The money-first trap

Last week, I walked away from guaranteed annual revenue from a partner business that I admire.

They were excited, and the payment was intriguing, but it would have added a lot of work (and too many Slack notifications) to my weekly schedule.

So I passed.

I would have jumped at this opportunity three years ago, regardless of how much work it added to my plate. But I've learned something valuable building this business:

More money doesn't necessarily mean a better life.

I’ve learned (the hard way, I admit) that my goal isn't to build the biggest business possible. It's to create the best life possible. And my business exists to support my life, not to consume it.

As a Solopreneur, this can be a dicey game.

The Money-First Trap

If you scroll through LinkedIn or Twitter, you'll see the same story repeated ad nauseam:

"I worked 100-hour weeks for five years and built an 8-figure business."

They'll tell you it's the only way. The best way. The “masculine” way!

They'll make you feel lazy for wanting to have a day off.

‍“I’ll sleep when I’m dead, bro!”

LOL.

I always laugh when I see this kind of content because what they don’t tell you is the cost of those decisions. The missed moments with loved ones. The health issues from stress. The relationships that crumble. The people who get sick and tired of you prioritizing your work over everything else. The sense of purposelessness that hits when you realize money alone doesn't bring a sense of fulfillment.

I know because I’ve watched many friends build their "dream businesses" this way, and I’ve suffered from this myself.

One of my friends made $3.2 million last year! He also got divorced, has a strained relationship with his kids, and confessed in our WhatsApp group that he feels “empty inside.”

All that money bought him a beautiful house, and he's just too busy (and alone) to enjoy it now.

A Different Path Exists

Don’t let me fool you — I work on my business every day, and I like hitting revenue milestones and watching my business grow. It’s fun to work toward numbers that, not long ago, seemed out of reach.

But these days, I try my best to balance my business growth with other things that contribute toward a fulfilling life.

I usually work between 30-40 hours per week. I have dinner with my wife every single night. And we try to go out for lunch whenever we can. I take vacations where I drastically reduce my work hours. And I generally sleep eight hours a night and start each day with a long walk. When it’s time to unwind, I like to read books (that aren't about business).

Most importantly, I wake up excited about my work because it supports my life instead of destroying it.

The Real Definition of Success

Success isn't about maximizing your income. It's about maximizing your life while generating enough income to support your ideal lifestyle.

See the difference?

For me, this means:

• Having deep, meaningful relationships
• Maintaining a healthy body and mind
• Pursuing interests outside of work
• Creating value for others
• Building financial security

None of these require me to sacrifice my life for business growth, work 100-hour weeks, skip friend’s weddings, or miss my wife’s birthday.

In fact, they require the opposite.

How to Build a Life-First Business

I’ve found that the key to maintaining a healthy life-work integration is setting boundaries before you need them.

And here's what works for me:

First, I define my work hours. Then, I build my business operations inside of those hours. This forces me to focus on high-impact work and eliminate or automate everything else.

I also regularly ask myself, "Will this business decision make my life better? Or just make my business bigger?" Sometimes, I get lucky, and the two align. But when they don't, I’ve learned to choose my life every time.

Lastly, I’ve defined my "enough" number—the amount of money that supports my ideal lifestyle. Once I’ve reached it, I optimize my ability to sustain it rather than double it.

Everything above that number is a bonus, not a reason to sacrifice more of my life.

The Warning Signs to Watch For

To be clear, I haven’t always been good at this. I was terrible at it the first few years of building my business. And the funny part? Revenue was actually worse when I was working more and harder.

If you’re worried that you may be headed down the wrong path, here are five warning signs to look out for:

1. You regularly work through complete exhaustion

2. You feel guilty taking time off

3. You measure your worth by your revenue only

4. You're always chasing the next milestone instead of enjoying today

5. You tell yourself you'll "fix" your life after hitting certain business goals

I ignored these warning signs for years, especially the last one. That was my Kryptonite, and sometimes, I still wrestle with it.

Don't make the same mistake.

The Bottom Line

Your business should support your life. And if it doesn’t, you’re going to be sorry in the long run.

Will there be weeks or months where you have to work really hard? Of course. Days that require ten hours instead of three? Definitely. Times when you have to make difficult decisions about work and life? Yes.

But you CAN build a successful business without sacrificing your life. In fact, you should demand this from yourself. Because what's the point of success if you're too miserable to enjoy it?

And you only get one life.

So focus on building a sustainable business, not one that promises happiness after "just a few more years" of sacrifice. That future happiness rarely comes, but regret almost always does.

I hope you’ll define success differently and make it about more than money. Build a business that serves your life — the life that fills all your buckets.

Because in the end, no one ever wished they'd spent more time working themselves to death.

I hope you’ll find some inspiration in this concept as you’re setting your goals for 2025.

If you're interested in building that kind of business, consider watching my flagship video course, The Creator MBA. 111 step-by-step lessons to building a lean, healthy, profitable online business.

And that's all for this week.

See you next year.

P.S. I ended up partnering with a different business (that I also admire) and closing out my partnership bookings for 2025. I've now opened sponsorship slots for this newsletter for 2025, so if promoting your brand or business to 175K+ solopreneurs and entrepreneurs is intriguing, you can ​learn more here​.