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How to Build a Business That Supports Your Lifestyle (Not the Other Way Around)
- John Gates
- Sep 1, 2025
- 10 min read
Note: I am a business coach to owners of service-based businesses. This article is specifically aimed at such business owners; however, much of the guidance here will apply to all.
Disclaimer: I write all my own blogs in my own write-as-you-speak style. I don't use ChatGPT, Copywriters, or tweak for SEO (probably to my detriment). This blog is written for you, the business owner. What got me here can get you there, wherever your 'there' may be.
Most business owners start a business because they want freedom. Freedom to choose when they work, where they work, and how much they earn. Freedom to spend more time with family, travel, or finally do the things they love.
But for many, the reality looks very different. Instead of creating freedom, the business becomes a trap. Endless hours, constant firefighting, and the pressure to hit ever-moving financial targets can leave business owners more stressed and less free than when they were employed.
When was the last time you took a holiday and completely switched off? No emails, no WhatsApp messages, no worrying about what you might be missing if you don’t check your inbox at least a dozen times each day.
If that feels familiar, you’re not alone. I should also point out that, up to this point, you’ve probably not done anything wrong. You’ve followed the conventional wisdom of work hard, and well, work harder!
No one wants to admit that they feel suffocated by their business, that their business isn’t providing them with the life they deserve. Why? Because to the outside world, you’re the boss! The successful entrepreneur who went it alone, master of their own destiny. The problem is, it’s not quite how things panned out.
The good news? It doesn’t have to be that way. You can design a business that genuinely supports your lifestyle — a business that acts as a vehicle to achieve your personal goals instead of taking over your life.
This blog will walk you through exactly how to do it.
Why Lifestyle Should Come Before Business Goals
I hope this won’t come as a shock, and I certainly hope this isn’t brand new information. You are going to die! Yes, you, me, everyone, we’re gonna die someday. That’s a fact, and as morbid as it sounds, it can be your guiding light to living life more freely and with purpose.
Once you get this straight in your mind, it puts the whole world into a different perspective. That ‘urgent’ email someone sent you, it doesn’t matter. Fast forward 100 years, you’ll be dead, they’ll be dead, and that ‘urgent’ email is lost to history.
100 years? Fast forward to next week, and that email is lost to history, along with the 20,000 other emails. Yes, I was shocked too to discover I had over 20,000 emails having been in business just 5 years. WTF?!!
I can’t credit this next saying as I forgot where I heard it, but despite that, the saying itself has stuck with me since the day I first heard it.
“If it won’t matter in 5 years, spend no more than 5 minutes worrying about it.”
Now I know I might be labouring the point, but it’s so important. Yes, we should live in the present, but just take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Is the present you’re living in now, the life you want for yourself? Are you getting buried by one task after another that has no benefit to your longer-term goals?
Always remember that the one commodity we cannot buy or create is time. The time to spend with family and friends, the time to travel the world, or watch our children grow. Not all opportunities can be pushed back a day, a week or even a year. We have to grasp them now.
So now that we’ve established that something has to change, and we’ve reaffirmed your mortality. Where do we go from here?
Define Your Personal Goals First
The traditional approach to business planning usually looks something like this:
Set a big financial goal (e.g. “£1 million turnover in five years”).
Work backwards to hit that target.
Sacrifice personal time, flexibility, and well-being in the process.
But here’s the problem: if you don’t stop to ask why you want that turnover goal, you risk building a business that doesn’t serve you. Bigger isn’t always better.
Consider two “entrepreneurs”:
I should also point out before we start that I really don’t like the word entrepreneur. So many people call themselves entrepreneurs, yet so few actually are. For most of us, we at best own a business, at worst own a job for which there is no escape!
Entrepreneur A works 60+ hours a week, has a £1m turnover, employs 15 staff, but feels stressed and trapped.
Entrepreneur B earns £100k a year, works two days a week, and spends the rest of their time travelling, being with family, and enjoying life.
We become obsessed, and I mean literally obsessed with turnover! “I have a six-figure business”, “I make six figures”, “my business just made £1 million”. So what?
The accountant in me would say, So what do you have to show for it? How much money is in your back pocket after you’ve paid all your staff, your overheads (not to mention tax!). Are you personally any better off than if you earned a fraction of that figure?
In my opinion, the second entrepreneur is far closer to what most of us actually want: freedom, time, and financial security. That’s why your lifestyle should come before your business goals.
Remember this:
“Most people think they want to be a millionaire, when in fact they admire what millionaires can do.”
So what do I mean by that? I believe that when we really get to the heart of the matter, we want the time and freedom to do what we want, when we want. Most don't need millions to do that. A healthy income, coupled with time and flexibility, is, for most, the dream ticket. It’s just not what we’re sold online. It’s all Ferraris, big houses and private jets.
So before you start making any changes in your business, you first need clarity on your personal vision. This is the foundation on which everything else will sit.
Ask yourself:
What does my ideal week look like?
How many hours do I want to work?
Do I want location freedom (ability to work from anywhere)?
How much income do I need to comfortably support my life?
What experiences do I want to prioritise — travel, family time, hobbies?
Exercise: Write down your “ideal week.” Be specific. For example:
Monday: Gym in the morning, 3 focused hours of client calls, afternoon free.
Tuesday: Deep work on projects for 4 hours, early finish to pick kids up from school.
Wednesday–Friday: No work, purely personal or family time.
This vision will serve as your north star. Every business decision should be tested against it.
A quick reality check here, this step of getting clarity on your personal vision may seem simple, but it’s not. You need to really think about this, and I mean think hard. This isn’t just a pipe dream for the next two weeks or the next few months; this is potentially the rest of your life we’re talking about.
So you want to work just two days per week, great! What are you going to do with the rest of your time? What's to stop you from becoming bored out of your mind? It’s an important consideration, as we regain time from our business, how are we going to spend that time in a rewarding and fulfilling way?
Once you’ve really nailed down what your ideal life could look like, we have to move on to the numbers. The numbers are absolutely critical as they help frame the way in which we manage our business to achieve our personal goals.
While you can’t put a price on freedom or happiness, we’re going to have to put a price tag on your ideal life. We need to work out what your lifestyle is going to cost you now and in the future. Why? Because your business is going to pay for it.
We have to delve into the details and quantify our new chosen lifestyle. We’ll break this down to an average cost per month. This number will be ingrained in your mind. It’s the holy grail of numbers. Forget your £1 million in revenue, this number is literally the price of your freedom.
Set Aligned Business Goals
You have a clear vision of what you want, and you know the number you need to achieve it. Fantastic! Is that it? No, I’m afraid not, although we’re most of the way there. In addition to creating a business that churns out that magic number every month, you also need to extract yourself from the business sufficiently to live the life you’ve set out for yourself.
Once your personal goals and lifestyle vision are clear, you can set business goals that genuinely align.
Instead of asking “How do I hit £1m turnover?”, ask:
How much income do I need to live the lifestyle I want?
What profit do I need after tax to cover my expenses and goals?
For example:
Lifestyle costs (housing, travel, family, fun): £60,000/year
Add savings and investments: £20,000/year
Add buffer for tax and reinvestment: £20,000/year
Total target profit: £100,000/year
Now your business doesn’t need to chase arbitrary growth targets. It needs to consistently generate around £100k profit, which may mean a leaner, simpler, more enjoyable business than one chasing millions in turnover. Or for you, it may mean growing your business from where it currently sits.
Remember that your business needs to generate the target income figure based on your desired number of working days/hours. You might be hitting your numbers already, but can you still do that if you drop from 40 to 20 hours per week?
Aligned goals = sustainable motivation.
Create Systems That Give You Freedom
If you’re constantly in the weeds of your business, you’ll never escape the trap. The secret is to build systems that free up your time. Focus on these three key areas to deliver your freedom.
Automation & Systems
If it can be automated, automate it. There are so many amazing tools out there that can assist with automation. Consider your software choices, for example, explore software such as Zapier that links software together and automates processes.
Don't forget, you don't need to do all this yourself. You may not have the first idea of where to start, and that's okay; that's where our next key area comes in: delegation & outsourcing.
Delegation & Outsourcing
Some people love it (I do!) and others really struggle to let go. Delegation can be one of the defining moments where you really start to see change. If you struggle with delegation, start with the easy, low-skilled tasks and work your way up.
You don't have to delegate everything. Consider what is important, what do you do that brings maximum value to your business, what work do you do that really earns the big bucks? Do that, and delegate everything else. For example, you may continue to manage client relationships, but the actual work behind the scenes is performed by a team of people just as capable as you are.
The second part of this key area to success is outsourcing. Not only do you not have to do all the work yourself, but you don't have to hire employees to do it for you. Being an employer may be a necessary requirement for your business. Often, we hire people because we think that's what we should do; we have a need, hire someone. Outsourcing can be a great alternative. No HR headaches, no holiday pay, plus the flexibility to dish out work as your business requires. Can it be more expensive than hiring directly? Yes, sometimes it can be. Can outsourcing give you, as the business owner, without an expensive layer of management employees, the ability to get work down without your constant oversight? Absolutely.
Not only this, but in the ever-connected world in which we live, consider the benefits of outsourcing overseas. Lower costs mean less revenue (i.e. fewer clients/sales) to meet your monthly profit target. Remember, all our decisions should tie back to our magic number.
The goal isn’t to remove yourself completely — it’s to remove yourself from everything that doesn’t absolutely need your brainpower.
Boundaries & Processes
This might be the hardest, yet most rewarding of all. Managing your boundaries with clients/customers and aligning their expectations can give you the freedom you desire.
We've all had situations (far too many for my liking) where you email a client and you hear nothing for weeks, eventually they get back to you, if you're lucky. Now flip that on its head, the client emails you at 9:30, you're getting a chaser email at 3:15 because you've not dropped everything and jumped on their request.
"Your inbox is a public to-do list of other people's priorities."
Unfortunately, this is not uncommon; sadly, it's the world we live in. A lot of people have what I would coin the 'Amazon Prime' mentality. They want a response, and they want it now! Managing expectations will allow you to still manage your business, but on your own rhythm. If you let yourself be dictated by the wants and needs of others, you'll be working 24/7.
Measure Success Differently
Traditional business success metrics often revolve around turnover, growth rate, number of employees, etc. But if you’re building a lifestyle-first business, you need a different yardstick.
Lifestyle-First Success Metrics
Hours worked per week – Are you working the amount you want to?
Net profit after tax – Are you hitting that magic number?
Stress levels – Do you feel calm and in control, or overwhelmed?
Flexibility – Can you take time off when you want?
Time to Reframe Success
Your business should be a vehicle for your dreams, not a prison that locks you away from them. By starting with your lifestyle vision, choosing the right business model, setting aligned goals, and building freedom through systems, you can create a business that genuinely supports your life.
You don’t need to chase arbitrary targets or copy other 'entrepreneurs'. You just need clarity on what matters most to you.
If you’re ready to stop letting your business run your life and start building one that supports your personal goals, I can help.
Book a free discovery call today, and let’s design a business that gives you the freedom you deserve.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a lifestyle-first business?
A lifestyle-first business is one designed to support your personal goals and ideal lifestyle, rather than chasing arbitrary revenue or growth targets.
How can I make my business fit around my life?
Start by defining your personal goals, then structure your business model, systems, and goals to align with them. Use automation, outsourcing, and boundaries.
How do I set personal goals for my business?
Write down your ideal lifestyle and weekly routine, calculate how much income you need, and then set business goals that support that outcome.
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