Late one night, when I should have been sleeping, I was lying in bed awake with a ton of great ideas streaming in about how to do marketing differently and who I felt called to serve. Every few minutes, I’d do a bunch of journaling by the light of my cell phone to try and capture it all.

It felt like what I’ve heard others describe as a download, or maybe it was flow.

Whatever the case, after a couple of hours, I had about 10 journal pages of notes that literally felt like a book outline. (And, yes, I have actually started fleshing out that content into what I hope will become a book, perhaps in 2024. But for now, it’s forming the basis of what I teach in my various offerings, this blog, and more.)

One idea that came to me that night was the word “SOULopreneur” which felt like such an original, inspired way to refer to my target audience of solopreneurs who feel called to do soul-inspired work.

Well, it didn’t take long for me to be reminded that there are very few truly original ideas left in this crowded world. A quick Internet search the next day revealed that the term was already in use by others. Although I was a bit disappointed to not be the mastermind behind using the term first, the upside was that clearly the term was easily understood and accepted by more people than just me.

My sense is that people who are SOULopreneurs will instinctively know it and the term will really resonate with them. However, I still think it’s helpful for me to explain my interpretation of the word to make sure my intended meaning is clear. Hence, this blog post.

My interpretation of the term SOULopreneur

To me, a SOULopreneur is an individual running a soul-inspired, heart-led business of any type. It’s a play on the word solopreneur, meaning someone who operates a business on their own, but it’s a subset of that group of people.

SOULopreneurs are motivated differently than many entrepreneurs. They feel the pull of a “calling” to be of service. They want to earn a living, perhaps even a generous one, but money is not the primary driving factor for them. Their primary motivation is making a difference through the work they do, and money is secondary to that.

That means they make decisions differently than other entrepreneurs. Honesty, integrity and balance are very important to them.

It's been my experience that many people who feel called to be of service are creative, sensitive and/or highly empathetic individuals. These character traits affect their approach to business, too.

Examples of SOULopreneurs

Most (but not all) yoga and meditation teachers, energy healers, psychologists and social workers, clinical herbalists, and birth or death doulas are probably SOULopreneurs, for example.

However, people working in almost any industry (as long as it causes no harm) could be a SOULopreneur, e.g., art and music teachers, nutritionists, naturopaths, massage therapists, landscape architects, officiants, personal trainers, keynote speakers, content creators and influencers, course creators, and coaches. It just depends on the nature of their work, their values and inner motivations.

I am a SOULopreneur

I am a SOULopreneur myself. I work primarily on my own, and while I do aim to make a good living, maximizing revenue or profit is not what floats my boat. I feel called to work with other SOULopreneurs to amplify their impact and help them have good work-life balance by simplifying their marketing.

My resume is very different than most of the other graduates from my MBA class 25+ years ago. I’m not VP or CEO of a bank or other corporation, but that never appealed to me. My journey has been a slow-paced, winding one that allowed for lots of time with my kids when they were young, lots of learning through independent study and continuing education courses (including yoga teacher training and energy healing certification), and the opportunity to help many not-for-profits and small businesses thrive through my freelance work.

Although my education and early career schooled me in very traditional approaches to business, my subsequent life experiences and learning opportunities have helped me see that there is another way to operate in business. A way that combines logic with intuition, planning with spontaneity, and calm with creativity.

Let's work together

If you’re a SOULopreneur and this resonates with you, please take a look at the offerings on my website and get in touch if you’d like to explore working together. You can book a free 30-minute Exploration Call here.