This is a book about entrepreneurship, but not the kind they tell you about in business school or that you often hear about online. I’m talking about the kind of business millions of people start and run every year. The kind where they dream of changing lives—and do.

You don’t have to kill yourself to succeed. You don’t have to push and strive for more. You can build a great business, run it well, and enjoy the freedom it provides. It doesn’t have to burn you out or exhaust you; in fact, the best businesses are easy to run, because the founder decides o a very strict set of rules and priorities and sticks to them no matter what.

Most of us don’t do this, at least not at first, and we have to learn these lessons the hard way (as I did). Appearing on The Today Show happened in our sixth year of business, but as I’ve stated, it hadn’t been smooth sailing up to that point. It took a dramatic wake-up call for me to realize how off-purpose we’d gotten. Since sharing our journey publicly on my blog at MyWifeQuitHerJob.com, I’ve realized I am not alone.

Most business owners don’t want to become world famous or ridiculously rich. Certainly, they might not say no to those things, but when you really ask them what their priorities are, it’s almost always the same. They want a good life and the freedom to enjoy it. Sure, there are those rare exceptions who have some grandiose vision about changing the world, but if you have kids and a partner, then I’m willing to bet their happiness and the success of your family trumps any personal ambitions you may have for success. If that sounds like you, too, then I have good news for you: You’re not alone.

If you struggle to balance these two sides of the equation—your own desire to achieve big things while being present to your family—you are also not alone. So many entrepreneurs find themselves challenged to make sense of these two conflicting desires. I personally know many who deprive themselves of time with their family in hopes of getting some big break later that never comes. What often happens, sadly, is their health, relationships, and lives suffer. If you’ve paid any attention to the online buzz about entrepreneurship in the past decade or so, this is a story that likely sounds familiar.

Wouldn’t it be great if there was another way? There is. It’s called family-first entrepreneurship.

In this book, I’ll share with you an alternative to the hustle-culture nonsense we so often hear about in relation to starting a business. You can, in fact, succeed at business without being a stranger to your kids. You can make good money and have the freedom to enjoy it. You don’t have to work eighty hours a week and be a slave to your business just to make it all work.

In the pages that follow, I’ll share with you exactly how we did this, what it took to turn the ship around, and introduce you to others who have made similar shifts in their own entrepreneurial journeys. Whether you are just getting started or have been in the game for years, this book will help you create the kind of freedom you suspected was possible but may have had difficulty creating.