You may be wondering why I would write about lifestyle entrepreneur myths and realities. The truth is until a few months ago, I didn’t even know the term existed! However, I have been one for over 15 years!
Let’s start at the beginning to discover what a lifestyle entrepreneur is and isn’t and why it’s important to you.
What is a Lifestyle Entrepreneur?
Well, according to the very inspirational Jenna Kutcher, a lifestyle entrepreneur is someone who put’s lifestyle above the monetary rewards of business.
When I heard her mention this on her podcast, Goal Digger, just a few months ago, I had to pause and go back and listen again! It was a real lightbulb moment for me because I realised that was exactly what I had been doing for more than 15 years!
I had been a lifestyle entrepreneur for more than 15 years and I never knew!
In mid-2006, I had been trying to figure out what I was going to do to create a business, keep myself busy and engaged, earn some money for the family AND manage to be a mum to a 4-year-old and a 9-year-old.
It’s hard to believe, but back then the internet was clunky!
Websites were…. umm… terrible!
There were no smartphones (iPhone launched in June 2007!), no broadband internet, no wifi in every possible nook and cranny.
But I knew, the internet and internet businesses held the key to my freedom.
So, I set about creating a bunch of websites. Some were terrible, some were okay, but I got bored and a few were really quite good.
There was no Wix or SquareSpace, so I had to pretty much code my website from the ground up. Since I have a background in engineering, in the beginning coding was appealing. An opportunity to prove to myself I still had it! And it rebuilt my confidence.
I won’t go into the full story, but in the early days, I knew that I didn’t want to create a monster business that would devour my time, that I would be at the beck and call of customers 24/7 and that it would take me away from my children.
My first “office” was the local children’s indoor playground, where I would take my girls and they would play, while I sat in the cafe and coded my website!
In fact, I set out some very clear boundaries, the children and my family came first. The business was secondary. It wasn’t insignificant, it was just second.
Because of that, it took me a lot longer to get some momentum happening.
Not only did I have to learn all these new skills for coding, marketing on the internet and copywriting, but I also had to design my business to fit around my life and family.
What I created, I am very proud of. My largest and most successful website had very low overheads and generated over 5 figures a month at the height of its success, attracting millions of visitors from all over the world.
That website never had a phone number to call on it, I never received a call from anyone about that website. You could contact me, you could email me and you could interact with me on Facebook. But you couldn’t call me! I personally answered the emails… in my timeframes.
I supported people via email, comments and private messages, all on my terms. And I had unbelievably positive feedback.
The reason I tell you this is that I think I am qualified to talk about what being a lifestyle entrepreneur is all about, and what it is not!
What A Lifestyle Entrepreneur Is Not?
Some people talk about a laptop lifestyle. Meaning you can run your business from anywhere in the world, with just a phone, a laptop and an internet connection.
It sounds similar but in my opinion, it is NOT the same. You can create a laptop lifestyle business and be trapped by it.
I believe a lifestyle business is all about setting those boundaries and making sure you don’t create something that still ties you down.
That doesn’t mean you don’t work, you just work to your schedule. It’s a business on your terms.
Tony Robbins talks about Business Owners vs Business Operators – and I think that being a lifestyle entrepreneur is all about having a true business owner mentality, even though you may be working solo or with a very small team.
Why Is Lifestyle Entrepreneurship Important To You?
Well, it may or may not be. If you are considering what to do in the next part of your life. You may have considered starting a business and not knowing exactly what that could be like for you. The reality is that starting a business from scratch can be quite daunting, time-consuming and can take over your life.
If you are like me, I want to be able to bring harmony or balance into my life, not more chaos!
Even though my children are grown up and doing their own things, I still want to be able to spend time with them.
I want to spend time with my husband rekindling our relationship.
I want to travel.
This is written in 2021, so I am still dreaming about this one, but it doesn’t mean I don’t want to build that into my overall business plan.
I certainly don’t want to be exploring the Pyramids in Egypt, or gazing at the Mona Lisa in The Louvre and have my phone ringing or buzzing at me!
I am quite happy to be able to travel and know that for an hour or two each morning or evening, I need to check-in and make sure everything is okay. That’s what I mean by business on my terms.
The reason I am writing about this is to let you know that you can design a business around your lifestyle and what you want. Business doesn’t have to tie you down and it doesn’t have to be massive to be profitable and successful.
You may not have considered it possible that you could design and create a business around your lifestyle, on your terms and make it work and I wanted to let you know that it is something to consider.
This post has become longer than I anticipated!
I have so much more I can talk about on this – as you can probably tell! Perhaps in another post, I will share more about what I think it takes to become a lifestyle entrepreneur.
Until next time,
LIVE, LOVE & THRIVE