Lifestyle businesses are fine – you have permission to start one

I have never understood the antipathy and dislike that otherwise rational people have for lifestyle business.

The heart of the issue is this question: what constitutes business success? I guess for some it’s size; others  have other measures. In an age of growing awareness of carbon footprint, in a time when the fastest growing businesses are social enterprises, at a point in the economic cycle when we need to drive entrepreneurs to help solve social issues we need all types of businesses and a virtually all will start in small way and be dictated in shape and plan by the creator.

Business should not be measured by the number of people it employs. Over and over I hear people talk about the size of their organisations. All I hear is the cost of their payroll. Is this just a man thing? Are we really comparing size still as adults? Get over it. In business size doesn’t matter; it’s what it brings to your life.

Reflect on the initial question: what do people have against lifestyle businesses? A lifestyle business is simply one where the owner seeks to make the business successful not only in terms of profitability but also in terms of its ability to make his or her life more successful. It is this intentional inclusion of other measures of success that also define a social enterprise. It is exactly this awareness of the impact on the environment that defines the green enterprise.

I believe that people should build businesses around their passions and around their lives. I believe that some businesses deserve to grow to fully express themselves or contribute to society. But other businesses should remain small and focussed.

I know many people who these days don’t work to create a mammoth business but do work to create lifestyle; me too.