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Work to Live, Never Live to Work
3:39 with Paul BoagBusinesses can be run with different exit strategies in mind. However, it is important for a company to be run in a way that allows for its people to live a positive lifestyle in the process.
[How to Run a Web Design Business with Paul Boag: A Lifestyle Choice Deep Dive]
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So let's move on and look at the crucial thing for me and the thing that we
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discussed right at the very beginning which is this
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idea of building a lifestyle business.
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A business that supports the life that we want to live.
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Work to live. Never live to work.
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There are basically two types of businesses.
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There are those with an exit strategy I mentioned in the last video
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and there are those lifestyle businesses that are developed
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to facilitate the lifestyle that you want to live.
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Now as you have gathered, I'm a huge fun of the second type of business
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and I think most web designers fall into this category.
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They like the idea of building a business that supports their lifestyle.
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People become their own boss for a couple of reasons.
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Firstly, they have this image that if they become their own boss
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and set up their own business, they'll have more time.
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They'll have more money and more freedom in what they do.
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Unfortunately, the reality is not always that.
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I've got to say that a lot of the freelancers and web designers I know
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that who've gone and set up by themselves, they're undercharging
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from their work a lot of the time and they're also at the whims of clients.
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Essentially, all of those things that they wanted from setting up
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their own businesses, they failed to achieve.
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Now they tend to justify it to themselves by saying that things will get easier
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but I have to say to you, don't live for the future.
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Your business should facilitate your lifestyle today.
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And so don't set up the business where you're willing
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to sacrifice those ideas you had when you first set it up.
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You wanted more freedom. You wanted to work less hours.
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You wanted to be your own boss. Hang on to that.
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Ask yourself, what was your perfect job be like?
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And then keep focused on that vision.
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If your perfect job is working less, make sure you work less.
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If you're getting too busy, either hire another member of staff
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or don't take on as many projects.
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If your perfect job is to be your own boss, make sure you don't take
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on that project which you know has got a really difficult client
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who's going to turn into a pain in the neck.
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If something is going to take you further away from your vision, don't do it.
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Stay focused--Remember, you're in control of your business
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and not the other way around.
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It's easy for your business to turn into this monster that you have to
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constantly feed with work and it ends up dictating to you
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but that's not the way it should be.
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Ultimately, a lifestyle business is about facilitating your lifestyle
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but remember this as well, it's not just about facilitating your lifestyle,
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it's also about facilitating the lifestyle of your employees too.
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If you've hired someone, that's not an excuse to dump all the rubbish on them
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because you don't want to turn into one of those bosses
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You're trying to create a business that facilitates the
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lifestyle of everyone that works in it.
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Stay focused on their aim and I can promise you that you will enjoy your work
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so much more and you will enjoy working with your colleagues.
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