Breaking the glass ceiling meaning often refers to breaking the invisible barrier to success or achievement. This term “breaking the glass ceiling” is often used in reference to minorities or women. They cannot rise in their career because of the social barriers stopping them from achieving top positions. To break the glass ceiling means to break through this unseen social barrier.
The term can also be used in business too; where a business owner is stuck behind an invisible barrier of their own thinking. To break through this mental barrier might mean thinking in a different way. Affiliate marketers, for example will often have this problem. Their business cannot grow beyond the thinking they bring to it.
With affiliate marketing, you earn commissions online based on the sales you generate. As an affiliate’s business grows to becoming more successful, the business owner will often reach a certain point which they can’t surpass. For example, they are generating affiliate sales, and making profit, but their income is stuck at a certain level. This can be referred to as a glass ceiling in business. In order to surpass this level, they have to change something about what they do. But their thinking keeps them stuck.
Breaking The Glass Ceiling Meaning: Glass Ceiling In Business
An example might be that an affiliate is paying $1000 a month in advertising and making $2000 in commissions. So it makes sense to increase the advertising spend, given this relationship. However, this seems out of the comfort zone of the affiliate, and so they maintain their current advertising budget in spite of the obvious action they need to take.
But the necessary action isn’t always obvious; hence the business owner reaches a “glass ceiling” which they are stuck under, limiting the success of their business.
Many business owners will hire coaches and mentors to help them overcome their limited thinking. Often limited thinking can come from underlying assumptions such as the need to be frugal, or a poverty mindset; or a genuine lack of marketing budget.
With affiliates this is important to understand because most affiliate marketers are “one person businesses”, who operate entirely on their own.
Breaking The Glass Ceiling Meaning In An Affiliate Business
Henry Ford said “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right”; your thoughts precede your actions. If you think in limitations, you’ll create outcomes which reflect that thinking.
In any business this is a useful concept to understand because your thoughts will always either grow or limit the outcome of your business.
Ask Better Questions
One way to improve your business is to ask yourself better questions. If you find yourself in a negative spiral, doubting yourself and asking yourself negative questions, stop. Think of better questions you can ask yourself.
Why is my business failing? vs. How can I grow my business?
Can I cut back on my spending? vs. How do I limit my business?
Why can’t I succeed? vs. What actions generate the biggest growth for my business?
How can I save money? vs. How can I grow my business faster?
The glass ceiling of your business is often determined by the questions and thoughts you have privately which no-one else is privy to. If your thoughts are sabotaging your business, your actions will likely follow.
Removing The Glass Ceiling
To remove the glass ceiling of your business you can start by paying attention to the thoughts you have about your business. Often it is limiting thinking which has stuck because of your previous experience in life and/or business.
Have you heard the saying that “you become the average of the 10 closest friends“?
If you are surrounded by people who think in a certain way, you’ll end up thinking like they do. This also means you’ll get the outcomes they get in their lives. A good way to grow as a business owner is to surround yourself with business owners, mentors and coaches. You can join an online business community here.
Coaches can help you to see your business in a different light and to change the way you approach it. See also 1 on 1 affiliate marketing coaching. This can take some time and effort because much of your thinking is habitual and will come from many years of experience. So you often need to unlearn your old thinking habits in order to make lasting change.
See also psychology and affiliate marketing for more on this topic.
If you’re an affiliate you can also break through your invisible glass ceiling by getting consistently out of your comfort zone. Your comfort zone is a nice, comfortable place to be in, but nothing ever grows there! So if you’re stuck doing the same old things, try something different and make some changes which challenge you and help you to grow beyond your current level of success.
Do something that scares you if your want to grow. If you want things to remain the same, and to be “comfortable”, keep doing the same!
