3 Lifestyle Factors To Consider When Choosing Your Business Model
Something that isn’t talked about enough in my opinion AND is often forgotten when heart-led, spiritual business owners build their business…
Is the importance of making your business work for YOU.
Yes, your community and your clients are important…but so are YOU!
And when it comes to choosing your business model and creating your offers you need to consider your own needs and desires. Because you didn't start your business to build a 9-5 job that you feel trapped in, or that you hate.
Yes, you want to serve your people, share your magic with them and support them to get the best results ever – but you ALSO want the time and financial freedom to live your best damn life.
So you need to align your business goals and your business model with your desired lifestyle.
And this is something that I see business owners forgetting.
In today’s episode of the Feminine Fire Podcast I’m diving into the 3 lifestyle factors you need to consider when choosing your business model.
But first, let’s define what I mean by “your business model”
When I’m talking about your business model, what I’m talking about are the types or styles of offers you have in your business.
You might have a 1:1 business model where you work 1:1 with your clients, whether that’s as a coach or a healer or a doula or a naturopath or a massage therapist – you’re working 1:1 with your clients.
You might have a mastermind or group program model – which is the model that I have, where you work with your clients in groups.
You might have an online course model or digital product model or a membership model or a hybrid model that combines some of the above.
And there are, of course, no right or wrong business models – it’s about choosing a model that works for YOU.
Which is why it’s important to actually take the time to consider what is going to work for you.
What's important to you in your current season of life?
How do you want to spend your time in your business?
What are the lifestyle factors you need to consider?
You need to consider these things before making a decision on how you want to build out your business model and the types of offers you’re creating.
When one of my clients comes to me and says “I think I want to create a membership next” or “I’m wanting to create an online course or a new group program” – this is one of the things we look at. We look at these lifestyle factors to help guide the decision making process.
So let’s dive into these 3 lifestyle factors now…
Lifestyle Factor #1 – Family & Relationships
This is really looking at how you want to set your business up to support you in your life when it comes to your family and your relationships.
The obvious considerations here are if you’re a parent or a carer – this is going to impact how much time you have in your business and therefore what’s going to work for you best.
For me, I’ve got 2 young kids who aren’t in school yet and I’m the primary carer, so I’m very much in the throes of the mum-life juggle most days.
And I’m in a season of life where that’s constantly changing, so I have designed my business and my offers with that in mind.
The reason I have a mastermind and group program model is because that allows me to serve my clients really well and help them achieve their goals in their business, in a way that works for me in the limited time that I have.
There are other reasons why this business model works for me, energetically and just in the way that I enjoy working with my clients, but a big part of that decision is that this gives me the flexibility that I need right now as a mama of 2 young kids. And I’m sure this will change when the kids start school and then when they’re teenagers and then when they’re grown up. It’s always evolving and so my offers and business model will also evolve.
What’s important to note here is that this is just what works for me… again, there’s no right or wrong. I can think of many other mamas in business that I know who run different models very successfully.
And of course this isn’t only a consideration for people who are parents – you might be a carer for your own parent or another family member, you might have other family responsibilities or maybe you just want to ensure that your business is set up in a way that supports you to prioritise the relationships you have in your life.
Questions to get clear on:
What’s important to you right now when it comes to your family and relationships?
What are your current responsibilities that you need to take into account?
And what does that then mean for you and your business and your offers?
Lifestyle Factor #2 – Health & Wellness
This is a really really important one – your health and wellness is so so important.
When you run your own business, you are your number one asset, you are the golden goose in your business. Without you, there are no golden eggs. You’ve gotta look after the golden goose, you’ve gotta look after you.
So this means prioritising your health and wellness, taking your energetic needs into consideration and avoiding burnout.
You don’t want a business model that is slowly killing you from the inside out because it relies so heavily on you being ON 24/7. You don’t want to be on a one-way street to burnout city with no time to look after you. That is not a vibe. And it’s not smart business.
So what are your health and wellness needs?
Now this is obviously important for everyone, everyone needs to be prioritising their health and wellness but you also might have specific health and wellness needs.
If you have a chronic health condition, mental health, physical health, disability, if you’re a highly sensitive person or an introvert, if you’re neurodivergent – you want to set your business up to work for you and support your health, wellness and energetic needs.
Questions to get clear on:
What are your specific health and wellness needs?
What are your energetic needs?
What’s important to you in this space?
What are your health & wellness priorities?
And how are you setting up your business and offers to support that?
One of the most brilliant things about running your own business is that you can create something that is so unique to you and your needs.
Lifestyle Factor #3 – Personal Fulfilment
In other words, what's going to make you happy?
This is about taking a step back and asking – what is the lifestyle you truly desire? What is the way of working that lights you up? Because you want that to be front of mind as you’re making these key decisions about your offers and business model.
I called this lifestyle factor “personal fulfilment” because as I was thinking about what I wanted to share with you in this episode, I was reflecting on the things that I know so many of my clients desire when it comes to their lifestyle – things like:
Location independence, travel opportunities, the ability to live a “laptop lifestyle” and work from anywhere
Flexibility is always a big one
Time freedom
The ability to go get a massage in the middle of the day because you can and you want to and it makes you happy
The time and space to be creative, to feel inspired
And, of course, to create an impact
And the thread that ties all of these together is something that I can only describe as personal fulfilment. Building a business that is personally fulfilling, that lights you up, that inspires you, that makes you happy, that you truly truly love.
You’re in this work because it's your passion, it's your purpose. There are times when business will feel hard and it will push you to your very edges, but it's always worth it because it's personally fulfilling.
One of the other reasons I have the model that I do is because I really like working closely with clients in that way. I enjoy the intimate high touch nature of it. I get a lot of joy from working closely with my clients in the long term. And a mastermind and group program model facilitates that for me.
But I’ve had clients who prefer to be in more of a teaching role so they’ve got an online course model where they can really lean into that inner teacher and thrive in that space because they love it.
So, what does that look like for you? If being creative is important to you, how are you structuring your business so you’ve got the opportunity to lean into that? If being able to work from anywhere is important to you, how are you structuring your offers so that you truly can work from anywhere?
Questions to get clear on:
What is going to make YOU happy?
What is going to bring YOU personal fulfilment in your business?
What is the lifestyle you truly desire?
What is your preferred way of working?
And how are you structuring your business and offers to reflect that?
So those are the 3 lifestyle factors to consider when choosing your business model.
Family and relationships
Health and wellness
Personal fulfilment
It’s important to take the time to look at all of these factors and find that sweet spot that makes sense for you and your lifestyle. Get clear on this and keep it front of mind when making key strategic decisions in your business around your model and your offers.
Ready to create a business model that works for you?
Sign up for The Upgrade to Consistent Cash
Over 2 days I’ll be taking you through 2 ways to upgrade your current business model to call in consistent cash and dream clients in 2024.
Because if you want consistent cash, and you don’t have it right now, then the first thing you need to be looking at is your business model.
So instead of relying on one-off sales and having to bring in new clients and customers all the time (which is exhausting!) – you’ll have consistent cash flowing in, the stability and consistency to predict your income for the months ahead and the freedom to plan, focus on long term growth and just enjoy life and the business you’ve created.
Your business model sets the foundation for making this happen.
Head on over to beccuzzillo.com/cash to sign up and save your seat for free.