I finished it last night, it was written by Timothy Ferris. It has certainly hit my list of must reads for anyone who is looking at a better way to work, get out of the rat race, find more in life and all the other cliches. The major highlights of this book include:
Its entertaining, the anecdotes make the read a pleasure
Its inspiring, it left me jumping out of my skin to get cracking
It has well defined steps to take along the way.
The book actually made me think about some new life ideas for me and my family, one of which I shared with my partner and actually got a little bit of positive feedback (usually it is kicking and screaming ), so for me there is a definite action item now to go back and read it again, implementing the strategies as I go to see where I end up at the end of the book.
Many people ask me what a lifestyle business is, what I do and how it pertains to small and medium sized businesses (SMB). Here are the answers:
What is a Lifestyle Business
When I talk about a lifestyle business, it is more about your approach to business. Its all about work-life balance. Most people go to work to earn enough money to support themselves. Once they finish work, they have a small amount of time left in the day. Once they finish paying for their basic living expenses, they also have a small amount of money left. They then have the liberty to try and carve a lifestyle out of the small amout of time and money they have left after work and basic necessities are covered. Because their resources of time and money are scarce, they need to make some tough decisions – this is the opposite of the approach I am talking about.
A lifestyle business starts with what you want out of life. What are the parameters and requirements for your perfect lifestyle? A lifestyle business starts at this point and then creates a business model around these prerequisites. Time enhancement, money generation and portability typically become priorities in such model. When the business model is a success, it supports the owners lifestyle rather than consumes it.
Why A Lifestyle Business
The answer to this one is simple. Lifstyle businesses let you live your life on your own terms. You still get to help people, make a difference to others by providing a product or service of real value. But you do it on your own terms. And you do it in a way that puts the life of you and your family first, and ensures your business activities support your life values.
How Do Lifestyle Business Strategies Apply to SMB
The reason the strategies of lifestyle businesses are so readily applicable to SMBs are the goals of SMBs typically are very similar. Business owners of SMBs invariably created their businesses as they had a product or skill of real value they could market and they wanted to own their own destiny. Unfortunately and often, success in SMB means that the business owners get consumed by their businesses. They spend so much time in their business they cannot extract themselves to enjoy the fruits of their labour.
As the strategies of lifestyle businesses are all about automation and reducing time spent in the business, they are typically excellent strategies to offer the SMB business owner who cant see the end of any day, due to the burdens of his own creation.
), so for me there is a definite action item now to go back and read it again, implementing the strategies as I go to see where I end up at the end of the book.