Why Your Scarcity Mindset is Costing You Client

If you’re refreshing your bank account every five minutes, slashing your prices mid-sales call, or feeling physically sick when you think about money, you’re stuck in a scarcity mindset that’s literally repelling your ideal clients. Here’s how I went from crying about my income to 5X-ing my revenue—and how you can too.

Let me paint you a picture: It’s 2 PM on a Tuesday, and I’m sitting at my kitchen table, laptop open to my CRM dashboard. My chest is tight, my stomach is in knots, and I’m refreshing the same page for the tenth time today, hoping—praying—that somehow the numbers will magically change.

Sound familiar?

If you’ve ever found yourself obsessively checking your bank account, softening your voice when you mention your prices, or making desperate business decisions from a place of fear, you’re experiencing what I call the scarcity mindset trap. And here’s the brutal truth: scarcity mindset in your coaching business doesn’t just feel terrible—it’s costing you real clients and real money.

The Day My Income Nosedived (And What It Taught Me About Scarcity Mindset)

Three years ago, I made what I thought was a smart business decision. I was running two coaching brands—Feel Amazing Naked (health and nutrition coaching) and my business coaching for female entrepreneurs. My roster was full, I was burnt out, and I knew I needed to go deep instead of wide.

So I shut down Feel Amazing Naked.

I thought it would be seamless. These people are already buying from me over here, I told myself. Of course they’ll follow me.

But what I’d missed was building the top of my ecosystem to support this side of my business. My income didn’t just dip—it nosedived.

From breadwinner to crying to my husband Justin, saying, “I don’t know if I can contribute financially this month.”

And that’s when the scarcity mindset really hit.

Every time I logged into my dashboard, seeing that monthly projection, my chest would tighten. Furthermore, I’d get sick to my stomach. I was checking my Stripe account every five minutes like somehow the numbers would change.

If this sounds like your reality right now, I want you to know: you’re not broken, and you’re definitely not alone.

The Hidden Ways Scarcity Mindset Shows Up in Your Coaching Business

Before we dive into the solution, let’s get honest about how coaching business scarcity mindset actually manifests. Because you might not even realize you’re operating from this energy.

1. Scarcity Mindset in Your Sales Conversations

Scarcity energy in sales calls looks like:

• Your voice changes when you mention price (you start to soften or backpedal)
• Over-explaining your value or justifying your costs
• Offering discounts before they’re even asked for
• That desperate, needy energy before calls: “I NEED this client to say yes”

I’ve checked every single one of these boxes. The worst was when I’d go into a sales call planning to quote $1,000 and suddenly slash it in half without any reason except my own fear.

2. In Your Daily Operations

This is the day-to-day stuff that slowly erodes your confidence:

• Obsessively checking your bank account or money dashboard
• Making decisions from fear instead of strategy (“What if I don’t get clients?”)
• Saying yes to non-ideal clients because you “need to make a buck”
• Undercharging out of guilt or over-delivering from the same place

3. In Your Marketing

Your content starts feeling pushy and gross. I can spot scarcity-driven marketing from a mile away—it has this desperate, grabby energy that makes potential clients want to run the other direction.

You’re creating from “I need clients” instead of “How can I serve and support people?”

You fall into comparison traps or experience total paralysis: “What if nobody buys?”

The Neuroscience Behind Why Scarcity Mindset Repels Clients

Here’s what blew my mind when I started studying this: scarcity energy actually repels the very clients you’re trying to attract.

It’s like putting on too much cologne—people can smell desperation from a distance.

When we operate from scarcity—when our needs feel unmet (like not bringing in enough revenue to pay bills)—our amygdala fires up. This puts us into fight, flight, or freeze mode.

And here’s the kicker: clients can sense that energy, and it doesn’t feel safe to invest with someone operating from that space.

Your nervous system is responding. Your body is keeping the score. And potential clients are picking up on those signals, even if they can’t articulate why something feels “off.”

The Abundance Mindset Shift That Changed Everything

I was lying in bed one morning, feeling that familiar knot in my stomach, when I realized: I hate this feeling. My brain just wanted to keep spiraling down into the “not haves”—not enough clients, not enough money, not enough security.

But wallowing wasn’t serving anyone—not me, not my family, and definitely not the clients who needed what I had to offer.

That’s when I made a crucial shift: from getting to giving.

The Old Model (Scarcity-Based):

• Energy: Desperate, grabby, convincing
• Focus: “I need clients”
• Approach: Proving your worth
• Client experience: They feel pressured

The New Model (Abundance-Based):

• Energy: Generous, confident, serving
• Focus: “How do I help?”
• Approach: Adding value to their life
• Client experience: They feel supported

This wasn’t just a mindset shift—it was a complete energy transformation that changed how I showed up in my business, how I created content, and how I conducted sales conversations.

My 3-Tool System for Breaking Free from Scarcity Mindset

When I was deep in scarcity, I needed practical tools—not just inspiration. Here’s the exact system I used to shift from checking my bank account obsessively to building a business I’m obsessed with (and 5X-ing my revenue in the process).

Tool 1: The Morning Anchoring Practice

This isn’t your typical gratitude journal. I’m talking about deep, intentional gratitude that rewires your nervous system in under five minutes.

Instead of listing three things you’re grateful for, I want you to go smaller but deeper:

“I am grateful for _____, because _____.”

• Not just “I’m grateful for my coffee”
• But “I’m grateful for this quiet morning ritual because it gives me space to think and sets a peaceful tone for my day.”

The key is opening up your peripheral vision. When scarcity hits, your business becomes this tiny bucket that’s taking up all your mental energy. But you have SO many other amazing things happening—relationships, experiences, small wins.

This practice helps you see that your business is just one small fragment of a much larger, beautiful life.

Tool 2: The Service Sprint

When scarcity hits hard, the fastest way out is radical service.

I committed to serving one person every single day—and by “serve,” I didn’t mean getting paid.

This looked like:

• Creating valuable content
• Sending a thoughtful DM to someone I was thinking about
• Helping a stranger at the grocery store
• Hosting free workshops (I went to one workshop every month that year)

Here’s what I realized: I was measuring my success entirely by money, and I had to detach from that outcome.

When you’re in service, you’re in your power. When you’re in need, you’re in lack.

Set a timer for 10 minutes and ask: “How can I serve right now?” You could reply to comments, help in Facebook groups, or simply send an encouraging message to someone who needs it.

The goal isn’t to turn these people into clients—it’s to remember that value isn’t scarce. Value is abundant.

Tool 3: Read the Receipts

Our brains are wired for negative bias. We naturally notice what’s missing more than what’s present. This isn’t your fault—it’s human nature. But you have to actively work against it.

Every day, I want you to record your “receipts”—evidence of abundance and things going well in your life.

These receipts might be:

• Two new email subscribers
• A DM from someone saying your content helped them
• Your neighbor is thanking you for something
• Your kid cuddling up and saying “thank you, mom”
• A potential client inquiry

Keep these in your notes app or journal. After 30 days, you’ll have 60+ pieces of evidence that good things are flowing into your life.

The more you look for this evidence, the more you’ll see it.

The 30-Day Scarcity Mindset Transformation Challenge

Here’s what I want you to do: Pick ONE of these tools and commit to 30 days.

Don’t try to do all three perfectly—that’s just setting yourself up for failure. Choose the one that spoke to you most and put in consistent reps.

Document your journey. If you’re listening to this in June, imagine where you’ll be in July. Jot down how you feel right now and compare it to how you feel after 30 days of intentional practice.

Remember: scarcity is not about your actual circumstances. It’s about your focus and energy.

You can feel abundant with $200 in your bank account or $20,000. The difference is perspective and practice.

Why Overcoming Scarcity Mindset Matters for Your Coaching Business

These aren’t just feel-good exercises—they’re business strategies.

When I shifted from scarcity to service:

• My content became more valuable and engaging
• My sales conversations felt natural instead of pushy
• I attracted clients who were excited to work with me
• I started making decisions from strategy instead of fear
• My revenue grew because I was operating from a place of abundance

Your scarcity isn’t serving anyone—not you, not your family, not the clients who don’t even know you exist yet.

The Long Game Perspective

When I was rebuilding my business from that low point, I had a choice. I could say yes to opportunities out of desperation and scarcity, or I could build exactly what I wanted for the long game.

I chose the long game.

I identified my perfect scenario: teaching only in group settings, minimal one-on-one work, tons of white space in my schedule, weekly webinars instead of constant Zoom calls.

That vision I had three years ago? It’s my reality now.

Because when you operate from abundance instead of scarcity, you make decisions that align with your long-term vision instead of short-term fear.

Your Next Step

If you’re ready to stop letting scarcity mindset run your coaching business, start with one tool today. Not tomorrow, not next week—today.

And if you’re craving accountability around this internal work (because let’s be honest, you can Google all the strategy in the world, but this is where most coaches get stuck), I’d love to chat with you about joining our Best Damn Coach community.

This is exactly the kind of work we do together—shifting the internal stuff that moves the needle in your business.

Ready to flip the script on scarcity? Your abundant coaching business is waiting.

Found this helpful? I’d love to hear which tool you’re starting with! Send me a DM @awalkmyway and let me know how this lands for you.