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Today’s talking point:

In the online business world, you've probably heard people talk about building a business that supports your life, but what does that mean at an individual level? What we want in life and how we achieve it looks different, but today I want to share some of the things that have helped me build a business that truly supports the life I want to live and how you can do the same.

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Before we get into the episode, I want to make it clear that we’re just focusing on your business here. Everybody’s life is different and the circumstances are going to depend on you and your world.

What you can do is look at what creating a ‘life-first’ business might look like for you. What does it mean right now? And what does it mean in six months or a year?

Plus, what boundaries do you need to create that business model? The only person who can do that is you. I can suggest the way you set up those boundaries. I can suggest ideas and concepts, or help you structure and set up the systems in your business to support you to make those decisions. But ultimately, at the end of the day, it is your responsibility, and fully within your power, to implement it.

I've had a lot of people approach me for permission in a lot of areas of their life. And I mean, I can tell you you're good to go. But you've got to make the final call. There's never going to be a magic pill that's going to give you all of the things that you desire.

When we talk about building a business that supports your life, I think there are four key things to keep in mind, and they all work together.

Before I share more on the phases, I want to encourage you to take time to work out what a life-first business really means to you. It doesn’t have to look like everyone else’s life. It's so easy to say, ‘building a business that supports your life means working fewer hours’. That’s true for me right now. But your life might look different.

Life-first also isn’t just a case of checking a box. It’s an evolution. For example, I created this problem for myself where I was chasing something that could never actually finish. The skill is learning that it's never actually finished. You get to decide and customise what it looks like in different seasons of your life, in different energy levels, or health levels.

Just because you're not at your three-year vision yet, doesn't mean that you can't live it today in some way. The people who get caught up in it feeling like it has to look a certain way are the people that I think are actually setting themselves up for failure.

Now, let’s look at the phases.

Build a solid foundation

I could give so many examples, but I think it’s easier to talk about when it doesn’t happen.

In situations where a business takes off unexpectedly, like after a viral post. I think it's easy, especially early on to say yes to every opportunity, yes to more risks. I think you have to take a blended approach where there are some opportunities that you pursue even though it’s slightly risky. But there are also times when you need to say no to opportunities that aren’t aligned.

Setting up your foundations are also about making sure you’re following the law, getting your financial stuff in order, and making sure you're tracking things in a way. It’s not that exciting, but it’s important to help separate your business from the rest of your life. Those are the things that are so necessary, and they aid in the construction of something that is going to last long term.

Make sure it is profitable and sustainable

How do you actually continue and sustain that solid foundation after you get started? Well, you make sure that what you are offering is actually profitable and sustainable.

I think most of this comes down to time and money. Those are the two biggest issues I see.

For example, I had a client who booked people so quickly. But she had no boundaries in terms of how many clients she was taking on. And there wasn't really a clear definition of stopping points.

In this situation, you need to realistically look at how much work you can take on. That model might be profitable but not sustainable.

If you’re in this same position, you may start to feel your clients or the way you’re serving them is the problem. So you'll stop that service, or you'll change it, or you'll stop doing services in general, which then threatens the foundation that you have already built.

Another scenario that I see happen quite frequently is that business owners get into a cycle of doom and take on more clients to increase cash flow. This is just so detrimental. I was talking with a client who has just been through a recent launch where she raised her prices. She said it had such a big impact and she now feels so good about what she's giving her client versus what they are paying.

Do not confuse sustainable and profitable, they are two very different things. But they are grouped together. In our industry, you can have a completely sustainable business that's not making you enough money or you could be making a load of money, but the way that you're doing it isn't sustainable.

So you need both together, and having one without the other is really dangerous. And it's also really, really stressful.

When you have something sustainable and profitable: that’s when you have more time and more money.

Create systems to support boundaries

So, you're building this business, and your willingness to communicate with clients is through the roof, it's all amazing. But so much of it is manual because you've created no systems to support you or boundaries.

I have so many boundaries in place around work to allow me to live a life I desire. And I can get down to business and get things done because when I’m at my desk I know exactly what I need to do to get me closer to my goals.

I've integrated all of my tasks into systems where I know what's on my to-do list. It also allows me flexibility when things don’t go to plan. For example, last week there was a day where I bumped a few things off my list onto a different day because of the urgency of what I was implementing. And I knew that it wasn't the end of the world. Because I already had the system in place to know what was an actual priority.

I'm only saying this because I remember that I have been there. I am not saying that I did all of this perfectly from day one. I was not always good at this by any means. But I remember telling clients I could do things when clearly I had no time. Or I'd say, ‘oh, yeah, for sure, I'll do that’, but then I'd also plan to write a blog post and take pictures for that post and all of these things. And I would work myself into a corner.

If you have systems to back you up, then you can create the boundaries to communicate accurately with your clients so you don't set expectations that are unrealistic. And you also then have the right amount of clients because you know what your utilisation is, and then your pricing is going to align with that because you have built your business sustainably.

Create your support system

I think there is this misconception that support always has to look like team members. You can build a business that way. If you want to design a business where you can take a day off unplanned, you can do that regardless of if you have a team or not, because you will have integrated support and other ways. This doesn't always have to look like people, sometimes your systems are the support.

Also people dramatically underutilise the support that you can garner from just being really clear in your communication with the people in your life and in your home and realigning responsibilities with your energy levels and what you are willing to do.

I cannot elaborate enough how communication and support is necessary in your life and in your work.

I want to end this by promising you that when you build a framework, you create a sustainable foundation. Why when you make sure it's you know, legally and financially sound, you make it sustainable, because it's taking into account the time you actually have, and you're making it profitable. So it's making the amount of money to function in the way that is necessary to sustain your life. You have systems, you have support, you have a team around you. And I'm not just talking about your business, but you have a team around you in your life.

This will help you live and run a business that supports your life because you’ve built it with your life in mind.

So I'm really excited to see your version of this. And I would truly love to hear what does it look like to you to have a business that supports your life? What does life first actually mean to you? You don't have to know how to get there. You don't have to know how to implement these four key areas yet, but I just want you to dream with me a little bit. What would it mean if you woke up tomorrow and you were starting to tackle phase one of life first building a business that supports your life for you? What would that enable you to do? What would that impact? What would that change in your life in your mental headspace in your finances in your schedule? Come over and share it with me on Instagram!