Frequently I’m asked “how do I get started setting up a lifestyle business?”
With there being so much information out there, and so many differing opinions on how to go about it, it can be incredibly confusing.
Your starting point is very simple … just do something … take an immediate action today to put things into motion.
Accept one thing; the internet has the power to take you on a roller coaster ride. But the great news is that today’s economy presents the perfect opportunity for anyone to create a lifestyle business.
Now here’s a word of warning. At the start things aren’t going to be easy. You will have to put a lot of time, energy and focus into building your business. But let me put it like this. Millions of people, are stuck in jobs they hate, completely frustrated having to work harder and harder for less reward, rarely seeing their kids, hardly time to catch their breath, with no time to spend quality time with their family. And this situation will continue right the way through until old age and retirement, unless they lose their job and have to rely on unemployment benefit. You have an alternative, accept a period where you too will have to work your backside off. Where much of your time will keep you consumed on your business. Where your family will at times feel like they are in the background. But this will not be for the long term. You’ll be working on a business you’re passionate about, and that will be life changing. Soon you’ll be in a position where you work for less hours, and have far more to spend with your family. Where you can do things that others can only dream of.
I can assure you you’re in for an interesting journey. Mine stared as a blogger. In fact I was a hobby blogger who had no intentions of making money from my pursuit. But things quickly changed. I loved blogging so much I wanted to do it more and more. I wanted it to become my full time career. So my mission became to build a lifestyle business that ultimately I could run it from my laptop from anywhere in the world.
Could I really turn my passion into a real lifestyle business? Was this the impossible dream? To create a life where I have more time to do the things I love, while doing I am passionate about.
The answer was I could do it and the steps weren’t all that difficult. Let me give it to you in a nutshell.
- I had to except that I was making a huge transition. That I was going from a hobby blogger to a BUSINESS. Just like any other business you need to offer value to people who are ready to pay for it. Unless people want to pay for what you offer you cannot create a successful business. So you must define what you are going to offer and how it can help people in such a manner that they will eagerly pay for it.
- I was fortunate from the start. My niche was healthy lifestyles living and personal development, two of my most passionate subjects, both offering me a big and profitable niche.
- My objectives as both a blogger and as a business owner were the same: to help people get to a destination, or help them solve a problem. Key to success is knowing who you can help, what you help them with, and why they should buy from you. If you can create products or services which solve people’s pressing problems and make a positive difference in the world you have what it takes to build a successful business.
- The power of my business is created by ‘great’ blogging. Awesome content and creative ideas contribute the most in generating traffic for your blog. Without either you’re not going to build the business of your dreams. So my major objective has always been and still is to produce this. It’s a challenge, but once the passion for blogging bites, one that you just raise yourself up to every day.
- My first product was a no brainer. In truth it was taking my off line business and bringing it on line. This was Personal Development and Life Coaching. This was something I had done face to face for individuals or groups. The internet and my blog gave me the opportunity to offer this through telephone or even Skype for anyone around the world.
- My second was creating an e-commerce store, and then finding products which complemented my niche. Being a healthy lifestyle blogger this was a no brainer. There are some top quality supplements out there and it was these that I began selling through my store.
- Once you have an ecommerce shop you can sell anything. So my next product, based on feedback from clients was my eBook ‘Combat Stress The Healthy Lifestyle Way’.
- Simply creating a well SEO’ed ‘Advertise on this Blog’ Advertising Page generated me a considerable amount of money from advertisers.
- Another product that was signposted to me by my readers came from an article I wrote. My statistical information showed me that this one article, written over 12 months ago, was attracting over 100 visits a day. This showed that its subject was being searched for a lot. So creating a course around this subject and using one of my best skills, that as a public speaker, I provided this course online through my webinar room.
- A natural progression was people would use my coaching skills together with my blogging success, to ask me to coach them to build on line businesses and business blogs.
- And now I have opened the most exciting of all my adventures – Passion to Profits The Healthy Lifestyle Way where I am taking 20 people and providing them a platform on my healthylifestylesliving.com domain where I will support and coach them to build a business similar to mine on a niche following their passions. I will help these aspiring entrepreneurs change the world with their message. How do I know this will succeed. I am a leader with enthusiasm and excitement who is always upfront with my objectives and passionately conveys my vision for the future.
Maybe this will give you a few ideas how to monetize what you do. I hope so.
But don’t forget the key to a lifestyle business. In most traditional businesses, the accountant is king, it’s all about profit and loss, margin and profit is everything. You’re in it for the money, and nothing else. When you choose to start a lifestyle business, though, you embrace far more. You see that money isn’t everything, that lifestyle, happiness, and satisfaction are just as important. Don’t get me wrong I like making money, but I like the freedom that my business is giving me, and I love what I do each and every day as though it was my hobby.
Once you start you’ll learn what works and what doesn’t. Get started today!
If you have additional tips, questions, or want to add a note about your own blogging experience, please share below in the comments.
