Designing a Lifestyle Business on My Terms
As I was supporting a coaching client this week to design her ideal lifestyle business model, she asked me an important question.
“What significant shifts did you make in your business to feel like it’s the perfect way of working for you?”
I reflected on that question for a few minutes, because the answer was so much more than just the steps I took to gain more clients or land a powerful offer.
In order for me to make meaningful shifts and decide what was for me and what wasn’t, I had to truly redefine how I wanted to “do” business.
It can be easy to complicate the way we approach starting or growing a business.
But what if YOUR business can be designed to fit your unique strengths, goals, and lifestyle choices?
What decisions would you make to ensure you would actually want to show up consistently in your business every day?
These were the questions I had to ask myself when I suffered a severe business burnout in 2016 after my highest-revenue year in my business.
Shifts to “Do” Business With My Values in Mind
Even though I was building a financially thriving business, I didn’t feel I was thriving mentally, physically, and spiritually.
I realized that even though I was making great money, the path I took to get to that goal felt misaligned with how I really wanted to truly experience my business.
In order to build a business model that inspires me to show up for work every day and is aligned with the way I want to “do” business, I had to redefine new “metrics” for measuring my success in my business.
Things like…
- How I want to market and build a community that’s in tune with my values
- How I design my services to reflect my personality type and work style
- How I structure my days to have more time to nurture other passions
- How I get support for my business without having a full-time team
Redefining How I “Show Up” in My Business
This motivated me to think about how I wanted to “show up” for different parts of my business – how do I want to build my business with intention so that every action I take is purposeful and meaningful to me?
I needed to look at my business with a human-focused lens, which led me to redefine and reinvent my approach to all the day-to-day activities of my business.
Marketing Can Be an Education – How do I want to “plant seeds” to teach what I know in the strengths I have instead of depleting my energy figuring out boring marketing algorithms?
Offers Can Be an Experience – How do I want to design the “journey” for how clients receive my combination of skills and knowledge in a unique experience instead of packaging my offer like everyone else?
Selling Can Be an Invitation – How do I want to create intimacy and build authentic conversations to welcome and “invite” the right people to work with me rather than blindly promote to the masses?
Community Can Be Collaborative – How do I want to reach a bigger community with fun partnerships and collaborations to do bigger things together rather than trying to spread the word all by my lonely self?
Taking time to re-evaluate and redefine the kind of business that’s right for me and how I wanted to show up for it was the key to making those significant shifts to bring me joy in my business.
I rarely do things I don’t like to grow my business (sure, I may have to learn new things, but I know why it mattered to my growth).
I consciously choose where to spend my time and energy on activities that let me experience my business with more fun, creativity, and joy.
It feels more human, heart-centered, and intentional.
And the best part? My business really feels like ME.
It Became the Beacon For How I Help Others Build a Lifestyle Business
This philosophy for a meaningful and thriving business is reflected in how I teach my coaching clients and students to design their own lifestyle businesses.
It’s not a paint-by-numbers way to build a business. Instead, I focus on building the right foundations for you to have a right-for-you business.
From identifying your best skills and experience to monetize, to your ideal offers, and how you market and sell, your business will be intentionally designed to amplify more of your unique genius-zone.
The result? You walk away with a meaningful business plan you’re confident to launch that’s in alignment with your values, personality, and superpowers.
Doing business can feel good. Really good.
If you’re ready to simplify launching your business and find more fulfillment with your work, I would love to chat about working together in my 90 Day Launch program. To see if the program is a good fit for you and your goals, you can apply to speak to me here!
To a business that brings you freedom, joy, and fulfillment,
Lydia
