Starting Up Your Dream Business

When starting up their business, there’s a sneaky trap that a lot of entrepreneurs fall into. You start your business with dreams of freedom—flexible schedules, working from anywhere, spending more time with family—and before you know it, you’re chained to your laptop, drowning in deadlines, and wondering if you accidentally recreated the very 9-to-5 you were trying to escape.

Sound familiar?

Here’s the thing: Starting up a business you actually like doesn’t happen by accident. It requires intentional design, honest reflection, and a willingness to let go of the “hustle harder” mentality that’s been drilled into us.

Let’s talk about how to create a business that supports your lifestyle goals—one that feels fulfilling, flexible, and fun.

Why Freedom Should Be Your First Metric of Success When Starting Up

When we talk about success, we often default to external markers: revenue, client rosters, social media followers. And while those things are important, they’re not the whole picture.

Freedom—the ability to design your days, say no to things that don’t align, and work on your own terms—should be a core metric of success. Why? Because it’s the reason most of us started up this entrepreneurial journey in the first place.

Case in Point:
One of my clients was starting up and running a thriving photography business, shooting 40+ weddings a year. From the outside, she looked wildly successful. But inside? She was burnt out, exhausted, and missing out on her kids’ milestones.

We worked together to redesign her business. She raised her prices, limited her bookings to 10 weddings a year, and launched a passive income stream through online photography courses. Today, she makes the same income with a fraction of the workload—and finally has the freedom she was craving.

Step 1 For Starting Up Successfully: Define Your Lifestyle Goals

Before starting up, you need to know what you want it to support.

Ask Yourself:

What does your ideal day look like?
How many hours do you want to work each week?
Where do you want to work—from home, a coworking space, or anywhere in the world?
What’s most important to you—family time, travel, creative projects, health?

Pro Tip: Be specific. “I want balance” is vague. “I want to work 25 hours a week and pick my kids up from school every day” gives you a clear target.

Step 2 For Starting Up Successfully: Build Around Your Strengths (Not Someone Else’s Playbook)

It’s tempting to look at what other entrepreneurs are doing and try to copy their model when startinup. But their business isn’t your business—and their strengths aren’t your strengths.

Case in Point:
A client of mine wanted to launch a digital marketing agency because she saw others thriving in that space. But the more we talked, the more she realized she didn’t enjoy managing teams or handling multiple client accounts. What she did love was consulting, so we shifted her focus to becoming a freelance marketing consultant. Within months, she was earning more than she had at her old corporate job—working solo, on projects she genuinely enjoyed.

Pro Tip: Lean into what lights you up. When your business is aligned with your strengths and passions, work feels less like a grind and more like flow.

Step 3 For Starting Up Successfully: Set Boundaries Early and Stick to Them

Boundaries aren’t just about saying no—they’re about protecting your energy, time, and priorities. Without clear boundaries, your business can easily take over your life.

Tips for Setting Boundaries When Starting Up:

Define Your Work Hours: Decide when you’re “on” and “off,” and communicate that to clients.
Create Clear Processes: Automate repetitive tasks and set expectations upfront to minimize back-and-forth.
Learn to Say No: Not every opportunity is the right one. If it doesn’t align with your goals, it’s okay to pass.

Case in Point:
A friend of mine *cough cough* was answering emails at all hours and taking client calls on weekends. She felt like she had to be constantly available to keep her business afloat. When she finally worked on setting clear boundaries: no work emails after 6 PM, no calls on weekends, and a detailed onboarding process to set expectations. The result? She started working fewer hours and attracting better clients who respected her boundaries.

Step 4 For Starting Up Successfully: Prioritize Simplicity Over Scale

There’s a lot of pressure in the entrepreneurial world to scale—bigger teams, more offers, higher revenue. But scaling isn’t for everyone. Sometimes, simplicity is the key to happiness.

Ask Yourself:

Do you want a big team, or do you prefer to work solo or with a small group of collaborators?
Do you want to offer a variety of services, or would you rather focus on one core offer?
What’s “enough” for you—financially, emotionally, creatively?

Case in Point:
A coaching client of mine was running herself ragged trying to scale her business with multiple offers: group coaching, online courses, and 1:1 sessions. She was overwhelmed and spread too thin. We pared everything down to one premium 1:1 offer. Her workload dropped, her income stayed steady, and she finally had time to enjoy the life she was building.

Step 5 For Starting Up Successfully: Build Flexibility Into Your Business Model

The beauty of starting up your own business is that it doesn’t have to look the same every year—or even every month. A business you like today might not be the same as a business you like five years from now.

Pro Tip: Choose a model that allows you to pivot when needed. That could mean offering evergreen products, diversifying income streams, or building systems that let your business run without you.

Case in Point:
I designed my own business to be portable and flexible because I love traveling. My offers—like my Expedition Solopreneur Cohort and 1:1 guidance—are structured to fit into a lifestyle that lets me work from anywhere. That’s the freedom I care about, and it’s baked into everything I do.

Final Thoughts on Starting Up: Success Should Feel Good

A business you actually like isn’t about working 24/7 to hit arbitrary revenue goals or impressing others with your “hustle.” It’s about starting up something that aligns with your life, your values, and your definition of freedom.

You don’t need to follow someone else’s playbook. You don’t need to grind yourself into the ground. You just need to be intentional, honest with yourself, and willing to design a business that feels like you.

Because at the end of the day, success isn’t just about what you achieve—it’s about how you feel while achieving it.

Ready to start up a business that feels like freedom? Join my next Expedition Solopreneur Cohort to design a plan that supports your goals and lifestyle.