The Double Standards Women Entrepreneurs Face and How Coaching Breaks Them

Two coaches offer the same service. Same experience level. Same results. Same transformation.

He charges $5,000. She charges $1,500.

When he talks about his expertise, people call it confidence. When she does, they wonder if she’s qualified. When he holds firm on pricing, clients respect his boundaries. When she does, they ask for a discount. When he says no to scope creep, it’s professional. When she does, she worries about seeming difficult.

Same business. Different game.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re playing by rules that don’t apply to everyone else, you’re not imagining it. The double standards women entrepreneurs face are real, documented, and expensive. They cost you revenue, confidence, and years of growth you should have already seen.

But here’s what changes everything: once you can name the double standard, you can break it. And coaching is how you do that. Not because a coach gives you permission to charge more or speak up louder. But because she shows you the structural patterns keeping you stuck, gives you the frameworks to dismantle them, and holds you accountable to actually doing it.

Let’s talk about the specific double standards women face in business, why they’re so damaging, and how you actually break free.

What Are the Most Common Double Standards Women Entrepreneurs Face?

These aren’t subtle. They’re not in your head. They’re patterns that show up repeatedly across industries, pricing models, and business stages.

The Pricing Double Standard: Undercharging to Get Hired

Women business owners charge 28% less than men for the same services. That’s not a minor gap. That’s the difference between a $10,000 offer and a $7,200 offer. Between a $2,000 client and a $1,440 client. It compounds over time until you’re working twice as hard for half the revenue.

Why does this happen? Because women are taught that being “too expensive” will cost them clients. So they undercharge to stay competitive, to seem accessible, to not scare anyone away. They discount quickly when clients hesitate. They throw in extras to justify the price instead of letting the price stand on its own.

Meanwhile, their male counterparts charge premium prices and clients pay them without negotiating. The assumption is that high prices equal high value. Women don’t get that assumption. They have to prove their worth before they can charge for it. And even then, someone will ask if there’s a payment plan or a discount for multiple sessions.

Here’s the cost: You’re charging $800 when you should be charging $1,500. You need 7 clients to hit $5,600. You only need 4 clients at $1,500 to hit $6,000. Same revenue, almost half the client load. But you’re trapped in a volume game because you’re afraid to raise your prices.

The Credibility Double Standard: Proving Yourself Repeatedly

A man can launch a business and immediately position himself as an expert. A woman with the same experience has to prove she’s qualified. Over and over. To every new client. In every sales conversation.

He gets asked about his approach. She gets asked about her credentials. He’s trusted to know what he’s doing. She’s questioned on whether she has the right background. He’s given the benefit of the doubt. She has to earn it every single time.

This shows up in veteran-owned businesses especially. A male veteran transitions to entrepreneurship and his leadership experience is automatically respected. A female veteran does the same and gets asked if she has a business degree. The assumption is that military experience counts for men but not for women. That leadership in uniform translates to business for him but not for her.

Here’s the cost: You spend mental energy defending your credibility instead of serving clients. You overdeliver to prove you’re worth the investment. You add certifications and training you don’t actually need because you think it will make people take you seriously. You apologize for charging what you’re worth because you’re not confident anyone will believe you deserve it.

The Confidence Double Standard: Selling Feels Like Bragging

When a man talks about his results, it’s marketing. When a woman does, she worries it sounds like bragging. He can say “I help clients achieve X” without hesitation. She softens it to “I try to help” or “I’ve been lucky enough to work with clients who.”

This is especially true for women who come from military, healthcare, or service-oriented backgrounds. Humility was drilled in. Promoting yourself feels uncomfortable. Talking about your wins feels like you’re taking credit that belongs to the team or to luck or to circumstances beyond your control.

So you downplay your results. You qualify every claim. You add disclaimers. You make yourself smaller in your marketing so you don’t come across as arrogant or full of yourself. And in doing that, you make yourself invisible. Because if you can’t confidently say what you do and why it works, no one will hire you.

Here’s the cost: Your messaging is vague because you’re afraid to be bold. Your sales calls are tentative because you don’t want to seem pushy. You let clients talk you down on pricing because you don’t feel comfortable holding firm. You miss opportunities because you’re waiting to feel confident instead of acting confidently.

The Capacity Double Standard: You’re Expected to Do It All

Male entrepreneurs are praised for delegating. They hire assistants, VAs, and team members early. It’s seen as smart business. Women who do the same are questioned. Can you really afford that? Shouldn’t you do it yourself until you’re bigger?

Men are encouraged to focus on their zone of genius and outsource the rest. Women are expected to wear all the hats until they’ve “earned” the right to get help. And even then, there’s judgment. If you hire before hitting certain revenue milestones, you’re being irresponsible. If you don’t hire, you’re not scaling fast enough.

The same standard doesn’t exist. He can bring on support at $3,000 months and it’s strategic. You do it at $5,000 months and someone will ask if that’s wise. He can spend money to save time. You’re supposed to grind until you can’t anymore.

Here’s the cost: You stay stuck in execution mode instead of moving into leadership. You burn out doing tasks someone else could handle. You hit capacity ceilings faster because you’re the bottleneck in every process. You sacrifice growth because you’re afraid to invest in the help you need.

The Boundary Double Standard: Saying No Makes You Difficult

When a man sets boundaries, he’s protecting his time. When a woman does, she’s being inflexible. He can say “I don’t work weekends” and clients respect it. She says the same thing and clients ask if she’s sure, if there’s any way she can make an exception, if she’s really serious about growing her business.

He can say no to scope creep without explanation. She has to soften it, explain why, offer alternatives, worry about seeming unhelpful. He can hold clients to contracts and policies. She gets pushback that she’s being rigid or not understanding their situation.

The same boundary, different reception. And over time, you stop setting boundaries because it’s easier to just accommodate than to deal with the resistance.

Here’s the cost: Your time gets eroded. Clients push deadlines and you absorb the chaos. Scope creep becomes normal. You work evenings and weekends because you couldn’t say no. You resent your business because it doesn’t respect your life. And your income doesn’t reflect the hours you’re actually working because half of what you do is outside the scope you were paid for.

Why Do These Double Standards Exist in the First Place?

Understanding the problem is the first step to fixing it.

The business world was built by men for men. The frameworks, the success metrics, the expectations, all of it was designed around founders who didn’t carry mental load at home, who didn’t navigate credibility questions, who didn’t face the same risk tolerance pressures. So when women enter that world, the rules don’t fit. But instead of changing the rules, women are told to adapt. To be more confident. To think bigger. To hustle harder. As if the issue is them, not the system.

Women are socialized to be accommodating. From childhood, women are taught to be helpful, to not take up too much space, to make others comfortable. That conditioning doesn’t disappear when you start a business. It shows up in how you price, how you market, how you set boundaries. You undercharge to seem accessible. You overdeliver to prove your value. You say yes when you should say no because saying no feels rude.

There’s an assumption that women’s work is worth less. This isn’t conscious. But it’s pervasive. Services that are female-dominated, coaching, design, admin, caregiving, are paid less than services that are male-dominated. The same transformation delivered by a man is valued higher than when delivered by a woman. Not because the quality is different. But because the perception is different.

Women face more scrutiny on how they spend and invest. A man can invest $10,000 in a mastermind and it’s called strategic. A woman does the same and she gets asked if she can really afford it, if her family is okay with it, if she’s sure it’s worth it. There’s more judgment around risk-taking, more questions around financial decisions, more pressure to justify investments that men make without explanation.

What’s the Real Cost of These Double Standards?

Let’s stop talking in theory and get specific about what this actually costs you.

You’re leaving hundreds of thousands of dollars on the table. If you’re charging 28% less than you should be, and you’ve been in business for three years, you’ve lost $84,000 if you’re making $100,000 annually. That’s not a hypothetical. That’s real money that should be in your bank account but isn’t because you’ve been underpricing to stay competitive.

You’re working significantly more hours for the same revenue. If you need 7 clients at $800 instead of 4 clients at $1,500, you’re serving 75% more people for roughly the same income. That’s 75% more onboarding, 75% more client communication, 75% more delivery. Your time is being consumed by volume that could be avoided with better pricing.

You’re burning out faster than your male counterparts. Because you’re expected to do it all, prove yourself constantly, and work twice as hard to be seen as half as credible. That’s not sustainable. And it’s why 48% of women entrepreneurs report feeling isolated and overwhelmed. Not because they’re not capable. But because they’re playing a different game with different rules.

You’re delaying growth by years. Every month you undercharge is a month you can’t invest in help, tools, or systems. Every client you take at too low a price is a client slot that could have gone to someone paying appropriately. Every time you say yes to scope creep, you’re stealing time from revenue-generating activities. The compounding effect of these decisions delays your growth by literal years.

You’re teaching clients to undervalue you. When you discount quickly, overdeliver without charging, or don’t hold boundaries, you train your clients to expect that treatment. They refer you to people who also want discounts. They push boundaries because you’ve never held them. You become known as the affordable option instead of the premium option. And affordable doesn’t scale.

How Does Coaching Actually Break These Double Standards?

This is where most advice fails. People tell you to “charge your worth” or “be more confident” without giving you the tools to actually do it. Coaching works differently.

A coach names the pattern so you stop blaming yourself. You think you’re the problem. That you’re not confident enough, not experienced enough, not good enough. A coach shows you that the problem is structural. It’s the double standard, not you. That reframe alone changes everything because you stop trying to fix yourself and start fixing the system you’re operating in.

She gives you the language to hold your pricing. It’s not enough to know you should charge more. You need the exact words to say when a client pushes back. You need to practice presenting your investment confidently. You need frameworks for value stacking and objection handling. A coach provides the scripts, the practice, and the accountability so you can hold firm when it matters.

She helps you see where you’re overdelivering and undercharging. You don’t know what’s normal because you’re too close to your business. A coach has outside perspective. She can see that you’re including three extra sessions that should be upsells. She can see that your scope is too broad for the price. She can see where you’re giving away value you should be charging for. And she helps you restructure so you’re paid appropriately.

She pushes you past your comfort zone with boundaries. You’ve been accommodating for so long that it feels normal. A coach makes you uncomfortable by pointing out where you’re saying yes when you should say no. Where you’re accepting scope creep you should be pushing back on. Where you’re working weekends because you didn’t set boundaries upfront. She holds you accountable to actually implementing the boundaries you know you need.

She connects your pricing to your capacity. You’re stuck at $5,000 months not because you can’t find clients but because you’re underpriced and overworked. A coach shows you the math. If you raise prices by 30%, you can serve fewer clients and make more money. You can stop the hamster wheel of volume and start building leverage. She makes the path forward clear instead of aspirational.

She addresses the mindset work that keeps you small. Selling feels like bragging because of conditioning, not because of who you are. Raising prices feels scary because you’ve been taught to be accommodating, not because your offer isn’t valuable. A coach helps you untangle the beliefs that keep you stuck so you can act differently going forward.

What Actually Changes When You Break These Double Standards?

Let’s talk about what’s on the other side because this is what makes the work worth it.

You charge what you’re worth and clients pay it. You present your $2,500 offer without flinching. Clients say yes without negotiating. You stop discounting to close deals. You hold firm when someone asks for a payment plan that doesn’t work for you. And your revenue reflects the value you deliver instead of what you think people can afford.

You stop proving yourself to every new client. You lead with authority because you know what you’re capable of. You don’t apologize for your background or add disclaimers to your claims. You state what you do, how it works, and why it matters. And clients trust you because you trust yourself.

Selling stops feeling uncomfortable. You present your offer as the solution it is, not as something you hope they’ll consider. You don’t soften your language or downplay your results. You speak confidently about outcomes because you’ve done the work to know you can deliver. And sales conversations become easier because you’re not fighting yourself the whole time.

You set boundaries that hold. You don’t work weekends unless you choose to. You don’t accept scope creep. You don’t answer client messages at 10 PM because you never should have been available at 10 PM in the first place. Your business respects your life because you’ve built boundaries into the foundation.

You invest in support without guilt. You hire your first VA at $4,000 months because it makes strategic sense, not because you’ve “earned” it. You delegate tasks that drain you. You buy tools that save you time. You invest in coaching, masterminds, and systems without justifying it to anyone. Because you understand that smart business owners invest to grow, they don’t grind until they break.

Your business becomes scalable. You’re not trapped in a volume game. You’re not trading time for money on repeat. You have systems, leverage, and pricing that create breathing room. You can grow without burning out because the foundation is built correctly.

How Do You Actually Start Breaking These Double Standards?

You don’t have to fix everything at once. But you do have to start somewhere.

Name where the double standard is showing up for you. Is it pricing? Is it credibility? Is it confidence? Is it boundaries? Get specific about which pattern is costing you the most right now. You can’t break what you can’t see.

Work with a coach who’s lived it. You need someone who understands the double standards women face because she’s navigated them herself. Someone who can see the patterns you can’t see because you’re too close. Someone who won’t just tell you to be more confident but will give you the frameworks to act confidently.

Start with pricing. This is where the double standard costs you the most in literal dollars. Raise your prices strategically. Practice presenting your investment without apologizing. Learn to hold firm when clients push back. This one shift can unlock thousands of dollars in revenue immediately.

Document where you’re overdelivering. Track what you’re actually doing for clients versus what you’re being paid to do. Where’s the gap? What are you including that should be an upsell? What are you doing for free that has value? Restructure your offers so you’re paid for the work you’re actually doing.

Build boundaries into your systems, not your willpower. Don’t rely on yourself to say no in the moment. Build boundaries into your contracts, your onboarding, your communication policies. Make the boundary the default so you don’t have to defend it every time.

Track your numbers obsessively. You can’t break the double standard if you don’t know what it’s costing you. How much did you make last month? How many clients did you serve? What was your average deal size? What’s your conversion rate? Once you have data, you can see exactly where the double standards are holding you back.

The Bottom Line: Double Standards Are Structural, Not Personal

If you’re undercharging, over-explaining, over-delivering, and under-earning, it’s not because you’re not good enough. It’s because you’re playing by rules that weren’t designed for you.

But once you can see the double standard, you can break it. You can charge what you’re worth. You can lead with authority. You can set boundaries that hold. You can build a business that respects your capacity and your life.

And coaching is how you do it. Not by trying harder or being more confident. But by dismantling the structural patterns keeping you stuck and building new systems that actually support your growth.

Ready to Break the Double Standards Holding You Back?

If you’re tired of playing by rules that don’t apply equally, here’s what’s next:

Book a Clarity Call with Lisa Benson. Let’s map out your next 90 days with tactical strategy, not theory. We’ll look at where you are, where you want to go, and exactly what needs to happen to get there.

Start with the 9-Line Business Roadmap. Get the framework that helps women service providers scale to consistent $5K-$15K months without burning out or sacrificing boundaries.

Learn About Operation Six-Figure. Our signature coaching system installs repeatable systems for growth—so you can lead like a CEO instead of a scrappy solopreneur barely keeping up.

The double standards are real. But they don’t have to define your business.