I was drowning in success.



Revenue up 34% year-over-year. Team growing quarterly. Profit margins expanding.

And I was miserable.

My "successful" business had become a prison of my own design—consuming every waking moment and eclipsing everything that mattered.

The turning point came through a simple five-minute exercise that fundamentally changed my relationship with my company:

I wrote my entrepreneurial obituary.

Not my personal obituary, but the honest assessment of what my life would look like if I continued running my business exactly as I was for the next 20 years.

The result was sobering:

• Missed most of my children's formative experiences
• Marriage strained by constant work pressure
• Health deteriorated from stress and neglect
• Wealthy on paper but impoverished in life

This brutal clarity catalyzed a complete reinvention of my approach to business optimization and cash flow management:

1. I defined my ideal weekly schedule FIRST, blocking personal time before business obligations
2. I calculated the minimum revenue needed for my desired lifestyle
3. I identified all processes requiring my personal attention
4. I systematically eliminated, automated, or delegated these functions
5. I rebuilt our pricing and client structure around my ideal involvement level

The change wasn't instant, but it was profound.

Within a year, my working hours decreased by 58%. Our bottom line growth continued at 16% annually. My "life satisfaction score" (a metric I now track monthly) doubled.

Your business exists to create the life you want, not prevent you from living it.

If it's not serving that purpose, it's failing—regardless of what your P&L says.

Try the Five-Minute Freedom Exercise yourself. Write your entrepreneurial obituary.

Then decide if that's the life you actually want.