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I always thought “lifestyle business” meant something else. In this article it means “small business that supports the lifestyle of its owner/employees” I tho

I always thought “lifestyle business” meant something else. In this article it means “small business that supports the lifestyle of its owner/employees” I thought it meant that it was a business that provided a non-essential usually-trendy “lifestyle goods/accessories” for its customers.

Joeboy 2y ago
I thought the "lifestyle business" negativity was chiefly around trendy businesses that are only viable due to being covertly subsidized, eg. by family money.
- rossdavidh 2y ago
  This is what I hear the phrase "lifestyle business" used for, to distinguish between the immigrant family restaurant (real business that pays the bills of the people who own it) from the "twenty items each on their own display table with a spotlight" store (funded by spouse, trust fund, or money they got when they cashed out of their previous job).
bthallplz 2y ago
Ooh, the term is indeed used differently depending on what it's being discussed in relation to: as in the article, the business's structure itself and its relation to its owner's hopes/expectations for it; or as you pointed to, the industry/market/product or service category of the business's product or service.
jannyfer 2y ago
Same here, but maybe I was thinking of “lifestyle brand” and I’d never actually heard “lifestyle business”.
snowwrestler 2y ago
This article is misusing the term. Every business supports the lifestyle of its employees, by providing them with money and (sometimes) benefits. But that doesn’t mean every business is a “lifestyle business.” What makes a “lifestyle business” is that the owner picks the lifestyle they want first, then designs a business around that. For example someone who wants to go rock climbing all the time is not going to consider a furniture repair shop in a big city to be a “lifestyle business.” Probably few people would consider furniture repair to be a lifestyle business, unless your preferred lifestyle is to do manual labor in a crappy warehouse every day with few vacations. Lifestyle businesses usually take one of a few shapes: - Monetizing the lifestyle directly: for example Instagram influencers who make a business out of their personal travel, fashion, outdoor adventure, etc. - Running a high-leverage business at a low intensity: for example a highly automated SaaS business that is kept small and easy to run, so the owner can spend most of their time doing other things. This is usually what VCs look down on, because they seek out high leverage business models and consider anything less than max intensity to be a wasted opportunity. - Optional businesses: for example low-intensity “consulting” gigs that independently wealthy people operate to keep from being bored, or for tax advantage.

Joeboy 2y ago

I thought the "lifestyle business" negativity was chiefly around trendy businesses that are only viable due to being covertly subsidized, eg. by family money.

rossdavidh 2y ago
This is what I hear the phrase "lifestyle business" used for, to distinguish between the immigrant family restaurant (real business that pays the bills of the people who own it) from the "twenty items each on their own display table with a spotlight" store (funded by spouse, trust fund, or money they got when they cashed out of their previous job).

bthallplz 2y ago

Ooh, the term is indeed used differently depending on what it's being discussed in relation to: as in the article, the business's structure itself and its relation to its owner's hopes/expectations for it; or as you pointed to, the industry/market/product or service category of the business's product or service.

jannyfer 2y ago

Same here, but maybe I was thinking of “lifestyle brand” and I’d never actually heard “lifestyle business”.

snowwrestler 2y ago

This article is misusing the term. Every business supports the lifestyle of its employees, by providing them with money and (sometimes) benefits. But that doesn’t mean every business is a “lifestyle business.” What makes a “lifestyle business” is that the owner picks the lifestyle they want first, then designs a business around that. For example someone who wants to go rock climbing all the time is not going to consider a furniture repair shop in a big city to be a “lifestyle business.” Probably few people would consider furniture repair to be a lifestyle business, unless your preferred lifestyle is to do manual labor in a crappy warehouse every day with few vacations. Lifestyle businesses usually take one of a few shapes: - Monetizing the lifestyle directly: for example Instagram influencers who make a business out of their personal travel, fashion, outdoor adventure, etc. - Running a high-leverage business at a low intensity: for example a highly automated SaaS business that is kept small and easy to run, so the owner can spend most of their time doing other things. This is usually what VCs look down on, because they seek out high leverage business models and consider anything less than max intensity to be a wasted opportunity. - Optional businesses: for example low-intensity “consulting” gigs that independently wealthy people operate to keep from being bored, or for tax advantage.