How to Align Purpose and Profit in Your Business
Profit Funds Purpose. It's Time We Were Unapologetic About It.
There’s a quiet, unhelpful story we tell ourselves in the purpose-driven space.
It’s the idea that wanting to make a lot of money is somehow … distasteful. It’s Tall Poppy Syndrome, but for profit. We say things like, “I’m not in this for the money, I just want to make a difference!“as if the two are mutually exclusive.
This belief results in brilliant, values-led founders under-earning, over-delivering, and quietly burning out.
But what if that story is fundamentally wrong?
The Reframe: How Purpose and Profit Scale Together
This is the truth we’ve built our business on: Profit is the engine that scales your purpose.
Imagine, a founder with roots in Nepal uses her company’s profit to sponsor a school in her home village. It’s an incredible mission. With her current $500,000 profit, she funds one school.
Now, consider if her business increased that profit to $1.5M (think big!).
She wouldn’t just be funding one school, she’d be funding three. More classrooms. More teachers. More children with access to education that changes the trajectory of their lives.
Her purpose isn’t compromised by that profit. It’s amplified by it. That impact is simply not possible if she isn’t wildly profitable.
This is true whether you’re funding schools, supporting refugees, protecting the environment, or championing any cause that matters to you. The more profitable your business becomes, the more your purpose can scale.
Companies like Ethique prove this principle. Founder Brianne West didn’t choose between environmental ethics and commercial success—she built a multi-million-dollar global beauty brand where profit enables greater environmental impact. Patagonia does the same, using their substantial profits to fund environmental activism at a scale that would be impossible without commercial success.
It's Time to Redefine What "Rich" Means
At The Lever, we are 100% purpose-led, and we are proud supporters of Pet Refuge NZ. In both cases, the more revenue we generate, the more impact we can have.
So yes, we’ll say it: We want to be rich.
Not rich in a flashy-car, superficial sense. We want to be rich in the way that matters:
- Rich as in never, ever worrying about meeting payroll.
- Rich as in giving our team the security and fair wages they deserve.
- Rich as in having the power to say “no” to clients who drain our energy.
- Rich as in writing bigger and bigger cheques to the causes we care about.
Money in the hands of good people does powerful things.
Why Purpose-Driven Founders Struggle With Profit
If any of this resonates, you’re not alone. It’s the most common struggle we see with founders trying to balance purpose and profit. Here’s what’s usually happening:
- You're making solid revenue but taking home less profit than you know you should
- You over-deliver to prove your value isn't just about the money
- You dream about bigger impact but can't see the path to funding it
- When people ask about your numbers, you underplay them or pivot to mission
- You work unsustainable hours as proof of commitment to the cause
- Your profit margins feel tighter as the business grows, not looser
Sound familiar?
Here’s what you need to know: this isn’t a personal failing. It’s a structural problem.
Most purpose-driven businesses are built on the founder-as-hero model. You’re the chief doer, the ultimate problem solver, the one who holds it all together. Your capacity becomes the business ceiling.
When you’re the bottleneck, your profit is capped at your personal bandwidth. You can’t earn more without working more hours. And when you’re already burned out, there’s no room to grow.
This is why brilliant, values-led founders stay stuck in under-earning. The business structure itself won’t allow profit to scale, which means your purpose can’t scale either.
It's Not a Moral Failing, It's a Systems Problem
If your business does incredible, values-led work but your profit doesn’t reflect its value, you are not failing your mission. You are not “bad” at money.
It is a systems problem, and it is fixable.
It means your pricing, your operational processes, or your business model are not designed to capture the value you deliver. It’s a design flaw that is starving your purpose, and it’s the very thing we help founders fix.
When you redesign your role from chief doer to chief designer, when you build frameworks that transfer your expertise to your team, when you price for transformation instead of time … profit becomes possible without sacrifice.
Your purpose doesn’t shrink. It expands. Because now you have the resources to fund it properly.
The future of business isn’t choosing between purpose and profit. It’s building the systems where doing good and earning well finally, and unapologetically, coexist.
A Final Question
So here’s the question we’re left with: What if we stopped treating our profit like a moral dilemma and started treating it as the most powerful tool we have for making a difference?
What impact could you really make if you gave yourself permission to earn well, and own it?
Let Us Help You Do Good
As part of our mission, we help founders who are ready to lead differently.
During a Reset Call, we’ll find the operational and financial leaks that keep your purpose underfunded and map the next step to a business that supports you as much as you support others.
Because profit funds purpose. And your purpose deserves to be wildly profitable.
FAQs
Is it possible to balance purpose and profit without compromising my values?
Absolutely, and it should be your goal. The idea that purpose and profit are in conflict is a cultural myth that keeps good people under-earning and limits the impact they can make. Wealth in the hands of purpose-driven founders means more schools funded, more charities supported, more fair wages paid, and more meaningful change created.
Research from Harvard Business Review shows that purpose-driven companies with strong profit margins can invest significantly more in their missions than those operating on razor-thin margins.
When you achieve both purpose and profit simultaneously, you’re not compromising your values, you’re finally funding them properly. Profit isn’t the opposite of purpose; it’s the fuel that makes your purpose sustainable and scalable.
How do I know if I'm undercharging for my services?
If you’re exhausted, working long hours, and your profit doesn’t reflect the transformation you create … you’re undercharging. Purpose-driven founders often price based on time or deliverables rather than outcomes, which caps profit at personal bandwidth.
Here’s a simple test: Could your client afford to pay 50% more for the result you deliver? If yes, you’re likely underpricing. Ask yourself what your client would pay to have their problem solved permanently, not what they’d pay for your hours. That’s your value.
Price accordingly, then use that increased profit to fund the impact you want to make.
Remember: undercharging doesn’t make you more ethical; it just makes your mission smaller.
What if people judge me for wanting to (or already) earn more?
Some will. That’s Tall Poppy Syndrome at work, the cultural belief that wanting financial success is somehow distasteful or greedy. But here’s the truth you need to hold onto: the people judging you for wanting to balance purpose and profit aren’t the ones funding schools, supporting charities, creating employment, or making real change in the world. You don’t need their approval.
You need the structural changes that make profit possible so you can fund the impact that matters to you.
The founders making the biggest difference aren’t apologising for their profit. They’re using it strategically to scale their purpose. Join them.
Can I maintain my mission while scaling profit?
Not only can you, but you must if you want your mission to have lasting impact. An underfunded mission is an unsustainable mission.
Companies like Ethique and Patagonia prove that purpose and profit reinforce each other when the right structure is in place. As your profit grows, you gain the resources to invest more in your mission, scale your giving, pay your team fairly, and expand your impact.
The real question isn’t whether you can maintain your mission while scaling commercially, it’s whether your mission can survive if you don’t. When purpose and profit work together strategically, your mission gains staying power. Without profit, you’re running on fumes.
How do I redesign my business for greater profitability without burning out?
The key is recognising that this is a structural problem, not a personal capacity issue. Most founders try to earn more by working more hours, which leads straight to burnout. Instead, you need to redesign three core areas: your role (moving from doer to designer), your pricing (charging for transformation, not time), and your systems (removing yourself as the bottleneck).
Most founders see meaningful profit shifts within 90 days when they focus on these structural changes rather than just working harder. At The Lever, our partnership is specifically designed to help you make these shifts without adding to your already overwhelming workload. The work isn’t about hustle, it’s about design.
What's the first step to building a business that achieves both purpose and profit?
Start with clarity. Most founders know something needs to change but don’t know where the biggest leak is. That’s why we created the Visionary Reset Quiz, a diagnostic tool that pinpoints the exact pattern draining your profit potential.
You’ll get a personalised result that explains why you’re stuck and outlines the first, most impactful step you can take to shift from under-earning to profitable purpose. No sales pressure, no complicated audit … just immediate insight into what needs to change so you can start building the profitable business your mission deserves.