What Does an Intentional Business Look Like?
We often ask, "What does my business need from me?"
But how often do we ask the opposite: "What do I need from my business?"
Time off. Freedom. Flexibility. Peace of mind. Financial stability.
If we only ask the first question, we risk letting our business take more than we ever intended to give. More growth means more work, longer hours, and less time for what truly matters.
But this was always supposed to be about building a life you love, not losing yourself in the process.
An intentional business is one that is designed around the life you want to live. It earns the money you deserve while giving you the time and freedom to enjoy your ideal lifestyle. It grows, but not at the expense of your health, relationships, or sanity. It is built on the principle that your business should serve your life, not the other way around.
That is what I have spent the last 6 years building. And it is what I help other business owners create through my coaching.
My Journey From Burnout to Balance
There was a period in my life, not long ago, when I felt completely out of control with my time.
I was in a corporate job and fully burnt out from years of constant business travel. I was away 2 to 3 weeks per month with endless days in airports and hotels across North America. My work was slowly but seriously eroding the quality of my life.
My physical and mental health were suffering. I was often so tired I could not think clearly. I was crushed by anxiety and insomnia that lasted for over a year. I felt like a zombie for months, dragging myself through days with barely enough energy to function.
When I finally reached my breaking point, I vowed to never give up control of my time again. To never sacrifice my health and happiness for my work. Because life is too short to struggle through each day in exchange for money.
So I started looking for a different way to work. I found inspiring people who were growing businesses that supported their ideal lifestyle instead of consuming it. And I decided to take a shot at creating that for myself.
I wrote down my top 3 priorities for any work I would do moving forward:
No more than 40 hours per week with no work on weekends. The ability to work when I want from wherever I want. No limit on vacation days and time off.
I knew I would have to accept earning less money initially, but my freedom and enjoyment of life are worth so much more to me.
What My Intentional Business Looks Like Today
With clear priorities and values, I have been able to make my business fit my life instead of making my life fit my business.
Today, I work 25 to 35 hours per week. I take 2 months of vacation every year. I do not work nights or weekends. I do not wake up to an alarm. I start my day with reading or a walk before I sit down to work. I exercise for an hour every day. I have the freedom to travel whenever I want.
I have grown multiple 6 and 7-figure service businesses, in consulting, home services, and coaching, while maintaining these boundaries. The businesses are profitable and growing. My clients get excellent results. And I have the energy, clarity, and enthusiasm to keep showing up because I am not running myself into the ground.
I have made tradeoffs along the way. I chose to earn less in certain periods while building new businesses. I turned down opportunities that would have been lucrative but would have required more hours than I was willing to give. I said no to growth strategies that would have scaled revenue faster but at the cost of my time.
Every one of those tradeoffs was worth it. Because I will never go back to grinding. I know what it cost me, and the life I have now is proof that there is a better way.
The Question That Changes Everything
You did not start your business to feel constantly overwhelmed and overworked. You did it for the freedom, flexibility, and control over your life.
But as your business grows, so does the workload. More clients, more demands, more stress, and less time for what matters most. Working harder is only taking you further away from the life you want. It is a frustrating paradox.
The question that changed everything for me, and that I now ask every client, is this:
What do you need from your business?
Not what it needs from you. What you need from it.
When I ask business owners this question, the answers are remarkably consistent. They want enough income to live comfortably without constant financial stress. They want control over their schedule. They want the freedom to take time off without the business collapsing. They want to do work they enjoy. They want to be present with their families. They want to feel good at the end of the day, not depleted.
None of those answers are unreasonable. And none of them require you to sacrifice everything for your business. They require you to design your business intentionally, with your life as the starting point rather than an afterthought.
What Makes a Business Intentional
An intentional business is not about working less or earning less. It is about being deliberate with how you structure your work so that it produces the results you want without consuming your entire life.
Here is what that looks like in practice:
You define "enough" before you chase more. Most business owners chase revenue without ever deciding what number would actually provide the life they want. They blow past their real needs and keep pushing for more, then wonder why more money did not make them happier. An intentional business starts with a clear picture of the life you want and then designs the revenue model to support it.
Your schedule serves you, not the other way around. In an intentional business, you decide when you work, not your clients, not your inbox, and not the latest crisis. You set boundaries on your hours and protect them. You schedule your most important personal commitments first and build your work around them.
Growth creates more freedom, not less. This is the critical shift. In most businesses, growth means the owner works more. In an intentional business, growth is designed to reduce the owner's workload. That means building systems, hiring support, delegating progressively, and ensuring that every new level of revenue comes with more time back, not less.
You reduce the dependency on you. The most important structural change in an intentional business is making yourself less essential to the daily operations. That does not mean you stop caring or stop contributing. It means you build a business that can function well without your involvement in every task, every decision, and every client interaction. That is what creates real freedom.
You measure success by how you feel, not just what you earn. Revenue is important. Profit matters. But in an intentional business, the ultimate measure of success is whether you are enjoying the life your business provides. If you are earning more than ever but you are exhausted, stressed, and missing out on what matters, that is not success. If you are earning enough to live well and you have time, energy, and freedom to enjoy your life, that is.
Why I Built The Intentional Business
When I started coaching, I knew there was demand for support among business owners who feel overworked and overwhelmed. But I have been amazed by the response from people who are craving more freedom and balance in their lives.
My mission is to help owners create an intentional business that balances financial success with personal fulfillment. That means earning the money you deserve while having the time and freedom to enjoy your ideal lifestyle.
You should not have to grind and sacrifice the quality of your life for the success of your business. You can have both.
I work with business owners who are successful but trapped. Their business is growing, but it has taken over their life. They are ready to make the shift from maximizing effort to reducing the dependency on them. They want to go from overwhelmed operator to intentional leader.
Here is what that shift has looked like for some of my clients:
One client went from working 7 days a week, often 12 hours per day, to stopping work on nights and weekends within 3 months, while growing a more profitable business. He even took his first vacation in years.
Another went from 84 hours per week to 35, hitting her growth goals while finally enjoying her time and freedom.
Another scaled to 7-figure annual revenue and is now on track for 8 figures, all while building stronger systems, leadership depth, and accountability across the team.
These are not stories about people who stopped being ambitious. They are stories about people who got intentional about how they channel their ambition.
How to Start Building Your Intentional Business
If the way you are working is not giving you what you need, it is time to make a change. Here is where to start.
Get clear on what you truly want your business to provide. Write down the non-negotiables for your ideal life. How many hours do you want to work? How much income do you need? How much time off do you want? What does a great day look like? These answers become the design specifications for your business.
Audit where your time goes today. Track your hours for a week and categorize them. How much of your time is spent on work that only you can do? How much is spent on tasks that could be handled by someone else? The gap between those two numbers is your opportunity.
Make one change this week. You do not need to transform your entire business overnight. Pick one boundary to set, one task to delegate, or one commitment to protect. The momentum builds from there.
Ask for help. The business owners who build intentional businesses the fastest are the ones who do not try to figure it out alone. A coach, a mentor, or even a peer group can provide the outside perspective, accountability, and strategic guidance that accelerates the transition.
Work is a big part of our life, but it does not have to be our whole life. You have the ability to design a business that works for you, that meets your financial needs while protecting your time, health, and freedom.
That is what an intentional business looks like. And it is available to you right now if you are willing to make the shift.
If you are ready to build a business that supports your life instead of taking it over, book a free growth strategy call and we will map out the fastest path to creating your intentional business.
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