5 ms·

What does 'a lifestyle business' mean, anyway?

reefoctopus 9y ago
It means I don't have to wake up to an alarm, have most things automated, work 4-5 hours per week, and live like someone who is retired.
- ARCarr 9y ago
  After reading the article, that doesn't seem to be the case.
  - reefoctopus 9y ago
    People optimize for different lifestyles, but what I described is a fairly common goal. The Wikipedia article on lifestyle businesses even cites The Four Hour Workweek.
- dejv 9y ago
  That sounds like my maintenace contract. Sometimes you dont even need to start business to have good lifestyle.
mcone 9y ago
I think in this instance it means not accepting venture capital, which gives them greater flexibility to travel.
- nailer 9y ago
  Not accepting VC is more a side effect of having a lifestyle business than the aim. A startup's main aim is growth. Most VCs won't accept an idea that doesn't have the potential to be worth a billion dollars. One amazing investment must have a 10x return to pay for the 9 shitty investments that failed. A lifestyle business' aim isn't growth. It's aim is to provide enough money and use a small amount of the founder's time, so the founder can enjoy their life.
tudorizer 9y ago
From the business pov, it usually means that it generates enough profit to sustain a person or family without growing massively or becoming a "unicorn".
snarf21 9y ago
This generally refers to a business setup specifically to throw off enough cash to support a certain lifestyle. You never plan to sell or IPO. The main goal is to tweak process until it essentially runs itself with only occasional oversight from you. The level of lifestyle (and cash) you want decide how long that will take you.
jon-wood 9y ago
Depending who you ask it means anything from "I only work 4 hours a week" to "Not about to be sold to Amazon for $1.8b". My personal definition would be a business that explicitly has a goal of focusing on employee (and by extension founder) well being over profit margins.
- znq 9y ago
  Very well put! I see it exactly the same way :-)
Veen 9y ago
It's what is known outside the VC / startup scene as "a business". It's a business a person starts to provide a reasonable level of income to themselves and their family, to maintain a certain lifestyle.
znq 9y ago
Author here. For us it means optimizing for happiness instead of profit. More practically speaking what we do is ensuring everyone has a sufficient base salary, but then also participates in a quarterly bonus program (profit sharing). But the key is actually that everyone can work from wherever they want and as much as they want (as long as it is properly planned in advance). And then on top of that we organize fun retreats like spending a month in Cape Town or Martinique, or going skiing together in Austria or just a few days ago we went together to the Italian Alps for a week of hiking. So this is what lifestyle business means for us: having a good time with great people.
- ghaff 9y ago
  I think that's a good definition. One often sees "lifestyle business" used as some sort of code for not paying very well but, at the end of the day, not having appreciably more flexibility or lifestyle-related benefits than any other small business. Nothing against small consulting/design/etc. small businesses. But if they're fairly typical, at least figuratively, 9-5 gigs in the office or at customer sites with a few weeks off a year, it's hard to see them as lifestyle businesses.
- playmario 9y ago
  how do you deal with kids/school? Do you take your kids along with you?
  - znq 9y ago
    I personally do not have kids yet, but some of our employees have kids and even newborn babies. One of them just came back from a trip to Norway. It's all doable and probably less of a problem than people think :-)
    - SmellTheGlove 9y ago
      I think they were asking you what do the parents in your organization do on some of these longer outings - do they come and bring their kids, come without their families, or stay home?
imh 9y ago
Instead of shooting for a mega-exit, I think it's about using the business to just enable a certain lifestyle for the founders/employees.

It means I don't have to wake up to an alarm, have most things automated, work 4-5 hours per week, and live like someone who is retired.

ARCarr 9y ago
After reading the article, that doesn't seem to be the case.
- reefoctopus 9y ago
  People optimize for different lifestyles, but what I described is a fairly common goal. The Wikipedia article on lifestyle businesses even cites The Four Hour Workweek.
dejv 9y ago
That sounds like my maintenace contract. Sometimes you dont even need to start business to have good lifestyle.

mcone 9y ago

I think in this instance it means not accepting venture capital, which gives them greater flexibility to travel.

nailer 9y ago
Not accepting VC is more a side effect of having a lifestyle business than the aim. A startup's main aim is growth. Most VCs won't accept an idea that doesn't have the potential to be worth a billion dollars. One amazing investment must have a 10x return to pay for the 9 shitty investments that failed. A lifestyle business' aim isn't growth. It's aim is to provide enough money and use a small amount of the founder's time, so the founder can enjoy their life.

tudorizer 9y ago

From the business pov, it usually means that it generates enough profit to sustain a person or family without growing massively or becoming a "unicorn".

snarf21 9y ago

This generally refers to a business setup specifically to throw off enough cash to support a certain lifestyle. You never plan to sell or IPO. The main goal is to tweak process until it essentially runs itself with only occasional oversight from you. The level of lifestyle (and cash) you want decide how long that will take you.

jon-wood 9y ago

Depending who you ask it means anything from "I only work 4 hours a week" to "Not about to be sold to Amazon for $1.8b". My personal definition would be a business that explicitly has a goal of focusing on employee (and by extension founder) well being over profit margins.

znq 9y ago
Very well put! I see it exactly the same way :-)

Veen 9y ago

It's what is known outside the VC / startup scene as "a business". It's a business a person starts to provide a reasonable level of income to themselves and their family, to maintain a certain lifestyle.

znq 9y ago

Author here. For us it means optimizing for happiness instead of profit. More practically speaking what we do is ensuring everyone has a sufficient base salary, but then also participates in a quarterly bonus program (profit sharing). But the key is actually that everyone can work from wherever they want and as much as they want (as long as it is properly planned in advance). And then on top of that we organize fun retreats like spending a month in Cape Town or Martinique, or going skiing together in Austria or just a few days ago we went together to the Italian Alps for a week of hiking. So this is what lifestyle business means for us: having a good time with great people.

ghaff 9y ago
I think that's a good definition. One often sees "lifestyle business" used as some sort of code for not paying very well but, at the end of the day, not having appreciably more flexibility or lifestyle-related benefits than any other small business. Nothing against small consulting/design/etc. small businesses. But if they're fairly typical, at least figuratively, 9-5 gigs in the office or at customer sites with a few weeks off a year, it's hard to see them as lifestyle businesses.
playmario 9y ago
how do you deal with kids/school? Do you take your kids along with you?
- znq 9y ago
  I personally do not have kids yet, but some of our employees have kids and even newborn babies. One of them just came back from a trip to Norway. It's all doable and probably less of a problem than people think :-)
  - SmellTheGlove 9y ago
    I think they were asking you what do the parents in your organization do on some of these longer outings - do they come and bring their kids, come without their families, or stay home?

imh 9y ago

Instead of shooting for a mega-exit, I think it's about using the business to just enable a certain lifestyle for the founders/employees.