What Does Building a Life-First Business Truly Mean?
Episode 624: Show Notes
What kind of business are you dreaming of? Whatever that looks like, it is your choice! And you get to make that everyday. We’ve had a lot of people approach us asking for permission to pursue a life-first business, but the call is yours to make. Our lives are all so different and unique that we can’t prescribe the details of what a life-first business looks like for you, but we can offer you some hard-earned wisdom to guide you in creating a framework that works for you! We all have boundaries we need to put in place to fulfill the life-first structure to support you as you create the life that you want. It’s fully within your power to implement and enact a plan to achieve it, but you’ve got to make the call. While there’s never going to be a magic bell that tells you what to do, we’re here to help show you the way.
The Responsibility You Have to Live Life-First
What are your actual responsibilities? Once we’ve made those edits to support your plan, you need to figure out what it actually means, now, and in the future. Separating your business from your personal finances is a necessary step in the process and you need to take it to protect yourself. You have to understand that it’s a journey, and you get to decide what life-first looks like when it comes to your business, your clients, and your time. You have to take a blended approach. There are opportunities you’ll be unsure of, and you’ll need to take the risk anyway. There’s also power in the ‘no’! The most important thing is to base your decisions on fact, when you know for sure, ‘if this, then that’. We can help you to see the red flags you might be missing. It’s our job!
The 4 Key Pieces You Need to be Thinking about before Designing a Life-First Business
Building a life-first business looks different for everyone, and it looks different for the same people at different phases of life. But there are four steps that fit into our definition. The biggest impact you will ever have on helping you stick to your boundaries is to spend time with us! Our superpower is being a super people pleaser and someone who totally doesn’t give a shit. That blend makes all the difference. What you need to do is to build a business that backs you up! Not to build a situation that means you never have to work again. Create a framework, make sure it’s legally and financially sound, make it sustainable and profitable, create support through a team, and you’re going to feel like you’ve built a life-first business, even when it gets stressful!
Our Thoughts on Fair Play and How to Integrate it into Your Life-First Plan
Not too long ago, we discovered a tool called Fair Play on Amazon to help us think through everything needed to look after the running of the house, physical, mental, emotional, and everything you can think of to look after a family. It’s a way to reorganize the responsibilities within your home to create an equal distribution of labor. First you buy the deck of cards, then you implement them! It’s a way to melt away the resentment that can grow between couples, to value each person’s contribution, and to share the mental load. Managing the division of tasks in your life and work need to be integrated, and we can’t stress that enough!
Quote This
Just like the software can’t be everything for you, we can’t be everything for you. We know what we’re good at, and what we’re good at is editing your business to be life-first!
Highlights
The Responsibility You Have to Live Life-First [0:16:56]
The 4 Key Pieces You Need to be Thinking about before Designing a Life-First Business [0:22:01]
Our Thoughts on Fair Play and How to Integrate it into Your Life-First Plan [0:42:07]
ON TODAY’S SHOW
Abagail & Emylee
The Strategy Hour Podcast
We help overwhelmed and creative entrepreneurs break down their Oprah-sized dreams to create a functioning command center to tame the chaos of their business. Basically, we think you’re totally bomb diggity, we’re about to uplevel the shiz out of your business.
KEY TOPICS
Life-first business, Boundaries, Fair Play, Mental load, Managing stress, Responsibility
