These days, many business owners are very excited about getting involved in a “start-up”. There is potential to start out with a great idea and a garage, and then in 5-10 years, sell out to a giant for many millions of dollars.

At age 22, this was very attractive to me too. Now, I’ve created something that works much better for myself … A “Lifestyle Business”, and I’ve helped a number of other people create one too. (Including Sam Bowden – watch the video interview below)

People often say, “Oh, you’re just lucky” or “Yeah sounds good, but I don’t have ‘x’ or ‘y’, so I wouldn’t be able to do that.”

I’m a country guy from a small town called Uralla in New South Wales Australia.
Sam Bowden is another country bloke who used to be a vet.

I am not any smarter than the average person.

If we can do it, you can too!

You can learn more in this video about how Sam has done it, and underneath, I’ll also outline 8 key steps for creating a successful lifestyle business.

The decision for both Sam and I to Go PRO in our businesses has had the most profound impact on our lives

Background – My Decision To Build A Lifestyle Business

It was a Friday morning. I was out having a coffee. I remember the day clearly because it was spring-time and I was enjoying the first sign of sun for some months.

As I was sipping my coffee, a friend asked me an interesting question …

“Would you prefer to be running a team meeting on a Monday morning, or sitting on a beach creating an idea?”

It took me less than 3 seconds to answer. I told him, “Sitting on the beach, creating something of course!”

He then asked, “So why then, do you continue to run the team meetings?”

I thought about this for some time.

At the time, I was running a company (with my business partner Michael Choi) that employed 23 people. We had a 750 square metre office in Bondi Junction in Sydney Australia.

Our break even (the amount we needed to cover our expenses) was about $150k every month.

From the outside, everything looked great.

On the inside, I was exhausted

In fact, I was so exhausted that I decided to go away travelling and do some soul searching.

It was on this trip that I made the big decision that I was going to sell out of my company.

Now, you may think that I was able to sell my big business for millions of dollars. The truth is – after the sale went through, and all debts were paid back – I virtually ended at ground zero. I was starting again.

However, this time around, there was a massive difference.

I had experience and I also had an inner knowing about the type of business I wanted to create.

I wanted to create a lifestyle business – a business that was going to operate around my lifestyle – rather than me operating around it.

Benefits Of A Lifestyle Business

Over the next few years, I went on to create a completely virtual business. The best things about this business are:

• It pays me an amazing amount of money
• It allows me to spread a message I am extremely passionate about
• It allows me to do what I want, when I want, where I want

As I write this article, I am sitting on a roof top over looking a beach at the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.

Last month, I was in Port Macquarie finishing off my second book and before that I was in Armidale attending my Grandmothers 90th Birthday.

In the past 12 months I have been to New Zealand, Bali, Singapore and then Vietnam – and I work between my home office, cafes, the library or somewhere at the coast (I get away almost weekly to spend some time at the coast)

My current business partner (Jonathon Heath) and I have been able to launch a new business in the past year, and we have created 2 online training courses – HowToWebinar and Flip Your Life.

This has allowed both of us to make a really big difference and also help many people. We set up a Facebook page which has now hit 100k followers, our email database has grown by more than 15 000 people, and we have been asked to share what we are doing on many stages over the past year.

I am absolutely loving my life, and my business and I also believe that if I can do it, ANYONE can.

8 Key Steps To Building A Successful Lifestyle Business

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1. Make The Decision

Remember – your life is a blank canvas. You can create what ever you want, but firstly you need to get clarity about what you want

2. Focus On Clarity

The clearer you are about how you want your lifestyle, and how you want to live it – the better. You need to really get clear on exactly how you want to live, and write out the story of how your ideal life looks – then your ideal business looks

3. Give Yourself Permission

you are allowed. Most people don’t get what they want, because they just don’t give themselves permission that they can have it

4. Create The Space

I could have easily left Sydney and filled my life with consulting clients, but this would go against what I wanted to create. Instead, I invested 1-2 days a week into building my lifestyle business. You can’t do it without the space

5. Take A Risk

Life is always about taking the leap of faith. At some stage, we have to do it. When I was 24 I became a business coach with $2k to my name. I also managed to take out a personal loan from the bank to enable me to invest $65k to purchase the franchise. Sometimes you need to take a risk.

Watch this YouTube video if you need some inspiration – (Warning – there is a lot of swearing, but bear with it)

6. Get Clear About Your Model

There are so many ways you can create a lifestyle business, and you need to work out your strengths, weaknesses and how you are going to do it. Are you going to coach, speak, become an author, run an internet site, sell a product etc etc

7. PLAN, PLAN and MORE PLANNING

I subscribe to the 10, 12 , 90, 1, 1 principle of planning

• Give yourself 10 years to create something remarkable
• Plan out in detail and diarise the next 12 months (personal and business)
• Put a high level of detail into your weekly plan
• Take 1 hour to plan out each week
• Take 10 minutes to plan out 1 day

8. GET A MENTOR

Try and find someone who has already done it? My best advice is choose someone who has been there before you. Better still – someone who has done it in the same niche as you.

They will help you. You are leveraging their experience and it will shave years off your journey.

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Can You See Yourself Building A Lifestyle Business?

Sam Bowden has done it … Far out – I showed Sam how to effectively run a webinar strategy in his business and it has helped him generate more than $700k in profit in the past 12 months. It was also a minimal investment from his end for the results he has achieved.

If you can imagine it, I’d also recommend that you learn more about it here as well.

I Would love to read your comments below. Please feel free to ask a question, or raise any challenges you’ve found in relation to building a lifestyle business and I will do my best to answer it.