Growing your company’s revenue to six figures, and beyond, is an exciting milestone to celebrate. Beyond the financial stability that scaling provides, it’s also a sign that you may have product-market fit—you’re putting something in the world that truly impacts others and the hard-earned lessons gained along the way can be of service to others.
So, how do you get to this point? Thankfully, learning from the founders who have paved the way already, can accelerate your journey, or even help you avoid pitfalls. From nailing down your messaging to building a strong community and honing in on your personal development, these entrepreneurs share advice that proves that hitting, and exceeding, your financial targets is absolutely within your reach.
If scaling your business to six figures and beyond is on your vision board for this year, or if you’ve done so already, but are committed to never stopping to learn, or grow—we challenge you to let a few of these tried and tested strategies work their magic for you.
1. Christina Langdon—Founder of Christina Langdon High Performance Coaching & Consulting, helping CEOs, Founders, and high-achievers scale their business by scaling their minds.
My experience: The power of your mind is at the foundation for scaling any business. Scaling my business started with scaling my mindset and belief in myself as CEO. I built my CEO self-concept by deciding ahead of time who I wanted to become. When I launched my business, I wrote a job description for the CEO role for my six-figure business. I answered questions inside of the job description: what will I be thinking, how will my clients refer to me, how will I be spending my time, and who I will become as a six-figure CEO. When we get into comparison and despair and feel less confident, as every business owner on their way to six figures feels at some point, it’s most important to recognize that you are the biggest influencer in your life. When you recognize your influence over you, it's a game changer.
2. Lucy Bedewi—Founder of My Write Hand Woman, empowering women-owned ventures as they scale with strategic messaging and bold copy.
My experience: I scaled my business by transitioning from traditional project-based packages to a VIP Day model. I was able to free up hours of time, and pour those hours into content creation, networking, and client acquisition. If you're having a hard time getting to the six-figure mark, my advice would be to make sure your business model can support hitting that revenue mark without you having to work more than 20 hours a week. Those extra 10 to 20 hours can be used to make sure you have precious CEO time to scale into your sustainable business model.
3. Jessica Alderson—Co-Founder and CEO of So Syncd, a dating app that matches compatible personality types.
My experience: At So Syncd, we maintain a rigorous focus on our core metrics. Tracking key performance indicators on a daily basis enables us to understand the return on investment within each area of the business. With this knowledge, we can make informed decisions about how to allocate capital and resources to optimize the business for growth. Data-driven decision-making has been fundamental for us in scaling our business.
4. Melissa Lohrer—Founder of Waverly Ave Consulting, an independent, female-founded fractional business development partner and coach for agencies on the rise.
My experience: I built a six-figure business in the first six months of launching my business. When I launched, I had an ambitious revenue goal and a flexible schedule that would give me the opportunity to live the life I wanted. Then I determined how many clients I needed per month, quarter, and year. The hardest thing for founders is saying no to the wrong clients; the clients who don't want to pay you what you're worth or find value in your offer. Those clients take up your time and hold you back from reaching your goals.
5. Alice Kim—Founder and CEO of PerfectDD, a mission-driven sustainable clothing brand designed to fit and flatter DD+ cups, sizes 0-16.
My experience: Keep reiterating your message. Since you live and breathe your business, you may think your audience has heard your message before, but it’s always good to remind them. With so many distractions in our lives, statistics show that less than 10 percent of your followers on Instagram see your post/story on any given day. If you send emails, check your open and click rates. If people didn’t open your email, try changing the subject line and resend. They signed up for a reason; now it’s your job to engage and show them value. If they opened your email but didn’t click, try changing the image or phrase your message in a different way. It’s important to check metrics for every output produced. Reiterate what worked and ditch what didn’t.
6. Meredith Fennessy—Founder of Le Chéile, where boutique creative studio and agency founders regain creative freedom and grow profitable businesses.
My experience: Network, network, network. Continue to grow your community and make meaningful connections for others. Direct referrals are your best friend.
7. Sara Miller—Founder of Student Organ Donation Advocates (SODA), supporting passionate student organ donation advocates who share the life-saving power of organ donation.
My experience: From the very beginning of scaling SODA, we prioritized finding aligned partners—other organizations who shared the same goals as us but had different strengths. By valuing and collaborating with these partners, we were able to form meaningful and lasting relationships that have resulted in revenue, generated leads, and created visibility. My advice for others is to ask yourself who is doing complementary work and to reach out to learn more about what they're doing and to ask to collaborate!
8. Selena Soo—Founder of Selena Soo, a publicity and marketing expert helping coaches, consultants, and creatives reach millions with their message.
My experience: If you want to scale your business, scale your visibility. In other words, instead of connecting with one person at a time, share your message with many people at once. You can do this through podcast interviews, writing articles for online publications, or speaking on stages. There are an infinite number of ways to scale your reach. The most important thing is to just get started!
9. Claudia Richman—Co-Founder of Starling Training, offering cohort-based, virtual, synchronous training designed to sharpen the skills that build productive, supportive relationships.
My experience: Focusing on emotional intelligence has been the key to breaking the six-figure barrier for Starling Training. By keeping the people part of business front and center, we’ve built connections with like-minded leaders who understand that growing their people will ultimately grow their bottom line. Our training introduces concepts that often aren’t taught or measured and give people a safe space to experiment and learn, which ultimately results in deeper business relationships with high return on investment.
10. Hannah Nieves—Founder and CEO of HN Haus, a community and social club for women in business, helping six- and seven-figure founders magnify their influence and amplify their reach.
My experience: The first step is self-trust. You have to believe you can achieve six figures before any strategy and action is taken. To get to six figures you need a strong offer and clear positioning and messaging that directly speaks to your target audience. Once you can provide a transformation it's all about the client experience to help with retention, referrals, and repeat business.
11. Katie Ward—Owner of Katie Ward Photography, a full service photo studio that specializes in editorial, brand/advertising, and portrait photography.
My experience: As a solopreneur, the most important step to reaching a sustainable six-figure business was to have profitable pricing. Without sitting, doing the accounting, and understanding, annually, how much it costs to run my business, how often I want to be working, and how much I want to make, I would have burned out and closed my business years ago. By being profitable, I can fully show up for myself and for my clients who are trusting me to produce the highest quality of work.
12. Vivian Chen—Founder and CEO of Rise, a leading diversity recruiting platform for ambitious professionals.
My experience: My business had almost no revenue coming out of Covid-19. I had a make-or-break moment where I gave myself one more quarter to give it a shot. During those months, I remember telling myself, "A business is an exchange of value for a product or service. So go prove that your business has value." And I became laser-focused on revenue. I firmly believed that if I didn't invest in myself and the tools I needed, why would others? So, I made a conscious decision to invest in software that truly leveled up my operations. It was a game-changer. For a solid three months, I ignored all emails except for those that were revenue-related. My efforts paid off and we broke even. Then, within a mere two quarters, we were profitable. My advice to fellow founders who are aspiring to achieve similar growth is to prioritize revenue-generating activities and have the courage to invest in themselves to support their goals.
13. Kimone Napier—Founder of Hire Breakthrough, dedicated to helping founders overcome hiring challenges and achieve breakthroughs.
My experience: To scale my business to six figures, I implemented a targeted marketing and lead generation strategy. By focusing on attracting and converting qualified leads, I was able to achieve consistent growth. My advice for other founders is to prioritize building strong client relationships, providing exceptional customer service, and staying adaptable to industry trends. Delegating tasks outside of your core strengths can also help free up time for high-impact activities that drive business growth.
14. Joanna Sapir—Founder of Joanna Sapir Presents, LLC, providing health and wellness practitioners with education and resources to build more resilient and sustainable businesses.
My experience: Don't be afraid to invest money in support for you and your business. This can look like coaching, consulting, or hiring help. It's so worth it to spend money on learning skills or receiving services that will directly help you make more money. The key is to make sure that investment provides you a great return.
15. Nirali Guzman—Founder and CEO of Casa Amarosa, a thoughtfully curated collection of home and lifestyle goods, with an unwavering commitment to sustainability and culturally progressive design.
My experience: To scale Casa Amarosa to six figures and beyond, we optimized our supply chain, building strong relationships with artisan communities for a steady supply of unique products. My advice to founders is to deeply understand your market and align your business model accordingly. Build a committed team and never compromise on product quality. Remember: scaling isn’t just about growth in size, but also in value delivered to your customers.
16. Sarah Lambert—Founder of The Rosewood Agency, a course creation agency for service providers who want to create passive income so they can have a greater impact and get their time back.
My experience: My own personal development has been absolutely crucial in building a multiple six-figure online business. I went all in on my business after having my first baby in 2019, and I had no idea how much it was going to force me to grow personally. It doesn't matter how great your strategy is, your business can only grow as quickly as you are. In order to create a six-figure business, focus more on who you're being, your emotional intelligence, and leadership, and less on hacking the social algorithms. You'll be blown away by what you're capable of creating.
17. Marnie Rabinovitch Consky—Founder and CEO of Thigh Society, a brand of size-inclusive, anti-chafing slip-short underwear designed to help women move through the world with comfort and confidence.
My experience: Hire out for key leadership positions earlier than it may feel like you need them. No founder can possibly do all things well at once, and no brand can scale without bringing on a strong leadership team of experts who bring high-level knowledge in their specific areas of expertise and experience. When I decided to go all-in on Thigh Society, I brought on a Chief Marketing Officer, a joint Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer. Our CFO/COO brought in an ability to nurture supplier relationships, forecast inventory, manage cash flow, and carve a path to maintaining profitability as we grow. Our CMO brought in a small but mighty team to ensure that, as a direct-to-consumer brand, we were investing in, experimenting with, and iterating on marketing strategies that drive growth. Spend the money. These people are worth the investment, and your future growth will thank you for it.
18. Fiona Nguyen—Founder of Balannx, a virtual CPA firm that provides CFO, tax, and accounting advisory for female founders.
My experience: Building a strong community is the key to success, contrary to the belief that the business is transactional. Once you build a strong community that roots for each other, you cultivate a stronger root for your business and it sustains your growth for a long time. Through working on nurturing relationships, I have been able to build a sustainable business. We could never grow our business without them. My advice for other entrepreneurs is to pay attention to that one client you have in front of you and do everything you can to help them. That is the root of your community.
19. Sally Joy Wolf—Founder and CEO of LightWorks, empowering executives and their teams to flourish through well-being advisory, keynotes, workshops, and coaching.
My experience: Even when I'm focused on growing, I'm still willing to say "no" when amazing opportunities don't feel quite right. My first six-figure client cold called me after seeing me in the guest slot on a popular LinkedIn Live. As excited as I was when invited, I declined the first two dates they offered me, both the week of July 4th, given it's such a big holiday week. When no other dates were available, I chose to wait until something better opened. Despite being a new entrepreneur, I believed I was worthy of a better date, and having the confidence to wait paid off.
20. Tsvetta Kaleynska—CEO of Rila Global Consulting, a boutique social listening agency located in New York City, studying consumers, brands, markets, and trends.
My experience: To scale my business to seven figures, I leveraged free online resources. First I started with free email-finding services to create a targeted client list by gathering their email addresses. This allowed me to focus on reaching out to the right people. For streamlined outreach, I relied on no-cost email sequencing email add-ons. These tools automated follow-ups and lead qualification, freeing up my time for other tasks. Consistently using these completely free resources, I generated leads, nurtured relationships, and closed huge deals. It was cost efficient and helped me own everything in-house, which resulted in remarkable results. My advice to other founders: explore free online resources. Utilize tools that identify potential clients, automate outreach, and manage leads effectively. Leverage these resources to save time and money while achieving significant growth. Stay focused and consistent, and adapt strategies based on results.
21. Ashley Rector—Founder of Quimby Digital, providing organic and paid social media services to revolutionary brands looking to stand out online.
My experience: If you want to scale, you need to learn how to delegate. The biggest mistake is thinking you’re an expert at everything and can do it all yourself. You will propel your growth three times by figuring out what you do poorly and hiring someone smarter than you to do it!
22. Sarah Loughry—Founder and CEO of Em Dash Blogging, an end-to-end solution for content.
My experience: Hire and outsource. I chose to hire my first employee months before paying myself. Obviously, I would have preferred to start seeing a personal income, but hiring help allowed me to focus on business development. This turned out to be pivotal in our growth. Not only was I able to scale more quickly but I also built a nest egg.
23. Lis Best—Founder and CEO of Girls Club Collective, an intentionally intimate personal and professional development community for change agents.
My experience: The No. 1 thing I did to scale my business to six figures was get crystal clear on who my dream clients are, what their challenges are, and what they want. I conduct what I call dream client interviews at least once a year to find out what people are craving, where they're going for connection, and what's feeling most sticky in their lives and careers. There is no substitute for getting on the phone with real, actual people. Making time to listen and craft my programs and offers around what real people are actually looking for right now is the biggest thing that helped me scale my business to and past the six-figure mark.
24. Amanda Aldinger—CEO of Antonym, a white glove copywriting and voice strategy studio that conspires with industry-defining beauty, food, and lifestyle brands.
My experience: Early on—when Antonym was a nameless vision—I invested in an expert brand-building process, yielding a clear strategy, name, visual identity, website, and the assets a luxury creative studio required to show up with professional panache. Most importantly, I refused to rush it, which has become a devoted practice for all Antonym's internal transformations. It's a more significant investment and more time upfront, but each project—from our original branding to a brand refresh four years later and the current overhaul of our entire ops system and process—has led to ascendant interior growth, a transformation of our services and client experience, and in turn, a steady, organic increase in revenue. Time-starved desperation rarely yields impactful results, and a rush toward growth you can't support is neither sustainable nor net profitable.
25. Natasha Miller—Founder and CEO of Entire Productions, creating bold experiences for corporate entities that drive guest engagement and brand evangelism.
My experience: Our system and processes enabled us to produce 777 events in one year with only two people in operations. We couldn't have done it if we didn't have the framework and foundation in place. I ran my business with a do-it-yourself mindset for years. It wasn't until I started seriously educating myself in solid business practices and learning from mentors and advisors that I skyrocketed our growth!
—Written by Gesche Haas
About the author: Gesche Haas is the Founder and CEO of Dreamers & Doers, an award-winning community that amplifies extraordinary women entrepreneurs and leaders through PR, authentic connections, and high-impact resources. Prior to founding Dreamers & Doers, Gesche held senior positions at venture-backed companies covering growth, strategy, finance, operations and business development. She also spent five years as an investor at a healthcare-focused hedge fund. Gesche is half German, half Chinese-Malaysian, and was born in Swaziland, Africa. She lives with her two kids, husband, dog and chickens, in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
