The Most Expensive Mistake High-Achieving Women Make: Pouring More Clients Into a Leaky Business

Most six-figure women don’t have a lead problem. They have a leak problem. But the online business world keeps shouting the same thing at you: “More clients. More visibility. More leads. More launches.” So you double down on content, tweak your branding for the seventh time, and tell yourself the next big influx of clients is the answer. Meanwhile, your business model is bleeding time, energy, and profit.

This is the most expensive mistake high-achieving women make: trying to scale a business that isn’t structurally sound. And the more successful you are at “getting more clients,” the more painful it becomes.

At six figures, more clients doesn't just mean more revenue.

It also means:

• More delivery hours on your calendar

• More DMs, emails, and “quick questions”

• More edge-case client situations your current systems can’t handle

• More refunds, and reschedules.

If your offer, delivery, and operations are already stretched, each new client actually erodes your margins and your sanity. You’re not building a business; you’re pouring gasoline on a smoldering fire and calling it “growth.”

This mistake isn’t about intelligence. It’s about conditioning.

You were probably taught:

• “Work hard and you’ll be rewarded.” So when things feel tight, you pile on more, instead of questioning the structure.

• “Don’t be greedy.” So you keep your prices where they feel “nice,” and try to make up for it in volume.

• “It’s selfish to prioritize your time.” So you justify overdelivering and being overly available as “loving your clients.”

These beliefs got you to six figures. And... they will keep you stuck there. Because seven figures is not a harder-working version of what you’re doing now. It’s a differently structured version of your business.

Imagine your business as a bucket. Leads and clients are the water you pour in.

Your “leaks” are where money, time, and energy escape:

• Scope creep

• Custom everything

• No true capacity limits

• Team that relies on you for every decision

• Delivery that only works when you’re the one doing it

Most high-achieving women respond to slow growth by turning up the faucet. But if the bucket is full of holes, all you’re doing is working harder to stay in the same place. Until you fix the leaks, “more clients” just accelerates burnout.

Start here. Rate each area 1–5 (1 = constant leak, 5 = solid).

Offer

• Do most clients buy the same thing, or is every proposal custom?

• Is it clear what is included and what is not?

Delivery

• Can your clients get consistent results if you take two weeks off?

• Is there a repeatable process, or are you “winging it” with experience?

Operations

• Are there clear boundaries, policies, and expectations?

• Does your calendar reflect a sane, sustainable capacity?

Numbers

• Do you actually know your profit per client, not just revenue per client?

• Do you know which offers are truly worth scaling?

Anywhere you score a 3 or below is a leak. That’s where your next level is hiding.

When you tighten the structure before chasing volume, things can change quickly:

• You work with fewer, better-fit clients and make more per engagement.

• Your weeks stop feeling like emergencies and start feeling intentional.

• You can finally see a clear, believable path to seven figures (yeah!).

That’s when “more clients” becomes a multiplier, not a threat.

Over the next week, try this:

1. Pull your last 10 clients and calculate: what did you actually keep per client?

2. Identify your leakiest area (Offer, Delivery, Operations, Numbers).

3. Make one structural change: a boundary, a price, a process, or a policy.

If you’re reading this and thinking, “I know I’m meant for more, but I can’t quite see what’s blocking me”… That’s exactly what I help with.

I offer a free 30-minute Meant For More Strategy Call where we zoom in on your business, identify the biggest block that’s capping your growth, and map out what to fix first so you can scale with structure, not just willpower.

If you want that next level to feel inevitable instead of fragile, this is your next step.