How to Grow Your Business Without Selling Out
I've been coaching business owners for years now, and there's one struggle I see come up time and time again. So many entrepreneurs find themselves torn between staying true to their mission and making enough money to survive. They're constantly wrestling with this question: "Can I actually grow my business and stay aligned with who I am?"
I get it. I've been there myself.
Years ago, when I first started on YouTube, I learned this lesson the hard way. I started with zero subscribers, but within about a week or two, I gained around 100 subscribers. This was partly because I already had a decent following on Twitch. When I came over to YouTube, I wanted to be a professional gaming creator who made valuable, educational, data-driven content. I wanted to be respected in the gaming space as someone who was professional and provided genuinely valuable content.
It started off well. Within about a month, I grew to around 600 subscribers, which is pretty amazing for a new channel. But then something unexpected happened.
I got raided by an Australian football content creator. This raid pushed my subscribers up to about 3,000 within just a few days. It was something completely brand new for me. I had never experienced anything that massive, and it was amazing. I thought it was awesome. My viewership exploded, my watch time was incredible – I was getting 600-800 hours of watch time on streams that first week.
What drew people in was this whole "wow factor" of an American who knows nothing about Australian footy. They were fascinated. And in that moment, I made a choice that would end up costing me everything.
I decided that gaming content was going to be a slower path to growth, and I should leverage this new audience instead. My thinking was: "I'll make Australian football content for now, get monetized faster, and then eventually I can go back to gaming or maybe start a second channel."
In my mind, I was just taking a shortcut – sacrificing my original goals temporarily to make money sooner. But here's what actually happened...
After about 4-5 months, my channel completely died. The novelty of an American learning about Australian football wore off. The Australians stopped watching, and because the algorithm had shifted to pushing my content toward Australian viewers who were no longer interested, my gaming content wasn't reaching anyone either.
I had sacrificed everything I was naturally good at just to make some extra money, and it backfired completely. I remember posting what used to be a very popular type of gaming video and getting just one or two views. I was devastated.
I created a video asking my viewers whether I should make Australian content or gaming content – and got zero responses. Not a single view. That's when I realized I had not only lost my gaming community but the Australian community as well. I felt completely alone, like I was "garbage at everything."
I tried going back to Twitch, but none of my old followers were still there either. I had no one. Zero audience. Zero direction.
The Entrepreneurial Internal Dissonance
Looking back now, I interpret that YouTube season as my first entrepreneurial internal dissonance. I think every business owner and entrepreneur is gonna have internal dissonance. It's gonna happen a lot of times. I've noticed that it happens a lot.
Internal dissonance isn't always bad. Internal dissonance is when you have two conflicting ideas, thoughts, behaviors, actions, insights, or beliefs in your mind that cause dissonance within yourself. Something that you normally believe in, and then something else that seems to be true.
This shows up in many ways. In my case, it was the conflict between being a professional gamer creating content in that way, versus this other potential success path calling me. But sometimes it's your struggle with your own limiting beliefs – a belief that you are not worthy, you're not valid, you're not cared for. You believe that for so long, and then someone, something, some belief comes along and tells you otherwise – that you are worthy, that you are valid – and it causes internal dissonance. Or vice versa. You end up going one way or another, or you just stay stagnant.
I see this a lot in business now. A lot of people believe that they are not worthy to be wealthy. That they're not deserved to be treated like a business owner, like a true person of power. They don't deserve having their own time, their own essence. And whenever they start in business with me, we empower them. We give them tools. We pour into them the belief because we were there at some point, and we know if we were there at the same place, they will be as well.
Then it creates this internal dissonance for these new business owners and entrepreneurs, these up-and-coming financial professionals. We pour all this into them, and they're forced to make a choice – or risk getting stuck in the middle.
They have three paths: First, they can choose to believe in themselves, that they deserve success regardless of their situation. Second, they can reject these new beliefs, deciding they can't do it, won't succeed, or don't deserve it – and they quit. Or third, they get stuck in the middle – frozen, unable to make decisions because their internal dissonance is ripping them apart so much they might as well quit.
That's what happens with internal dissonance. So I was just going through an internal dissonance season of entrepreneurship at that point with my YouTube channel. Fortunately, I did not quit. I might have struggled for a little bit, but I didn't quit.
The 5 Anchors of Soulful Business Success
Through years of coaching business owners through this internal dissonance, I've developed what I call the "5 Anchors" framework. These are the elements that keep you grounded, authentic, and profitable without selling your soul:
Goals – Your direction
Values – Your compass
Principles – Your rules of conduct
Intentions – Your inner drivers
Presence – Your power to act now
Let's break these down...
1. Goals – You can't build what you haven't defined
When I coach entrepreneurs through goal setting, what I'm really trying to uncover aren't the surface-level targets like income, rank, or client count. I'm looking for the goals that will most fulfill them by providing value to other people.
The real goals have to be MASSIVE, huge visions that are above them – so massive and so big that if they don't happen, not only will the entrepreneur feel a total emptiness, but they'll know of the hundreds of thousands, if not MILLIONS of people whose lives will not be changed or will be negative or worse because they did not accomplish that goal.
Let me be clear: These goals must be so enormous that they feel almost overwhelming. I'm talking about the kind of vision that wakes you up at night because the weight of what you're NOT doing affects countless lives. If your goal doesn't create that level of purpose and responsibility, it's probably not big enough. I'm looking for goals that are so meaningful and impactful that failing to achieve them would mean a genuine loss to humanity – not just a personal disappointment. THOSE are the goals worth pursuing.
Here's the thing about income goals – people don't stick around just for income. They don't. Good people stick around for progress towards something meaningful. That's why creators will make content for years without making a single dollar. That's why people in my finance agency will persevere through months of little to no commission. They're seeing progress toward something that matters.
Think about it – on YouTube, creators will make content for years without making a single dollar from it. And it's because they see progress. They see themselves growing. They see their community getting larger. They see progressively more positive comments.
People in my finance agency – obviously, in finance, the best way to be paid is from the commission of helping others. In my agency, we don't charge our clients to help them out. But in other agencies, they do. They charge retainers or require minimums to work with them. But regardless, people don't stay in finance because of all the money they make upfront. In those first few weeks or months, they might not make any income at all, but they don't quit because they didn't make enough money. They quit because they didn't see progress.
Progress is what fulfills us. Not money itself. And this applies to any entrepreneur, any business owner, and even in regular employment. If you have a W-2 job, you don't stick around because of all the money you make. How often do we hear people quit because they didn't make enough money? It's not because they didn't make enough money – it's because the company, the business doesn't have values of constant growth.
They don't care if you grow or not. They don't care how many books you read or if you get a new degree. But if a company had values toward constant growth, that would mean they are pushing you to grow more beyond yourself so that you are more valuable, worth more money, and then they pay you more money because they're pushing you to grow. But most companies and jobs don't have values like that. They don't care if you grow or not.
And typically, a W-2 employee doesn't care about growing themselves either. So here's what happens: Because their company doesn't have values of constant growth and neither does the employee, they don't even see that there may be opportunities to make more money. That's why they assume they're quitting because of money, but really, it's because the company doesn't value their growth enough to pay them more money, OR they actually don't value their own growth, so they don't grow and the company doesn't pay them more or even show progress of it happening.
If you don't have values of constant growth, you don't make extra money. But if you don't see constant growth, you don't make progress. That's what bothers people. That's the biggest thing – lack of progress, not lack of income. People say they quit over money, but what they're really quitting over is the lack of growth that would have naturally led to more money.
When I coach someone through goal setting, I don't focus on income, rank, or client count. The real goals I'm trying to identify are the goals that will most fulfill them by providing value to other people. Those are the goals I'm trying to identify, and income is not one of those. The amount of money that you make is not one of those.
Your goals need to be written down like you're designing your legacy. If it's not written, it's not real. These goals need to be so compelling that they pull you forward even when things get tough. When I work with clients on their business plans, I'm looking for that massive vision – something bigger than themselves that creates meaning not just money.
2. Values – Results you enhance through your business
Values are things that you want to enhance because of your business or service, or even because of just your own efforts. But here's what most people miss about values – they should be enhanced in the lives of everyone who comes into contact with you and your business.
When people, customers, clients, business partners, donors, investors, and anyone interacts with you and your business, these values should be amplified in their lives as well. That's how you create a business with soul.
My own business values are honor, fidelity, royalty, and family.
Honor – We create the most esteemed reputation in the finance world, which typically has a bad reputation. I want to be an honorable leader and coach. I want honor to be enhanced in everyone's life. By me and my financial professionals showing consistent honor, I want all the lives of our clients to be enhanced. I want our clients to feel that as well. I want my business partners, my mentees that I coach, the people online in content creation – I want them all to have more honor because of their interactions with me and my company.
Fidelity – We are here for the life of others. When you come into contact with me, when you come into contact with someone from my team, someone from my office, someone from my company, we're here for the life of you. We are the most faithful to you. We treat each other with dignity and respect, and we are faithful individuals. Total fidelity.
Honor and fidelity are in my logo because we wear them proud on our chest, on our shirts, on our sleeves. At Royal Family Finance, these aren't just words – they're the visible foundation of everything we do.
Royalty – The royal family is small and exclusive, but not in the way most people think. True royalty isn't about looking down on others; it's about elevating everyone around you.
Real royalty doesn't believe in peasantry. They understand there's a working class and recognize the balance of different roles in society, but they don't see others as "lesser." Why? Because a true king or queen understands something profound: the strength of a ruler is measured by the strength of their kingdom.
No great monarch wants to rule over the weakest, poorest kingdom. A king's power isn't just in his crown – it's reflected in the prosperity of his people. For a leader to be truly royal, they must build something worth leading.
This applies directly to business. Many entrepreneurs separate themselves from their clients or team members, creating artificial hierarchies. But in my company, royalty means we recognize that our success is intertwined with the success of everyone we serve. We succeed when our clients succeed. We grow when our team grows.
Royalty is one of our top values because we want to enhance how people see themselves and those around them. When someone works with us, we want them to feel like royalty – not because we serve them hand and foot, but because we help them build their own kingdom of wealth, security, and opportunity.
Family – My definition of family goes beyond blood relations. I believe that family is created when people unite around a shared conviction to build a legacy larger than themselves.
In my company, we don't just serve families – we ARE a family. What bonds us isn't an office space or a common employer. What makes us family is our shared conviction to transform the financial industry and leave a legacy that extends far beyond our individual careers or lives.
Think about it – the strongest families have a common purpose that binds them together. This is exactly what we've built across every aspect of what I do. When someone joins any of my teams – whether it's my finance agency, coaching business, development projects, online communities, or content platforms – they're not just accepting a position or becoming a client or mentee. They're becoming part of a family united by the mission to elevate honor, fidelity, royalty, and legacy in a world that desperately needs these values.
Unfortunately, most people today focus solely on immediate gratification or personal achievement. They work at companies where everyone is just there for themselves. Without a larger shared purpose, they miss the opportunity to be part of something truly meaningful – a genuine business family.
This is why we can overcome challenges that break other organizations. When times get tough, we don't fracture, because we're not just connected by paychecks but by our collective commitment to building something that matters. Our shared conviction to create a legacy in financial services binds us together more strongly than any employment contract ever could.
Family isn't just a value we promote – it's who we are and how we operate every single day.
3. Principles – These are your business boundaries
My personal definition of principles: Principles are short phrases or sentences that you can easily remember, that you say often, that keep you from doing things that go against what you believe in. These are things that are non-negotiables. You will never sacrifice anything or go below these things regardless of whatever the situation.
Let me share some of my key principles:
You must double your income. This isn't about greed – it's about protection. Doubling your income protects you, your family, and prepares you for situations you cannot account for. When you get comfortable, you put yourself in a position to take losses and crumble because you're not looking to protect anything.
I had an agent once who wanted to quit his full-time job to focus entirely on finance. As proud as I was of his commitment, I told him: "You have not doubled your income yet. You cannot quit your full-time job. Your family deserves for you to double your income because how long in your life have you not had your income doubled? Obviously, forever."
Let me give you a scenario to illustrate why this principle matters... and I want you to really feel this one.
Imagine your daughter.
She's worked her ass off for all twelve years of school. Every single day. Late nights studying. Early mornings preparing. Straight A's across the board. President of student council. Leader in every extracurricular activity. She's put in the hours when other kids were playing video games or hanging out at the mall.
Year after year, you've watched her sacrifice. You've seen the determination in her eyes. You've wiped away her tears of exhaustion. You've celebrated her victories, small and large. You've been there, cheering her on, telling her that hard work pays off.
And then... the moment arrives.
That thick envelope comes in the mail. She tears it open with trembling fingers, and there it is – acceptance to her dream college. The one she's talked about since she was fourteen. The prestigious university that matches her ambition perfectly. You see the pure joy in her eyes. The validation of all those years of effort.
But then... reality sets in.
The financial aid package arrives. And it's not enough. Not nearly enough. The scholarships only cover a fraction because it's out of state. The rest would mean crushing debt – for her, for you, for your family.
And now comes the moment that will haunt you.
Your daughter stands before you, eyes still bright with hope and achievement, and you have to look her in the eyes and say:
"Baby girl... I know the hard work and effort you put in. I've seen it every day for years. You've earned this opportunity with everything you've got. But... we don't have the money to pay for that college without putting you into serious debt. And I know they won't give you enough financial aid because we make just enough to be disqualified, but not enough to actually afford it. So... what other colleges did you get into?"
Imagine that moment. The light dimming in her eyes. She'll love you still. She'll understand. She's mature and kind. But in that moment, something shifts. A dream deferred. Potential capped. Not because she didn't earn it, but because you didn't prepare for it.
That moment happens because you did not focus on the principle of doubling your income. You never know what situation will come up – but you can be damn sure that situations WILL come up.
Know what you're good at. People know what they suck at. Ask them what they could improve on, and they'll give you a list of weaknesses. But ask what they're great at, and they struggle. If you don't know what you're great at, how are you going to repeat what got you there? You can't.
When you start something new, understand you're not really starting anything new. You never are new at anything. This is just your first time doing it in this way. People start in my finance business all the time, and they feel completely new because it's entrepreneurship and finance and money and insurances and retirements and debt and estate planning and getting licensed and certifications and time management... But all of these things you've done before, you just have not done it in this pattern.
Your income only grows to the extent that you do. I got this from "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind," and it's absolutely true. If you're not constantly growing, your income will not grow. You must double yourself first. People always say "When I get more money, I'll be able to read more" or "When I get more money, I'll have more time." No. You have to grow your ability to make your own time. You have to do what you need to do to grow yourself before your income does. Because if you're not the person who can acquire the money, you don't know what to do with it. You're going to reject it. It'll somehow be lost to you.
4. Intentions – Know the why behind the why
My three intention questions are:
What are your intentions?
Why are those your intentions?
Is this the right place, avenue, platform, business, idea, path for those intentions to play out?
These questions guide why you do anything so deeply that they challenge you to identify why you're doing whatever you're doing. They keep you on the right path and help you shut out extra stuff that doesn't align with your goals, values, and principles.
When asking these questions, you have to continue to pull layers back for each one. Don't just write down one answer or one reason for each question. You have to ask yourself, "But why is that?" for every question until you get so deep that you know the exact reason why you do what you do. It needs to be so deep that you can't ever quit doing what you do because of those intentions.
Let me give you an example of how these questions work in practice:
Imagine you're considering investing in the stock market. Here's how you'd use the intention questions:
Question 1: "What are my intentions for investing in the stock market?" Your answer: "To grow some quick money."
Deeper inquiry: "Why do I want to grow some quick money?" Your answer: "For a summer vacation."
Even deeper: "Why do I need money for summer vacation?" Your answer: "To have a really good vacation."
Going further: "Why do I need to put money in the stock market specifically to have a good vacation?" Your answer: "Because I could potentially grow a lot of money quickly."
Question 2: "Why are those your intentions?" Your answer: "I'm putting money in the stock market for vacation because there's no other way for me to grow money."
Challenge yourself: "Is there really no other way?" Honest reflection: "Well, I could work overtime or do some Uber driving..."
Reality check: "So it doesn't have to be the stock market, does it?" Your realization: "No, it doesn't have to be."
Question 3: "Is the stock market the right place for these intentions?" Honest assessment: "No, because if I put money in the stock market and it goes down, then I don't have money for a summer vacation at all."
By being a ruthless devil's advocate with yourself, you've just saved yourself from a potentially poor financial decision that wasn't aligned with your true intentions. This is the power of clear intention-setting.
You should be the most honest devil's advocate when asking yourself these questions. That way, you get real answers, and you achieve peace and alignment with what you're looking for in the present moment.
Now, let me share another example that's close to my heart:
Example: Joining a Finance Agency with Purpose
I see this all the time when people consider joining my finance agency. They come in saying, "I want to help people not struggle with money." That's a start, but it's not deep enough to sustain them through the challenges of building a finance career. Here's how the intention questions transform their "why":
Question 1: "What are my intentions for joining this finance agency?" Initial answer: "I want to help people not struggle financially."
Deeper inquiry: "Why do you want to help people with their finances specifically?" Their answer: "Because I've seen what financial struggle does to families."
Even deeper: "What have you seen happen to families with financial struggles?" Their answer: "I watched my parents work three jobs and still lose our home during the recession. It tore our family apart."
Going further: "How did that experience affect you personally?" Their answer: "I felt helpless watching my parents suffer. I promised myself I'd never let another family feel that way if I could help it."
Question 2: "Why are those your intentions?" Their answer: "Because I believe financial security is the foundation of family stability."
Challenge yourself: "Is it just about preventing negative outcomes, or is there something you want to create?" Honest reflection: "I want to create generational change. I want to show families that financial empowerment can transform not just their bank accounts but their relationships, their health, their legacy."
Reality check: "What impact would it have on you to successfully help families this way?" Their realization: "It would heal something in me too. Every family I help is, in a way, helping that scared kid I once was."
Question 3: "Is a finance agency the right place for these intentions to play out?" Honest assessment: "Yes, because here I can learn systems that actually work, be surrounded by others with similar missions, and have tools that can create real change for families. I don't just want to talk about financial problems – I want to solve them."
Devil's advocate: "In the finance industry, many people will reject you. For every 'yes' you might get 20 'nos.' Are you positive this is the place for your intentions?" Deeper reflection: "Those rejections will hurt, especially at first. But each rejection gets me closer to the families who actually need my help. I'm not here to help everyone – I'm here to help the ones who are ready for change."
Harder challenge: "Can you be sure that you'll push through that adversity when families don't want your assistance? These are the exact families you want to help, and their rejection might cut deeper because of your intentions." Honest self-assessment: "That's a powerful point. Because my intentions are so personal – to help families avoid what happened to mine – it will hurt more when those exact people reject me. Each 'no' might feel like failing my own family all over again. But that's also why I won't give up easily. My parents didn't have someone persistent enough to break through their fear and distrust. I can be that person for others, even when it hurts. The pain of rejection is temporary, but the regret of not helping would be permanent."
Even tougher question: "Are you also sure you can take care of those families if they've got massive accounts but still aren't happy? Or what about families in horrible situations that might terrify you – situations you can't fix?" Raw realization: "That's actually my biggest fear – that I won't be enough or know enough to help. But that's why I need the systems and training that come with this agency. I can't help everyone, and I can't fix everything. But I can connect people to resources, build my expertise over time, and be honest about what I can and cannot solve. Sometimes just having someone care enough to try is what people need most."
Now THAT'S an intention that will sustain someone through the challenges of building a finance career. When the late nights, rejection, and learning curve get tough, it's not just about "helping people with money" anymore. It's about fulfilling a deep personal mission born from their own experience.
When I work with new team members to uncover this level of intention, their retention rate triples, their client service improves dramatically, and most importantly, they find fulfillment beyond just income. This isn't just theory – I've watched it transform careers and lives in my company.
You should be the most honest devil's advocate when asking yourself these questions. That way, you get real answers, and you achieve peace and alignment with what you're looking for in the present moment.
5. Presence – Stop time traveling in your mind
I want to talk about Frozen 2 for a moment. It has so many adult themes that are overlooked. There's a moment where Anna loses everything – her sister, Olaf melts, she doesn't know where her fiancé is, her kingdom is going to be flooded, and she discovers her grandparents were frauds who harmed many people. She's literally at the bottom of a deep, dark cave with no way out.
She starts singing about how she's been down before, but not like this. The lyrics express her feelings:
Song lyrics from Frozen 2:
"This is cold. This is empty.
This is numb. The life I knew is over.
The lights are out. Hello darkness. I'm ready to succumb."
These are the feelings we experience when thinking about the past. When life feels heavy, uncertain, or overwhelming, our mind often travels back—searching for old patterns, trying to make sense of new pain through past reference points. We compare our current struggles to those we've endured before, sometimes magnifying them unintentionally. And when those memories are painful or unresolved, it leads to spiraling—grief, guilt, shame, or hopelessness. That's where Anna finds herself: consumed by what’s already happened, questioning her strength, and grieving everything she’s lost.
But then, something shifts. She continues singing, and the lyrics pivot into a moment of gentle clarity and command. A quiet inner voice begins to speak—a voice not of the past, but of the present. A voice we all need to listen for in our hardest moments.
Song lyrics from Frozen 2:
"But a tiny voice whispers in my mind, You are lost, hope is gone.
But you must go on and do the next right thing."
This is profound because it shows that when you rephrase your feelings from how it's felt before to what you're feeling right now, you remove the past. Depression is just focusing your energy on the past. But when you bring yourself to the present – yes, you are lost; yes, hope is gone – you regain control. You stop giving power to things that are already over or haven’t happened yet. That’s the shift. And in that shift, you start to reclaim your clarity. When I first heard that line in the movie, it was like a punch to the chest, I actually started crying—but in a good way. It reminded me that pain doesn’t need to be resolved to move forward. Sometimes, it just needs to be acknowledged so we can stop resisting it and take that first breath. That first step. That next right thing.
She goes on with lyrics that express:
Song lyrics from Frozen 2:
"I won't look too far ahead, It's too much for me to take."
When we're struggling and see that tiny speck of light at the top of the cave, focusing on how hard that journey will be is overwhelming. It stirs up anxiety—not just about the work ahead, but about whether we're even capable of finishing it. Your mind starts racing: 'What if I fail again? What if I climb halfway and still fall? What if it's too late or I'm too far behind?' That anxiety builds because the future is undefined, and our brains hate uncertainty. We try to calculate every step, every risk, every outcome—and end up paralyzing ourselves. That's why the focus must shift from the full climb to the next foothold. Just one breath. One movement. One moment of courage grounded in the present, not the pressure of a thousand imagined tomorrows. So just break it down:
Song lyrics from Frozen 2:
"This next breath, this next step, This next choice is one that I can make."
You can make the very next step. When you focus on decisions too far in the future, that's what brings anxiety. You must stay present and grounded in yourself now.
I see so many business owners, entrepreneurs, content creators constantly struggling with either the past or the future, not staying grounded in the present. But the present is where your principles and values are. The present is where you can take the next step toward your goals.
When I compromised my YouTube channel, I was relating to how long it had taken me to get monetized on Twitch, and I was fearful about running out of content to make. I wasn't present. I wasn't grounded in the now, with what I had and what I was great at.
Being present helps me make the right next move when everything feels like too much. It helps me ask: What am I doing today that will enhance those values in other people? What are my intentions for doing those today? Do my intentions align with my goals?
Staying present means giving yourself permission to let go of what was and not drown in what could be. It means getting out of your head and into your current reality—one breath, one action, one decision at a time.
I coach people all the time who are living in fear of what might happen if they fail, or guilt over what they didn't do years ago. And every time, I bring them back to the question: What's the next right step you can take today? That’s the only question that really matters.
Presence isn’t about pretending the past doesn’t hurt or the future doesn’t matter—it’s about refusing to let either one own you. It’s about taking back your power by choosing now.
Right now is where your ability to move lives. Right now is where your peace begins.
The Wealth Mindset: Value vs. Time
There’s one more critical piece to selling with soul that many entrepreneurs miss: Rich people get paid based on value. Poor people get paid based on time.
When you choose to be paid based on your time, you default to the belief that working more hours or staying "busy" equals income. But here’s the truth most people never consider—time is everywhere. Everyone has it. Everyone spends it. In economic terms, it’s a high-supply, low-demand commodity. And anything that’s abundant and undifferentiated will never be worth much.
Value, however, is different.
Value is demand. It solves pain. It creates opportunity. It transforms people. And because of that—it pays. Over and over again.
Why the 5 Anchors Matter
Now let’s connect this to the rest of the article—because this isn’t just about money. It’s about mindset. The value-based entrepreneur thinks differently in every area of their business. If you want to build wealth without selling out, you need to filter your entire business through these 5 Anchors:
1. Goals Based on Value, Not Time
If your goals are just to “make $5K a month” or “replace your job income,” you’re still thinking like someone trading time. Instead, your goals should be rooted in value creation:
Who are you here to help?
How many lives do you want to impact?
What problem will you solve that no one else can solve like you?
You don’t grow by trying to hit a number. You grow by trying to change something.
2. Values That Create Value
Most people think values are just words you hang on a wall or toss into a mission statement—things like "integrity," "trust," or "excellence." But those aren’t values unless they’re actively being created and experienced.
Your values are the emotions, experiences, and beliefs that are supposed to get stronger in the lives of others when they encounter your business. They're not just what you stand for—they’re what you stand to multiply.
If you say you value family, then every client interaction should make people feel closer to their own. If you value honor, your process, your messaging, your follow-through should restore faith in your industry.
Value is not a concept—it’s an experience you give away.
This is why I say: values are not what you say no to. Values are what you fight to enhance. They are the return on interaction people receive from you.
So when you’re getting paid for value instead of time, ask yourself—what actual value do your values provide?
Because if your values aren’t showing up in your systems, your content, your client relationships, or your team culture—you’re not creating transformation.
You’re just offering time.
3. Principles That Protect the Value
People think principles are nice-sounding phrases for vision boards—motivational quotes or moral guidelines. But principles are way more than that.
Principles are the pre-decided decisions that protect your legacy.
When things get tough, your principles are what you fall back on. When opportunity tempts you to drift, your principles keep you grounded.
Your principles stop you from selling your time, your integrity, or your direction just because it’s easier.
They become the voice that reminds you, "This might look like a shortcut, but it's actually a setback in disguise."
If you're not building your business on principles, you’re building it on pressure. And when pressure rises, you’ll crack—because you don’t have a structure holding you up.
Principles are that structure. They filter your decisions, align your actions, and preserve your long-term vision—no matter how attractive a quick win looks in the moment.
When you get paid based on value, not time, principles are what ensure that value stays pure, purposeful, and profitable.
4. Intentions That Keep the Value Focused
Without clear intentions, it’s easy to drift back into time-trading. You start checking off tasks instead of asking, “What am I actually trying to do here?”
When you use the 3 intention questions—
What are my intentions?
Why are those my intentions?
Is this the right place for them to play out?—
…you filter out the fluff. You stop wasting time in the name of effort. And you start doing the work that actually moves people—and your business—forward.
5. Presence That Delivers the Value
This is where it all lands.
Because value isn’t delivered in the future. It’s not something you “build up to” once you’ve hit 10K followers or get hired by the right client.
Value is delivered right now. In the way you respond. In the quality of your next post. In how you speak to that one client. In your ability to stay grounded when everything feels like too much.
Presence is how you access your value-generating power.
When you're stuck in the past, you're trying to prove something. When you're stuck in the future, you're trying to control something. But when you're present? You're available to serve. You're available to lead.
Bringing It All Together
The man who stands for nothing will fall for anything – and that was me with my YouTube channel. I had goals, but I didn't have specific principles or values. So when opportunity knocked, I compromised what I truly wanted to do for what seemed easier.
But here's what I've learned since then: wealthy doesn't always mean wealthy in money. True wealth comes from relationships, growth, values, and staying aligned with who you are. When you build a business with soul – anchored in clear goals, strong values, non-negotiable principles, honest intentions, and present-moment awareness – you create something that not only makes money but also makes a difference.
You don't have to choose between being successful and being true to yourself. The path might be longer, but it's infinitely more fulfilling. And ironically, when you stop chasing shortcuts and start delivering genuine value, that's when the real growth happens.
So ask yourself today: What are the goals, values, principles, intentions, and presence choices that will help you sell with soul? Your answers to these questions will guide you toward a business that not only sustains you financially but also fulfills you personally.
And remember – do the next right thing. That's all any of us can do.
