entrepreneur

Entering My Opulent Era

This is slightly related to the subject of this blog so I figured I’d share.

Today is my birthday. I’m writing this ahead of time, since I’ll be overseas and practicing what I preach.

I’ve mentioned before how I’ve grown weary of the practical (boring) advice that is often offered by financial gurus. I am DONE with promoting austerity as the path to wealth, and I will no longer deny myself pleasure that adds depth and color to my existence. I believe it is possible to live luxuriously while also being wise with money. In fact, I’d argue that (for me) the only reason to be responsible with money is to enjoy the luxuries that money can buy. I may forgo ordering takeout to save up for a pair of Ralph and Russo shoes, or I may decide to stay home and read a book instead of blowing my quarterly massage budget on a night out with friends. Whatever the case is, I may opt for the responsible, “boring” choice, but only if it puts me in line for the luxury I really desire.

I have no interest in denying myself every pleasure, just so I can see a certain amount in my bank account. Yes, I believe in saving for rainy days and old age, but I also believe in leaving room for fun NOW! I don’t want a life where I’m not having fun: I want a life that is juicy, exquisite, and delightful from beginning to the very end. That is why I’m declaring this my Opulent Era. I require opulence in everything I do: my meals, my home, my hobbies, my travel, everything. If opulence means sacrificing the less interesting things, I’m happy to do it. I’m no longer interested in living a dull life JUST so I can have more money in an account. I want to LIVE (still responsibly, but not miserly!)

I’m committing to incorporating more opulence into my daily life. If that interests you, then stay tuned, because I’ll be sharing more of those opulent experiences here. I look forward to taking you all on this opulent adventure with me!

Posing at the Edinburgh Airport

Know Yourself, Grow Your Wealth: Personality as Your Secret Weapon

In the world of financial advice, we’re bombarded with one-size-fits-all strategies: wake up at 5 AM, use this productivity system, invest here, cut these things out. But what if the secret to sustainable success isn’t forcing yourself into someone else’s mold but deeply understanding and leveraging your unique psychological design?

This approach – using personality frameworks as the foundation for business strategy – can transform how you create, market, and deliver your offerings. Instead of fighting against your natural tendencies, you can build a business that works with your innate patterns.

Why Traditional Business Advice Fails So Many Women

Most business strategies assume we all process information, make decisions, and engage with the world in roughly the same way. This assumption creates a painful gap between expectations and reality, particularly for women juggling multiple roles or navigating health challenges.

When we try to force ourselves into business models that contradict our natural cognitive and emotional patterns, we experience:

  • Energy depletion from constantly overriding our instincts
  • Decision fatigue from operating against our natural thinking style
  • Motivation dips when we can’t connect with our core drives
  • Authenticity struggles that customers subtly sense and distrust
  • Self-doubt when we can’t maintain prescribed business approaches

But what if your personality isn’t an obstacle to overcome but your greatest business asset?

The Power of Personality-Aligned Business

By understanding your cognitive style (Myers-Briggs) and motivational core (Enneagram), you can design a business that naturally leverages your strengths while supporting your growth edges. These are two of the assessments that I recommend when working with clients to create an Archetype Analysis and Alignment. These are a great starting point for creating a personality-aligned business. The Myers-Briggs and Enneagram assessments create a foundation for sustainable success without the exhaustion of constant adaptation.

Let’s explore how these two complementary frameworks illuminate different aspects of your business temperament:

Myers-Briggs: Your Cognitive Blueprint

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) reveals how you naturally perceive information and make decisions – crucial processes in any business. Understanding your type illuminates which business activities will energize you, which will deplete you, and how to structure your workday for optimal energy management.

How MBTI Dimensions Impact Your Business Approach:

Extraversion (E) vs. Introversion (I): This dimension reflects where you primarily derive your energy—from the external world of people and activities (Extraversion) or from your internal world of ideas and reflections (Introversion).

  • Extraverted entrepreneurs may thrive with collaborative models, visible leadership, and interactive service delivery
  • Introverted entrepreneurs often excel with behind-the-scenes expertise, one-to-one client work, or systems that minimize constant social demands

Sensing (S) vs. Intuition (N): This dimension describes how you naturally gather and process information—through concrete, tangible details (Sensing) or through patterns, possibilities, and conceptual connections (Intuition).

  • Sensing business owners typically prefer concrete, practical offerings with clear deliverables and tangible results
  • Intuitive business owners may gravitate toward innovation, conceptual frameworks, and transformational outcomes

Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F): This dimension reflects your decision-making approach—through objective analysis and logical principles (Thinking) or through consideration of personal and communal values (Feeling).

  • Thinking-oriented businesses often emphasize objective quality, logical systems, and clear principles
  • Feeling-oriented businesses frequently focus on client relationships, personalized experiences, and value-aligned impact

Judging (J) vs. Perceiving (P): This dimension indicates your preference for structure and closure (Judging) versus flexibility and openness (Perceiving) in how you organize your external world.

  • Judging entrepreneurs tend to create structured business models with clear processes and predictable delivery
  • Perceiving entrepreneurs often develop adaptable, responsive business approaches that shift with emerging opportunities

Enneagram: Your Motivational Core

While MBTI illuminates how your mind works, the Enneagram reveals why you do what you do—the core motivations and fears that drive your behavior, especially during times of stress or security. This framework provides invaluable insight into what truly drives you in business and where you might sabotage your own success.

How Your Enneagram Type Influences Your Business:

Type 1: The Perfectionist/Reformer

  • Business Strengths: Strong ethical foundations, attention to quality, systematic improvement
  • Rest Challenges: Perfectionism, difficulty delegating, constant self-criticism
  • Aligned Business Model: Standards-based offerings with clear quality markers and improvement metrics

Type 2: The Helper/Giver

  • Business Strengths: Intuitive understanding of client needs, relationship cultivation, supportive approach
  • Rest Challenges: Overextending, difficulty charging appropriately, putting others’ needs first
  • Aligned Business Model: Relational offerings with clear boundaries and value-based pricing

Type 3: The Achiever/Performer

  • Business Strengths: Efficiency, results orientation, strong branding, adaptability to market
  • Rest Challenges: Workaholism, identity fusion with business success, image management
  • Aligned Business Model: Achievement-focused offerings with clear outcomes and recognition components

Type 4: The Individualist/Romantic

  • Business Strengths: Unique vision, emotional depth, authentic expression, creative approaches
  • Rest Challenges: Mood-dependent productivity, comparison, waiting for inspiration
  • Aligned Business Model: Distinctive, meaning-focused offerings with creative components and personal expression

Type 5: The Investigator/Observer

  • Business Strengths: Deep expertise, innovative solutions, well-researched approaches
  • Rest Challenges: Overpreparation, difficulty with visibility, energy protection to the point of isolation
  • Aligned Business Model: Knowledge-based offerings that leverage expertise while protecting energy

Type 6: The Loyalist/Questioner

  • Business Strengths: Thoroughness, contingency planning, community building, problem anticipation
  • Rest Challenges: Anxiety-driven overwork, overanalysis, worst-case scenario focus
  • Aligned Business Model: Security-enhancing offerings with transparent processes and community components

Type 7: The Enthusiast/Epicure

  • Business Strengths: Creative ideation, enthusiasm, multi-faceted offerings, marketing flair
  • Rest Challenges: Starting without finishing, scattered focus, difficulty with routine maintenance
  • Aligned Business Model: Variety-incorporating offerings with novelty elements and freedom-enhancing components

Type 8: The Challenger/Protector

  • Business Strengths: Bold vision, decisive leadership, barrier breaking, straight-forward approach
  • Rest Challenges: Pushing beyond capacity, resistance to vulnerability, difficulty asking for help
  • Aligned Business Model: Impact-focused offerings with clear authority positioning and protection elements

Type 9: The Peacemaker/Mediator

  • Business Strengths: Inclusive approach, conflict resolution, seeing all perspectives, creating harmony
  • Rest Challenges: Self-forgetting, indecision, merging with others’ priorities, numbing out
  • Aligned Business Model: Integration-focused offerings with consensus-building elements and gentle guidance

Your Unique Combination: The Key to Aligned Success

When you integrate insights from both MBTI and Enneagram, you develop a comprehensive understanding of your business temperament—how your mind works and what motivates your heart. This unique combination creates your personal “energy blueprint.”

For example:

INFJ + Type 4:

  • Natural Strengths: Deep insight into others’ emotions and needs; ability to create meaningful transformational experiences
  • Rest Needs: Regular alone time for processing; protection from emotional overwhelm; creative expression without pressure
  • Business Alignment: One-to-one transformational work; content creation with depth and meaning; behind-the-scenes expertise

ENTJ + Type 8:

  • Natural Strengths: Strategic vision; decisive leadership; ability to create efficient systems
  • Rest Needs: Physical activity to release intensity; safe spaces for vulnerability; protected time free from control
  • Business Alignment: High-level strategy; leadership programs; bold initiatives with measurable impact

INTP + Type 5:

  • This is my MBIT & Enneagram!
  • Natural Strengths: Leveraging deep expertise to create knowledge-based offerings, innovative solutions, well-researched approaches
  • Rest Needs: Regular alone time, manageable levels of visibility and low-pressure expression
  • Business Alignment: One-to-one transformational work; content creation with depth and meaning; innovate adaptive and responsive business approaches

Transforming Business Through Self-Knowledge

Understanding your personality-based patterns allows you to:

  1. Design offerings that leverage your natural gifts rather than depleting your energy
  2. Structure your schedule around your inherent energy flow rather than fighting against it
  3. Market authentically by communicating in ways that reflect your natural style
  4. Set appropriate prices that honor your unique value contribution
  5. Create systems that support rather than override your patterns
  6. Establish boundaries that protect your specific energy vulnerabilities
  7. Identify ideal clients who appreciate your authentic approach

The Integration Challenge

Understanding these frameworks intellectually isn’t enough—integration requires intentional practice. Try one – or all! – of these approaches to begin aligning your business with your personality:

To start, one of these practices to implement for one week:

  1. One Task, One Type: Align your most important daily task with your MBTI cognitive strength.
  2. Type-Led Wind-Down: Create a nighttime routine based on your Enneagram rest need.
  3. No-Type Bypassing: Avoid behaviors that bypass your true needs (e.g., a Type 2 people-pleasing out of guilt).
  4. Energy Audit: Track when you felt most aligned vs. misaligned with your natural flow.
  5. Design Your Ideal Workday: Based on MBTI + Enneagram, sketch your ideal rhythm.

After the week, reflect: How did honoring your type(s) shift your energy or outcomes? What felt most liberating about working with, rather than against, your natural patterns?

Liberation Through Self-Knowledge

Understanding your unique personality patterns isn’t about limiting yourself—it’s about liberating yourself from the exhaustion of constant adaptation. It’s about recognizing that your success path looks different from someone with a different type—and that’s not just okay, it’s essential for your sustainable success.

Your personality patterns aren’t flaws to overcome but natural expressions of your unique design. When you build a business that honors these patterns rather than fighting against them, you create from a place of authentic power rather than exhausting compensation.

If you need more assistance with integrating your MBTI and your Enneagram, I can help you with that. What would become possible in your business if you fully embraced your unique psychological design?

From Idea to Launch – 4 Weeks To Low Energy Income Success

In my previous post, I discussed the quiet revolution happening amongst women entrepreneurs. These brilliant women are embracing a new way to deliver value and create income. By focusing on low-energy income streams, you can rest more while still working toward – and meeting! – income goals.

As previously explained, there are four basic income categories (active, leverage, passive and portfolio) and four types of low-energy income options (digital assets & products; affiliate & recommendation income; membership & community models; and automated or AI assisted services). But, instead of just listing out the options, let’s explore a framework for taking us from Idea to Launch, all in four weeks. The best part of this is that you DO NOT have to stick to a four week time frame: complete the tasks as you have the energy to do so. What good is a low-energy income stream that’s exhausting to set up? If you can do it in four weeks, great! But if not, be gentle with yourself and do what you can: any progress is better than staying still.

Implementation: The 4-Week Action Plan

Transforming these concepts into actual income requires intentional action. Here’s a simple four-week implementation plan:

Week 1 – Brainstorm + Belief Reset

  • Journal your current money-making beliefs. Unpack those limiting beliefs that keep you from feeling that it’s possible to generate the income you desire without exhausting yourself.
  • Review the 4 income categories. Understand what it takes to implement and maintain each one. Carefully weigh the pros and cons of each category.
  • Pick one idea per category that resonates with you. Focus on one at a time, to avoid burnout. If, later on, you find that a particular idea no longer resonates, you can always drop it and try another.

Week 2 – Design One Offer

  • Choose the income path that feels lightest. Whatever you select, make sure that it doesn’t feel exhausting before you start: that feeling rarely changes once you’ve begun the work. I’d even encourage you to pick the path that sounds “too easy”: that’s probably the perfect one to start with.
  • Outline your offer using the L.E.S.S. framework. Remember to ask yourself, Can it serve multiple people at once or be reused? Does it feel simple to deliver or maintain? Can you still earn from it while you’re resting? Can it grow without draining more of your time or too much of your energy?
  • Determine pricing and delivery method. Research similar offers and determine what the popular delivery method and going rate is or, if you’re feeling particularly aligned, choose the number and delivery method based on instinct (you can always adjust later).

Week 3 – Set Up the System

  • Create or collect the assets. This is usually the most fun: create whatever you’re desiring to bring into the world. Refine it until you’re pleased with the result.
  • Automate delivery. Consider using platforms like Gumroad, Podia, or ConvertKit or any others that interest you. I’m not endorsing any particular platform: they all have pros and cons. Do a little research, ask in entrepreneur Facebook groups, and try out different platforms until you find a good fit.
  • Draft simple promotional materials. These can be made easily using free AI tools, like ChatGPT and Claude.

Week 4 – Soft Launch

  • Share with a small group or on social media. This is your time to tell everyone what you’ve created. And if you’re hesitant to share it, ask yourself, did you give your creation your best effort? If so, then you should be proud to tell people about it.
  • Track what feels easy vs. draining. This is a crucial step for determining ways to make the income stream as easy as possible.
  • Reflect and revise as needed. These revisions should make the stream more efficient and less energy consuming.

The Integration Challenge

Ready to ease into low-energy income creation? Try one of these 7-day challenges:

  1. One Idea Per Day: Jot down a single income idea daily, no editing.
  2. Tech Trial: Test out an automation platform like Gumroad or ConvertKit.
  3. Ask & Align: Poll your audience or friends—what do they want from you?
  4. 90-Minute Build: Block off 1.5 hours to create a digital product MVP.
  5. Affiliate Setup: Register for one affiliate program and create your first link.

These challenges are designed to help you quickly find an income stream that is enjoyable and low-energy. After completing your chosen challenge, reflect: What surprised you about the process? What felt most joyful or light? What will you keep building on next month?

A Revolutionary Approach to Wealth

Low-energy income streams aren’t about eliminating effort entirely—they’re about strategic effort that creates ongoing returns without requiring constant energy expenditure. These approaches allow you to create value once and receive income multiple times, often while resting, healing, or focusing elsewhere.

This approach might seem radical in a culture that glorifies constant hustle. But what could be more practical than designing income that works with—rather than against—your body’s needs and natural rhythms?

The path to earning without exhaustion isn’t about forcing yourself to become someone else—it’s about becoming more fully yourself and allowing success to flow from that authentic expression.

What would become possible in your life if your income didn’t depend on your daily energy?

I’d love to hear your thoughts below: are you currently leveraging a low-energy income stream? Are you curious about a particular income category? Let me know!

Earn Without Exhaustion: The Revolutionary Guide to Low-Energy Income Streams

In a world that constantly celebrates hustle culture and equates success with 80+ hour workweeks, there’s a quiet revolution happening – and I’m happy to be part of it. Women entrepreneurs—especially those navigating chronic illness, neurodivergence, or fluctuating energy levels—are discovering that wealth creation doesn’t have to come at the expense of their wellbeing.

This revolutionary approach? Low-energy income streams that allow you to earn while you rest, recharge, and receive.

The Dangerous Myth of “No Pain, No Gain”

We’ve all absorbed toxic beliefs about money and success:

  • “Money only comes through hard work.”
  • “I have to grind to get ahead.”
  • “Resting means I’m not earning.”

These aren’t random thoughts—they’re programmed narratives from our culture, family systems, and economic structures. They’ve been reinforced through countless stories of success that emphasize struggle, sacrifice, and pushing beyond limits. The programming for these beliefs is so persistent that I often have to catch myself when I find myself repeating these refrains.

For women especially, these narratives intersect with additional messaging about worthiness, visibility, and the expectation to care for others before ourselves. This creates a perfect storm of permission to exhaust and deplete ourselves in pursuit of financial stability.

But what if these beliefs are simply outdated operating systems that no longer serve us? What if sustainable wealth comes not from pushing harder but from designing smarter?

The Aureum Sanctum Mindset Shift

The path to earning without exhaustion begins with a fundamental mindset shift:

  • Wealth is a result of strategy, alignment, and leverage—not struggle.
  • You can receive while resting when you design systems that work without your constant effort.
  • Your energy constraints aren’t limitations—they’re invitations to create more elegant solutions.
  • Financial success is about working smarter, not harder or longer.
  • Resting is a strategic business decision, not an indulgence or luxury.

This isn’t just positive thinking—it’s a practical approach to designing income streams that respect your body’s needs while creating sustainable financial results. This is the work that I love: designing sacred systems that build wealth without destroying my clients’ nervous systems or energy levels.

The Four Types of Income

Understanding different income types helps clarify how we can shift from active to more leveraged earning:

Active Income: Requires your direct, real-time involvement and energy (e.g., 1:1 client work, hourly services, wage earning jobs for those that are not yet 100% self employed)

Leveraged Income: Uses systems or technology to multiply your efforts and serve multiple people simultaneously (e.g., group programs, courses, templates)

Passive Income: Continues to generate revenue after initial creation with minimal ongoing maintenance (e.g., digital products, properly structured affiliate partnerships, certain forms of content)

Portfolio Income: Earnings from assets or investments that appreciate or provide returns without direct involvement (e.g., dividend stocks, revenue-generating intellectual property, royalties)

Most traditional careers and businesses focus exclusively on active income. The Aureum Sanctum approach intentionally shifts toward leveraged, passive, and portfolio income streams—not to eliminate active work entirely, but to create a more sustainable balance.

The 4 Low-Energy Income Categories

Let’s explore four specific approaches to creating income that doesn’t depend on your constant energy expenditure:

1. Digital Assets & Products

Definition: Downloadable or accessible digital items created once and sold repeatedly without additional effort per sale.

Examples: Ebooks, templates, prerecorded courses, design assets, printables, spreadsheets, digital art

Energy Investment Pattern:

  • Higher initial creation energy (typically 10-40 hours depending on complexity)
  • Very low maintenance energy (0-2 hours monthly for customer support)
  • Occasional refresh energy (updating content every 6-12 months)

Ideal For: Those who prefer focused work sessions followed by extended rest; creators with specialized knowledge; people whose energy fluctuates unpredictably day to day. This is one of the sources that I have employed with my self published ebooks (available here)

2. Affiliate & Recommendation Income

Definition: Earnings from commissions when people purchase products or services you authentically recommend.

Examples: Product recommendations with affiliate links, software referrals, course partnerships, resource libraries with embedded links

Energy Investment Pattern:

  • Low initial setup energy (2-10 hours to join programs and create systems)
  • Very low ongoing energy (integrating into content you’re already creating)
  • Periodic review energy (evaluating partnerships quarterly)

Ideal For: Natural recommenders who already share resources; those with established trust in their community; people who genuinely use and love specific tools. I used this when I regularly uploaded to my hobby YouTube channel (and yes, I still generate income from some of my more popular videos, despite the fact that I haven’t uploaded regularly in months.)

3. Membership & Community Models

Definition: Recurring income from groups of people who pay for ongoing access to content, support, or community.

Examples: Private communities, content libraries, monthly Q&A sessions, skill-building groups, subscription newsletters

Energy Investment Pattern:

  • Moderate initial setup energy (15-40 hours for structure and foundation)
  • Scheduled interaction energy (predetermined times for engagement)
  • Distributed maintenance (can often be shared with team or community leaders)

Ideal For: Those who enjoy connection but need it to be boundaried; people with expertise that benefits from ongoing implementation support; community builders who can establish clear engagement expectations. I’m a member of a couple of communities like this, and I happily pay for access to the information in those spaces.

4. Automated or AI-Assisted Services

Definition: Service offerings where technology handles significant portions of delivery, reducing your direct time involvement.

Examples: AI-augmented consulting, tech-supported coaching programs, automated assessment tools, self-guided audit systems

Energy Investment Pattern:

  • Higher initial system creation (20-60 hours depending on complexity)
  • Strategic oversight energy (focused high-value interventions)
  • Technical maintenance or partnership management

Ideal For: Those with expertise that can be partially systematized; people who enjoy creating systems and processes; professionals transitioning from one-to-one to more scalable models. This is a brilliant option that I have not yet explored yet.

Designing Rest-Compatible Offers

Creating truly rest-compatible offers requires intentional design from the beginning. The L.E.S.S. Framework provides a structured approach to designing offers that generate income while honoring your capacity and need for rest:

L = Leverage: Can it serve multiple people at once or be reused?

  • Does this offer allow you to create value once and deliver it multiple times?
  • Are you leveraging technology or systems to multiply your impact?
  • Can components be repurposed across multiple offerings?

E = Ease: Does it feel simple to deliver or maintain?

  • Is delivery naturally aligned with your strengths and preferences?
  • Have you eliminated unnecessary complexity in the process?
  • Does maintaining this offer feel sustainable, not draining?

S = Sustainability: Can you still earn from it while resting?

  • Will income continue if you need to step back temporarily?
  • Have you built in provisions for health fluctuations or energy dips?
  • Is ongoing maintenance minimal or able to be batched?

S = Scalability: Can it grow without draining more of your time or too much of your energy?

  • As sales increase, does your time involvement remain relatively stable?
  • Have you separated time-dependent and time-independent components?
  • Is pricing structured to reflect value rather than time?

Finding Your Aligned Path

With four different approaches to low-energy income, how do you determine your most aligned starting point? Consider your:

Personality Type: Your MBTI and Enneagram insights from personality assessments

Existing Skills: Capabilities you’ve already developed

Current Capacity: Your energy availability for initial creation

Audience Needs: What your market most wants and needs

Tech Comfort: Your willingness to learn or partner for technical aspects

Connection Preference: How much human interaction energizes vs. drains you

The most sustainable approach is to begin with one category that feels most aligned, then gradually expand to create a balanced portfolio of income streams that work together during different energy phases.

There Is A Better Way

If you’re tired of exhausting yourself, take heart: there is a better way to have the life you desire AND deserve. You can restructure your life for more ease, less struggle, and more abundance. For more information about setting up low energy income streams, make sure to subscribe to this blog (sign up by entering your email in the Follow Blog box on the right side of your screen) and watch out for my upcoming blog post discussing how to implement a 4 week action plan for setting up your low-energy income streams. I’ll talk to you all soon!