Why Your Business Needs to Reflect Your Values

Have you ever felt like something was missing in your business? Maybe you’re checking all the boxes—hitting goals, following the latest guru’s strategies, and even seeing success on paper—but deep down, something still feels off.

Perhaps you’re not serving the people you truly want to help. Maybe the daily grind of running your business feels uninspiring—or, worse, draining. Maybe the connections, sales, or impact you envisioned aren’t materializing the way you’d hoped. Or perhaps it’s a vague, nagging feeling you can’t quite put your finger on—just a sense that your business, and maybe even your life, aren’t where you want them to be.

That unease you feel? It’s worth paying attention to. It could be your intuition whispering that something isn’t quite right.

Chances are, your business isn’t fully aligned with your values. And when that happens, even the best strategies and intentions can fall flat.

When your business reflects your values, everything changes. It stops being just a way to make a living and becomes a true extension of who you are. That’s the magic zone where work feels meaningful, decisions flow naturally, and your efforts leave a lasting impact—not just on your clients but on your own sense of fulfillment and joy.

Building a business that aligns with your values isn’t just about success; it’s about creating a business and life that feels true to you. When you’re clear about what you stand for and let those principles guide your actions, you set yourself up for a deeper sense of purpose—and the kind of impact that lights you up.

When Your Business Feels Off-Track

Running a business that doesn’t align with your values can lead to burnout, resentment, and even a loss of trust from your audience. When that happens, it’s time to pause and ask yourself the big question: Why am I doing this in the first place?

Let’s be honest: if you’re going to feel constantly stressed, wouldn’t it be easier to work for someone else? (At least then you’d have paid time off!) But that’s not why you’re here, right? You started this business for a reason—your why.

Your why is the foundation that supports everything you do. It’s what keeps you going when things get tough, inspires you to innovate, and reminds you of what truly matters. If you’re feeling off track, revisit your why. Write it down. Stick it on a post-it next to your desk if you need to. If your why has changed, acknowledge it and adjust. If it hasn’t, reconnect with it and let it guide you back to what’s most important.

For me, my why is clear: I never want to work for someone else again. The thought of a 9-to-5 job, reporting to someone else, and giving up the freedom I’ve built makes my stomach churn. That gut-level dread motivates me to keep going, even when business is challenging. It pushes me to experiment, adapt, and persevere because my why is non-negotiable.

When your business isn’t aligned with your core values, it’s like trying to run a marathon in shoes that don’t fit. Sure, you might make it to the finish line, but every step will hurt.

For example, burnout is inevitable if one of your core values is work-life balance but your business requires you to work around the clock. Or, if you value authenticity but feel pressured to follow cookie-cutter marketing tactics, you’ll likely end up feeling disconnected from your brand. That disconnection affects everything—your energy, confidence, and even the results you see. When you’re not aligned with your values, it shows, and your audience can feel it.

The good news? You can always reset. Reevaluate your why, reflect on what truly matters, and find ways to shift your business back into alignment with your values. Because when your business aligns with who you are, every step feels more intentional, impactful, and fulfilling.

Recognizing When You’re Out of Alignment

Sometimes, we get so caught up in the day-to-day hustle of running a business that we don’t even notice when things are out of sync. Stress, dread over certain tasks, or simply going through the motions without the spark of excitement that initially drew you to entrepreneurship can all be signs that something’s off. But how do you know when it’s more than just a rough patch?

This is where listening to your intuition becomes key. Your intuition is like a quiet guide, nudging you when something doesn’t feel right. It often appears as a gut feeling, a nagging thought, or even physical discomfort when faced with certain decisions or activities. Pay attention to those moments—they are often your inner wisdom trying to tell you something important.

When you feel off, your why can act as a compass, helping you find your way back to what truly matters. Pause and reflect: Are your daily activities moving you closer to your core purpose, or are they pulling you further away? Ask yourself these questions:

• Do I feel energized or drained by my work?

• Am I dreading specific tasks or avoiding them altogether?

• Is my business supporting the life I want, or is it taking me further from it?

If the answers point to misalignment, it’s time to dig deeper. Let your intuition guide you in identifying the root cause. Are you saying yes to things that don’t align with your values? Are you operating in a way that feels inauthentic or forced? Often, these misalignments stem from ignoring the subtle cues your intuition gives you.

Pro Tip: Start making space to listen. That might mean journaling, meditating, or simply sitting quietly and reflecting on what feels good and what doesn’t in your business. These moments of stillness can help you recognize patterns and reconnect with your core values.

Your intuition is a powerful tool. When paired with your why, it can help you course-correct and make decisions that feel aligned and purposeful. Trust it—it’s there to guide you toward the business and life you’re meant to create.

Why Staying True to Your Values Matters

When you ignore your values in pursuit of success, you might achieve some goals on paper—but at what cost? A business that doesn’t reflect your why can leave you feeling drained, uninspired, and even resentful.

Think about it: if your why is freedom and flexibility, but your business has you glued to your laptop 24/7, it’s going to feel like a betrayal of your original purpose. Or, if your why is connection and authenticity, but you’re following marketing strategies that feel manipulative or off-brand, you’ll struggle to show up in a way that resonates with your audience.

Reflecting on your why regularly can help you course-correct before you hit a breaking point.

Resetting Your Business to Align with Your Values

Getting back into alignment starts with reconnecting to your why. Ask yourself:

• What inspired me to start this business in the first place?

• How do I want my business to feel, both for me and for my clients/customers?

• What values do I want to center in my work?

Once you’re clear on your why, look at your business model, marketing, and daily routines. Are there areas where you’re operating out of alignment? Small adjustments—like delegating tasks that don’t light you up, shifting your service offerings, or tweaking your messaging—can make a huge difference.

Pro Tip: Alignment isn’t about getting it perfect—it’s about staying intentional. Think of it as a living process: checking in, reflecting, and adjusting as you and your business grow together.

Building a Values-Based Business for the Long Term

When your business reflects your why, it becomes a natural extension of who you are. Decision-making feels clearer, your work feels more meaningful, and you show up with confidence because you know you’re building something that matters.

Ready to align your business with your values? My Find Your Purpose Framework is designed to help you dig deep into your "why," clarify your values, and build a business that feels authentically you. Learn how to reconnect with what matters most and create a purpose-driven business that supports your slow-living lifestyle.

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.