The Real Reason You’re Capped at $5K Months as an Online Business Manager (And How to Break Through)

You’re booked out, delivering results, and working harder than ever… so why does your income keep stalling at $5K months?

In this episode of “The OBM Show”, I’m pulling back the curtain on one of the most common plateaus OBMs face: the dreaded $5K ceiling. If you’ve hit that wall where every month feels maxed out, but your bank account doesn’t reflect your effort, you’re not alone and you’re not doing anything “wrong.”

The truth is, $5K months don’t mean you’ve made it. They mean your current business model has reached its limit. And breaking through requires a very different approach than the hustle that got you here.

Here’s what we cover:

• Why selling time instead of transformation automatically caps your income
   
• How retainer fatigue keeps OBMs drained and underpaid
   
• The role premium offers play in positioning you as a true leader
   
• Why your positioning matters as much as your delivery (and how to shift it)
  
  
• How to stop undercharging for COO-level results
   
• What it really looks like to step into OBM-CEO mode and grow beyond $5K

Whether you’re deep in the $5K hustle or just starting to feel the cracks, this episode will show you what’s keeping you stuck and how to finally move into consistent, sustainable growth without burning out.

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Thanks for tuning in to The OBM Show - your go-to podcast for Online Business Managers and entrepreneurs who want to scale strategically and sustainably.

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Until next time, keep building the business behind the business.

Episode Transcript

Sarah Noked (00:00):
You've got clients, you are delivering value,
you're working hard, but yourincome has hit a wall.
And no matter how much youhustle, you really feel like 5K
months are the ceiling, thisglass ceiling, right?
You're showing up, you're onall the calls, you're over
delivering the results.
But when you look at yourStripe account or when you look

(00:21):
at your PayPal dash, whereveryour money's coming, it's
telling a different story.
And it looks a little bit like5K months on clockwork, okay?
And not in the exciting, I'vemade it kind of way.
I'm talking about the kind ofplateau that feels like a slow
burn of resentment andexhaustion.
So you are not new to this.
You know what you are doing.

(00:43):
So why aren't things moving?
This episode is for every OBMand every freelancer who feels
like they are doing everythingright and not seeing the income
growth they are expecting.
So if you are stuck at that 5Kmark or whatever that Welcome to
the OBM Show, the podcast thatpulls back the curtain on what

(01:18):
it really takes to thrive as anonline business manager and help
businesses scale withoutburning out.
I'm your host, Sarah Noked,agency owner, OBM mentor, and
founder of OBM School.
I've been working in the backend of online businesses since
2009, building systems, managingremote teams, and mentoring

(01:40):
OBMs who make businesses runlike clockwork.
Now, I've seen what works, whatdoesn't, and the messy middle
that no one talks about.
Here, we get real about thetools, strategies, and stories
that drive sustainability.
Plus, the tech mishaps, growingpains, and lessons learned

(02:02):
along the way.
If you're ready to stopspinning your wheels, step into
your leadership role, and seewhat actually happens behind the
scenes of thriving businesses,you're in the right place.
Let's get started.
One of the most frustratingstages of growth in your OBM
journey is hitting that incomeceiling that won't budge, right?

(02:23):
If you've been booked out andstill feel like you are barely
breathing, breathing, thisepisode is for you.
So I want to.
press the proverbial pausebutton and get honest, right?
This plateau that you arefeeling is not just a blip.
It's actually a signal, okay?
A signal that I hope you take.
Something underneath yourbusiness model is no longer
working.

(02:43):
You've hit the outer limit ofthat hustle-based growth
strategy.
And the only way out is througha serious mindset and structure
shift in your business.
So let's really unpack why thishappens and what it actually
takes to break that 5K barrierfor good.
And it might be 3K, it might be4K.
It's just some arbitrary numberthat you cannot get past,

(03:04):
right?
5K months for some of us arelike, you might be listening and
thinking, or maybe you'rewatching and thinking, Sarah, 5K
months.
I would love it if I could make5K a month.
Like, just let me be.
But For many of us experiencedOBMs, after a few years, they're
not exactly a sign that you'vemade it.
They're actually a signal thatsomething deeper needs to shift.

(03:26):
When I talk about 5K months,yes, you're booked out, but yes,
you're also running on fumesand you probably don't have any
team helping you, right?
Let's just put it out there.
Every client call eats intoyour own business strategy time,
right?
You are prioritizing yourclients.
Your calendar probably lookslooks like a damn jigsaw puzzle

(03:48):
of deadlines, of reschedulings,of those quick favors that you
do for your clients that take upyour entire afternoon.
You've got post-it notes comingat the wahoo, trying to hold up
a crumbling back end thatyou're just not really
nurturing.
And each new invoice feels morelike survival than success.

(04:09):
So you really haven'tprioritized your business.
Newsflash, right?
Your client pipeline isprobably still AF and your
systems are in a veryreactionary state.
So if your internal operationsfeel like an afterthought, it's
not just like a burnout.
It is burnout, but it's also abusiness model built on borrowed

(04:30):
time.
And at some point, the cost ofstaying stuck becomes greater
than the fear of doing thingsdifferently.
Truth bomb right here, guys.
You've outgrown your originalbusiness model and there's
nothing wrong with that, right?
You have probably, you know,come from growing beyond being
just a freelancer, so to speak,right?

(04:51):
Maybe even past that VA or tasktackler kind of mode, but you
have haven't really fullystepped into your power as a
strategic OBM for yourself,right?
You're still showing up like ahigh level helper when what
really needs to happen is thatyou really need to be the CEO.
So let's dig into the realreason that you're stuck at this

(05:12):
income level, because it's notabout needing more time.
It's certainly not aboutneeding more clients, maybe
different ones, but it's reallyabout needing a different
approach.
And that starts with how youare structuring your selling and
how you are positioning yourown OBM services.
So one of the biggest trapsthat I see is selling time
instead of transformation.

(05:32):
And you've probably heard thisa million times, but you are
still billing hourly or maybeeven offering vague retainer
packages framed around basicadmin support.
And while that might have feltsafe at the beginning and
probably, you know, kept yougoing for a long period of time,
strategic clients, premiumclients don't want to buy your

(05:54):
hours.
They They want to buy a result.
They want to know that workingwith you is going to solve a
specific problem and move theneedle in their business.
When you lead with time, youinvite micromanagement you cap
your income you get stuckplaying the role of helper
instead of owning your seat atthat damn table which you

(06:18):
deserve okay you're there for areason transformation on the
other hand commands higherprices it creates more trust and
it gives you as the obm moreleverage then there's that
retainer fatigue.
So many OBMs get locked intolow profit contracts that drain
our energy.
What does it look like?

(06:38):
Looks like you're stuck oncalls, you're stuck in
deliverables, you're stuck inteam management.
But when you actually look atyour margins, your actual
margins, they don't justify thestress.
You might be spending yourentire week managing tasks,
coordinating across, you know,Slack or whatever channels
you're using.
You are fielding last minuterequests and still walking away

(07:03):
with less.
than what your work is worth.
Here's the bottom line.
If your retainer clients aretaking up 80% of your time for
20% of your revenue, it's timefor a reset.
And yes, letting go of a clientcan feel terrifying, but it can
also be the catalyst forfinally building your business

(07:24):
on your own terms.
Now, another issue I see is thelack of premium offer suite.
So you haven't restructured howyour work actually reflects the
value that you provide.
And this is where things likestrategic incentives come into
the fold, VIP days of strategicincentives, consulting offers,

(07:46):
what we call it in our OBMschool is the breakthrough
strategy session, or just highertier operations that really
revolve around leadership.
Those packages, those can comeinto play here as well.
Without these leadership typedirections, you're always going
to be in execution mode andyou're never going to end up in

(08:07):
this CEO mode that I want foryou.
And you're going to end upalways being that go-to person
for all the things that I knowfelt really good at the
beginning, but now you've justgrown out of that.
Premium offers shift thatdynamic because they position
you as a strategic partner andstrategic strategic partner
being the key thing here.

(08:28):
They give you more income forless delivery and they attract
clients who want your brain, myfriends, not just your
bandwidth.
So let's talk about positioninghere.
You might be doing the work ofan OBM, I'm sure you are, but
you might still be marketingyourself as a VA or showing up
in your sales calls in VA mode,right?

(08:49):
Your copy, your offers, yourdiscovery calls, they all scream
doer, and not necessarilyleader.
And guess what?
That's exactly how potentialclients are going to treat you.
If you're showing up withlanguage like helping with admin
or supporting systems, you arenot you are absolutely not
communicating your strategicvalue as an online business

(09:11):
manager.
If you don't position yourselfintentionally, we talk about
this a lot, you fall into randompositioning.
And it's usually at the bottomof the food chain.
Am I right?
Positioning is everything.
It's how you establishauthority.
It's how you command respect.
It's how you filter out thoseclients who don't see your worth
and how you attract clientsthat do.

(09:32):
And then there's the pricing.
You might be delivering COO orOBM level results, but you are
still charging VA level pricing.
Now this kind of mismatch isexhausting.
And it's unsustainable.
As you're here listening,you're at this point in the
episode.
Now, every month becomes agrind to sign up more clients or
upsell existing ones.

(09:54):
You're working hard, but you'renot working smarter.
And your bank account isreflecting that.
So it's really time to stopundercharging for your strategic
impact, your experience, yoursystems thinking, your ability
to lead a team and driveresults.
That is worth way more thanwhat you are probably charging

(10:14):
and that is why you are stuck atthat ceiling why you have hit
that level that you cannotovercome so first own it right
and own that you are you knowthere may be things that can
change and then what's the shiftthat needs to happen now so you
need to stop seeing yourself asjust a random service provider
and start really seeing yourselfas a business leader because

(10:37):
what got you to those 5k monthsright being available over
delivering winding away athourly work is not going to get
you to 10k months and beyond youneed to start thinking like an
obm ceo and that means gettingclear on your value owning the
outcomes you deliver andbuilding offers that reflect
your strategic role andprotecting your time Yes, like

(11:01):
the asset it is.
And that's probably one of thehardest ones.
When I see our successful OBMsand OBM school break through
that 5K ceiling, it's becausethey are offering fewer, deeper
services with clear outcomes.
They raise their prices toreflect the transformation they
provide and not just the hoursthat they work.

(11:24):
They put boundaries in place,they audit their client roster,
and they only work with clientswho treat them like strategic
partners, right?
They lean into systems, theylean into onboarding flows,
dashboards, and templates.
Their business isn't just aservice, it's a well-oiled
machine.
So let me share with you astory from one of our OBM school

(11:46):
students, Natalie.
So this is a recent grad who,when she first joined, she was
deep in what I call the hustletrap, with all the love and
respect in my heart.
But three retainer clients, allof them needy AF.
All of them, you know, forlack, I hate this expression,
but nickel and diming her.
And not one of them saw her asa leader.

(12:07):
They expected instant replies,last minute deliverables, and
weekend availability as if shewere on their payroll.
Now, if this sounds familiar,stick with me.
She was constantly reacting andnever leading.
And her days bled into nightsand weekends were never really
off.
And even when the money camein, it was always just under 5k

(12:30):
a month, like something to thetune of 4,800, which is not too
shabby, but it felt like she wasworking twice as hard for half
the return.
Now that kind of pressuredoesn't just drain your energy.
It slowly chips away at yourbelief that things can never be
different.
So have you ever felt likethis?
And I know with Natalie, whatreally changed everything for

(12:52):
her was her willingness to stepback and rebuild her from a
place of leadership.
So inside the accreditationprogram, she dropped her lowest
paying client.
It wasn't easy.
It was the squeaky wheelclient, right?
The one who drained her energythe most.
And she used that and shereclaimed that new time to
completely reposition herservices, right?

(13:14):
So again, this feels liketaking a step back,
unfortunately, to take a stepforward, but it is.
So instead of being that go-tofor random tasks, she created a
high value retainer built aroundstrategy, a monthly ops review,
a leadership dashboard, and ateam accountability system.
She implemented automations,she set up onboarding flows, and

(13:36):
she created a clear scope thatreflected her actual zone of
genius working with clinicians.
So she was specifically workingwith clinics, multi-clinician
clinics.
And so it was easy for her toconsider, you know, the CRM that
they use and to create a clearscope that actually took into
account her zone of genius.

(13:57):
And let me pause here becausethis is where most OBMs start to
hesitate.
That moment when you feel likeyou are letting go of something
that feels secure, right?
It was so hard for Natalie todrop that client because, you
know, it was a third of herrevenue to make space for
something bigger.
It's terrifying.
It's uncertain.

(14:18):
But it's also exactly whatgrowth looks like.
It's uncertain, right?
You can't create your nextlevel by clinging to what is
just barely working.
And Natalie, with the supportof, you know, fellow OBMs in OBM
school, Natalie was able totrust herself enough to make
that leap.

(14:38):
And she didn't do it alone,right?
She had our frameworks, she hada coach, and she had our
community behind her, right?
And that makes all thedifference.
Within just two months, yes,within two months, Natalie
signed a new client inside ofthe accreditation, which is a
six-month program.
Within two months, She signed anew client, someone who didn't

(14:59):
blink at her doubled rates,someone who respected her
boundaries and saw her as thestrategic partner that Natalie
truly is.
And her revenue jumped to$8,200 a month.
But more importantly, her timeand her energy came back.
She had the mental white spaceto innovate, to go into her OBM

(15:23):
CEO role in her business and toget the confidence to lead and
really the clarity to say yes toonly the right opportunities.
So what can you do right now ifyou are ready to grow, right?
You can redefine your core OBMoffer.
You can think about what's thereal transformation you are
delivering.
And if that's a confusing thingto you, the best way I like to

(15:44):
look at that is think about whatyour clients do with the
newfound time you afford them bytaking things off their plate
right these are the things thatonly they can do in their
business so if your client nowhas new time to write a book
create that course land thosenew clients that's the
transformation it's about notselling support it's about

(16:07):
selling outcomes so starttalking about those outcomes
talk about the results not thehours get your own back end
systems in place automate yourown business where you can
standardize your onboardingcreate boundaries that protect
your pricing power becausehere's the thing your obm

(16:27):
business has the potential tocreate true freedom but only If
you stop treating it like ahustle job, if you're just
getting your business started,I'm leaving a whole bunch of
resources linked below thisYouTube video and in the podcast
show notes.
So whether you're watching thison YouTube or catching this on
the podcast, I got someresources for you over at

(16:49):
obmschool.com forward slashresources.
And if you are done playingsmall and you recognize that
you've hit the ceiling and youreally want to overcome it and
you want to be seen andrespected and paid like the
strategic leader that you are, Iwould love to invite you to
join us inside the OBM SchoolAccreditation Program.
This is our CPD certified pathto real leadership for

(17:13):
experienced OBMs who are readyto get paid like a leader and
not a helper.
So this is our OBM SchoolCertification Program.
It's that CPD certifiedstep-by-step training that helps
experienced OBMs grow intostrategic leadership, sign
premium pricing clients and runbusinesses that support the life

(17:35):
that they actually want.
You're going to get the tools,the one-on-one coaching, and the
support to make your next levelinevitable.
So head on over toobmacreditation.com to learn
more.
So we love supporting you.
Thank you so much for listeningto The OBM Show or watching The
OBM Show.
Don't forget to follow, share,and leave us a review if this
episode hit home.

(17:55):
And I will catch you in thenext one.