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The story of freedom - "Lifestyle Business"

Successful business is when in addition to money you gain free time

By Sebastian VoicePublished 2 years ago 8 min read
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The story of freedom - "Lifestyle Business"
Photo by Daria Pimkina on Unsplash

Hello,

I'm Daniel. Today I tell you the last of the stories, the one about freedom.

It is a personal story that, taken as a whole, for me are several lessons learned in a very short period:

  • the lesson of giving up, in which you leave the present and everything you have accumulated, for a new beginning, without knowing if you will have an effective success;
  • the lesson of self-discovery, when you introspectively seek the path you wanted when you were a child and no limits were imposed yet;
  • the lesson of love, when you stop the chaotic time, which passes with the speed of a car, just to say goodbye to a loved one and to receive and offer unconditional love;
  • the lesson of the entrepreneur who, once he assumes his role, no matter what he starts, will make money and live above the average of other people;
  • the lesson of freedom, in a metaphorical sense - to build your future, independent of current socio-economic-political constraints.

The truth is, when you value (when you're good at what you do), you'll rarely feel empty-handed. But you will know that you offer value in society when the feeling of hunger no longer disappears.

So much so that we are talking about hunger, not physical hunger.

In 2007, after many attempts, I set up my own company (in the field of printing and advertising production). It was before the crisis and, in the first two years, we had a turnover of over 300,000 euros.

The increase was fabulous - from nothing to 400,000 euros. I was 25 years old, I was on the wave, and in a maximum of 4-5 years, I saw myself as a millionaire. When the crisis came, I didn't even know what hit me. Customers stopped paying, and suppliers were putting pressure on me. Although there was money on paper, they were stuck on the trail. Then the market contracted. The first budget cuts in companies were made in the marketing department (which is stupid, if you think a little strategically).

If the first two years were heavenly manna, the next two were exclusively about survival. I told the stories, in part, especially in two of my books: "Steps to Change" and "The Essence of Efficiency."

2011 found me at the end of my powers. I no longer liked the field in which I worked, I no longer liked clients. I had entered faulty marketing based on price, from which I did not know how to get out - all customers wanted lower prices, negotiated contracts, threatened to leave, or came with counter-offers. Profit margins, even so small, were shrinking with each passing day. I didn't like employees anymore, I didn't like partners anymore.

It was then that I learned that my mother was suffering from cancer. It was an emotional shock that made me revisit my whole vision. I asked myself questions about who I am, what I do, and what I want my life to look like.

And then I decided to give up. It was not an easy thing: giving up a company built by you, when you are young, is emotionally similar to giving up your child. When I stopped, I had debts on the company to suppliers of one and a half billion. I paid my "exit fee" and left without looking back.

That's when I decided that the next business I was building would be around my lifestyle. Freedom from a professional point of view - means doing:

  • what do you want
  • Where you want
  • when you want
  • with whom you want

That's when I started the ConstruimImperii.Ro project and I decided to live a period of writing. And now I remember that the world was shocked:

  • how to make money from blogging?
  • book authors starve to death!

These were the lines I came across most often.

Time has shown me that I was right. ConstruimImperii.Ro has become one of the most popular blogs on entrepreneurship, personal leadership, marketing, and productivity in Romania.

From that moment, step by step, the idea of ​​"Lifestyle Business", as we defined it in 2011, began to take shape.

I founded a book publishing house, StepOut Publishing House, which developed quite nicely, I became a trainer & coach, I started working with more and more entrepreneurs in individual meetings, and I founded a coaching school (and many more, from NGOs to various companies I work with as a marketing and product launch consultant).

All this time I wrote several books that sold thousands of copies, I had book launches as I dreamed of as a child and I dreamed of becoming a writer.

Not everything went according to plan, though. My mother died at the end of 2013, but at least I stayed at her head until the last moment, and for me this is invaluable.

What does "Lifestyle Business" mean?

It means building the whole business around a passion/skill you have. If you think it's the same with "Freelancing", I want to tell you that there is some difference.

Freelancing is just a first step in "Lifestyle Business", for the simple reason that a freelancer has no employees, while a "Lifestyle Business" has.

The difference between a "Lifestyle Business" and another type of business is that "LB" starts from a question of the founder:

"What do I want my life to look like?"

And the whole business is built on that answer, to support it.

By the way, as a miscellaneous fact, the term "freelancing" comes from the combination of two very suggestive words: "free" + "lance". In the past, a freelancer was a "free" person who did not have a landlord to depend on. In modern times a freelancer defines a person who is not related to the employer in the long run - so it does not depend on a "master".

Another important element to be able to build an LB is to define the concept of "work". Work means everything you would not do unless you were paid for it. The goal itself is to work as little as possible in a day.

As an example - for me to write this article IS NOT WORK.

The job is: to make calls, delegate tasks, answer e-mails, and coordinate teams of people - the administrative job in general. I do them, but I do them strictly because they have to be done, not because I enjoy them.

A person stressed at work and dissatisfied - this is because he does more tasks in the second category than in the first.

What does my life look like right now?

When I defined how I want my life to look, I took into account the four questions (what do you want to do, where do you want, when do you want, with whom do you want).

That's why in the first part of the day I usually deal with the things I enjoy. I make my agenda, I read for about an hour, I write, I make plans, I draw strategies, and I deal with projects that I am passionate about.

In the second part I start the "actual work" - I check my e-mails, reply to them, meet with employees, and partners, handle administrative tasks, delegate, etc.

I spend the evening with family or close friends.

It's like working part-time and getting paid very well for it. But this is because I wanted freedom. Although the businesses I build have physical offices (one of them is in the center of the capital), I do not have a fixed office.

I drink my coffee in the cafes, I also make my diary there, I read and write, I can work virtually from anywhere, and the freedom of movement helps me to be creative in what I do.

The funny thing is that when I first talked about this type of business, which started with a passion or skill, to be built around my lifestyle, most of those who heard me snorted with laughter.

The truth is that the internet has changed the rules of the game a lot. Entrepreneurship is now much more flexible, and the further away you are from the online environment, the closer you are to isolation. Right now I'm working with a fairly large company (millions of euros in turnover per year) that wants to "digitize" itself - that is to change marketing into an online one.

What is the conclusion I want you to take with you at the end of these emails?

Entrepreneurship and marketing are much simpler than we like to think. It is based on EDUCATION first of all (in entrepreneurship, marketing, and sales) ... and on the courage to test the ideas before implementing them (just so that there are no unnecessary expenses).

P.S. If you like to read while drinking coffee, you can offer me a coffee too.

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About the Creator

Sebastian Voice

Hi

Writing is an art, the art of being known without being seen.

Writing hides a face, a feeling, a thought, a desire, a mystery.

I'm a dreamer!

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