If for some reason you were only going to read one paragraph of this post then what you should take away from it is that what makes a lifestyle business successful is running it professionally, more professionally than what is inherently suggested by it being referred to as the lifestyle business it is. You need to run it like a real business.

Separating the fun from the boring stuff

Towards the end of this post I’ll revisit this idea with a real-world example, but for now it’s important to communicate the need to separate the fun side of the business from the boring stuff. You only have to try your hand at running any business, let alone one classified as a lifestyle business to know exactly what I’m talking about. While the actual details of the tasks may be unique and subjective to each personality running their business, the bottom line is that you know which tasks make for a lot of fun and which tasks make you feel like giving yourself a paper cut at the very thought of getting them done.

For example, as a natural-born salesperson you might perhaps enjoy the process of engaging with potential clients while doing the paperwork to document all the sales (i.e. doing the books) may be something which you especially despise. In which case all you need to do is at the very least apply a classification system which separates the important tasks you like to do from those which you’d be happy to hand over to someone else. It’s very important…

Where does the money-generation factor fall?

Oftentimes what is usually something an entrepreneur is passionate about turns into a source for some real pain when they go the route of running a lifestyle business. This is because often a lifestyle business is built around what is identified as one’s passion, albeit this is some advice which should be taken with a pinch of salt.

What usually happens is that you get into a niche you’re passionate about and perhaps seek to sell products and services around your passion, but as soon as things don’t quite work out or you go through a particularly difficult spell, what should otherwise be a fuel for your passion is associated with failure and perhaps bit of contempt. So if you’re into football for example and your replica shirt sales business takes a dive because your very informative online store or blog has been bumped down the search engine rankings, every time you pursue your football passion you’re reminded about nothing more than how badly things are going…

Now, bringing it all together and revisiting the need to separate the fun from the boring stuff, I’m going to look towards the real estate industry to discuss that practical example I was talking about.

It’s simple really – get some professionals to take care of the boring stuff, like a Phoenix HOA management company to manage the suggested task of dealing with the technical and administrative issues of managing your investment properties, while you engage yourself in the fun side of operating your lifestyle business. In this case that could be an enjoyment of the property-hunt.