How I designed a multi-six-figure business by prioritizing architecture, alignment, and actual quality of life
There was a time when my life looked exactly how a driven woman’s life is supposed to look.
Architecture career. Multiple businesses. A calendar filled with clients. A title that made sense to everyone else.
But underneath it all was a truth I could no longer ignore.
I was building a life and business that looked successful but was never designed to support me.
So I made a choice most people only entertain in daydreams.
I sold what no longer fit. I left the structures that kept me boxed in. I bought a one way ticket.
And I asked myself a different question.
What kind of life am I actually designed to lead?
That question carried me through twelve countries and into a deeper understanding of work, identity, belonging, and business architecture.
The result is the business I run today. A company that has generated over $700,000 while giving me the space to coach powerfully, create deeply, rest generously, and design a life that feels like my own.
Not because I chased every strategy.
But because I built with intention first and structure second.
Here are seven things I will never do again as a founder, strategist, or creative human, and the architectural approach I take instead.
1. Build a business that requires me to overwork to succeed
I used to treat exhaustion as evidence that I was doing something right.
Late nights. Constant context switching. Hustle disguised as discipline.
Today my calendar works differently.
Mornings are for painting or long walks through the colorful streets of San Miguel de Allende.
Afternoons are for deep client work.
Evenings are slow and steady.
I structured my offers, pricing, and delivery so the business supports my energy instead of consuming it.
No more earning my rest. I design for it.
2. Delay living until the numbers look perfect
When I moved to Latin America, I still carried debt.
But I stopped waiting for permission to live in a way that felt aligned.
Living well is not a reward for perfect finances.
It is the fuel that helps you create your best work.
When I allowed beauty, space, travel, and creativity back into my life, my clarity expanded.
So did my income.
3. Follow frameworks that ignore the architecture of my life and business
I have been inside high-level coaching rooms.
I have watched what works for people with completely different goals, personalities, and capacity.
My biggest breakthroughs never came from formulas.
They came from designing a structure that fit my identity, my values, and my vision.
I do not follow someone else’s playbook anymore.
I architect my own.
And I help my clients build theirs.
4. Measure success only in numbers
There were years when I hit big revenue targets and still felt depleted.
Because money alone does not create a spacious life.
Structure does.
Success now looks like:
A slow morning in my studio
A coaching session that changes someone’s trajectory
A full afternoon free for exploration
The ability to step away for weeks without the business unraveling
Revenue is still part of the scorecard.
It is just not the whole thing.
5. Build a business that dictates how I live instead of the other way around
I no longer contort my life around my business.
I design the business to fit the way I want to live.
Where I live.
How I structure my calendar.
When I travel.
How much creative space I protect.
All of that comes first.
Then I architect offers, operations, and delivery to match.
A business you resent will never scale sustainably.
A business that fits you will.
6. Choose one narrow identity when I am not a narrow human
I am a strategist.
I am an artist.
I am a coach.
I am a writer.
For years I tried to fit into the tidy box that entrepreneurs are told to choose.
Then I stopped shrinking to fit and built a brand that allowed all of me to lead.
My work is a blend of business architecture, structural clarity, creative expression, and human insight.
And the more whole I become in my expression, the stronger my business grows.
7. Wait for validation before taking bold action
Every major turning point in my life looked unreasonable from the outside.
Leaving architecture after years of study
Selling my businesses
Becoming nomadic with no backup plan
Moving to a country I had never visited
Pivoting my entire career into strategy, coaching, and art
I never had full clarity beforehand.
But I did have an internal knowing.
And I acted from that place.
Clarity follows courage, not the other way around.
The truth I know now
You do not need to sacrifice your wellbeing in the name of ambition.
You do not need to wait for perfect timing or perfect numbers.
You do not need to fit into a box that never matched your identity in the first place.
You can build a business that supports your life.
You can design structure that protects your creativity.
You can scale without burnout.
And you can do it now.
This is the work I do every day as a Business Architect.
Helping women redesign their companies so they are profitable, spacious, aligned, and sustainable.
If you are ready to step into a business that finally fits, start here:
Download the free Profits Reality Check Guide to see where your structure is leaking time, energy, and money.
Or book a Business Architecture Audit for personalized clarity on your next chapter.
Because you really can build a business you enjoy living inside.
It just starts with better architecture.
Katrina Cobb is a Business Architect for high-achieving women founders scaling beyond $250K. She helps leaders redesign the architecture of their business — systems, structure, team, and profitability — so growth feels spacious, sustainable, and deeply aligned.
Explore her work at katrinacobb.com.