Beginner's Guide to Creating a Lifestyle Business

A few years back I was working a job in finance and was absolutely miserable.

I had no free time, I wasn’t making as much money as I felt like I should be, and more importantly than anything else, I wasn’t getting closer to my long term goals of traveling, working for myself, and ultimately just having the freedom to do the things I wanted - when I wanted.

After two years, I was in desperate need of a break.

So I begged my boss for months to let me use all of my vacation days for the year (and then some) to take a trip down to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the Carnival celebration with my best friend Ryan.

It was absolutely life changing.

We had the chance to dance in the Carnival Parade in front of a hundred thousand people.

We went hang gliding over the city.

We even went down to Iguazu Falls, one of the 7 natural wonders of the world.

By the end of the trip, the thought of heading back to my “real life” was terrifying.

I couldn’t keep moving down a path that was making me so miserable.

I knew I had to do something.

I remember the very moment when I decided it was time to make a change.

I was sitting on Copacabana Beach drinking a coconut on our second to last day, and we both said to each other “we should be able to do this whenever we want.”

The day I got back from my trip I got a 20% pay cut, due to the financial recession, and if there was ever a sign that “the time is now,”, that was it.

A lot happened over the course of the next 12 months, but exactly one year later, this photo was taken:

That is me and Ryan in Railay Beach, Thailand. We both had left our jobs, and now over 5 years later, neither of us has gone back to a day job.

Over the course of the last few years, I’ve received literally thousands of emails from readers who experienced similar feelings as I did before I left my job.

They would say things like:

I want to start a business, but I have no idea where to start.
I can’t seem to get ahead. I make barely enough money to get by, and everything I make goes towards expenses.
My dream is to travel the world, but that seems so far away from actually being possible.
I just feel like I’m going through the motions, I want to live a more exciting life.
It’s my dream work for myself, but I’m just not sure I can actually pull it off.
I’m tired of having no freedom to do the things I really want to in life.
I really want to be able to spend more time with my kids, not trapped in an office 10 hours a day, but can I really make enough money on my own?

Sound familiar?

The list goes on and on.

More than anything, I’m willing to guess one of the biggest reasons you haven’t pursued a major change yet, is because you’re comfortable.

Even if things aren’t perfect, or you’d like more money, or you don’t like your job.

It’s much easier to stay stagnated in a life that is familiar, than to take a chance and risk the pursuing the known.

I once heard someone say “Most people will choose unhappiness over uncertainty,” and in my experience, that’s completely true.

So how do you slowly get used to the idea that:

There is a better way of doing things
It’s not as daunting or difficult as it may seem
You’re not the only one who feels trapped
You can get the freedom you desire

When most people think of starting a business, they immediately have visions of 25 year old hipsters in black framed glasses at a high tech startup in silicon valley.

Or they think of the corner store down the street where the same guy has been working every day for 30 years.

I don’t know about you, but neither of those sound very appealing to me.

In my mind, a lifestyle business is a business that allows you to work from wherever you want, on your own schedule, and gives you the freedom and flexibility to do the things you want to do on a regular basis.

For me, that means a lot of travel and golf. :)

There are any number of different business models that fall into the camp of a lifestyle business. Just to name a few:

Content Writing
CopywritingWeb Development
Graphic Design
Web Design
Professional Blogging
Podcasting
Video Editing
Content Editing
Affiliate Marketing
Information Products
Coaching or Consulting

The list goes on and on and on.

And one of the coolest parts about these kind of businesses, is that they can be started in your spare time, while keeping a day job, and without taking on a huge financial burden or increase in stress.

But, not all of these are the best for beginners, and all play to different strengths and weaknesses.

There are dozens of different business models you can pursue, and you know that you can start in your free time, while keeping your job, so why do so many people struggle with starting these types of businesses?

It’s pretty simple, really.

You don’t know, what you don’t know.

While there is nothing overly difficult or complicated about starting a lifestyle business online, there are so many different approaches you can take. And since there is no one size fits all for anyone, it can be tough to figure out the right approach for you.

More importantly, with so much conflicting information on the internet, it can be difficult to get a fair and accurate representation for how to start.

For the last couple years I’ve noticed that there aren’t any resources online that truly give you the full A to Z breakdown of starting a lifestyle business.

There are resources like the 4 Hour Workweek that get you totally inspired, but don’t really give you any practical knowledge.

Then there are resources like our full Location Rebel Academy community, which give you all of the detailed, step by step plans for starting, but it can be overwhelming for beginners who just want the “broad strokes” of what this is all about.

Which is why I decided to create the Complete Beginner’s Guide to Creating a Lifestyle Business.

In it, we don’t leave any stone unturned. We walk you through every single aspect of creating this type of business to help you:

Know once and for all if you’re ready to start a business of your own
Introduce you to all of the different business models and give you a detailed sense of what to expect and how difficult each are
Help you create a realistic timeline and create goals/milestones for your new business.
Introduce you to online marketing techniques and concepts, so that you 1) can apply them where necessary and 2) be aware when someone is applying them on you
Give recommended starting points based on your specific situation, personality, and level of online proficiency
Most importantly, give you the baseline knowledge you need in order to finally start the business that will help you make big changes in your life.

What’s the difference between this and Location Rebel Academy or Hobby Hacking?

I look at it as this guide is the “what” and the others are the “how”. The Beginner’s Guide will help you to figure out what to do, and give you some starting points, but Location Rebel Academy and Hobby Hacking are much more granular, in the how to aspect of it. There’s also more accountability and support.

If you’re unsure of where to start, get this guide first, and then when you’ve gone through it, upgrade to Location Rebel.

What separates you from similar people online?

For one, everything I teach, I’ve experienced first hand. This isn’t a fake it til you make it scenario, I have a variety of businesses, and it’s not like all of my revenue comes from these courses. Review our archives, and watch my videos. After doing that you should have a good idea of why I’m different than many others online.

I have

I can’t afford $47, do you offer any discounts?

Sorry, no discounts. And if $47 is too much of a stretch, you should probably go find a day job for awhile and save up some money. I teach strategies for beginning a business where the costs are very minimal (less than $1,000), but there are still costs. And if you’re worried about $47, then you may not be in a good place to start a business.

I have very little technical expertise, can I go through this course?

Absolutely, in fact it was designed for you! We teach you all of the most basic aspects of the ins and outs of an online business, regardless of technical expertise.

We then go even farther and help you figure out the best business for you based on your comfort level online (and trust me, any technical stuff is not as hard you probably think)

If you know you've been wanting to make a change in your life and are considering pursuing your own business or any kind of online venture, then this is the absolute best starting point out there.

Rather than reading contradictory blog posts, or hearing marketers tell you about how everything is the easiest thing in the world to start (even if it isn't), the Beginner's Guide teaches you everything you didn't know you needed to know.

It walks you through all the fundamentals, illustrates the pros and cons of each, and helps you plan your next steps around what is truly best for you and your goals.

The Complete Beginner's Guide to Creating a Lifestyle Business

Have You Ever Been Miserable in Your Job?

Does This Sound Familiar at All?

What is a Lifestyle Business?

The Biggest Problem With Starting a Lifestyle Business

Introducing: The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Creating a Lifestyle Business

Frequently Asked Questions

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The Best Starting Point Out There...