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A fundamental question for any entrepreneur: What do I want from my business?

Paul David

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Great thread.

I've tried the enterprise thing in my 20's and early 30's. Didn't work out in the end.

I am however still stuck in between. Travel is a big passion of mine so a lifestyle business would help with that. I also want to move to Spain which I've stated on here many times. The UK is just not somewhere I wake up happy each morning. Weather is depressing.

However part of me also wants to build something that lasts when I've gone. ie Facebook, Mars, Under Armour, Nike etc.

When I move to Spain I'm not someone who's going to be sitting on a beach all day twiddling my thumbs. If i'm not travelling and visiting places I'll be working on my laptop. Hopefully on something that I can say at the end I built that.
 
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journeyman

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Really good thread, and with good timing as I've been thinking about this a lot.

I've tried at least 3 'lifestyle' businesses. All of them didn't make a single $. I did have some success with freelancing but I am nowhere near good enough to make full-time income from it. My plan was to make some money from a lifestyle business and travel while I am young, eventually using profits as capital to fund the enterprise, which has always been the end goal.

Due to the failures, I keep thinking that I waste my time with these small-time ventures as I really want to make an impact in biotech. The counter-argument is, if I can't execute at a high level at something simple, how am I going to succeed at something 10 times more complex?

I came here for answers, but I left with more food for thought. I'll take it.
 

GatsbyMag

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I would still steer you away from "vacation" and "travel freely" mindset.

I used that as an example, since we were on the whole "trips" and such vibe.

Instead of thinking of "option to move freely", just think of it as options.

And while you don't care for vacations ( I get it ) just make sure sure you are not lumping "vacations" as the reason to go enterprise. Make sure you are measuring "options".

For example ( granted I am not the best at commenting on enterprise, so take what I say with grain of salt ), I got up at 10am today. No, that's not when I started working, but when I got out of bed.

I had the option to do that. Lazy? no, I had a reason to.. but not very many people working in Enterprise can do the same unless they are the boss and owner and even then some think this sets a bad example to others. Again I am not an enterprise expert, but unless you have put in years and marketing and have the cash flow to really have the "enterprise", would you do the same? Maybe. If I came in odd hours daily to the office, I would think my employees would be a bit disgruntled after a while. Again, your the boss though so I am just speaking out loud.

I took a 3 hour lunch with my wife and kids on a Tuesday, and went to watch a movie with them. I saw the Joker. Afterward, I smoked a cigar and cut down a tree. Later that night I did business stuff. I had the option to move my hours around.

A week before that, I worked on 2 projects I really personally wanted to work on. I didn't have to work on anything someone gave me, or someone needed help on, or that I felt were so pressing that my company really needed it and would cause issue if I didn't. I had the option to work on any project in any way I felt.

I might be painting the wrong picture as I am sure several in Enterprise can say they can do all this too.

But doing things "my way" and having the options to do so, just seems easier to come by on the "lifestyle" road.

But each person gets their own mileage.
I work closely with CEOs on a daily basis.

You're pretty spot on my friend.

I used to think I wanted the enterprise lifestyle until I saw it up close.

Being CEO of a medium to large enterprise is NOT glamorous.

You answer not only to customers, but your employees and shareholders as well. It's even worse if you have investors or a board of directors, because they effectively become YOUR boss. They tell you what to do, how to do it, who to do it with and when to do it.

You can take as many breaks as you want, but don't think that your employees won't notice. Furthermore, the more breaks you take, the more likely it is that you fall behind your competitors.

But it can also be rather exciting, there's power in knowing that you're the man, the leader, the visionary who is building something that will contribute to an enduring legacy which your great great great grandchildren will be in awe of; having 10-1000's of employees working daily to ensure your vision is realized, constantly kissing your a$$ so they can get promoted/keep their job/rub shoulders with you etc. It's a massive ego boost and power trip.

But at the end, you need to think about the type of life you want to live and consider the possibility that you may change your mind 10-12 years later.

For me, I personally want to live a life where I have the option to say "screw it", pack my bags and go to some random destination for 2 weeks to party and live it up before realizing how much I miss my work.
 
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D

Deleted72597

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Awesome first post, and lots of interesting inputs.
I'm more in the "Why not both?" category, I think.

Enterprise:
Plan -> Start -> Build -> Grow -> Hire other CEO and do the things you enjoy inside that business (if you don't like being CEO) OR hire CEO and transition into equity holder + advisor + safety net + world-traveling rock god. lol.

I don't know, man. Richard Branson built Virgin while flying around in air balloons, sailing the seas, partying, being a temporary hippie, and traveling the world (unless I have it all wrong).
Lots of work, and lots of life.

Building an enterprise I'm passionate about seems really cool me, but there is also a lot of life I want to taste, and creative/artistic projects I would like to pursue. Haven't figured out the exact sequence yet.

I'm really interested in good digital solutions in the enterprise department. I can't see why one can't be a CEO from a distance? Be in that meeting on the beach? If the digital communication is top of the line, why not? I know little about high-level CEO'ing, so I know I'm going out on a limb here.
 
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Okeze

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I’ve got a friend that I call a few times a month to see if he’s taken action on his ideas and help him break down any barriers he may have. We’ll talk about what he’s doing and he’ll throw up a bunch of excuses about why he can’t launch yet, albeit it’s been 4 years since he started his entrepreneurial journey. His excuses may be something like this; “I have to have videos first, I have to have a website first, I have to have this and that before I can make my first calls”. Mind you, this cycle has been going on for years, but he's made a bit of cash here and there while hustling.

I never knew if there was a single question I could ask that would help him find out what it was he really wanted from being an entrepreneur.

I had a thought that maybe I should figure out what question should be asked at the beginning of anyone's journey.

The question that popped into mind was: Do you want a lifestyle business, or an enterprise?

It turns out he wanted a lifestyle business, but was getting advice from someone building an enterprise. He never knew that what he wanted was a lifestyle business, but now he can go out and get the resources he needs to get it done.

I think that this is a fundamental question that any entrepreneur should ask themselves before starting any sort of business.

What is it that you are wanting out of your journey? What do you want your journey to look like?

Let's break down the two business types.

Lifestyle Business: Some E-commerce/Amazon businesses, drop shipping, SEO services, copywriting services, Freelancing, other internet related ventures that focus solely on you as the one and only “employee” in a company. Lifestyle businesses make enough to cover your lifestyle and that’s about it. They allow you to potentially work a few hours a day, if that, and from anywhere in the world. Disclaimer: Some lifestyles may require millions of dollars a year, so you make that much to suit your lifestyle.

  • Do you want “profitability” within 1-2 years, or even after few product sales?
  • Do you want to be able to work from anywhere in the world with just a laptop and an internet connection?
  • Do you want to travel a ton and have your journey to be filled with daily adventures?
  • Do you want to do whatever you want, whenever you want, without worrying too much about money?
  • Do you want to work as little as possible, no shame in this, and still be able support your lifestyle?

If you answered yes to most of these questions, you probably want a lifestyle business.

Enterprise: Some software companies, franchises, massive brands (Yeti Coolers, Johnson and Johnson, Hershey's), large brick and mortar operations (BNSF Railroad, RotoRooter, Gamestop), real estate. Enterprises are huge beasts of scale and a product of relentless execution. Businesses that are at the top of their game, with the intent to dominate a particular market. Enterprises offer you the chance to exit for a large sum of f*ck you money, in exchange for sacrificing 10 years of your life.

  • Are you looking to build something with massive scale and impact?
  • Are you looking to build something with the intent to exit for 8 figures or more?
  • Are you looking to build a team that can take you places farther than you could ever go on your own?
  • Are you interested in being a CEO of a large company?
  • Are you interested in working 60-80 hour weeks for years? 40 hours from a dayjob are included in this estimate and don’t burn yourself out people, be smart.
  • Are you willing to risk 5, 10, or more years of your life to see a business idea through to its fruition?
  • Are you looking to get investors to invest in your products and ideas?
  • Are you looking for your own David vs Goliath journey?
  • Are you looking to push yourself to your limits and build a legacy?

If you answered yes to most of these questions, then an enterprise business is probably for you.



The right choice is what it is you want for yourself. For me, I want an enterprise. I want to take down some of the biggest companies in my industry. I don’t care about traveling, or going places. I just want a massive project to work on and lead a team, as that’s what satisfies me.

What would satisfy you might be sipping coconuts on a beach in Puerto Rico and enjoying seeing $500 in profit for the day. You might enjoy a trip to Thailand to meet up with other like minded lifestyle entrepreneurs for a few months just because you have the freedom to do so.

Not everything is sunshine and rainbows, and both journeys have their own challenges.

Think about what sort of business it is that you want, lifestyle or enterprise, and then figure out how to build it.
I didn't understand the difference between this two until I read MJ DeMarco's book "The Millionaire Fast lane." Thanks for the post though.
 
G

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I know a local family who owns a very old enterprise business, and they are pretty hands-off with it.

There is a lady (she's in her 50's) who is the biggest owner, and she hired a manager who runs everything full-time. It's a very large company. She does go into the office, but she has a lot of freedom to come and go as she desires, lives a pretty great lifestyle, and obviously is making a lot of money.

An enterprise that gets to that level is pretty ideal.

Then you have the extremes of companies like Microsoft or Berkshire Hathaway, where the founders/owners took it public and have massive systems in place to where they don't have to be involved at all if they don't want to, but still are collecting their money own enough shares, collect enough dividends, sit on the board, etc.

I guess for big companies like that, an IPO is like a "halfway" exit.
 

Walter Hay

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I am glad that I never saw the need to go public. I believe that I had the best of both worlds by franchising my business.

I was only answerable to my franchisees, but then, I had made all the rules as to how answerable I was. Basically that meant that provided they could continue to make big profits they were happy, and that was easy because I had built a system that was inherently highly profitable.

Sale of Master Franchises passed on almost all responsiblity to those people who had to keep the unit franchisees happy, but even those Master Franchisees had an easy life.

The key was a system that worked like clockwork, generating high profits so that payment of royalties was never a burden for franchisees. The only complaints were rare, and involved glitches in supply by one or two suppliers. My input in those cases was simply to pull rank with the supplier and smarten them up with warnings about losing the massive orders they were receiving from my franchisees around the world.

I could do that in minutes from wherever I happened to be at the time.

IPO? No thank you.

Walter
 
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MTF

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Bump.

It seems that most lifestyle businesses are also solopreneurial ventures. Meanwhile, enterprise businesses, by definition, require working with others.

Previously, a lifestyle business could earn perhaps low six figures. But these days, more and more solopreneurs are making way more (with way less stress) than many "empire builders." Not that I'm criticizing the second approach - just observing that if you're only about financial independence, you'll probably be able to "retire" much sooner as a solopreneur with a lean operation than by building a huge enterprise.

Some interesting examples of successful solopreneurs are covered in these two books:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078962RHQ/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06Y4V1L9D/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20
 

biophase

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Bump.

It seems that most lifestyle businesses are also solopreneurial ventures. Meanwhile, enterprise businesses, by definition, require working with others.

Previously, a lifestyle business could earn perhaps low six figures. But these days, more and more solopreneurs are making way more (with way less stress) than many "empire builders." Not that I'm criticizing the second approach - just observing that if you're only about financial independence, you'll probably be able to "retire" much sooner as a solopreneur with a lean operation than by building a huge enterprise.

Some interesting examples of successful solopreneurs are covered in these two books:

Amazon.com: Company of One: Why Staying Small Is the Next Big Thing for Business eBook: Jarvis, Paul: Kindle Store
Amazon.com: The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business, Revised: Make Great Money. Work the Way You Like. Have the Life You Want. eBook: Pofeldt, Elaine: Kindle Store

I am going to be interviewed by the author of that second book for her next book. She had interviewed me a few months ago for an article in Forbes. She told me that most solopreneur businesses evolve into small businesses that take on employees. The reason is because these lifestyle businesses become too big for the a single person to manage and becomes a hindrance to the lifestyle that the person wanted in the first place. So they end up bringing on help eventually.
 
G

Guest-5ty5s4

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I am going to be interviewed by the author of that second book for her next book. She had interviewed me a few months ago for an article in Forbes. She told me that most solopreneur businesses evolve into small businesses that take on employees. The reason is because these lifestyle businesses become too big for the a single person to manage and becomes a hindrance to the lifestyle that the person wanted in the first place. So they end up bringing on help eventually.
Yeah, in my opinion if you avoid hiring people because you want to avoid headaches that ironically means you will have to do a lot more and wear more hats for your business.

Whereas if you have good systems and procedures with people filling key roles, your business actually produces a better lifestyle than a “lifestyle business.”

Bit of a catch-22. I was thrilled to hear @Kak go into this on his podcast because I’ve always thought the same thing.

“Are you the owner, worker, bookkeeper, janitor, and customer service department in your business? Well, maybe it’s time for an upgrade!”
 
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biophase

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Yeah, in my opinion if you avoid hiring people because you want to avoid headaches that ironically means you will have to do a lot more and wear more hats for your business.

Whereas if you have good systems and procedures with people filling key roles, your business actually produces a better lifestyle than a “lifestyle business.”

Bit of a catch-22. I was thrilled to hear @Kak go into this on his podcast because I’ve always thought the same thing.

“Are you the owner, worker, bookkeeper, janitor, and customer service department in your business? Well, maybe it’s time for an upgrade!”

When I was talking to Elaine, she had mentioned that many of the businesses in her One Person book, now have many employees. And people would complain that these businesses aren't one person anymore! But at the time of the research they were one person. This just shows that many companies evolve and grow.

I think that if you put that no employee constraint on your business, you are suffocating it from the start. You don't need to have 50 employees or even 10. Why not just have 1 or 2 or 3. I just can't see someone purposely keeping it at one person when they know that they need help.

My business crossed a new personal milestone for me last month. I had my employee hire someone. So the 5th person in the company, I don't even know. I just told my employee how much we could pay and he went out and found her. I know her name, but nothing else about her except that she's doing very well at her job.
 

MTF

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I guess people may have different definitions of what a solopreneur business is.

My self-publishing business is in theory a one-person business but in reality I need contractors for various tasks.

I just don't need to hire employees. I only hire per project and it's an independent person I don't need to manage. Though I guess if you hire the right employee you also don't need to manage them.

Either way, looking forward to her second book and to reading about you @biophase in there.
 

eliquid

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When I was talking to Elaine, she had mentioned that many of the businesses in her One Person book, now have many employees. And people would complain that these businesses aren't one person anymore! But at the time of the research they were one person. This just shows that many companies evolve and grow.

I think that if you put that no employee constraint on your business, you are suffocating it from the start. You don't need to have 50 employees or even 10. Why not just have 1 or 2 or 3. I just can't see someone purposely keeping it at one person when they know that they need help.

My business crossed a new personal milestone for me last month. I had my employee hire someone. So the 5th person in the company, I don't even know. I just told my employee how much we could pay and he went out and found her. I know her name, but nothing else about her except that she's doing very well at her job.

This is the way I believed business should be ran/started.

I know it's not the only way, or the way everyone does it.. but it has always been my belief it should be.

Other people will think differently of course.

I like to keep things simple and prove out my next steps. Moving in a fashion similar to this just makes total sense to me.

It's nice to see to examples of this out there.
 
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Ravens_Shadow

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I will mention that from the time I started this thread until now, not only have we gotten more employees but we've also grown to the point where we're all getting healthy dividends each quarter whereas at the time of this thread I had barely taken any money out of the business. I've also delegated a lot of my work to my team, and for the past few months I've been living as if it's a lifestyle business instead of an enterprise since they keep the ship sailing without me there all the time. However, I'm getting back in the captains seat after a bit of free-time off as I'm ready to scale even bigger. Knowing that I have the ability to leave for extended periods of time is very freeing though and I'm glad we built our enterprise as a remote company!

The reason I bring this up is that there was talk of enterprise businesses transitioning to lifestyle, and though I'm not there entirely, nor do I want to be, my business is built in such a way that it gives me the freedom to do what I want, work from where I want, and still make global enterprise scale deals happen.
 

Brrr

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Thanks to whoever bumped up this thread, really interesting read and perspective, something that I think I had considered only on a superficial level.

I understand people's initial reservations about employees but I personally love it, there is nothing more satisfying than seeing young people (I have quite a few "first job" kind of staff) develop confidence and abilities that they didn't previously have and that you know they will carry with them for the rest of their life.

It feels like a privilege to have my company on all these people's CV and I can influence them in such a way that their career will be shaped by my company's experience, for some reason that really massages my soul in the right way. It also forces me to be a better person, yes, I'm somewhat of a slave to the business and to the role but it also elicits a lot of personal growth.

For me the enterprise is the only option, my business and I are on a journey together and I just want to see how far I can take it, how many people I can take along that journey, and how many customers I can impact. Maybe I've just lost it and am too married to the business, I hope I don't fall out of love with it.
 

biophase

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Lifestyle Business:

  • Do you want “profitability” within 1-2 years, or even after few product sales?
  • Do you want to be able to work from anywhere in the world with just a laptop and an internet connection?
  • Do you want to travel a ton and have your journey to be filled with daily adventures?
  • Do you want to do whatever you want, whenever you want, without worrying too much about money?
  • Do you want to work as little as possible, no shame in this, and still be able support your lifestyle?

Enterprise:
  • Are you looking to build something with massive scale and impact?
  • Are you looking to build something with the intent to exit for 8 figures or more?
  • Are you looking to build a team that can take you places farther than you could ever go on your own?
  • Are you interested in being a CEO of a large company?
  • Are you interested in working 60-80 hour weeks for years? 40 hours from a dayjob are included in this estimate and don’t burn yourself out people, be smart.
  • Are you willing to risk 5, 10, or more years of your life to see a business idea through to its fruition?
  • Are you looking to get investors to invest in your products and ideas?
  • Are you looking for your own David vs Goliath journey?
  • Are you looking to push yourself to your limits and build a legacy?

I had to go back and remind myself what the initial post was actually saying.

I think that the enterprise questions here are a huge limiting belief. Where's the choice in here for an inbetween business? Where is the business that has a team, makes 7 figures where the CEO is working 10 hours a week and travels the world?

These 2 choices are basically the extreme edges of running a business. Most of the people I know are somewhere in between the two.

And also, I think there is also a big downfall to the extreme lifestyle business. These questions aren't really representative of their lives.
  • Do you want to do whatever you want, whenever you want, without worrying too much about money?
  • Do you want to work as little as possible, no shame in this, and still be able support your lifestyle?
You can do whatever you want, whenever you want, but within the means of your business. You absolutely worry about money. This is why you are in Bali or some cheaper country rather than partying in Monaco.

When you make enough to only support your lifestyle, you aren't investing in your future. So when your lifestyle business dries up, you end up at square 1, but with awesome memories. So you may have a great life between 25-30, but what happens at 31 when your income dries up and you didn't buy any bitcoin? Time to start a new business or get a job.

Many of my friends' businesses are now maturing. I can see distinct differences in the evolution, there are some that have made $50k/yr for 8 years (true lifestyle), some that went from $50k-$200k, some from $50k to $500k and some all the way up to over $1M per year.

I have not seen that the owners going from $50k-$1M have worked harder than any others as time progressed, in fact it's been the opposite as they have add employees. But it's true the ones staying at $50k/yr have definitely worked less than the ones that have increased income.

However, here is the HUGE difference. The ones that remain at $50k have had the same lifestyle the whole time. They still have to work.

The ones growing to $200k are doing pretty well, decent car, nice home, slowly increasing net worth.

However, the ones that break the $500k/yr are miles ahead now. While you may think $200k/yr is nice, imagine getting an extra $300k/yr for a few years. Now you are able to put money into investments. Whatever you did with $300k in the past 2-3 years (crypto, stocks or real estate), you did really well. That extra $300k X 3 years could easily be worth $2M-$3M now.
 
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eliquid

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I had to go back and remind myself what the initial post was actually saying.

I think that the enterprise questions here are a huge limiting belief. Where's the choice in here for an inbetween business? Where is the business that has a team, makes 7 figures where the CEO is working 10 hours a week and travels the world?

These 2 choices are basically the extreme edges of running a business. Most of the people I know are somewhere in between the two.

And also, I think there is also a big downfall to the extreme lifestyle business. These questions aren't really representative of their lives.
  • Do you want to do whatever you want, whenever you want, without worrying too much about money?
  • Do you want to work as little as possible, no shame in this, and still be able support your lifestyle?
You can do whatever you want, whenever you want, but within the means of your business. You absolutely worry about money. This is why you are in Bali or some cheaper country rather than partying in Monaco.

When you make enough to only support your lifestyle, you aren't investing in your future. So when your lifestyle business dries up, you end up at square 1, but with awesome memories. So you may have a great life between 25-30, but what happens at 31 when your income dries up and you didn't buy any bitcoin? Time to start a new business or get a job.

Many of my friends' businesses are now maturing. I can see distinct differences in the evolution, there are some that have made $50k/yr for 8 years (true lifestyle), some that went from $50k-$200k, some from $50k to $500k and some all the way up to over $1M per year.

I have not seen that the owners going from $50k-$1M have worked harder than any others as time progressed, in fact it's been the opposite as they have add employees. But it's true the ones staying at $50k/yr have definitely worked less than the ones that have increased income.

However, here is the HUGE difference. The ones that remain at $50k have had the same lifestyle the whole time. They still have to work.

The ones growing to $200k are doing pretty well, decent car, nice home, slowly increasing net worth.

However, the ones that break the $500k/yr are miles ahead now. While you may think $200k/yr is nice, imagine getting an extra $300k/yr for a few years. Now you are able to put money into investments. Whatever you did with $300k in the past 2-3 years (crypto, stocks or real estate), you did really well. That extra $300k X 3 years could easily be worth $2M-$3M now.

The one thing I've learned from this thread is, "enterprise" and "lifestyle" mean different things to everyone.

I know we can dip our toes into generalities and overarching ideas to try to define these, but I guess each person is going to think it out differently depending on their prior or current experience.

Earlier in this thread I suggested, "what's your lifestyle"? If someone's mentality is $50k a year, then you really can't ding "lifestyle" businesses as something bad. It's just the limited belief of the person wanting a $50k a year life. It falls back on the person really and not the design of the business.

But what if your lifestyle is $1M a year? And you can work limited hours with 0 employees to obtain this? Now what do people think of a "lifestyle" type of business? Could this be an outlier to what people typically think of lifestyle business.. sure. But I've seen it done personally.

I guess the question now becomes...

What is enterprise and lifestyle if we remove employee count and revenues? I've seen both dip into what we typically call each other on this forum.
 
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biophase

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The one thing I've learned from this thread is, "enterprise" and "lifestyle" mean different things to everyone.

I know we can dip out toes into generalities and overarching ideas to try to define these, but I guess each person is going to think it out differently depending on their prior or current experience.

Earlier in this thread I suggested, "what's your lifestyle"? If someone's mentality is $50k a year, then you really can't ding "lifestyle" businesses as something bad. It's just the limited belief of the person wanting a $50k a year life. It falls back on the person really and not the design of the business.

But what if your lifestyle is $1M a year? And you can work limited hours with 0 employees to obtain this? Now what do people think of a "lifestyle" type of business? Could this be an outlier to what people typically think of lifestyle business.. sure. But I've seen it done personally.

I guess the question now becomes...

What is enterprise and lifestyle if we remove employee count and revenues? I've seen both dip into what we typically call each other on this forum.
I had never heard of the term lifestyle business until I was talking to a person who was a venture capital/angel investor about seven years ago at sxsw. A mutual friend had put us in contact with each other as I was open to having somebody else invest in my e-commerce business at the time. He asked me how much I was doing in revenue and I told him about $600,000 a year, which I was very proud of. He said oh so it’s a lifestyle business and wasn’t interested.

At that time I didn’t quite understand what he meant. But I kind of do now, because I see what type of business he ended up investing in.

As most of you know, I ended up selling that business in 2018. But I had started a new business in 2015 that was not going to be a “lifestyle” business. And when I say that all I mean is that I hired my first employee within three months of starting this business. And that business has grown so much more and faster than my first one.
 

MTF

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What a fascinating article on how Gumroad operates with zero meetings, zero deadlines, and zero full-time employees. It sounds like a mix between an enterprise and a lifestyle design model.

No Meetings, No Deadlines, No Full-Time Employees

I absolutely love their focus on flexibility. It seems to have the best of both worlds for everyone involved (including their employees who are often part-time entrepreneurs).
 
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James007Hill

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Interesting thread and concepts. In some ways it is something I struggle with - deciding what type of business I want. I do sometimes flip flop between wanting to build a business that generates a comfortable living and a lot of freedom and flexibility in the process, or going all in from the point of view of sacrificing my freedom and flexibility for a few years for the potential of total freedom and flexibility for the rest of my life after that.

As others have alluded to however, there are many in between types of businesses and similarly what starts as a lifestyle business could easily morph into an enterprise that could end up giving you the truly unscripted life. The key for me recently has been to not overthink it on the basis that doing something, indeed anything, is better than being crippled by the indecision and doing nothing, as I've been guilty of in the past!
 
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And when I say that all I mean is that I hired my first employee within three months of starting this business. And that business has grown so much more and faster than my first one.

Do you mean that by deciding to "go big" from the beginning, you actually grow faster?




I feel the "one-person business VS running Coca-Cola" is a bit too simplistic of a choice. You have medium companies making decent amount of money, especially in scalable businesses like software companies.

I don't see myself running a company where I have too many employees to remember their names. Let's say it this way.

Right now I want a lifestyle business because it seems "easier" even though it probably isn't, but I know myself. Once I know how to do something, I get bored and want it bigger. So since I'll probably end up wanting an enterprise at some point, might as well aim at that from the beginning.

That being said, I follow Fox's advice to first build a lifestyle business to learn "business" (sales, marketing, management) and then use these skills to move on to build a proper company.

Also I don't want a job so a lifestyle business to have an income to live on while building something bigger is great.

Ultimately I agree with biophase. There is living like a king in bali with 50k a year, and pouring champagne down the bathtub of your yacht in Monaco with 10 million/year.

Second option seems much funnier. And even if it's harder, what the hell am I gonna do once I have a lifestyle business? Nothing?
 

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Bumping this after a while being off this forum, but i felt i needed to come back and this is such a great thread, and tbf eye opener for me where i stand now.

I came to realise that the Fastlane can be different for everyone.
Whether you want to build a big enterprise, something that has the possibility to be very big, with a lot of employees, big infrastructures & offices, but also at what cost, is your freedom limited by your role, how much life is left for you to enjoy when you're on such a big endeavour ?..

Or whether you go on the other route where you go down the road of the "lifestyle" business type, where you can afford to take breaks every now & then because your time really is separared from your input and maybe scale to a point where it makes a nice amount of money to live & invest beside and slowly build assets or maybe bigger depending on how things turns out.

I also think, after reading all the comments, that its also tied to who you are deep down (Personnality types) and you really need to follow that and know your strength in that matter, to then know what type of business you would thrive in and really be able to scale.

Right i know im not where i want to be but i also know i want to enjoy life a bit, travel also, which could help me see things differently and for that, only Lifestyle businesses can allow me to do that.


Grateful to read all your experiences & success, it really keeps my back on that f**ing wall knowing i need to push harder.
 
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Walter Hay

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I didn't start out to build my first business as a lifestyle one or an enterprise. I suppose that was because I started it in order to put food on the table after years of poor pay and negligble recognition for my achievements.

I operated that business for 14 years without any employees, but it had dramatically improved my lifestyle within the first year. By that I mean that I was able to buy my first new car ( a European model bought for cash) and travel within the country with my young family during school holiday times.

In that 14th year I was extremely busy handling sales, ordering raw materials, manufacturing the chemicals and packing them ready for pick up by a carrier. It was getting out of hand so I employed a friend to attend to sales.

That was a big mistake because he was a red hot salesman and brought in so much more business that I was working in my factory and office all day every day. Casual help in the factory eased my burden.

I know there will be critics who will say that I should have mapped out a plan, but I had formulated a product that I knew I could sell. I had to swiftly acquire raw chemicals and turn them into emulsions, make that first sale, deliver my product and get payment.

I had a deadline of 2 weeks to get that first sale, otherwise - hungry kids. Time out to prepare a plan was not an option.

As the business became more ordered I had more time on my hands. This led to much international travel as I exported my products to numerous countries. By now it was an enterprise, but I was able to enjoy the lifestyle because I took my family with me on business trips and we spent long periods visiting Pacific Islands, East Asian countries, The USA, the UK and the rest of Europe.

My factory was purpose built on our rural property, so my morning walk to work took me about 3 minutes. I installed a swimming pool next to the factory. One driver who made regular deliveries somehow managed to arrive most often when I was in the pool!

When I sold that business after 20 years I designed my next to be an enterprise. I set it up to market B2B the bespoke products that I imported mostly from Asia through the network of contacts that I had made when visiting as a chemical exporter.

I rapidly built it by establishing virtual branch offices across the country, having in mind to sell franchises. Those virtual branches in effect worked as pilot operations gaining a solid customer base that made selling the franchises very easy.

It all came to an end in 2010 when I was negotiating the sale of a national USA license. Emergency surgery caused me to sell the Australian and New Zealand network. Now I am retired. Well, sort of.

Walter
 

woken

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Although I wasn’t familiar with the question, I knew what I wanted to do from the beginning.

I picked up a lifestyle business, one might say, in order to take care of basic needs and expenses. I picked something that only takes 3-4 hours / week on purpose.

Now that my basic needs are covered, I can start working towards my enterprise business without having to worry about compromising stuff because I have to sell something in order to survive.

For me, this makes perfect sense at the present.

There’s a lot of work to do until I can start bringing people in, but that is necessary in order to achieve my goals. I cannot build what I need to build all by myself.
As entrepreneurs, we like to dabble with every aspect of the business, but we must realise there’s better skilled people for each department of the business.

The plan is to put together the idea, the framework and processes in place for others more capable for the job. I’m just sharing the vision and putting together the right team to take my business where it needs to get.
 

biophase

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I am going to be interviewed by the author of that second book for her next book. She had interviewed me a few months ago for an article in Forbes. She told me that most solopreneur businesses evolve into small businesses that take on employees. The reason is because these lifestyle businesses become too big for the a single person to manage and becomes a hindrance to the lifestyle that the person wanted in the first place. So they end up bringing on help eventually.
Elaine's book came out today so I guess I can post the short page that I'm in. I'm quoted in a few other places but they were just a couple sentences and not worth mentioning. I've haven't started the book yet, so I can't make any comment on the rest of it.


IMG_1319.jpgIMG_1320.JPG
 
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Antifragile

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  • Are you looking to build something with massive scale and impact?
  • Are you looking to build something with the intent to exit for 8 figures or more?
  • Are you looking to build a team that can take you places farther than you could ever go on your own?
  • Are you interested in being a CEO of a large company?
  • Are you interested in working 60-80 hour weeks for years? 40 hours from a dayjob are included in this estimate and don’t burn yourself out people, be smart.
  • Are you willing to risk 5, 10, or more years of your life to see a business idea through to its fruition?
  • Are you looking to get investors to invest in your products and ideas?
  • Are you looking for your own David vs Goliath journey?
  • Are you looking to push yourself to your limits and build a legacy?

If you answered yes to most of these questions, then an enterprise business is probably for you.

What an excellent post. Thanks to @MJ DeMarco for sending text today to direct to this one.

For me its 100% enterprise. Whenever I got a little bit of "lifestyle" I felt bored and unhappy. I am in RE and love it. The answer to most of those questions quoted above are a resounding YES. Especially the last one: "Are you looking to push yourself to your limits and build a legacy?" - Absolutely!

Great post.
 

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Elaine's book came out today so I guess I can post the short page that I'm in. I'm quoted in a few other places but they were just a couple sentences and not worth mentioning. I've haven't started the book yet, so I can't make any comment on the rest of it.
Bought the book to see if i can learn anything!
 
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AlaKhalil

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I’ve got a friend that I call a few times a month to see if he’s taken action on his ideas and help him break down any barriers he may have. We’ll talk about what he’s doing and he’ll throw up a bunch of excuses about why he can’t launch yet, albeit it’s been 4 years since he started his entrepreneurial journey. His excuses may be something like this; “I have to have videos first, I have to have a website first, I have to have this and that before I can make my first calls”. Mind you, this cycle has been going on for years, but he's made a bit of cash here and there while hustling.

I never knew if there was a single question I could ask that would help him find out what it was he really wanted from being an entrepreneur.

I had a thought that maybe I should figure out what question should be asked at the beginning of anyone's journey.

The question that popped into mind was: Do you want a lifestyle business, or an enterprise?

It turns out he wanted a lifestyle business, but was getting advice from someone building an enterprise. He never knew that what he wanted was a lifestyle business, but now he can go out and get the resources he needs to get it done.

I think that this is a fundamental question that any entrepreneur should ask themselves before starting any sort of business.

What is it that you are wanting out of your journey? What do you want your journey to look like?

Let's break down the two business types.

Lifestyle Business: Some E-commerce/Amazon businesses, drop shipping, SEO services, copywriting services, Freelancing, other internet related ventures that focus solely on you as the one and only “employee” in a company. Lifestyle businesses make enough to cover your lifestyle and that’s about it. They allow you to potentially work a few hours a day, if that, and from anywhere in the world. Disclaimer: Some lifestyles may require millions of dollars a year, so you make that much to suit your lifestyle.

  • Do you want “profitability” within 1-2 years, or even after few product sales?
  • Do you want to be able to work from anywhere in the world with just a laptop and an internet connection?
  • Do you want to travel a ton and have your journey to be filled with daily adventures?
  • Do you want to do whatever you want, whenever you want, without worrying too much about money?
  • Do you want to work as little as possible, no shame in this, and still be able support your lifestyle?

If you answered yes to most of these questions, you probably want a lifestyle business.

Enterprise: Some software companies, franchises, massive brands (Yeti Coolers, Johnson and Johnson, Hershey's), large brick and mortar operations (BNSF Railroad, RotoRooter, Gamestop), real estate. Enterprises are huge beasts of scale and a product of relentless execution. Businesses that are at the top of their game, with the intent to dominate a particular market. Enterprises offer you the chance to exit for a large sum of f*ck you money, in exchange for sacrificing 10 years of your life.

  • Are you looking to build something with massive scale and impact?
  • Are you looking to build something with the intent to exit for 8 figures or more?
  • Are you looking to build a team that can take you places farther than you could ever go on your own?
  • Are you interested in being a CEO of a large company?
  • Are you interested in working 60-80 hour weeks for years? 40 hours from a dayjob are included in this estimate and don’t burn yourself out people, be smart.
  • Are you willing to risk 5, 10, or more years of your life to see a business idea through to its fruition?
  • Are you looking to get investors to invest in your products and ideas?
  • Are you looking for your own David vs Goliath journey?
  • Are you looking to push yourself to your limits and build a legacy?

If you answered yes to most of these questions, then an enterprise business is probably for you.



The right choice is what it is you want for yourself. For me, I want an enterprise. I want to take down some of the biggest companies in my industry. I don’t care about traveling, or going places. I just want a massive project to work on and lead a team, as that’s what satisfies me.

What would satisfy you might be sipping coconuts on a beach in Puerto Rico and enjoying seeing $500 in profit for the day. You might enjoy a trip to Thailand to meet up with other like minded lifestyle entrepreneurs for a few months just because you have the freedom to do so.

Not everything is sunshine and rainbows, and both journeys have their own challenges.

Think about what sort of business it is that you want, lifestyle or enterprise, and then figure out how to build it.
Thank you for your post, was really helpful to me personally!
 

leighxxd8

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How about if you put it in the perspective of income generated from the business?

Personally I am always more impressed by businesses whose team headcount is always small but the income generated from it is always Big money or legendary money. And personally it's the income/profits that I go for and I go for it from the pov that I need to solve someone's problem or even provide a need to be able to get the income/profits. So I don't know whether the small headcount is on the enterprise side or the lifestyle side.
 

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