I’m celebrating 6 years of Be More with Less. I started working on the blog in April 2010, and published my first post that May. It was the first of many small steps to create a soul-centered business that has evolved in the most surprising ways.

I didn’t know much in the beginning. but I did know …

• I wanted to encourage people to simplify their lives for better health, and more love in their lives.

• The stress from the work I was doing was overwhelming; partly because of the corporate culture, but mostly because after several years of simplifying my life, I didn’t believe in the work I was doing anymore.

• I wanted to create work that supported better health and more love in my own life including flexible hours, the opportunity to be creative, and a revenue model that allowed me to reject advertising pitches and other requests that weren’t aligned with my heart and soul.

I was still working full-time at my soul-sucking job when I started, but from the moment I pressed publish on my first post, I could feel the weight lifting. 16 months later, I gave my notice and became a full-time writer-entrepreneur. Forgoing a steady paycheck was scary, but I knew it was worth it the first time I got to wake up and take a walk around the lake instead of going to another Monday morning weekly meeting.

Recently, someone asked me what my favorite part of my business is and I said writing, but after giving it some thought, I realized that the best part of my work is that it is soul-centered. What I mean by that is I trust myself to know what’s best for my business. I don’t ignore what I know in the name of making more money, growing faster, or pleasing someone else.

It’s not always easy, but it’s the simplest, most rewarding way to do business. It means, I don’t say yes when my heart says no. A soul-centered business gives me the confidence to try things when I don’t know if they will work, the clarity to know the difference between helpful criticism and negative feedback and the strength to know when to let go.

Working from a soul-centered place allows me to notice when I’m working too much, or working in a way that isn’t supporting health and love in my life. When that’s happening I can change course quickly instead of waiting for a breakdown.

I have more to learn, but now I know …

• I don’t know what’s going to happen next. That type of uncertainty used to make me crazy, but after 6 years, I trust things to unfold in a way that fuels me creatively, supports good health, love, and joy in my life.

• I can’t do it alone. I need people to help me in lots of different ways. Asking for help used to be a struggle, but now I know I can’t be good at everything, and there isn’t time to do it all.

• If I put my heart and soul on the line word after word, post after post, and day after day, I will connect with people who connect with the real me. We are alike. Our hearts are alike. Instead of buying your attention with advertising I stay focused on offering helpful solutions, sharing my story, and appreciating every moment of our connection because I know how important it is to my work, my heart, and my soul.

Creating a soul-centered business wasn’t an overnight, woo-woo kind of thing for me. Instead, it is quietly and consistently noticing what matters most to me, and figuring out how to keep those most important things front and center in my work and life. By creating space and time by simplifying my life, I’m finally able to hear what my heart wants and actually listen to my soul.

I hope you love your work, not every day, or every task, but most days. When you really enjoy what you do, and believe in your work, you’ll encourage better health and more love in your life.