How to Start Your Own Business Without Selling Your Soul

If you’re ready to leave behind the grind of the 9 to 5 (or, let’s be real, the 8 to 6) and start a business of your own, you might feel overwhelmed by all the possibilities.

Should you create an LLC? How do you design a website? What’s the deal with branding, marketing, and client onboarding? These are all important questions, but here’s the thing: too many people dive straight into operations without asking the most critical question—how do I build a business that works for me?

Far too often, people build businesses that look great on paper but leave them burned out, overwhelmed, and disconnected from their own needs. They forget to consider their “why” or design their business with long-term well-being in mind.

In this post, we’ll explore how to create a business that aligns with your values, protects your energy, and supports your soul. Because building a business that honors you isn’t just possible—it’s essential. Here’s how to make it happen.

A Slow-Living Approach to Building a Business

One of the myths I first bought into when starting my first business was that I had to do what everybody else told me to do. As a natural researcher and lifelong learner, I dove into the guides, how-tos, video tutorials, and classes to figure out how to start and market my business.

Much of the information said I had to do all the things. Get on all the social media channels, write all the emails, write all the blogs, be on all the podcasts, connect with all the influencers, work on all of the SEO, do all the keyword research… and that was aside from, you know, the actual work of running my business!

While many of these small business marketing techniques work, what these resources didn’t tell me was that these techniques were apparently made for superhumans who either could (or wanted to?!) work 60+ hours a week while doing everything themselves. (Or, they had a bunch of money to hire others to do the work for them, which wasn’t an option for me when I was first starting.)

Out of the necessity of health and self-care, not to mention my finances, I realized I had to find another way. I was in the process of healing from a near-death experience, as well as some mental health issues exacerbated by a toxic and abusive workplace I had recently left behind. Also, my son was young, and I wanted to create a slow-living business that would allow me to spend time with him while I could (and while he was still young enough to want to spend time with me!). This meant that I didn’t have the time nor the energy to, as so many “experts” said, do all the things.

I wanted to start my own business to get more flexibility and freedom, not less.

I had to figure out how to build a business that would a) make really good money, b) allow me to spend time with my family, and c) ensure I never had to work for anyone else again.

And that’s when it clicked for me. When I drilled down and got to the heart of what I really wanted and needed from my career, I discovered the magic of slow-living businesses. And then I made it happen.

It’s Not About the Money

Okay, well, it's not all about the money. Let’s be real: we all need to pay the bills. But in my experience, if you focus exclusively on making money, you won’t succeed. I’ve seen it (and tried it) again and again over the course of my 30+ year career. And the money only comes after you’ve truly found your heart’s path. Sounds crazy, but it’s not until you actually find your purpose that the money will follow.

My recipe for success is first not to compare myself to others. Social media is filled with entrepreneurs showing off their bank accounts and seven-digit annual returns. I’m more interested in replacing my former income (and then some!) so that I am earning my worth at an amount that feels good to me. To me, that’s the most important thing. 

By focusing not on what other people are doing but instead on what would make my family’s life happy and comfortable, I hit my financial targets. Instead of focusing on some arbitrary number I heard from someone who made a few viral TikToks, I focus on earning a number that covers my bills, extras, and everything I could want in the near-term future. I focus on my unique situation.

Also, I have found that when building a slow-living business, you can’t focus just on making money because then you’ll start making decisions that don’t feel right to you deep in your gut. You’ll start acting counter-intuitively to your intuition, and the results will be terrible. Once you start sliding down the path of doing things that don’t feel right, then the abundance will stop.

Instead of focusing on money, you have to focus on your values. What do you most desire, and what do you most hold as true in your heart? These principles will most guide you toward building and maintaining a successful business.

Trust me, if you do things just for the money, it will feel icky. It will get harder and harder for you to make any progress. You’ll start making decisions you wouldn’t otherwise make. You’ll start skimping on the business tools and technologies you need but then overspending in areas that don’t matter. You’ll spend more time watching your bank accounts than leading with your heart. And that’s just a recipe for disaster (one I’ve cooked up more than once if I’m honest). 

But I promise: you don’t have to sell your soul to build a successful business.

Leading with Your Purpose

In my experience, a successful business comes when you lead with your purpose, not your bank account. This is where you’ll become most closely aligned with your soul’s path, your heart’s purpose, however you think of having a meaningful career. 

It’s about starting to mend your relationship with money. If you do that, sales don’t feel “icky,” money becomes a tool and a blessing, not a weapon or a curse, and you start making decisions from both your brain and your heart.

Your business will flourish when you learn how to improve your intuition and make decisions from carefully planned research and heart-led instincts. It’s about the balance. And if done well, you’ll never have to sell your soul to make a sale again.

Starting a Slow-Living Business without Sacrificing Your Soul

Great, you’re thinking: how do I put this all together to build my slow-living business? That’s a great question you’ll need to explore through careful research, planning, and following your gut.

First, think about something that truly excites you and how to turn that passion into a sustainable business. What’s something you love and are good at that you can do every day for the foreseeable future?

Next, mix those passions and skills with viable business ideas that allow you the freedom to be flexible with your time and interests. 

Finally, build a plan with actionable steps you will take to hit those goals and milestones. Make business goals with specifics on what you’ll achieve and when.

I’m not gonna lie. Running a business is hard. This is why it’s absolutely crucial that you build a business from the start that is going to build you up, not tear you down. This means aligning your business with your unique lifestyle and goals and following your values and principles no matter what.

Need help with building your small business? Download your FREE copy of my guide, 40+ Business Ideas for Slow-Living Entrepreneurs, and get started today!

Of course, hop in the comments below and let me know how your business journey is going! I’d love to hear your story.