How to Double Your Revenue Once You’ve Hit a Ceiling

I've spent the past year asking one question:

How do you actually double your revenue once you've hit a ceiling?

Not the early years where you're going from 30k → 60k → 120k. I'm talking about when you've been hovering around the same range for a while – and no matter how much better you get, your numbers stay put.

Here's what I found:

1. The fastest path is going where demand for what you do is already strong.

2. The shortest path is choosing markets where your next level is already normal.

When doubling stops being automatic

In the early years, doubling just… happens.

You're new. You're saying yes to everything. You're expanding your territory.

Revenue jumps because you're learning and moving.

But then the line flattens.

You end a few years in a row in roughly the same zone. You feel busier. You've upped your skills. You've nudged your rates.

But your bank account is telling the same story.

Most people respond by doing more of what already works:

• add another service

• take on more clients

• tweak the website

• "do more marketing"

More activity. Same plateau.

This is usually the moment where "work harder" loses steam.

You don't need to work harder. You need different placement.

The fastest path: stand where the demand is already bigger

Here's the thing: you don't have to create demand.

You can just go stand where it already exists in a bigger way.

Last year I was working with a designer who'd been stuck at 120k for three years.

Great portfolio. Strong skills. Repeat clients.

She was serving wellness coaches and course creators—people building personal brands, working solo, watching every dollar.

Her projects were 3–5k. She was working constantly. And she loved her clients—they felt like her people.

Then she told me about a project she'd just finished for a law firm. They paid 12k without negotiating. Wanted ongoing support. Sent referrals.

"That was different," she said. "They just... get it."

I asked: "What if you only did that?"

She immediately got uncomfortable. "I can't just drop my current clients. These are relationships. They trust me."

I didn't push it.

A few weeks later she called me back.

"I looked at my numbers. Most of my time goes to clients who barely move the needle. And I realized—I'm not helping them by staying small. I'm just... staying small."

She didn't abandon anyone. But she stopped taking new projects under 8k. Started attending chamber of commerce events and joined a professional services mastermind where law firms and financial advisors were the norm. Let her existing clients know her rates were changing for new work.

It took about four months before her pipeline shifted. Some of her old clients fell off naturally. A few upgraded. New clients came in at the new level.

Within six months her average project size had doubled, and her annual revenue was on track to land around 180k.

Same skills. Same tools. Different market.

That's when I realized: most people think revenue is capped by what they can do. But it's actually capped by where they're standing.

For a Squarespace designer or developer, outsized demand usually looks like:

• businesses where the website is a revenue engine, not a brochure

• people for whom a broken or underperforming site means real money lost

• clients who expect to pay for design, SEO, and ongoing support

The questions worth asking yourself:

• Is there obvious room to grow where I'm currently fishing?

• Can I clearly see the types of clients who would happily pay 2x what I currently charge?

• Do I know where they hang out, look for help, or ask questions?

If the answer is "not really," you don't have a skills problem.

You have a placement problem.

Most designers try to fix this by getting "better" at the work. The real shift is getting better at where you do the work.

The move might be:

• tightening the niche you speak to

• shifting from "anyone who needs a site" to a specific type of business with higher stakes

• dropping low-leverage offers that keep you busy but not better off

Outsized demand just means: people with more urgent problems, more money at stake, and more willingness to pay for help.

If you want a faster path to doubling, stand closer to that.

The shortest path: change your environment

The other lever is simpler than you think.

One of the fastest ways to shift your ceiling is this:

Get around people who are doing 2x your numbers, and people who are paying 2x your current rates for similar work.

That sounds soft, but it does something practical:

It recalibrates what your brain calls "normal."

When you're in spaces where:

• 20–30k months are standard

• 8–15k projects are accepted without drama

• retainers and ongoing support are expected

…your internal story starts to shift.

Instead of: "Nobody would ever pay that."

You start thinking: "Some people pay this every day. What would it look like for me to be in those conversations?"

The tricky is emotional.

If you don't know anyone in your lane who's doubled, it feels distant.

If you feel uncomfortable around people who earn or spend at those levels, you'll unconsciously keep your distance.

But you can't stay in rooms where everyone is hovering at the same level… and expect to grow past them on your own.

Changing your rooms is often the shortest path because it:

• gives you new mental baselines

• gives you people to ask better questions to

• gives you proof that your "next level" is someone else's normal

That alone changes how you show up.

So where do you actually start?

You don't have to burn everything down.

Start by asking yourself a few honest questions:

1. Am I currently standing close to strong demand, or in the shallow end of my market?

2. Who do I personally know that's doing roughly 2x my numbers – and how often am I in real conversation with them?

3. Do I know where the clients who pay 2x my current rates already spend time?

You don't need perfect answers.

Even fuzzy answers will usually point to one simple move:

• a room to step into

• a type of client to lean toward

• or a low-leverage offer to quietly retire

In Part 2, I’ll walk through how to tell if you actually have room and capacity to double from where you are now:

• Do You Actually Have Room To Double? (Part 2)

• Doing the Work vs Moving the Work (Part 3)

If you read this and felt a little too seen, there’s a new Double Your Squarespace Business cohort starting soon. You can put your name on the interest list below and I’ll send details there first.