How's this for an office view?

This is my office view this week at Villa Zuccari in Umbria, Italy.

One of the many joys of being an entrepreneur is designing your business to support the lifestyle you desire. No longer confined by office hours, a fixed location or a limit on earning potential, you have the freedom to get creative. Ever since I first started out in business, lifestyle has been a huge motivator for me. I wanted to be able to choose the hours I work, taking time off without asking permission from a boss, working from anywhere in the world, and creating an income to constantly up-level our lives and environment!

Here are my top three tips to creating a business that supports your ideal lifestyle:

• How much do you need to generate in income? You need to know your numbers here and there's no need to overcomplicate things. Compile a list of all your monthly costs involved to do business. Think computers, cellphones, admin support, travel expenses, office supplies, networking, marketing, office space (or percentage of your home if working from a home-based office) and so on...
• How much extra do you really need to generate to create your ideal lifestyle? Do a little research here so that the numbers are accurate. Think home, cars, travel, vacations abroad, team to support you, personal development programs, clothes, charity contributions, restaurants, sports, etc. While it may not be feasible to have them all at once, you can put together a plan for the next 12 months for the additional lifestyle changes you'd like to make. Gaining clarity on the numbers here will inform the financial goals you need to meet through your business.
• How many clients do you want to work with? If you only want to work with a handful of clients at a time and you have a 6 figure + income goal, you'll need to position your services towards the high end (which is one of my favorite strategies).  Or you may wish to consider different levels of client service with differing levels of access to you. For example, part of your services could be delivered face-to-face or online through a group format to serve more people. With this strategy, you retain your premium service for a few select ideal clients.

Decide how many hours you wish to work each week and how much access to you that your clients really need to achieve their goals. We often mistakenly think that more time equals better results and over the years I've found the opposite to be true. Less time equals higher value delivery, greater focus and higher motivation to succeed quickly. Think creatively about other ways to support clients to achieve great results that don't involve your personal time such as online learning, group forums, Facebook groups, etc.

Your lifestyle business can be boiled down into a simple formula: total income goal = number of clients x hours of service delivery.

Finally, you also have to be very clear on how you want to spend the additional time in your week and stick to it. Is it for family, fun, giving back or business development? Clear boundaries around your time will remind you why you went into business for yourself in the first place!

It truly is that simple! And if you need help getting a new focus on your big business goals for 2013, please contact us!

© 2013 Vanessa Shaw