How to design your business around your life

As a 1-person business, you have the luxury of being able to design your business around your life. And no, I’m not one of these “work on a laptop on a beach in Bali” advocates. For me, this means doing the type of work I want to do, when I want to do it, working around my life, so I can spend more time with my family.

By designing your business around your skills, strengths and preferred types of work, you can create a business that is much more enjoyable to work on day after day. This saves yourself from burning out and ultimately leads to a more successful venture.

Unfortunately, most people start with the idea and build their business around that. This can lead to walking a path paved by the business, rather than by yourself.

Tiny Empires

Guides on building a 6-figure 1-person business that works around your life, not the other way round

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Don't start with a business idea

Most people start their business with an idea of what they want to build. Maybe they've got an idea for something that doesn't exist yet. Maybe they've spotted a gap in a market. Or maybe they've got a 40-year overarching vision. Normally, these approaches would be perfectly valid. But when you're building a 1-person business, you need to take more consideration for how sustainable it is that you can run the business on your own for a long time. When you start with the idea, you are ultimately being guided by the idea, rather than the plan. Sometimes what's best for the idea to grow, isn't what's best for you. Here's what normally happens when somebody starts a business:

1. They follow the idea, not the plan
2. They copy what's working for others
3. They’re subconsciously focused on growth at all costs
4. They haven’t taken any time to consider what THEY want

But don’t worry. By taking a step back and setting even just an hour aside to decide the direction you want to go, you can set a new destination, re-route and ultimately change your life.

Here's how, step by step:

1. Ask yourself "What type of LIFE do I want?"

Work the business around your life. Not the other way round.

Do you want to work fixed hours, or different hours every day?

Do you want to work 20 hours per week, or 80 hours per week?

There's no wrong answer here as some people like working 80 hours per week. Some people like variety. Others like routine.

Think through these decisions and decide what type of life you want for yourself and craft your business around that.

One of the biggest things to consider for this is how you are connecting with other people. Most businesses will require some time spent with other people, perhaps on Zoom calls, meetings, events etc. Think about how much of these interactions you will need and what timezones most of your customers/contacts would be based in. For example, my sponsorship business mainly has US clients, and I'm based in the UK, which means that I need to open up my calendar in the late afternoon/evening for calls with those clients. This works for me, but it might not work for everyone. Similarly, if I'm running events that target the US, I need to do them late in the day. Try to work out where your main customers would be located and if this fits into your schedule.

2. Ask yourself "What TYPE of WORK do I want?"

Enjoy the type of work, not necessarily the topic.

Many people start a business that follows their passions. I would argue that more important than this is to follow your personality. What I mean by this is to start a business that allows you to do the "type" of work you like, rather than the topic of work that you like. The best job I ever had was when I worked for an interpreting agency where I would arrange interpreters for emergency medical appointments at very short notice. It was terribly paid and I have no interest in interpreting, but I loved it. Why? Because I loved the nature of the job. The fast paced requests. Negotiations. Constant problem solving. It was chaotic yet systematic. It suited me perfectly. This is just one example of how you can love your work, not for the subject matter, but for the actual tasks that you are doing.

Apply this to your own life. Do you like writing, organizing, planning, meeting people, problem solving? Think high-level, rather than specific here.

Now think about the types of businesses that can allow you to do these tasks for a large portion of your day. For example, if you like meeting people, you might want to start a professional community and focus on a highly personalized experience. If you're a problem solver, you might be better building a software tool which you can improve day after day.

Why is it important that you like the type of work you do? Because you need to be able to do this every day for a prolonged period of time to have any chance of success, so the more you enjoy your work, the better chance you have of doing it consistently, and doing it well.

If you follow your passion solely, you could find yourself doing work you hate on a subject you love, which may kill your passion. Let's say you like cycling, so decide to start a bike blog but find yourself spending most of your time creating graphics which you don't like. The joy quickly fades. It's hard to keep motivating yourself to do work you hate.

If you can find work you enjoy AND a subject you are passionate about, then you've hit gold, but prioritize the work enjoyment over your passions.

3. Identify your superpowers

Crosses over with your superpowers. Fits in with your skills.

You now know what type of life you want AND what type of work you want. Now you just need to find a business that suits your own unique set of skills.

What are your superpowers? And what businesses intersect with them?

Everybody has a superpower. Being able to identify them can be tricky, but unearthing these key differentiators is what can make you the perfect person to run certain types of businesses.

For example:

If you're great at organizing, you could focus on something like hosting events, and differentiate yourself incredibly quickly by hosting amazing events

If you're thing is writing, you could start a LinkedIn ghost writing service and quickly rack up brilliant customer testimonials by creating high quality content

Sometimes they aren't quite as explicit as these examples however. For example, one of my strengths is that I'm observant which lends itself to various things like building systems, quality checking, researching etc.

Write down your superpowers, then look at industries that fit your preferences from step 1 and step 2 and see which ones crossover the most.

In Summary

1. Start with a plan, not an idea and work backwards
2. Think about the life you want
3. Think about the "type" of work you might enjoy, focusing more on your personality that your passions
4. Think about what you're good at

Mix it all together and avoid the 4 big mistakes when choosing a business, and you'll end up with a powerhouse 1-person business.

I hope this guide was helpful. I share guides like this every week on Substack for free. If you're interested in subscribing, you can do that here (no pressure).