Have You Hit A Ceiling?

A few years ago, one of my clients hit a capacity ceiling.  His company produced an edible product that depended upon machinery, people, and the ingredients that created his product.  The demand for his product is great, but he reached the maximum output that his machinery could produce, he simply couldn’t produce more product.  Was that really the case?  It turns out it wasn’t.  He had several options.  He could run another shift – in fact, he could run two more shifts, if he wanted to.  But that wasn’t the right answer for him because he didn’t want to add to the headcount and management.  We determined that he could afford to buy more machinery, but that’s when we discovered the core problem.  He simply didn’t have the space for more machinery.  So, the problem was space.  He hit a capacity ceiling because he didn’t have enough space to produce more product.  He ended up adding on, buying more machinery and doubling his output and his profits.

As business owners, we all hit ceilings and it can feel like we’ve just maxed out on how high or how far we can go. One example is when we hit a revenue ceiling.  We grow to a certain point and regardless of what we do – we just can’t get over that point.  We may also hit profit ceilings where our sales and outputs grow, but we make less money.  The fact is there are all types of ceilings that can hold us back, so the question is how do we break through the ceilings that stifle our growth?

The first thing you must do is properly identify the core problem. 

Unfortunately, that’s not always as easy has it sounds.  Thankfully my client discovered there are often many variables to the equation. 

If you feel like you’ve hit a ceiling you need to break through, consider doing what my client did – identify the core problem.  A good start would be clicking on the link in the description and taking your free business assessment.  You will get a report within minutes that will identify areas of your business you need to work on and start breaking through ceilings.  Always remember, as you grow, your company grows.  Keep Growing!