We’re kicking off something exciting here at Paper Napkin Wisdom — the launch of a brand-new series that takes us deep into one of the most important conversations for entrepreneurs today: freedom. I’m thrilled to be joined by business strategist and coach Michael Walsh as we explore the transformational ideas inside his new book, Freedom by Design: The Established Business Owner’s Guide to Grow, Make an Impact, and Find the Joy Again. Michael doesn’t just talk about growth — he shows you how to build your business around your life, not the other way around.
Each week, we’ll release a special bonus episode diving into the tools, frameworks, and mindset shifts that bring his Freedom by Design framework to life. Whether you’re seeking more time, more joy, more impact — or just a chance to breathe again — these conversations are for you. If you’ve ever felt like you’re trapped inside the business you built, this series is your way out. It’s time to stop waiting for freedom and start designing for it — one episode at a time.
In this week's Paper Napkin Wisdom Weekly:
- TL:DR
- Paper Napkin Wisdom Preview
- Freedom By Design: What it Really Means to Be Free In, From, and Because Of Your Business
- Freedom by Design – Focus–Align–Act Framework
- Two Blueprints, Need One?
- Week in Review
- Let’s Grow This Together
TL;DR – Freedom by Design: How to Reclaim Joy, Time, and Impact as an Entrepreneur
What if freedom wasn’t a reward for business success — but a design principle from day one?
In this week’s post, we unpacked the 3 levels of entrepreneurial freedom and how Michael Walsh reframes business building as a path back to purpose — not away from it.
🧠 Freedom IN your business means working in your zone of genius — doing what energizes you, not just what needs doing.
🌴 Freedom FROM your business means having systems, people, and trust that let you unplug and step away — without everything breaking.
💸 Freedom BECAUSE OF your business means using your business to fund your lifestyle, not sacrifice it.
💬 Freedom doesn’t come after you grow — it comes when you grow intentionally.
The big idea?
👉 Freedom is a design problem. Not a time problem. Not a revenue problem. A clarity and courage problem.
And that means you can solve it — starting now.
Your Focus–Align–Act Takeaway:
🎯 FOCUS: Define what freedom in, from, and because of your business looks like for you.
🧭 ALIGN: Evaluate your zone of genius, delegate low-energy tasks, and patch the systems that break when you step away.
🚀 ACT: Make one shift this week — even if it's just taking Friday off and not checking email.
Paper Napkin Wisdom Podcast Preview
This is the only place where we give you a sneak peek into what's coming up on Paper Napkin Wisdom. Remember to share this with anyone who needs to hear these messages.
Episode 245: Dustin Wells, founder of an Austin-based investment management firm dedicated to creating, building, and inspiring through strategic ventures. With a background in technology entrepreneurship and a passion for music, Dustin combines business acumen with creative insight to drive transformational growth.
Episode 246: Ari Galper, founder and CEO of Unlock The Game, renowned as the world's leading authority on trust-based selling.He revolutionizes traditional sales approaches by emphasizing authentic relationship-building over high-pressure tactics, guiding professionals to foster genuine trust with clients.
Episode 247: Michael Walsh, we continue the Freedom Series with part 3. All based on his new book Freedom by Design.
Episode 248, 249, 250: John Sleeman is a legendary figure in Canadian business — a true pioneer who revived his family’s brewing legacy to build Sleeman Breweries into one of Canada’s most iconic beer brands and the third largest brewer in the country. But John didn’t stop there. He’s also the visionary behind Spring Mill Distillery, where he’s continued to blend heritage with innovation in the world of craft spirits.
In this special 3-part Paper Napkin Wisdom series, recorded at the Spring Mill Distillery, John opens up like never before — sharing the setbacks, comebacks, and powerful principles that shaped his journey from humble beginnings to national success. You’ll hear about legacy, leadership, and the gritty truths most entrepreneurs won’t say out loud.
In Part 3 ( Episode 250), we’re joined by his sons, Cooper and Quinn Sleeman, for a powerful conversation about legacy from a different perspective — what it means to evolve and carry forward a name that carries weight, history, and expectation.
Episode 251: Michael Walsh, we continue the Freedom Series with part 4. All based on his new book Freedom by Design.
Episode 252: Christine McDannell, serial entrepreneur, author, and M&A expert — shares the one principle that’s fueled every successful exit she’s made: your team is everything. Building the right team unlocks freedom, growth, and long-term success.
Episode 253: Rick Williams, author of Create the Future and seasoned board director, will share a simple but game-changing napkin insight generosity and growth. Stay tuned to learn the secret that transforms relationships and fuels real impact.
Stay connected with Paper Napkin Wisdom on Apple, YouTube, and Spotify to be the first to hear these incredible episodes!
Freedom By Design: What it Really Means to Be Free In, From, and Because Of Your Business
For most entrepreneurs, freedom is the reason they started in the first place.
Freedom to choose your path. Freedom from the 9-to-5 grind. Freedom because you believed a business could fund the life you imagined.
But somewhere along the way, that vision can get lost in the weight of responsibility. Teams grow. Complexity increases. You get stuck in the business instead of building one that gives you freedom from it. Instead of living your dream, you’re managing everyone else’s.
So let’s pause and re-center on the concept of freedom — not just as a future reward for success, but as a design principle for how you build and run your business right now.
The 3 Freedoms Every Entrepreneur Deserves
Michael Walsh — business coach, strategist, and author of Freedom by Design: The Established Business Owner’s Guide to Grow, Make an Impact, and Find the Joy Again — believes freedom isn’t something you earn after your business grows. It’s something you can (and should) design for from the beginning.
The first two parts of our conversation on the Paper Napkin Wisdom podcast (Episodes 243 and 244), Michael laid out the three types of freedom every entrepreneur should aim for:
Freedom In Your Business
This is the freedom to work on what energizes you — the aspects of your business that truly light you up. For some, it’s sales. For others, it’s vision or product development. But the key is being intentional about carving out space for it.
“Most owners spend 80% of their time in the wrong zone,” Michael told me. “The zone where they’re competent but not excellent. It’s draining. It disconnects them from why they started in the first place.”
Freedom in your business means aligning your time with your genius — not your to-do list.
Freedom From Your Business
This is the ability to step away. To travel. To go off-grid. To spend time with your family and not check Slack. And to return without everything being on fire.
Most business owners don’t have this. But Michael believes that’s a symptom — not a permanent reality.
“It’s not about abdicating. It’s about designing a system that works without you. That’s leadership. That’s leverage,” he said.
Freedom from your business means building with sustainability in mind — and trusting the systems and people you’ve put in place.
Freedom Because Of Your Business
This is the ultimate: using your business as the vehicle to build the life you want.
“If your business isn’t giving you joy, wealth, time, and purpose… what’s the point?” Michael asked. “It’s meant to be a tool — not a trap.”
Freedom because of your business means you’ve intentionally designed your company to fund your life — not the other way around.
This Isn’t a Dream. It’s a Design Problem. The genius of Michael’s framework is that it flips the script.
Instead of saying, “One day, I’ll have freedom,” he asks: “What if you started designing for it now?”
This mindset shift is the foundation of Freedom by Design, and it’s the reason we’re dedicating the next several weeks on Paper Napkin Wisdom to unpacking it. We’ll dive into each tool, each exercise, and each mindset that helps leaders build freedom back into their business — not by accident, but by intention.
Michael’s method is a roadmap for established business owners who feel stuck. It’s for those who’ve built something meaningful, only to find themselves buried in it. And it’s a reminder that joy, purpose, and impact are still available — if you’re willing to reimagine what’s possible.
“The goal isn’t just to grow a business,” Michael says. “It’s to build one that you love being part of — and that loves you back.”
So What’s Next?
Over the coming weeks, we’ll be walking step-by-step through the core tools in Michael Walsh’s Freedom by Design framework.
Expect deep dives on:
- The Power Zone and how to spend more time there.
- The Right People Filter — so you stop hiring (or keeping) the wrong people.
- The Rhythm Reset that gets you back in flow.
- And more.
But for now, take a breath. Ask yourself:
- Are you working in your zone of genius?
- Can your business function without you for more than a weekend?
- Is your business giving you the life you want?
If not, it’s time to design for freedom — not wait for it.
✳️ Freedom by Design – Focus–Align–Act Framework
Apply the 3 Freedoms to Reimagine Your Business, Starting Now
🔍 FOCUS
What does “freedom” really mean to you? Where do you feel stuck today?
Start by defining your personal vision of freedom in your business.
Questions to Reflect On:
- Freedom IN the business – What parts of your business energize you? What parts drain you?
- Freedom FROM the business – When was the last time you truly unplugged? What made that possible or impossible?
- Freedom BECAUSE OF the business – How is your business supporting the life you want today? What’s missing?
Clarity Statement: Write a one-sentence definition of freedom in, from, and because of your business.
“Freedom in my business means ______.” “Freedom from my business means ______.” “Freedom because of my business means ______.”
🔄 ALIGN
What structures, systems, and people need to shift to make this possible?
Your goal is to align reality with your vision.
Use these tools:
- The Power Zone: List your zone of genius activities. Commit to spending 20–40% more time here in the next 30 days.
- Team Assessment: Who on your team is enabling your freedom? Who is costing you peace of mind? Who is in the wrong seat?
- Operational Gaps: Identify one repeatable process that breaks when you’re away. ➤ What’s missing? SOPs? Accountability? Trust?
Reframe the Gap: Turn misalignment into an opportunity.
“If I had freedom from this task, I could _____.”
🚀 ACT
What are the 3 next moves you can take to begin designing for freedom — now?
Action Plan (Next 30 Days):
- Start Delegating One “Energy-Draining” Task Weekly → Use Michael’s principle of the Freedom Filter: “Am I the only person who can do this?”
- Book a Day Away From the Business → Even just one day. Prove to yourself that your business can operate without you — or reveal why it can’t (yet).
- Schedule Your Weekly Power Zone Review → Every Friday, ask: “How much of my week was spent in my zone of genius? What will I shift next week?”
Two Blueprints, Need One?
The Demand Blueprint gives you a simple, battle-tested system to attract more leads, convert them into loyal customers, and scale with confidence.
With small, actionable steps and a four-week plan, this guide will help you fix the root cause of weak demand, build trust-based sales relationships, and create real-time engagement that drives sustainable growth.
The Demand Blueprint is usually $9.99, but as a Paper Napkin Wisdom subscriber, you save 50%. For just $5, you’ll get a clear, step-by-step roadmap to help you move from inconsistent sales to predictable, scalable growth.
The Profit Blueprint (an e-book) gives you a simple, battle-tested system to take control of your finances—whether in your business or your household. With small, actionable steps and a four week plan, this guide will help you stop running out of money and start building financial freedom. The Profit Blueprint is usually $9.99 but as a Paper Napkin Wisdom subscriber you save 50%. For just $5, you’ll get a clear, step-by-step roadmap to turn profit into a habit, not an accident.
Week in Review
This week on the Paper Napkin Wisdom podcast, we explored two transformative episodes that tackled impactful themes of leadership, resilience, and harnessing potential.
In Episode 242, Karen Kossow, a life coach and mother of two autistic children, joins Paper Napkin Wisdom to flip the script on self-care: it’s not selfish, it’s essential. Drawing from her own journey and work with overwhelmed caregivers, Karen reframes self-care as a leadership act that fuels sustainability and prevents burnout. She challenges the guilt-driven mindset that equates value with sacrifice, urging listeners to carve out daily “non‑negotiable” moments for recharge, track energy drains, delegate responsibilities, and model healthy boundaries. In this episode, Karen’s simple napkin message—“Self‑care isn’t selfish… it’s essential”—becomes a powerful call to redefine responsibility and ensure we can thrive, not just survive, for ourselves and those who depend on us.
In Episode 243, Michael Walsh challenges everything you thought you knew about entrepreneurial freedom. With his napkin reading “Freedom is not a selfish act,” Michael unpacks why clarity—not just growth—must drive your business choices, how to build systems that let you step back without “checking out,” and why joy deserves a seat at the leadership table. This conversation is just the kick‑off to our deep‑dive series on Freedom by Design, where each week we’ll explore one of Michael’s powerful tools for designing a business that serves your life, not the other way around Paper Napkin Wisdom.
Want every episode and exclusive bonus content? The only place to get the full Freedom by Design series is by subscribing to Paper Napkin Wisdom—unlock the roadmap to reclaiming your time, impact, and joy, one napkin at a time.
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