So I’ve been pondering lately while jumping into the entrepreneur space and how to be a “tech hero” with what’s different between a lifestyle business (ie. what I’m looking to do) and an online start up, or traditional small business? It’s very tricky to ponder and jump at the same time by the way. Something was off as I continued to read about specific personalities of small business owners, VC funding, and positioning your products. I’m trying to develop my business and offer relevant must have services to entrepreneurs with tech needs, but where do I fall exactly? Well, lifestyle businesses are their own flavor of business and they have specific limitations. They muddy the water between entrepreneur, freelancer, and business owner and so many topics of conversations that entrepreneurs or startups can talk about, simply don’t apply. Others, like passive income models do.
What is a Lifestyle Business
Wikipedia – Lifestyle businesses are businesses that are set up and run by their founders primarily with the aim of sustaining a particular level of income and no more; or to provide a foundation from which to enjoy a particular lifestyle.
Personal Definition – A lifestyle business is a business in which you look to sell yourself, but bottled up in the form of information, including but not limited to making money via ebooks, membership courses, speaking engagements, OR you dropship, sell affiliate products, or advertising space. They often include freelancer services packaged up for sale to start. Lifestyle Businesses usually have an ebb and flow, and once successful can be maintained with limited hours of work a week a majority (%50-%70) of the time. The goal is not to be a millionaire but create a lifestyle in which you can live out your dreams.
They are NOT the same as a business in which you or a team make a commercial product and then sell that product. I tried to liken these things together, but kept feeling unsettled like I was missing something. I needed to understand more.
Muses
In the beginning of this project it was all about “muses” which struck me as the same thing as a lifestyle business, but I’m finding that’s not necessarily true. A muse focuses much more on income only. In fact, most people who set out for the muse just want to know what the numbers look like and whether or not it generates a monthly income. They may not even know much about the muse except that it makes money. And there is nothing wrong with this focus. I think it takes a special type of person to pursue this and even Tim Ferriss has gone back and forth with turning skills/passion into income and simply looking for an avenue, a “glitch”, a crafty market demand to fill. I wonder your thoughts on the matter?
I identify more with a lifestyle business because I refuse to take any capital (meaning money) risk. I don’t know what I would do with investment money right now, and I don’t think I need it to succeed. What would you do if someone just gave you $10k right now? I would develop myself, or in the future put money into developing some web services I think would be a hit. In short, I’d keep hustling. I also flat out want to be a resource to people, I like helping, I want to give answers, I want to always be learning. I want to be that tech guy. I like the idea of starting other entrepreneurial endeavors from a playground of helping people with technology.
In a lifestyle business, that playground can fund other endeavors or a simple lifestyle.
What CAN’T a Lifestyle Business Do?
Lifestyle Businesses CAN’T do VC Funding.
You won’t find Ashton Kutcher or Robert Scoble looking to invest in your ebook. You won’t get Y-Combinator to drop $20,000 into your marketing membership program. They won’t do these things because your product is you, or an extension of you. Companies typically don’t invest in sole people’s content that’s attached to that person.
Lifestyle Businesses CAN’T be bought.
People don’t buy people. Well not legally at least. I can’t wait for Johnny’s comment on this one.
Lifestyle Businesses CAN’T scale…at first.
Digital products actually do scale VERY well, but the flip side of running a lifestyle business depends solely on being well known and having constant exposure, which is something that does not scale at all. You need to be constantly “working” to make sure you are producing top quality information and recommendations. You need to be the best filter out there for your audience. If you love what you do, this isn’t hard, but it certainly doesn’t scale. This is where freelancer and entrepreneur collide in a lifestyle business, and I think it’s a key point to recognize. It’s also a differentiator from hunting for search traffic demand generated income. Something that to me, seems like it could be here one day and gone the next.
I’m not sure how Tim would feel about this type of business. His business suggestions are more akin to finding that everyone in Malaysia like cat statues and then finding a way to sell them cheaply. It’s not incredibly clear though since these lines are blurred by success stories and people’s experience with his ideas. Tim himself perpetuates his income on more of a lifestyle business (selling his book, affiliate products, etc, through his authority and popularity) than a supply and demand or unique product.
It’s a mixture of both, and one can grow from the other
In an attempt to reconcile my thoughts, I think it’s important to know what a lifestyle business can’t do, but also important to note that often the beginnings of a real company, or real shippable “commercial” product come from a lifestyle business that has found success and liberated an individual to where they have the positioning and authority to develop something more “independent” of the creator. It’s the path I see most open to those bloggers and information selling lifestyle designers in this new online economy.
It’s also the path I hope to follow in the income stage of lifestyle design with IT Arsenal and my first product launch! This Tuesday Backup Informer goes live!