sales opportunities, you’ve got a breakage on your hands. It might be your messaging, your calls to action, or simply a disconnect between what you’re offering and what your audience values. You’re putting out information, but it’s falling off a cliff with no results.

Or maybe your sales process is the culprit. You’ve got great marketing that brings in leads, but your closing techniques just aren’t landing. Your sales team might be solid, but they’re not converting those leads into paying clients. This is a breakage—a gap in your process that needs fixing.

Blockages: The Walls You’ve Built

Now, let’s talk about blockages. Picture a wall where there should be a door. You’re trying to move forward, but you’re blocked because there’s no clear path through. This could be in your marketing where you’ve got people engaging with your content—they’re liking, sharing, and even downloading—but they have no way to take the next step to work with you.

This might be because you haven’t created a clear path to an offer. Maybe your call to actions aren’t strong enough, or perhaps there’s a lack of clarity on what the next step is. Blockages can also show up in your operations. Maybe it’s a person on your team who isn’t in the right role, or a process that hasn’t been fully fleshed out. Whatever it is, this blockage is preventing your business from moving forward.

Blockages can also be mindset-driven. Are you holding back from telling people what you know because you’re afraid they’ll take it and run? That’s a blockage—a fear-based wall you’ve built that’s stopping you from growing.

Bottlenecks: The Narrow Points That Slow You Down

Finally, there are bottlenecks. Unlike breakages and blockages, bottlenecks are where everything flows smoothly until it hits a narrow point that slows everything down. This is where things get backed up, costing you time and money.

Bottlenecks can occur anywhere in your business. Maybe you’ve got a great sales funnel, but your operations can’t keep up with the demand. You’re converting leads into clients, but you can’t deliver your product or service fast enough, and it’s slowing down your growth.

Often, the biggest bottleneck is the business owner themselves. If you’re having trouble handing off tasks to your team—whether it’s because of a lack of trust, fear of losing control, or simply not having the right people in place—you’re creating a bottleneck that’s stalling your business’s growth.

The Big Domino: Where to Focus First

So, how do you fix these issues? It starts with identifying the “big domino”—the one thing that, when solved, will cause several other issues to fall away or become easier to handle. Is it a breakage in your sales process? A blockage in your marketing? Or a bottleneck caused by your own reluctance to delegate?

Whatever it is, focus on that first. Solve the big domino, and you’ll find that many of the other problems in your business start to resolve themselves.

Remember, the goal here isn’t to fix everything at once. It’s about identifying what’s really holding you back and taking targeted action to overcome it. So take a step back, assess where the breakages, blockages, and bottlenecks are in your business, and start making the changes that will push you past the ceiling and into your next level of success.

If you’re ready to dive in and take this thing serious, join us for the next Master Your Profits Challenge where we will help to pinpoint the pathway to exceptional profits and peace of mind by focusing on the most important number in your business.