Ascension Ladder: The Key to Align Your Ambition with Your Success

Well, both kids are in school.? Our older son is a freshman in college, and our younger son is a senior in high school. That means next year, they both will be in their college experience, a goal my husband and I have been working towards for 19 years.

It is weird to be here.? The boys were 1 and 2.5 years old when I started my business. I started that first business to be able to do what I wanted to do: make a financial contribution to the family and be present in our children’s lives.

I think I’ve succeeded.? Not to say the journey was perfect, but it ultimately accomplished what I wanted.? About two years ago, when our younger son entered his sophomore year of high school, I decided to turn on the gas in my business.

Before that, I wouldn’t say that I wasn’t working hard or that I was not trying to be successful. It’s just that I was playing smaller than my capability to grow my business in deference to my family.? I put my family ahead of my ambition. Sometimes, it was a bitter pill to swallow. In hindsight, I can see the different choices I could have made.?

When the last driver’s license was obtained... boy, did that hit me hard. The final piece of physical dependence was over. I was officially fired as the personal chauffeur. That’s not to say that they don’t still need me. It just changed how they needed me.

Letting go of different roles and responsibilities in my personal life gives me more time and freedom to bring my ambition up in the priority order.? I could assess my inner desires, define my impact as an entrepreneur, and set a new course for myself and my business.

It became time for me to ascend.?

There’s a concept in business called “the ascension ladder.”? It is often referred to in terms of products and moving clients from low-ticket offers to high-ticket offers and ultimately into an advocate role—a valuable concept to build into the business.

Another concept related to your role as a business owner is the “entrepreneur ascension ladder.”? Most people do not know it exists and get stuck on the rungs forever.

The first rung is when you are the employee, chief cook, and bottle washer.? This is the rung of a JOB.? This is where you are as a solopreneur.? There’s nothing wrong with this stage.? It can give you a bit of money - enough to cover the bills.? But if you don’t work, the business doesn’t work.

When you fire yourself from being the employee, you hire others.? We talk very broadly about teams, believing that teams can be W-2, freelancers, and subcontractors.? That is because these types of support are useful at different times.?

If it’s your first time around, this is where you might feel like you traded working for clients for working for your team. Why do you feel this way? Wasn’t this stage supposed to give you more freedom, not less?

This is a sticky position.? If you hire for a task, which is most people’s first hire, you are trading doing the work for managing the work.? We get people unstuck at this stage so they ultimately can fire themselves as the manager.

The next rung on the ascension ladder is to step into the CEO role.? This is where you are the company's visionary, where you determine strategy, and culture, and create impact and legacy.??

The trap here to watch for is a “crisis of value.”? When we get business owners to this stage, they are out of the day-to-day work, and one of three responses kicks in.? First, they run around all giddy, basking in the moment of freedom.? The other two responses are significant freakout moments.? In the second response, the need to control kicks in, and the owner starts micro-managing their employees, looking for and therefore creating mistakes. The third response is a crisis of identity.? This identity crisis comes from the owner internally finding their personal value ties to doing the work.? Now that they don’t do the work, they don’t see their importance or relevance to the business.

The key to making the ascension ladder work to achieve your goals is to get profitability working and maintaining at each stage.? That isn’t to say that your profitability doesn’t dip in the process, but the point is that it recovers.? Being profitable allows you the freedom to choose the right investments for where you are growing.

So what happens next? What happens after this moment???

There are two more possible rungs here, or you can get off the ladder altogether. The next rung is where you fire yourself as the CEO, and you take the role of the Chairman of the Board.? Maybe it’s just a board of one, or perhaps you build it to diversify the expertise.? At this stage, you influence the business's vision, strategy, and impact; you just don’t drive it.

The next rung is where you leave the board and are an investor.? You still have all the equity of ownership but no input - that’s the role of the Board and the CEO now.? The question is: Will you be able to let go of the control?

Where are you on the ascension ladder?? Are you addicted to the work, even if you don’t want to be doing the work?? Where do you struggle to let go? What stage do you aspire to get to?

There’s no rule to say you can’t be where you want to be.? No rule says you have a less valuable business if you choose to be a solopreneur.? We don’t prescribe to that type of judgment you’ll get from others.? But what if you wanted more and just don’t know what more there is???

We believe every business has the right to prosper, so we’ve designed our services to meet people where they are and help get them where they want to be.? Not everyone wants a million-dollar business, while others have billion-dollar dreams.? That’s okay.? There’s more than enough room for all.? We are here to ensure you have the best possible business for yourself and your priorities.? When you are ready for more, we can also help with that.

If the current state of your business is creating more heartache than joy, please do something about it. Don’t wait and don’t settle because it is possible to focus on your priorities and be happy with your business.

If you want our help, please reach out and chat. You may be unsure what is next and want to join the upcoming Profit and Grow LIVE Workshop to see what is possible. No matter what, we are here for you and want you to succeed.