In this solo YouTube episode, the host expands on his earlier discussion of a "dream outcome"—a $1‑to‑$3 million profitable business—by introducing the concept of a lifestyle business. He credits Daniel Priestley for coining the term and contrasts lifestyle businesses with performance businesses, which aim for high revenue milestones (e.g., $10‑$100 million) and often seek external investment or an exit. The host also references Alex Hormozi, who labels the $1‑to‑$3 million range as "the swamp," and teases a forthcoming episode that will challenge Hormozi’s view. Central to his definition of a lifestyle business is the "4 Fs" framework: Fun, Freedom, Flexibility, and Financial Success. He emphasizes that each of these pillars is personally defined—what fun looks like for one founder may differ for another, and financial success can range from $5 k to $80 k per month. The episode encourages listeners to concretely articulate their own 4 Fs through a journaling exercise, citing a recent discussion with Blueprint members as an example. The host concludes with a call to action to like, subscribe, and comment, inviting the audience to share their personal definitions of a lifestyle business.
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Hey everyone. Well, we went through just a few weeks ago a series and we talked about in one of those episodes, if you go back and listen, you'll hear me talk about the dream outcome. And I talked about the dream outcome of having a $1 to $3 million profitable business. And what I want to add on to that is also having a business that is what we are going to consider to be a lifestyle business. Now I want to give full credit to this language and word. The first time I heard this word is actually from Daniel Priestley. I don't recall which one of the books he first brought it up, but he contrasts a lifestyle business to a performance business. And a performance business is one that is very much driven to get to numbers such as 10 million, $30 million, and usually is accompanied with a business that is built to sell. Maybe that is selling to private equity, maybe that is even going further than that, maybe it's selling to an— to one of your competitors. I mean, there's a lot of different ways that that could come, but that business is looked at very differently sometimes, and often is a business that takes on outside investment. Now, is that bad? Absolutely, it is not in any way bad. But I definitely want to contrast that type of a business, one that's pushing to 30+ team members, getting to $10 million, $20 million, $30 million, $50 million, $100 million. Businesses that you're going to hear a lot that an Alex Hormozi, as an example, wants to take a business. Alex sees a business that's in a $1 to $3 million space as a business that's considered the swamp. And I'll actually do a podcast next week specifically about that. So you'll come back to that because he sent an email out and I wanted to kind of address kind of my thoughts around that. Well, back to the point of a lifestyle business. If you think about those businesses that are performance businesses trying to go to those levels, maybe even have some level of an exit or selling a portion of the company, there's nothing wrong with that. One of my really good friends that lives in Atlanta is in banking, and that's the companies in the world that he honestly lives in. On a day-to-day basis. However, the businesses that we're in are much more of a business that would be considered a lifestyle business. I even think Daniel is coming out with a book about this, so you'll be able to go deeper into his thoughts around it. But I specifically see a lifestyle business around 4 Fs: a business that prioritizes fun, freedom, flexibility, and financial success. Fun, freedom, flexibility, and financial success. Now this begs the question, well, what do you mean by fun? What do you mean by freedom? What do you mean by flexibility? And what do you mean by financial success? Well, those answers are actually dependent upon you. You see, as a small business owner, you get to choose. What does a business prioritizes fun for you look like? What does a business that gives you personal freedom look like? What does the flexibility to be able to work wherever you would love to be able to work, whether that's a coffee shop, whether that's taking off on a Friday, maybe that's working from Spain, whatever that is for you, that flexibility, that's a business that you, most business owners, want. And then of course, financial success. And the level of financial success could be right now you have a business that is throwing off $5,000 a month for you. And you were able to leave working for other people and you're now making $5,000 a month for you. But then maybe that financial success is if you could get to $10,000. And then if you're at $10,000, maybe it's getting to $20,000 a month personally. What if— what about $40,000 a month personally? What about $80,000 a month for you? What does that financial success look like for you specifically? And see, I think that's the difference is that while we defined kind of the dream outcome in the revenue space and also sharing that it's a profitable business in that $1 to $3 million, I think it's those numbers that can actually give you the business that can prioritize fun, freedom, flexibility, and indeed financial success. Now next week, I teased on this just a little bit, but next week I'm going to do a short Friday solo episode that I'm going to be called The Swamp. And the reason I'm calling it Swamp is because, because that's what Alex Hormozi refers to it as. And it's the one of the few places that I'm actually going to disagree with him on. But don't worry, I'm not taking a contrarian take just to take a contrarian take. I'm sharing it with you because I think he has a very strong point and opinion about why he feels that that $1 to $3 million space is— would be considered the swamp. But we're going to view it from a different perspective. And why I don't think he's wrong. I just think that it depends on what it is that you want. So you're definitely going to want to tune in next week where I talk about the swamp. So a lifestyle business is what we want. We want one that is different than a performance business. Now look, if you want to build a performance business, by all means go do it. Absolutely go do it. If you want to build a company to $10 million, sell a portion of it, and then go raise that money to take that money and go build it to $30 million and exit, then by all means, please go do that. But for a lot of people, they don't. They want a business that does more of one of those 4 things, or really a combination of all 4, that it gives them the fun, freedom, and flexibility and financial success that they want. So here's my question to you: what does that look like for you? What does the business— not only the revenue and the profitability, but what is a business that's fun, you look like? What does a business that gives you freedom look like? What is a business that gives you the flexibility that you want? We did this with our Blueprint members just the other day, and as much as I may have encouraged them to actually go and do this, if we had not carved out the space, I don't think many of them would. And we had an incredible robust discussion of people sharing and giving words, and people were picking up on, oh, you know what, that, that, that's exactly what I was trying to say. I hadn't considered that. So definitely, I can highly encourage you to go sit down, go to a coffee shop, bring up a, you know, a journal or a notebook of some point and write down, what does my lifestyle business look like for me? All right, everyone. Hope this served you well. Until next episode, lead well and go be great. Hey, if you like videos like this, click below. We'd love to have your support. Like and subscribe so we can begin to grow this channel. We have big plans going into 2026 to do more things specifically for our audience on YouTube. Would love if you would like and subscribe and maybe even share this with one other person. And by the way, what does a business that it gives you fun, freedom, flexibility, and financial success look like to you? I'd love to see and read your comments below. Till next time, lead well and go be great.
