What is a lifestyle business? (And what does it look like?)
If you’ve ever heard the phrase ‘lifestyle business’ or ‘freedom business’, I’m here to explain what it means and my experience with creating my own!
It’s a term I use a lot for myself and for my clients, but what is a lifestyle business? In this blog post I want to explore the benefits of lifestyle businesses, debunk some common myths, and provide practical steps for designing your own.
If you’re longing for a business that prioritises a work-life balance whilst being profitable, I think you’ll like this concept, whether you’re just starting out or you’re a seasoned business owner.
Table of Contents
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What is a lifestyle business (what does it mean)?
You’ll probably find dozens of definitions across the web, but here’s my own adaptation that encompasses everything I understand it to mean:
A lifestyle business is a business that provides not only the financial freedom but the time and location freedom that allows the owner to live the life they want, on their own terms.
Lifestyle businesses will prioritise ‘working smarter, not harder’, so that time is effectively spent on impactful (and ideally enjoyable!) activities. Using your time more effectively means you have more free time to do what you love and live your life!
This might be different from other businesses whose primary priority is on growth and scaling. However (as I’ll discuss later on), you can absolutely have a lifestyle business that grows and makes the money you want too! It doesn’t have to be ‘one or the other’.
Other words people may use in place of ‘lifestyle business’:
Freedom, freedom-based, or freedom-first business
I think this is the closest synonym for a ‘lifestyle business’, as the focus is all about putting your freedom as a priority in the business, which allows you to live the life you want to lead.Passion business
This term doesn’t quite mean the same thing as it puts the priority on the work you do being something you’re passionate about - which is great and means you end up living your life more in alignment to what you love. But it’s definitely still possible to sacrifice freedom and lifestyle for a passion business.Location-independent business or a digital nomad business
As I’ll discuss below, a lifestyle business doesn’t necessarily have to be laptop-based or online and therefore allows you to work from anywhere or travel. A lifestyle business could be a brick & mortar chocolate shop in your local town! As long as you design it around prioritising your lifestyle. Likewise, it’s possible be location-independent and still not have the freedom and lifestyle you want because you’re still working all hours.
Hopefully you can see the differences!
The benefits of a lifestyle business
More time to do what you love
Whether that’s pursuing your creative passions, spending more time with your loved ones, travelling the world, working on personal projects, or taking afternoons off to go to the beach.
Live and work from anywhere you want (or become ‘location independent’)
This depends on what kind of work you do, but many types of lifestyle businesses can be set up anywhere (thinking of leaving the city, or moving abroad?), or can allow you to work from where you want (eg. your bed, a coffee shop, or a different country!).
Control of your own schedule & routines
When you run your own business, you don’t have a boss to report to or someone setting your schedules, but it’s still easy to get sucked in to working long hours and sticking to weekdays just because we’re used to it. With a lifestyle business, you prioritise a schedule that works for YOU, and fit your business around this.
Balance work around your family life
If you’re a parent or care-giver, a lifestyle business can allow you the freedom for this. It means you don’t have to choose, make huge sacrifices, or make yourself sick with stress and overwhelm, because you can do both with more ease.
Honour your health and mental health needs
If you struggle with chronic health or mental health problems, a lifestyle business is the perfect option for giving you the space and flexibility you need.
Take time off when you need, with less stress
I’ve kind of mentioned this already above, but when you have a lifestyle business it can be much easier to take those much-needed breaks, or allow yourself sick-days or ‘couch days’ with less stress.
Common lifestyle business myths
A lot of people assume there are two options when starting a business or becoming a ‘solopreneur’:
Option 1:
You hustle, work day and night, but the pay-off is that you business is ‘successful’ and makes lots of money!
Option 2:
You decide you want a flexible schedule and to work when you want, but you have to sacrifice being ‘successful’ and you make less money.
When it comes to having a lifestyle business, you may think that you therefore have to choose option 2; make less money but have a nice life in the meantime.
But I disagree!
I don’t believe there are only these 2 options available.
I believe you can be ‘successful’ and make the money you want AND have a flexible schedule and plenty of freedom to go along with it.
I believe you can have both, and I believe that choosing the lifestyle business route doesn’t mean you have to give up your financial goals. It’s about time freedom AND financial freedom, right?
It’s also important to identify what ‘success’ looks like to you, and get really clear on that. Some people will look at a business that has a fancy office and a big team and 7 figure revenue as the ultimate vision of success, but chances are if you’re interested in a lifestyle business, this isn’t the end goal at all.
What my own lifestyle business looks like
I work from my home, coffee shops, or on balconies abroad
As an introvert, I love my home office, but sometimes when I fancy an environment switch-up, I head to a coffee shop for some laptop work. Likewise if you’re more of an extravert, a lifestyle business can give you the flexibility to work in co-working spaces, or from environments with more of a buzz too!
I typically wake up late, take long lunches, and have occasional afternoons at the beach
I wish I was a morning person, but I sleep very lightly so tend to struggle more in the mornings. Luckily, my lifestyle business means I can lie in if my Dolphin Sleep Chronotype needs require it!
Likewise I enjoy taking long lunch breaks to walk the dogs, and take occasional afternoons off when it’s sunny to head to the beach.
I work with clients & on projects I’m truly passionate about
I’m so grateful that I’ve created a business where I can choose the clients I work with, to ensure that every website project I take on or every mentorship I deliver feels exciting and fun!
I dedicate Fridays to work on my own projects
I don’t take any client calls or work on client projects on Fridays, and instead dedicate this day to working ON my business or on my own projects. I love getting to decide these themed days!
I go to mid-morning exercise classes
Being able to prioritise my health is really important to me, but I also love that mid-morning and mid-afternoon exercise classes tend to be quieter - yahoo!
I say yes to last-minute opportunities because of my flexible schedule
With my travel & lifestyle brand I’m able to say yes to last minute work with brands or press trips thanks to my flexible business schedule. Or if an exciting business opportunity lands in my inbox!
Lifestyle Business Examples
There are so many industries and types of businesses that can become ‘lifestyle businesses’; I would say it depends more on the owner of the business and their goals, dreams and ideas of success than it matters what industry you’re in.
You may hear that lifestyle businesses are typically online businesses, but I believe the ideals behind it can apply to in-person and brick & mortar businesses too. It really depends on how you design it for yourself, if this is your goal.
Some lifestyle business examples include (but aren’t limited to):
Copywriting, blogging, PR, content creation or marketing
These are classic options for lifestyle businesses because they’re all pretty location independent!Personal chef or catering
These require in-person work but can absolutely be done around the lifestyle you want. All the better if cooking is your passion.Design services
Eg. Brand design, website design, interior design, architecture, fashion.Virtual assistants
Another classic location-independent and varied, flexible business option.
Ecommerce, courses or digital products
Even with physical products, when set up in the right way this can become a lifestyle business too.Photography
Even though this requires in-person work, it can absolutely be designed around your lifestyle! My friend Olivia Bossert is a fashion photographer and does this exceptionally well.
Consulting, coaching or tutoring
This could be for business, health, fitness, music, travel, or any other form of sharing your expertise to other businesses or to consumers. This could easily be done in-person, or online!
These are just some examples but I could go on! Let me know in the comments of this post what your business does and if you’re not sure whether this could become a lifestyle business.
How to design your own lifestyle business
I started going freelance back in 2015, offering creative services to clients alongside my full-time job. I then went part-time in my job, and eventually left employment to pursue my brand and website design business full-time!
As happens with many of us starting out in business, I started working all hours and ended up burning out in 2017. I took time off my business at this point and had to re-evaluate things…
I asked myself, what do I really want?
I live in Cornwall, UK, and I adore being outside. I also love travel and wanted space and time to enjoy all of this more. And I realised that rather than hinder this, it was in my power to design a business that allowed me to have this freedom.
So I sat down and wrote down what I really wanted from my life - now, 5 years, and 10 years into the future. What did I want to be doing? What did it look like? Not just material things, but my daily routine too.
I set clear goals
In order to achieve that dream life, I set intentional goals around what money I needed to make in order to live that life, all while remembering what I actually enjoy doing as well.
I made an action plan
I asked myself ‘what can I offer and sell that can help me to create this income in the most time effective way, whilst also helping people, and being enjoyable for myself’. And made an action plan for how to implement this!
I streamlined my processes
I simplified my business, created streamlined processes for client work, and everything in-between, and automated what I could too.
PS. Get my exact streamlined client, project + business system inside The Organised Designer’s Hub, where I show you how to elevate your client processes, organise your business, and manage your tasks easily!
Lifestyle Business FAQs
Can I have a lifestyle business if I have a team / employees / contractors?
When you prioritise your business around the lifestyle YOU want, this will look very different for different people. For some people, the ultimate freedom means being a ‘solopreneur’ and not having the responsibility of managing any other people.
However, for others, the ultimate freedom might look like having a team of people that you can delegate tasks to, so they are off your plate and you can then go and live your life! It’s completely up to you.
