The million-dollar question that keeps so many of us up at night: Why is my business stuck?
I remember sitting at my kitchen table late one night, staring at the numbers on my laptop, and thinking: “I’ve built everything from scratch…why isn’t this working?” My agency was hitting a revenue plateau, my team was growing faster than I could manage, and every decision felt like juggling flaming swords.
What I learned to be true is that the problem isn’t a lack of effort. It’s a lack of focus. 
When we hit a revenue plateau we can’t break, instead of moving forward we get trapped in the “Planning Pit” and start drowning in options. Soon, we’re overwhelmed by complexity.
Every day owners at every level ask me: “How do I grow?” and time and time again I’ve seen the question itself leads to more confusion, not clarity.
However, those that bust through the bottlenecks are the ones who use one simple “master framework.” It’s the same one I used to grow my own multi-million dollar agency, and it’s the same one I teach to 8 and 9-figure owners. It’s built on two questions:
- What stage am I in?
- Which lever do I pull?
By the end of this article, you will be able to answer both; pinpoint your exact stage of business; and identify the single most important focus you need to graduate to the next level. Plus I’ll give you a simple ACTION POINT that you can implement right away.
The Master Framework
Soon after that morning looking at my numbers, I had an epiphany: The skills that had built this business were the very things holding me back from growing. I didn’t need to just work harder to solve my problems. I needed to make the hard work I did matter more. That realization became the foundation of my commitment to leadership transformation. It is what put me on this path and drives me to help guide you to a business that fuels your future…instead of steals it from you.
The overwhelm you feel is a mask for uncertainty. You aren’t overwhelmed because you can’t do it…you’re overwhelmed because you don’t know what to do next. Let’s create clarity.
The entire journey of your business can be broken down into three stages. These are the “when,” and they tell you where you are on the map.
- Stage 1: BUILD
- Stage 2: GROW
- Stage 3: SCALE
Within each stage, there are only three levers you can pull to get to the next level. These are the “what” and they tell you what to do.
- Lever 1: PEOPLE
- Lever 2: PROCESS
- Lever 3: PROFITS
That’s it. Success is simply identifying your Stage and applying the right Lever. The chaos of “a million moving parts” is gone. You are no longer overwhelmed, because you know exactly what to focus on.
Think about any problem you have right now.
- A recruiting nightmare? Is it a People problem (can’t find them), a Process problem (bad onboarding), or a Profit problem (can’t afford them)?
- Stuck at $5M for two years? What People, Processes, or Profits are needed to get you to $10M?
This framework gives you a safe harbor in the turbulent waters of decision-making. Now, let’s find your stage.
The Three Stages of Success
Stage 1: BUILD
This is the foundational stage, and it’s all about you. As the founder, you are the business. You wear all the hats. You do all the things. You are building the very first foundations of the People, Processes, and Profits that will drive future growth.
- People: You’re building your own skills or hiring your first key person.
- Process: You’re building the core method for delivering your product or service (even if it’s just in your head).
- Profit: You’re building a model that proves you can make money.
The problem? This structure is not strong enough to support its own weight. It relies entirely on your personal effort. Eventually, you burn out. To graduate, you must use your focus to BUILD the first real assets.
To Graduate: You must BUILD the People who can take over tasks, the Processes they can follow, and the Profits that will fund your first real team.
ACTION POINT: This week, write down the 3 tasks you do most often and assign them to someone or create a system to delegate them. Small steps like this start turning you into a leader, not just a doer.
Stage 2: GROW
This is the most exciting (and often most chaotic) stage. This is where you feel momentum. Revenue climbs, client counts rise, and referrals grow.
But so does everything else. Staffing problems, financial strain, and the unyielding fear that it could all end as quickly as it started.
You are no longer building the foundation; you are growing on top of it. Your job is to manage the tension.
- People: You are growing your team from a few helpers into real leaders.
- Process: You are growing your “how-I-do-it” rules into repeatable, documented systems.
- Profit: You are growing your margins and cash flow to manage the new expenses.
To Graduate: You must shift your focus from doing to leading. You must GROW your People into a self-managing team, your Processes into systems that don’t require you, and your Profits into a war chest for the next big leap.
ACTION POINT: Pick one repeatable process and document it in 3 simple steps. Don’t overcomplicate. It just needs to be usable by anyone on your team.
Stage 3: SCALE
You can’t scale on broken systems. This is the stage where most entrepreneurs make a fatal mistake: they confuse “scaling” with “expansion.”
They think it means opening new offices or doubling revenue. But that’s not scale; that’s just more. More work, more stress, more chaos.
True scaling is not about expansion; it’s about infrastructure.
It’s like engineering a skyscraper. Before you can reach the 100th floor, you must engineer a foundation that can support it. In this stage, you are no longer a manager; you are an architect.
- People: You are scaling your leadership by empowering them to develop other leaders.
- Process: You are scaling systems your people have upleveled to handle 10x the volume without you.
- Profit: You are scaling your financial models to fund major expansion and the life you want to live.
To Graduate: You must SCALE the Infrastructure (People, Processes, Profits) that allows the business to expand independently of you. This is where you finally get to focus on the business, not in it.
ACTION POINT: Identify one leadership task you currently do that someone else could handle, and create a handoff plan this week. Scaling begins when you start removing yourself from day-to-day decisions.
Your Focus Formula
This is where the framework becomes a tool. You now have the power to look the unknown future squarely in the eyes and create your own “Focus Formula.”
[Your Stage] + [Your Constraint] = Your Focus
Let’s work the problem together.
- Owner Statement: “I want to increase by a Million Dollars in the next 12 months.”
- Question 1 (Stage): What stage am I in? (Build, Grow, or Scale)
- Question 2 (Constraint): Where is my biggest constraint? (People, Process, or Profits)
Your Solution (The Formula): “I need to [STAGE] my [LEVER].”
- Example 1: “I need to GROW my PEOPLE.” (My team is good, but they still rely on me for every decision. I need to grow them into leaders.)
- Example 2: “I need to SCALE my PROCESSES.” (The systems that got me to $2M won’t work in a new location. I need systems that can.)
- Example 3: “I need to BUILD my PROFITS.” (I have no war chest to expand into a new market. I need to build my profit margins first.)
See?
It’s that simple. Overwhelm is gone. Uncertainty is gone. You’ve gone from a million chaotic parts to one simple, powerful action item. That’s the beauty of a framework.
The New Identity
You now have the framework for success. You understand not just where you are, but exactly what it will take to get you where you want to go.
You’ve traded overwhelm for clarity. Now, it’s time to act.
Don’t let this be just another article. Look at your business right now and find your formula:
- What is your Stage? (Build, Grow, Scale)
- What is your Lever? (People, Process, Profits)
Once you have your “Focus Formula,” you have your starting point.
Want to go deeper? Take my 2-Minute Operations Quiz to get a precise diagnosis of your business stage, and the specific next steps to break through to the next level.
We’d like to extend a special thanks to Home Care Ops for sharing this valuable information with our community. If you’d like to learn more about how Rosemark can help streamline your own operations, please contact us for more information.