Want to build a tiny business for time and financial freedom instead of creating another cage? In the hustle-driven world of entrepreneurship, we often hear that success requires sacrifice. But what if the path to a thriving business doesn’t have to come at the expense of your wellbeing, relationships, and joy?
In this enlightening conversation, I sit down with Lucie Hautreux, business finance partner and “financial psychologist,” to explore how we can create businesses that support our ideal lifestyles rather than consuming them.
Lucie’s journey from corporate burnout to creating a business that gives her both financial freedom and time abundance offers powerful insights for anyone feeling trapped in the “more is better” entrepreneurial narrative.
The Burnout Wake-Up Call
Like many entrepreneurs, Lucie’s wake-up call came in the form of burnout – not once, but twice. First in her 15-year corporate finance career, and then again in her initial business venture.
“I was overworking seven days a week. And I was living in Bali, so it was a very big contrast with everyone living there and enjoying sunset and easy life and going to the gym. And my life was just work, work, work,” Lucie shares.
The breaking point came when she was working in her corporate job on a Tuesday morning:
“I was on the computer typing an email in the office and suddenly my brain just froze. I had a white page at that moment I got freaking scared. I was like, what’s going on? My brain doesn’t work.”
This terrifying moment became the catalyst for change. Lucie realized she needed to create harmony between her work, health, relationships, and joy – not just pursue financial success at all costs.
How to Build a Tiny Business for Time and Financial Freedom
When Lucie rebuilt her business, she made a promise to herself that many of us dream about: her business wouldn’t consume her entire life. She wanted meaningful work that allowed space for relationships, health, and experiences.
The results of this intentional approach? “I’m making way more money than before, but I’m spending less time than before.”
She created what she calls “half retirement” – enjoying life now rather than postponing happiness until some future milestone. She works with depth and purpose but also travels extensively, designs her schedule around her energy, and prioritizes what truly matters.
This approach stands in stark contrast to conventional business advice that pushes constant scaling, more offerings, and increasing complexity.
The “Date Your Finances” Philosophy
At the heart of Lucie’s transformation is her unique approach to money. Rather than viewing finances as a source of stress or shame, she encourages us to build a relationship with our numbers.
Let’s see numbers as a friend. You need to build up a friendly relationship with numbers. Where numbers are a tool… numbers are here to help you, to support you, to be on your side.
This relationship-based approach to finances – what Lucie calls “Date Your Finances” – means regular check-ins with your money, learning from past spending patterns, and using numbers as insight rather than judgment.
A More Liberating Approach to Financial Decisions
Perhaps the most powerful insight from our conversation is Lucie’s complete reversal of how she approaches financial decisions.
Instead of starting with “Can I afford this?” she begins with “Would I love this?”
“I actually remove finance and numbers from my decision. Meaning that, hey, I don’t know, I would love to move to Italy for three months. Do I have the finances for doing it? Maybe, maybe not, or maybe not at all. But this is not the question I ask myself anymore. I ask myself first, would I love to spend three months in Italy this year?”
Only after determining whether something aligns with her values and desires does she explore the cost and how to make it happen. This approach ensures that financial decisions support life fulfillment rather than arbitrary targets.
If you do things just based on our logical mind, it doesn’t work. Our brain is powerful and we need to use it… with the heart, and for me, the heart’s coming first and then the logical brain is helping us to materialize, to put your dream into a reality.
Redefining “Enough” in Business
One of the key shifts in Lucie’s approach has been moving away from the concept of “enough” toward abundance.
She actually switched from the word ‘enough’ to ‘I have more than enough – “More than enough time, more than enough money to do what I love.”
Rather than starting with financial targets, she begins with the desired lifestyle:
“I’m convinced that a lot of people are not living their dream life because they think it’s unaffordable, how much the lives they want cost. This lifestyle maybe… you want to go for a massage every day, every other day, or every week, or once a month, and then you want to be able to escape winter and move to another country for three months. Whatever your dream is, I would say it’s possible.”
By putting a price tag on your dream and working backward to create the financial structure to support it, we can create businesses that truly serve our ideal lives rather than demanding constant sacrifice.
Creating Your Own Tiny-But-Mighty Business
For those feeling trapped in a business model that demands too much and gives too little, here are a few tips to start with:
- Get clear on what success really means to you – beyond revenue targets or business metrics, what kind of life do you want your business to support?
- Date your finances – develop a friendly, ongoing relationship with your numbers as tools that provide insight rather than sources of judgment or shame.
- Lead with desire, not practicality – ask “would I love this?” before “can I afford this?” to ensure your financial decisions align with your true priorities.
- Design your business for sustainable energy – create a business model that works with your natural rhythms and supports the life you want.
- Price your dream – put an actual cost on your ideal lifestyle, then design your business to support these numbers rather than chasing arbitrary revenue targets.
Ready to Build a Tiny-But-Mighty Business That Gives You True Freedom?
Book a complimentary Business Alignment Session where we’ll:
- Assess where you currently are in your journey
- Identify what a “life-first” business could look like for you
- Uncover what’s blocking you from creating the business and life you want
- Create a clear next step plan based on your unique situation
Whether you’re leaving your corporate job or pivoting an existing business, this call will help you see if the Tiny Business Method is your path to more freedom, fulfillment and sustainable success.
Book a Free Business Alignment Session
