What if your business paid you so generously, so consistently, so fully that you could live beautifully on just 10% of it—and tithe the other 90% to the people, movements, and communities you’re called to support?
This radical and reverent idea was shared by Stu McLaren years ago, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.
Because in my bones, I know this is the kind of wealth we’re here to create.
Not wealth built on burnout.
Not wealth that leaves us rich in revenue but poor in rest.
Not wealth that makes us look powerful on Instagram but doesn’t help us sleep at night.
We’re not here for vanity metrics.
We’re here for Sovereign Profits™.
I coined the term Sovereign Profits™ in 2024 for one simple reason:
There was no existing term that captured the truth of what our businesses are meant to provide.
Traditional accounting will tell you profit is:
Revenue – Expenses = Profit
That formula is missing everything that actually matters.
What about joy?
What about time?
What about taxes, savings, team, growth, giving, and rest?
Then came a methodology that flipped the script:
Income – Profit = Expenses
Profit First was mind-boggling at the time.
It helps thousands of small business owners stop treating profit as an afterthought.
It’s creating spaciousness. Prioritization. A spark of agency.
And yet—it still doesn’t go far enough.
Because it centers math, but not meaning.
It tells you to take profit first—but never asks what that profit is for.
It still treats sustainability like a spreadsheet goal instead of a soul-level requirement.
There’s profit that helps you breathe deeper.
And there’s profit that feels like a golden cage.
You hit the goal, but it comes at the cost of sleep.
You raise your rates, but it triggers a wave of shame.
You scale, but you feel further from yourself.
That’s not sovereignty.
That’s survival in knock-off designer shoes.
We’ve glamorized it.
We’ve normalized it.
We’ve built coaching empires on it.
But we don’t have to keep replicating it.
I’ve worked with 6- and 7-figure earners who still flinch when they log into their bank account.
I’ve met mission-driven founders who give until their cup is empty—because the numbers don’t make sense, and they don’t feel safe asking for more.
And I’ve seen the heartbreak that happens when we hit every revenue milestone but still feel financially fragile, exhausted, and alone.
We don’t just need more profit. We need a new definition.
One that’s expansive.
One that’s energetically clean.
One that allows for pleasure, power, and a proviso to co-create.
Sovereign Profits™ Defined
Simply put, Sovereign Profits are what remain after:
✅ Every operating expense is paid.
✅ Your full tax burden is handled.
✅ Your future (retirement, savings, investments) is funded.
✅ Your personal lifestyle is fully resourced—not bare minimum, but full-spectrum nourishment.
✅ Your nervous system feels safe, regulated, and supported.
✅ Your business has enough to weather a storm or fund an expansion.
✅ Your joy, your family, and your generosity are non-negotiable line items.
✅ And your unhealthy relationship with debt? Healed—not hidden.
It’s not a vague sense of “doing well.”
It’s what’s left over after you’ve taken exquisite care of yourself, your team, your family, your future, and your spirit.
Sovereign Profits™ are the money you can give without guilt, invest without fear, and save without a sense of scarcity.
It is reclamation money. Legacy money. Liberation money.
And yes, at Prosperity First, we’re on a mission that some would call outrageous:
To help 5 million (or better) rebellious entrepreneurs each generate 5 million (or better) in Sovereign Profits™.
Not just 5 million in lifetime revenue.
Not just 5 million in annual topline income.
Five million (or better) in real, sovereign, self-directed wealth.
The kind that allows you to build schools.
Or buy back stolen land.
Or walk away from harmful clients.
Or rest without shame.
Or end generational patterns.
Or pay every Black trans artist you know a five-figure day rate.
Whatever your version of freedom looks like?
Sovereign Profits™ are what funds it.
And if you’re still reading this?
You are not an exception to this math.
You’re evidence that it’s working—because this mission was never mine alone.
Sovereignty is the Difference
Profit alone isn’t enough.
You can have profit and still feel panicked.
You can have profit and still feel like you’re barely keeping up.
But Sovereign Profits™ are built on agency.
They are built on clarity.
They are built on a business model that serves your body, your values, and your long-game vision.
This is about designing your numbers with intention, not defaulting to someone else’s version of success.
This is about building with rhythm, not rush.
This is about understanding that money is a frequency, and yours is meant to flow freely, not be trapped in someone else's funnel.
More than enough feels dangerous to those of us taught that survival was noble and sacrifice was spiritual.
But we’re not here to survive.
We’re here to build wealth that mirrors our wildest devotion.
The Lineage: Sovereign Profits™ came first. Profit as Protest followed.
The phrase Sovereign Profits™ came to me first.
It was born from necessity. Born from watching too many brilliant, world-changing clients do everything “right” and still feel like they were drowning.
Born from spreadsheets that said they were winning, but nervous systems that said otherwise. Born from the need to define what felt undefinable.
It was a reclamation. A declaration. A portal.
But as the idea deepened in my work and my bones, I started to realize something else:
If Sovereign Profits™ are the root, then Profit as Protest is the roar. Catalyzing theory into action.
Because in a world that was never built for our safety, our pleasure, or our financial agency, choosing to design, claim, and keep profits that are self-honoring?
That’s rebellion.
That’s resistance.
That’s sacred disruption.
They are not the same concept.
But they are inextricably linked.
Sovereign Profits™ are the architecture.
Profit as Protest is the act of saying: I will not shrink to fit inside systems that were never meant to serve me.
Together, they form a philosophy. A movement. A way of doing business that heals us while funding the future.
Because we are no longer available for profits that cost us our joy. And we are absolutely no longer building businesses that leave us resourced on paper but depleted in spirit.
Not here. Not in Shaneh’s World.
Not with Prosperity First.
PS:
This is not about having money for money’s sake.
This is about having enough to never betray yourself again.
Enough to walk away.
Enough to rewrite the contract.
Enough to answer the call in your blood.
Profit is Protest.
And Sovereign Profits™ are how we create lasting change.
🎧 Song of the Day: “When You Come Back Down” – Nickel Creek
For the ones building their future on their own terms. For the holy permission to rise higher—because you’ve built a business that will catch you.
For the reminder that sovereign wealth gives you wings and a place to land.
This is a really powerful post! Especially >> "Or rest without shame." I feel like that's the plight of every self-employed person. We all want that but don't CHASE it.
Dang I am completely in love with everything presented here.