The top 10 Reasons Female-led Agencies Fail (and how you can avoid them)

There’s nothing that punches you in the gut quite like realising the thing you spent years building isn’t going to work.

When I looked around at the agency I had poured six years into — the clients, the team, the office — and felt the weight of the numbers telling me it wasn’t sustainable, I broke a little inside.
It felt like failure.

Sure, I knew the stats.
60–70% of service-based businesses fail within the first 3–5 years.
I’d read all the articles. I’d seen all the warnings.
But I believed I was different. And I was right (and wrong).

I was a success; I built a 7-figure agency.
I had the big team, the growing client list, the office.
On the outside, it looked like success.

But underneath, there was a slow financial rot setting in — not from one big mistake, but from a series of small, compounding ones. It didn’t show up immediately. It crept in quietly.
And when we scaled fast, those cracks split wide open — and by then, it was too late to claw it all back easily.

When I got the chance to rebuild, I didn’t just make a few tweaks — I redesigned everything.
This time, I built in the framework that would protect the agency long term.
The knowledge I had desperately searched for during those tough years? It wasn’t sitting inside the expensive masterminds I joined. It wasn’t being handed out by the mentors and consultants I paid.
It was hidden in the strategic moves no one was teaching — the ones that create true long-term success.

I also had the hindsight to realise something else:
The agency I first built wasn’t really built for me.
It was built around a “bro culture” mindset — bigger, faster, more — without any real thought about what I actually wanted.

Now? I’ve built a different kind of agency.
A single-mum kind of agency.
One designed with clear rules around time, around energy, around life — while still delivering big, transformational results for clients. One that was focused on BIG profit.

If you’ve ever wondered why some female-led agencies struggle to scale (or survive), you’re not alone. Here are the top 10 reasons why it happens (and I managed to land all of them at some point) — and what you can do differently to create lasting success.

1. Undercharging and Undervaluing Their Work

A lot of women — and men — set their prices based on what they think clients can afford (or are willing to pay), instead of what their skills and expertise are truly worth.
For women especially, there’s often a deeper layer to it.
We’ve been conditioned, sometimes without even realising it, to expect less when it comes to what we’re paid. It shows up as hesitation, second-guessing, and an almost automatic fear of charging what we really deserve.
I remember the days when I was hustling hard for a $2,000 ads retainer — scrambling to juggle creative, run campaigns, tweak emails, and fix broken landing pages, all in a desperate rush to get results and prove my worth.
Now?
I don’t start a conversation for less than $8,000 a month — and I have clients happily paying $30,000 a month retainer because they see the value and the outcomes we deliver.
Undercharging leads to overwork, resentment, and an unsustainable business model.
Solution: Focus on value-based pricing, not hourly rates. Learn how to confidently articulate the ROI you bring to your clients.- Join me for a 1-hour Pricing Strategy Live Workshop – May 8th. Register Here

2. Avoiding Sales and Visibility

For a lot of female founders, selling can feel uncomfortable — even “icky” — especially when it’s tied to the fear of coming across as pushy or aggressive.
But without a strong and consistent sales engine, your agency simply can’t grow sustainably.

And it’s not just about selling — it’s about balancing it.
Many women find themselves stuck in a constant tug-of-war between doing the work (servicing clients) and selling the work (bringing in new business).
When you’re too deep in production, sales slowdown.
When you push sales hard, delivery can suffer.
It becomes a cycle that quietly caps your growth and leaves you constantly scrambling.

Solution: Reframe the way you see sales entirely. Selling isn’t about convincing — it’s about serving.
It’s about offering real solutions to real problems.
The more visible you are, the more you share your expertise, the more naturally the right clients will come to you.
Building a simple ecosystem that keep sales flowing, even when you’re busy with delivery, is key to scaling without burning out.

3. Scaling Without Systems & Automation

A lot of agencies take off quickly — new clients come in, projects get bigger, everything looks like it’s working.
But behind the scenes? It’s a different story.
The backend — the systems, the operations, the team structure — struggles to keep up with the pace of growth.

Without strong foundations in place, chaos eventually takes over.
Deadlines slip. Quality drops.
The founder burns out.
And clients start noticing — and leaving.

In today’s world, where AI and automation are everywhere, there’s no reason to build an agency that’s held together with duct tape.
The smart use of technology — automating parts of your delivery, client communications, and financial systems — can free up your time, keep operations tight, and stop the little things from becoming big problems.

The key?
Build your systems before you’re drowning.
Lay down your delivery processes, your onboarding pathways, your client communication frameworks, and your financial tracking early.
Then layer in smart automations that help your agency run smoother — not just bigger.
Because real growth isn’t just about getting more clients.
It’s about building a business that can actually handle them.

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4. Hiring Reactively Instead of Strategically

One of the biggest mistakes agency owners make when scaling is hiring reactively — waiting until they’re overwhelmed and desperate before bringing someone on.
The problem?
When you hire in panic mode, you often choose the wrong people, rush onboarding, and create more chaos instead of solving it.

Strategic hiring looks completely different.
It means forecasting your needs ahead of time, building clear role descriptions, and understanding exactly how each hire impacts your profit and delivery capacity.
You also need to know when a full-time employee (with PAYG responsibilities) makes sense — and when a contractor, part-timer, or offshore team member would be smarter.

Pro tip:
Before every hire, ask yourself:

• Do I have 3–4x the salary available in reliable, recurring revenue?
• Is this role essential for future growth — or just a reaction to being busy today?
• Can I automate or outsource part of this work instead of hiring immediately?
• Is the person I’m hiring suited to the way my agency operates (remote vs office, high-pace vs steady projects)?

Hiring isn’t just filling a gap.
It’s about building the right team, at the right time, with the right structure — so you can grow without losing control.

5. Lack of Profitability Focus

It wouldn’t be a normal day without seeing some bro-agency mentor yelling about scaling to 7 figures with his “proven” lead gen or growth system.
And honestly? I was right there chasing it too.

I had a finish line in mind.
I wanted to sell.
I wanted the 7-figure agency.

Somewhere along the way, I convinced myself that hitting that magic number would be the holy grail — driving my white BMW, finally buying my house, living the dream everyone talks about.

But here’s what no one tells you loud enough:
7 figures doesn’t mean 7 figures in your pocket.

Revenue looks impressive on Instagram — but profit is what keeps you alive.
Many agencies hit six or even seven figures in revenue while barely breaking even.
Solution: Prioritize profitability at every stage. Know your margins, manage cashflow, track your expenses, engage in profit first methodology and set financial goals that include NET income — not just top-line sales.

7. Letting Imposter Syndrome Call the Shots

Doubting yourself is normal — but letting that fear drive your decisions can be fatal.
Many women hold themselves back from bigger clients, bigger contracts, and bigger growth because they don’t believe they’re ready.
Solution: Build evidence of your success. Track wins, collect testimonials, and surround yourself with mentors and peers who believe in you when your confidence wavers.

One of the biggest shifts I ever made in my business was committing to daily mindset rituals.
Before I truly prioritised my mindset, I constantly swung between feeling stuck in lack and overwhelm, and bursts of excitement and motivation — but nothing ever felt stable.
It was like I was building momentum and losing it all in the same breath.

Most agency owners think the only things holding them back are strategy, marketing, or operations.
But the deeper, often invisible block?
Your mindset around money and success.

If you don’t train your subconscious to believe you deserve high income, abundance, and freedom, you’ll unconsciously sabotage yourself every time you get close.
Undercharging, overworking, feeling guilty about raising prices — these are all symptoms of an untrained money mindset.

Solution:
Incorporate simple daily rituals that rewire your thinking:

• Morning visualisation: See yourself already achieving your big goals.
• Affirmations: Speak your success into existence daily — not with blind positivity, but with intention.
• Gratitude practice: Focus on what’s working and what’s growing, even on the hard days.
• Future-self journaling: Make decisions from the mindset of the agency owner you’re becoming, not the one you’re trying to leave behind.

The more you normalise wealth, leadership, and success in your mind, the faster you move toward it — without resistance, guilt, or fear slowing you down.

Because building a profitable agency isn’t just about working harder.
It’s about becoming the person who can hold everything you’re building.

Letting Go of Resistance and Allowing Growth

One of the quieter killers of agency growth isn’t failure — it’s resistance.
It’s the part of us that clings tightly to how things should be, even when the business is clearly asking for something different.

Resistance shows up when you avoid making a hire you know you need.
It shows up when you stay attached to old offers or clients that no longer fit.
It shows up when you convince yourself you “can’t” raise your prices or change direction, even when everything inside you is screaming that it’s time.

The truth is:
Businesses are living, breathing ecosystems.
They are meant to evolve.
And the faster you learn to let go of rigid expectations, the more space you create for growth that feels aligned, profitable, and energising.

Flexibility doesn’t mean chaos — it means staying open.
It means listening when your business needs a shift.
It means trusting yourself to adapt and realign without fear that change equals failure.

The more you release resistance, the easier it becomes to scale.
Growth stops feeling like a battle you have to force, and starts feeling like something you’re naturally moving with — not against.

9. Neglecting Personal Sustainability

Women are so often expected to “do it all” — run a business, manage a home, care for family, and somehow still show up polished and smiling.
There’s this invisible pressure to hold everything together without missing a beat.

But here’s the truth no one says loud enough:
You are not a machine.
And if you keep sacrificing yourself at the altar of business growth, burnout isn’t a question of if — it’s a question of when.

Ignoring your own needs — your rest, your health, your joy — doesn’t make you a better business owner.
It just makes you exhausted, disconnected, and eventually resentful of the very business you worked so hard to build.

Solution:
You have to build a business that supports your life — not consumes it.
A business that leaves space for family dinners, long walks, mental health days, and actual rest.
A business that grows around your values, not one that demands you constantly push harder and give more.

Because profit is meaningless if you’re miserable.
Revenue means nothing if you’re too burnt out to enjoy it.
The real goal is a business that lets you live — fully, unapologetically, and on your terms.

10. Trying to Scale Alone

Agency life can feel incredibly isolating.
You’re wearing a dozen hats — CEO, marketer, project manager, therapist — all while carrying the weight of your clients, your team, and your family.

And for so many women, there’s this unspoken pressure to figure it all out alone.
Like you have something to prove.
Like asking for help means you aren’t cut out for it.

But the truth is, building an agency isn’t supposed to be a solo sport.
Isolation breeds burnout.
Community breeds growth.

Solution:
Find your people.
Surround yourself with women who get it — who understand the unique challenges of building a profitable agency while also living a full, rich life.
Invest in mentorship, coaching, or mastermind groups that don’t just hand you cookie-cutter advice but offer real, tactical support, strategy, and encouragement.

And if you’re ready to stop building your agency alone — you’re invited to join me:

🌟 My brand new 12-week Agency Accelerator program officially launches May 19th!
This program is built for women like you — women who want to scale smarter, not harder.
It’s about designing your agency for profit, freedom, and long-term sustainability.
Expressions of interest are now open — and spots will be limited to make sure every woman gets the personalized support they need.
👉Register here

🚀 Plus, I’m running a FREE live Agency Pricing Workshop on May 7th (EST) / May 8th (AEST)!
In this workshop, you’ll learn how to break through the biggest pricing barriers holding you back from higher retainers, bigger deals, and the agency profitability you deserve.
Whether you’re stuck at $20K–$30K months or just gearing up for serious growth, this session will be packed with real, actionable strategies you can start using immediately.
👉Register here

You don’t have to figure it out the hard way anymore.
There’s a community waiting for you — and the next level of your agency is closer than you think.