Creating a lifestyle business

Design your work around your life… not the other way round

I didn’t set out to build a ‘lifestyle business’.
I set out to avoid having a boss.
Which, in hindsight, was probably not the most corporate or sensible starting point.

I spent the first part of my career in London, working in graphic design studios, doing the 9–5 (well actually more like 7–7 with a small side of exhaustion). Fairly early on, I realised something slightly inconvenient:

I loved working…
I just didn’t love being told when, where, and how to do it 😬
I’m not rebellious. Just…incompatible with being managed.

So I did what any rational person would do

I decided I wanted freedom instead, (not in a dramatic ‘quit everything and move to Bali’ kind of way).
Just…in the ability to choose:

• when I worked
• what I worked on
• how my days looked

I wanted my life to feel like ‘mine‘.
So, since 1996, that’s what I’ve been doing, shaping my work around my life, not the other way round.
These days, it has a name… a ‘lifestyle business’.
Who knew.

So, what actually is a lifestyle business?

“Lifestyle Business” has become a bit of a buzzword lately.

Often to describe:

• Smaller, profitable businesses
• Businesses designed for freedom, not scale

But this way of working isn’t new.
For many of us, it’s something we’ve been doing for decades, long before it had a name.
Just a way of working that made more sense…

At its core, it’s simple:
To create a business that fits around your life.

Something you shape from the beginning to give you:

• freedom over your time
• control over your decisions
• and space for the things that actually matter

Because what’s the point of creating something successful, if it leaves no room to actually live and enjoy life?

The bit most people get backwards

Many people build a business, (they build it, scale it, add more, chase more).
And suddenly, they’ve made something that needs them constantly.

A lifestyle business flips that. You ‘design’ your business.

• how you want your days to look
• how much you want to work
• what actually matters to you

Of course, none of this works without income….(we still need money people!)
Just not at the expense of everything else.

The goal isn’t to earn as much as possible.
It’s to earn enough to support your life… and still having a life to enjoy.

A little confession…

Mine didn’t stay perfectly ‘lifestyle’ the whole time.

At one point, it grew far bigger than I ever expected.
Which sounds wonderful (and in many ways, it was)… but it also drifted too far. I lost the balance.
So I had to realign. Bringing it back to what mattered to me in the first place.

A lifestyle business doesn’t have to mean working alone at your kitchen table, or in Bali!
It can be just you, yes, but it can just as easily be a small team. Five people, ten people, even twenty. The difference isn’t the size, it’s the intention behind it.
It’s still designed around your life.
Just with a little more support, and a few more people on the journey with you!

So… is this actually achievable?

Yeah!
But not in the “I’ll have this sorted by next Thursday” kind of way. It’s created slowly. Often alongside other work to start with. And usually with a few wrong turns along the way.

But it’s totally doable.
And it doesn’t require:

• a huge audience
• a perfect idea
• or a business degree

It starts with a shift in how you think a business or side hustle should be. It’s a mindset.
And choosing what’s important to you and putting those things first.

If you’re starting out, start here

1. Start with what you enjoy
I’m guessing you’re here, so it’s ‘Jewelry Making’… I love that! 🤗
If you’re just starting out on your Jewelry Journey, you might want to begin here

2. Create your non-negotiables
What do you actually want your days to look like? Design towards that. Do you love taking the kids to school each day (that was a must for me too), do you love going to the gym in the mornings, do you love getting out for a walk each day with the dog, do you love experiencing a new location each month around the world. Start by creating your non-negotiables and lock them in place.

You know, like if you were dating, and locking in your non-negotiables when searching for your soulmate…

• he must make a decent cup of coffee
• emotionally stable
• capable of locating things by himself
• vaguely organised
• good sense of humour

You see where I’m going.. right?

3. Keep it simple
You don’t need a complicated business. Just one that has your key non-negotiables threaded through.

The three things that matter most

• Income – enough to support your life
• Time – flexibility and control
• Enjoyment – because what’s the point otherwise

When those three align… everything feels more lifestylie!

Where I’ve landed (so far)

I’ve now spent over 20 years building my work around my life.

Not perfectly by any stretch.
And definitely not without the occasional – what on earth am I doing? moment.

But I’ve had 20 years of:

• choosing how I spend my time
• working on things I genuinely love
• and never feeling like I’m stuck in a soulless job

And that, for me, is the whole point.

Right now, I’m shaping things again, creating a version of my business that I can run from anywhere in the world, so we can spend more time closer to my husbands family in Australia.

A lifestyle business isn’t something you create once.
It’s something you keep aligning as your life changes.

And if you’re thinking…

“That sounds awesome… but I don’t know where to start.”

That’s exactly where I started too.

Not with a master plan.
Just with the feeling that there had to be another way to work… and live.

Turns out, there is.
And you’re absolutely allowed to create it 🤗

If you want to see what this looks like in real life (not the polished version), I share my day-to-day in my Daily Snippets.

Continue your journey

If you’re ready to take this further:

• Start making jewelry
• Learn how to sell your pieces
• Or follow along behind the scenes