Success Reimagined: How to Create a Business That Feels Good, Not Just Looks Good

If you're a leader working on their own who's feeling overwhelmed, out of alignment, or simply exhausted by the weight of your own expectations, you're not alone. Many of the people I work with came into business wanting freedom, meaning, and creativity — and now find themselves caught in a web of shoulds, perfectionism, and busyness.

This isn't failure. It's feedback. And it might be time to redefine what success really means to you.

Money Matters — But It’s Not the Whole Story Let's be clear: money matters. Profit allows you to build sustainability, security, and choice into your life. But it's never the only thing that drives my clients. Deep down, most of them care about the impact they make, the people they serve, and the values they live by.

Take one client who shifted his business to focus on mentoring young people in his community. It wasn’t just about income. It was about creating the opportunities he never had. That’s success.

ACTION: Define your "more than money" motivation. Write down three non-financial outcomes you want your business to deliver.

Defining Success Beyond Revenue What does success feel like to you?

Is it freedom in your week?

Flow in your work?

The joy of doing something meaningful?

We often chase metrics that sound impressive but don’t feel fulfilling. The truth? Real success is alignment between your business and your values.

ACTION: Describe your ideal day.

List 5 words that describe how you'd like to feel on a typical workday.

Compare them to how your current week feels.

Where's the gap?

The Danger of Misalignment A business that doesn’t reflect your values will eventually drain you. That misalignment often shows up as boundary breaches, constant frustration, or the sense that you're not quite yourself anymore.

Tracking these moments can be powerful:

When did I feel off this week?

Was a value compromised?

What can I shift to protect my energy?

ACTION: Keep a "misalignment log" for one week. Note any moment you feel out of sorts, and identify the likely value being compromised.

Revisit Your Why (But Not Every Two Weeks!) Some coaches say to revisit your why every fortnight. I say: do it when you need direction, and at least once a year. Your why anchors your focus, renews your motivation, and gives shape to your decisions.

Try doing this during your least busy season — summer, winter, or whenever your natural lull is. Ask:

Why did I start this?

What feels aligned now?

What am I proud of becoming?

ACTION: Block a date in your calendar to reflect. Set aside 60 minutes to revisit your WHY each year.

External Resource: Start With Why - Simon Sinek TED Talk

Perfectionism Is Not the Standard You do not need to be perfect to begin. Many of my clients are recovering perfectionists who wait for the perfect website, the perfect launch, the perfect timing. Here’s the truth:

80% ready is enough to begin. Feedback will teach you the rest.

Perfectionism blocks momentum. Your standards were built in a different time, often in a different career. Business is more fluid. Start with your minimum viable action, and grow from there.

ACTION: Choose one task you've been "perfecting." Launch it at 80%. Notice the feedback you get — and learn from it.

External Resource: Positive Intelligence Saboteur Assessment (to understand your inner perfectionist)

Try Experiments, Not Overhauls You don’t need to burn it all down to find what works better. Instead, start experiments:

Try a new offer

Shift your pricing structure

Challenge one industry norm

Set a metric. Track the result. Decide from data, not doubt.

ACTION: Choose one area to experiment with this month. Document the experiment: what you're trying, how you'll measure success, and when you'll review.

External Resource: Harvard Business Review – Learning Through Experiments

Let Go of Being Busy as a Badge Just because you’re busy doesn’t mean you’re productive. A packed calendar is not proof of impact. In my program From Just Busy to Blooming, we look at what’s working — and prune the rest.

Create a Let Go List:

What tasks feel habitual but pointless?

What could you stop, delegate, or defer?

Letting go is strategy.

ACTION: Start your Let Go List. Write down 3 tasks to stop doing this month.

Coaching Helps You Think Better (and Braver) Success doesn’t happen in isolation. None of us built anything alone. Coaching gives you a space to reflect, realign, and re-energise. It’s thinking time that turns into real momentum.

As a coach, I hold you accountable to your intentions — not to pressure you, but to make sure you don’t forget what you wanted in the first place.

External Resource: ICF Research on Coaching Effectiveness

You Don’t Need a Massive Overhaul — You Need to Start You already have what you need to build the business that feels right. It might just be hidden under too much expectation and not enough clarity.

So here’s your invitation:

Revisit your values

Take the smallest next step

Let go of one thing this week

Success isn’t a finish line. It’s a feeling.

And you deserve to feel good in your business.

Want support to make that shift? Explore my program From Just Busy to Blooming, or book a free 20-minute coaching conversation to uncover what’s keeping you stuck.

Let’s get you moving again.