How to create the ideal lifestyle business has long been a professional goal of most entrepreneurs. Tim Ferris got it right when he wrote ‘The 4-Hour Work Week‘ – work less, play more! (By the way, if you’ve not read it – I suggest along with this blog, his book is a fabulous resource on creating the ideal lifestyle.)

So what is the ideal lifestyle business and is it really possible to create a lifestyle by design?

The 3 Keys To Your Ideal Lifestyle Business

I can describe the ideal lifestyle business in 3 steps and I’ll cover these steps in more detail below but it’s these 3 steps which form the pillar of a lifestyle business and which I’ll come back to time and time again.

So here are the 3 steps to define your ideal lifestyle business:

1) A business that contributes to you life in a very meaningful way
2) A business that frees you up from the time from money trap
3) A business which allows you to have the lifestyle that you’ve always dreamt about.

1. A Business That Contributes To Your Life In A Very Meaningful Way

For me, a lifestyle business must have a sense of purpose. If it has no meaning for you, then I don’t believe that it can truly be defined as a lifestyle business.

The reason that I say that is because if you’re going to be spending time working on something that doesn’t add to your life, then it doesn’t add to your lifestyle and if it’s not adding to your lifestyle, it’s not really a lifestyle business.

So, that’s important: It’s got to add to your life in some way.

One of the things I’ve noticed about those of us who run the ultimate lifestyle business is the flow state that surrounds us and all that we do. It does not mean that we do not have challenges. I have problems and challenges all the time but because I’m in the right business for me, because I’ve got the right team around me, a challenge will come up and as soon as I initiate flow and share it with the team, the sense of ease and magic that happens is extraordinary.

So make sure your business contributes to your life and you do that by making sure your business has a purpose and a meaning to you.

2. A Business That Frees You Up From The Time From Money Trap

A lifestyle business is one which gives you freedom of time.

In case you’re wondering what is freedom of time let me quickly explain.

Freedom of time means instead of working 40 hours a week and receiving a salary for the hours you work, you instead receive residual or passive streams of income. I prefer the word residual because passive implies you don’t have to do any work . . . and to be perfectly honest with you – I’ve rarely experienced that!

What I’ve worked hard on is to create a series of valuable information products on a topic I am passionate about (that part is very important – your heart must be in it!) which can be sold over the internet or on stage again and again and again. This means I do the hard work once but reap the reward multiple times over. This even means sometimes I make money in my sleep! This really is lifestyle by design!

Now I have to make a little confession here – I actually LOVE work so for me to only work 4 hours a week is not my dream. So I actually still work a fair bit more but not because I have to, right? But because I want to. Here is the distinction.

But if I did want to, I could only work a few hours a week and spend the rest of the time in my pyjamas!

Sit back and imagine a business where you only need work 2 hours a day (or 4 hours a week in the case of Tim Ferris!) but receive MORE money than you do right now for working plus 40 hours a week.

Imagine having more time to spend with your family, your children, your friends. More time to pick up your children from school, be home to bathe them and put them to bed, be there to hear their first word and watch them take their first step.

Imagine being able to take days off whenever you want and whenever you choose just to be able to do the things you want to do! Go to watch a movie in the middle of the afternoon. Walk barefoot along the beach at sunset. Dangle your toes in the cool river. Check out that painting course you’ve always fancied.

This is what creating your ideal lifestyle business is all about. It’s about creating streams of residual or passive income from a business you love so you are not exchanging your time for a pay cheque.

Instead you are working LESS hours for MORE money and thus having the time and the money to enjoy life.

3) A Business Which Allows You To Have The Lifestyle That You’ve Always Dreamt About

A lifestyle business is also one where you can work anywhere in the world you want. Last year my husband, Greg and I called ourselves gypsies because we quite literally worked from about 10 different locations across the world whilst running a 7-figure company at the same time!

To us freedom of geography is very important. Traveling is something we adore so to be able to work anywhere in the world is the lifestyle of our dreams. Maybe that’s important to you too? Working from wherever you want. So you could work from a lofty garret in Paris whilst you sip your coffee or be sitting on Bondi beach watching the surf – the choice is yours.

Imagine being able to work when you want AND where you want? It’s pretty intoxicating huh?

That’s what I mean about having the lifestyle you always wanted. I haven’t mentioned the material stuff because to be honest that’s not my idea of an ideal lifestyle. But it could be yours! I know Greg loves all the latest gadgets – so maybe you’d love to afford to buy what you want without having to think twice about budget. Or maybe it’s fast cars, private yachts, pampering weekends in a private health spa, luxury hampers bursting with goodies or even the make-over on your house.

It really is lifestyle by design.

In Summary
A lifestyle business is one which gives you space to breathe and space to enjoy your life whilst following your heart’s desire all at the same time.

A lifestyle business uses the innate gifts you were born with, your talents, your passions, and your abilities and moulds them into a business so that you can create the lifestyle that you truly deserve.

Now take a moment to notice how good that makes you feel and more importantly, start to take some action steps to create your ideal lifestyle business.