3 Tips to Starting a Business to fit your Lifestyle
Starting a business can be an exceptionally daunting task, however, it doesn’t have to consume your entire life. In fact, it’s possible to build a business that complements your lifestyle and enhances it, rather than detracting from it. After all, that’s one of the main reasons entrepreneurs launch businesses, alongside helping solve people’s pain points.
Laura Dawson-Business coach and Lifestyle blogger
Over the last 12 years of my business journey, I’ve adapted and changed my business to suit my lifestyle and now not only do I run a successful lifestyle blog, I also coach other businesses on how to scale their businesses to achieve more time (and financial) freedom through courses and 1-2-1 mentorship growth programmes. So today, I’m going to share with you 3 tips on how I created a business around my lifestyle and how you can do the same.
Identify your passions
First, identify your passions and interests. What are you truly passionate about and what do you enjoy doing in your free time? For me, that was helping and mentoring other business owners. I realised that I could combine this passion and create a business coaching service. Not only would I be able to assist other entrepreneurs and help them succeed, but I could also make money doing something that I am passionate about.
This has been an iteration of initially owning a bricks and mortar store when I was 20, which employed 8 people. I grew massively as an entrepreneur and saw a shift from high street trading to online purchases and realised that despite having huge success running this business, being tied to one location wasn’t for me.
I honed my craft by learning everything I possibly could about what I was passionate about; digital marketing. Then I put everything I was learning to the test to improve my skills further over the following 6 years before launching my coaching business.
Laura Dawson- Magic Mountains Nevada Valley
What are your business strengths?
Next, assess your skills and strengths. What skills do you have that could be valuable to others?
I have a keen eye for identifying areas of a business that can be improved, as well as spotting potential growth opportunities. I am able to work with business owners and help them identify the root causes of any problems they may be facing, and provide them with actionable steps to overcome them.
Furthermore, I have a wealth of experience in digital marketing and social media, which I use to show other business owners how to tap into the power of the internet to grow their businesses and reach a global audience. I help them develop digital marketing strategies, improve their online presence and build an engaged community around their brand. I help them to create an efficient workflow and to implement automation tools that help them save time and money.
My unique combination of expertise in business and digital marketing allows me to provide my clients with a holistic approach to business growth.
Create a plan for your business
Once you have a clear idea of what you want to do from the skills you have then you should set about creating a comprehensive business plan.
This included setting specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals, such as the number of clients you want to work with, revenue targets, and milestones for growth. I also identified my target market by researching the characteristics, needs, and pain points of the business owners and entrepreneurs I wanted to work with. This helped me understand their challenges and how my services could help address them and it’s something I get every single client I work with to complete first before we do anything else.
Then develop a clear monetisation strategy and financial projection to determine how your business will generate revenue and be financially sustainable. I identified different revenue streams such as one-on-one coaching, group coaching programs, workshops, and online courses. Once you’ve identified your revenue streams create a marketing and sales plan to reach your target market, and a detailed operational plan to manage your business.
It was also important to me that my plan was flexible and adaptable, so I included regular review and adjustment processes, as well as contingencies for unexpected changes in the market or my personal life. This allows me to stay agile and respond to new opportunities or challenges as they arise. My plan also includes milestones, and a monitoring process to track my progress and make any necessary adjustments to stay on track to reach my goals.
Laura Dawson- Oktobarfest Client PR tour
What’s next…
Once you have a solid plan in place, set about building your business. Create a website, set up social media accounts, and begin networking with other like-minded entrepreneurs and enthusiasts as well as being present in areas where your ideal customer will be.
I also make sure to set clear boundaries between my work and personal time so that my business won’t take over my life, as it has done previously and led me to burn out. Boundaries are exceptionally important. One of my biggest tips is to create a working space and only work from there. Do not allow your main bedroom to become a workspace as you will never switch off if you work from home.
It’s been over 12 years since I launched my first business and it’s been a wild ride, however, I have never been happier. I have the freedom and flexibility to travel and work from wherever I choose. If you’rethinking about starting a business, I highly recommend building one that fits your lifestyle. It’s not only possible, it is also incredibly rewarding and if you need a helping hand, or are looking to cut out the noise and get straight to growth then please get in touch as I’d love to work together.
Get in touch here
