If you look at my website, you will see that I say: “Grow a business to fit your LIFESTYLE, not squeeze a life around your business”. I say this because we all want this and because it is possible. You may be asking yourself, “What is a business that fits my lifestyle?” Or maybe, you don’t know what your lifestyle is. Today, I am going to discuss having a lifestyle-aligned business and the reasons you should want this type of business.
What Is Lifestyle-aligned?
Let’s first look at what a lifestyle-aligned business means.. I believe having a business that is built around your lifestyle rather than living life around your business is a business and life filled with more fulfillment, peace, and calm. It’s not perfect, and you will certainly have days when you question it all, but most days can run smoothly.
A Business That Fits Your Lifestyle – Designing a business around what your lifestyle is and what you want it to be in the future.
How can you know what that is if you are not sure?
It helps to know your personal core beliefs, as these will help establish what your choices become.
That is the next part of having a lifestyle you want: making choices and decisions that align with your core beliefs. Asking yourself when you make a decision, “Does this line up with my core beliefs?”.
When you begin to make choices and decisions in this way, it becomes so much easier to know what path to take and what path you are on. For instance, if I were asked to collaborate with someone and they were conducting business in a way that I thought was questionable, I’d quickly be able to say, “No!”. My core beliefs include honesty and faith; I do not believe in taking advantage of others.
“…means that our behaviors and actions should reflect what is important to us and align with our core beliefs.” -Freestyle
Don’t know if it’s Possible?
What if business isn’t working for you, or suppose you have a chronic illness? It probably seems impossible to think about having a lifestyle-aligned business right now.
What Would Success Look Like To You
The first question my clients and I work on as we begin to work together is: “What would success look like to you?” If you do not know the answer to this question, I suggest you take a deep look at your priorities and core values then answer the question.
I had to take a hard look at this myself, years into my business. After a few years, I was not hitting six figures, and I could not understand why. Looking around at the industry, I saw posts about others hitting this high revenue number and celebrating.
I came to realize that my success does not look like your success, and your success does not look like someone else’s. We try too hard to compare our values and mistake them for our self-value. I had to remember why I started down this road to begin with to bring my mindset back to where I needed.
Why Did You Start Your Business
Why did you start your business? If it was to generate six figures then good for you, keep climbing because it is possible, especially if you scale using a virtual team.
One of the reasons I began working online (or virtually) over 17 years ago, however, was not to make six figures. I hoped to work a few hours a week on my small corner desk in our bedroom. Hoping to earn only a couple of hundred dollars a month was my goal! Well, I certainly surpassed it and was headed steadily to a six-figure revenue with my digital marketing agency.
I did not start my business to earn six figures. No, I began the business because I had become disabled due to Multiple Sclerosis and could no longer work outside of our home. Years later, I learned I also had Lupus, and later on, I added other autoimmune diseases. Added to that, I was homeschooling our three children. I needed to find something that I could bring my vast experience to and work from home.
Let’s face it, stuffing envelopes is not appealing to many of us, and I had to find a way to work from home. My only reason for starting was to add to our family income because my husband was a Paster, which was not a position that earned a high income. I only wanted to add a couple of hundred dollars to help buy groceries or birthday presents. So, working as a virtual assistant and virtual bookkeeper was perfect. Later, I was able to create agencies for VAs, then for our digital marketing, before I began mentoring and coaching.
The bottom line was that as my children left home and my diseases progressed, I could cut back my working hours and even work from bed if needed. It allowed me to stay home and raise our children while giving me the ability, on difficult days, to work from bed. This is not everyone’s need, but it was ours, and because I had built the business up, I was able to do this.
“Rarely does alignment come from a place of fear, anger, frustration, envy, or sadness. Whilst those emotions are so important in our emotional health (I truly believe we should recognise and allow all emotions as they are totally normal) I know that for alignment to work we need to move past them and work from a place of calm.” –Elizabeth Dhokia
So, I’ll ask again, “What does success look like for you?”
It is important to not only discuss this topic but also give you practical ways to put it into action.
Business On Auto-pilot
If you are already in the midst of your business, you’ve probably already discovered this option. Putting as much as you can autopilot in your business is important when building an agency or your team.
After creating your core values, this is the first essential and practical step to creating a lifestyle-aligned business. Whether you ever want to add a team, this is a must.
Putting it on autopilot means process automation. Many of your daily processes can be automated. Perhaps I should have said that the first step after developing core values is creating your processes and systems for your business. Documenting this is crucial to the daily running of it.
Let’s look at other ways it means to have a lifestyle-aligned business.
Still Have Time For Family & Events
Do you feel like you have enough time for family and events that come up in your life? Having a lifestyle-aligned business involves purposeful living. Living on purpose and moving through all parts of your life in a manner that creates peace and, of course, income within the business. It is not supposed to always be difficult.
Yes, there are times when it is, but hopefully, you get to a place where you are driven by soul purpose and can easily move into choices that make sense within that context. Making choices that are right for you and your family, even when those choices involve your business.
When I have a client who is struggling with a decision or which path to choose in their business, I have them go back to the priorities they set (one of the first things we discuss). This often involves their core values. Then the decision becomes much clearer.
One of the reasons most people want to have a lifestyle-aligned business is so they can spend more time with family and be available for events that come up.
Earning Enough Income To Take Vacations
Another reason you will want to have a lifestyle-aligned business is so you can have the time to take vacations. The corporate structure tells us that a week or two is good enough. Let’s face it, we all need and usually deserve a break from the workload.
So, what if you could have a month off or even a few months off? It may all at once or spread out over the year, but the point is that in a lifestyle-aligned business, you get to decide how much time you have for vacations, not somebody giving you limits on it. You can do this because you design a business that allows you to take the time. You design the client work around it, or you have a team that can cover it all while you are away without fear of the business falling apart.
Gives You The Ability To Travel
The other part of that is the ability to travel. When I was young, I dreamt of traveling all over the world. Yet it was difficult and expensive with a family of five to travel. We usually opted for a beach (Mrytle, Outer Banks, North Carolina) as they were closest. Although I admit we are beach people!
Most of our trips involved Mission Trips with the kids. We often had these trips when either at Southeastern Seminary or in coordination with the church my husband was pastoring. It was a good experience for our children, and we were always glad to take them.
So, I’m not complaining at all, as in some years we were unable to take any trips, and living next door to the church (in housing provided), it did not afford much privacy. My husband’s desire was always to get away, of course.
The ability to travel for my husband and me today usually means a cruise to the Caribbean. Which we love doing. I would have, however, loved to be able to get to Alaska, Italy, and Greece. Maybe one day.
This is why you want to create a business to fit your lifestyle. You may have plans to travel domestically and internationally. Owning your business should be a leash around your neck, but rather a joyful instrument that allows you to live!
Helps You Be The Mother or Spouse You Want
A business like this also allows you to be a better Mother and spouse. When you are making time for your family and not stressing and feeling like client work is hanging over your head, it helps you be a better parent and/or spouse.
Designing a lifestyle-aligned business means putting your priorities first. To do that, you must know your priorities and goals for your life, family, and business.
Then, by having the freedom to step away when the family needs you or when your children are pulling at you, it is an easy choice.
Gives You The Ability To Do What You WANT
Making a lifestyle-aligned business gives you the ability to do what you want rather than having to do what you must do all the time. This is a freedom in itself. Being able to make the choice of doing what you want or doing what you think you must do is a freedom in itself.
The real reason you can do what you want is that you’ve created and grown a business that can survive without you. It means that when you have a choice to do what you want versus what you think you must in the business, you really can choose to do what you want after growing a lifestyle-aligned business.
Helps You Turn Off Your Business
The real reason we create lifestyle-aligned businesses is to have the ability to turn your business off at times. You cannot simply walk away and forget it. No, you have to get processes and systems documented and in place. You should probably work with a coach who has some experience in doing this. And it will take time, but eventually, you will have a business that you are able to turn off at times.
After bringing on a virtual team of subcontractors to help you with clients’ work and tasks, you should be able to have a lifestyle-aligned business.
Get Help Growing A Lifestyle-Aligned Business
Do you need help growing a lifestyle-aligned business?
Or are you struggling with a decision in your business?
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Final Thoughts
A lifestyle-aligned business does not happen overnight. It is not something you can just decide to do and have it working for you next week. It requires that you formulate a plan according to your priorities and goals. Most who want this type of business will bring on a business coach to help guide them in the steps so they can be accountable to someone. In the end, however, your hard work is rewarded by achieving the lifestyle-aligned business that you dream of creating.
