Making Money » 12 Things I Learned From Starting Two 7-Figure Lifestyle Businesses

12 Things I Learned From Starting Two 7-Figure Lifestyle Businesses

Share On Facebook Share On Twitter Share On Pinterest

Written By Steve Chou WSJ Bestselling Author | 7 Figure Store Owner | B.S/M.S. Stanford

Steve is a 7 figure ecommerce store owner, blogger, YouTuber and podcaster that has taught thousands of students how to sell online. He has been featured in Forbes, Inc, NYT and MSNBC.

Click Here To Take His FREE 6 Day Ecommerce Mini Course

Since my wife became pregnant with our first child in 2007, I’ve created 2 different lifestyle businesses, an ecommerce store selling handkerchiefs and a blog about entrepreneurship.

And these businesses were created so my wife and I could spend more time with these two.

For all of you who are unfamiliar with the terminology, a lifestyle business is a business that you can run on the side to earn extra money so that you don’t feel obligated to work your day job.

And the primary difference between a “lifestyle business” versus what I call a “true startup company” is that a lifestyle business requires a much smaller time commitment and can be heavily leveraged to make the best use of your resources.

The best part is that if all goes well, you can make enough money to quit your day job altogether and focus on doing the things that you love.

However, the one downside with a “lifestyle” business is that it will probably never result in you becoming filthy rich. Sure it’s possible but highly unlikely. But who needs to be filthy rich anyways?

The most important things in life come from spending time with those that you love, not slogging away at some company…unless of course your startup company happens to be what you are the most passionate about.

Get My Free Mini Course On How To Start A Successful Ecommerce Store

If you are interested in starting an ecommerce business, I put together a comprehensive package of resources that will help you launch your own online store from complete scratch. Be sure to grab it before you leave!

Table of Contents

The Power Of A Lifestyle Business

My wife and I started our ecommerce store so that she could stay at home with our kids and be there for them as they grew up.

Our store made over 100K in profit during our first year and has grown in the double and triple digits since. (This same store now generates 7 figures per year).

I started my blog in 2009, and while it did not make much money in the first two years, it made a decent chunk of change starting in year 3.

Two years later, my blog exceeded my day job income and fast forward to today, MyWifeQuitHerJob.com will generate close to 1.4 million dollars in revenue this year.

Even though I quit my job in 2016, I was actually running both businesses while working full time for many years.

And the truth is that I never felt like I was overexerting myself. I always had plenty of free time to spend with my kids and I hung out with my family and friends a heck of a lot.

Even though I’m pretty happy with where I am right now, it was definitely not a smooth and easy path. So today, I thought that I’d share with you 12 things that I learned while creating my online businesses.

Editor’s Note: If you are interested in learning how to start an ecommerce business which is what my wife and I started out with, click here to take my FREE 6 day mini course on how to start an online store.

Also if you’re curious, you can click here to check out our little online shop that started it all.

Find Out What You Are Good At And Focus On It

Most businesses try to spread themselves too thin and as a result, they don’t do anything particularly well. The key to starting a successful lifestyle business is to be hyper focused on one thing and be the best at it.

With our online wedding linens store, we decided to focus our product selection on handkerchiefs and became the largest seller of hankies on the Internet.

With my blog, I positioned myself as an ecommerce entrepreneur because I noticed that there were very few blogs out there that wrote about ecommerce in the context of running a real online shop.

With my online store course, I decided to focus on teaching ecommerce instead of going broad and showing people how to start a generic online business.

Every lifestyle business needs to find its thing, the one thing where you have a decent shot of being the best at. Otherwise, you will simply blend in with the rest of the pack.

Work With People Who You Love And Will Challenge You

There’s no one I can think of who I love more than my wife (except for my kiddos) so working with her was a natural choice for me.

Though I can’t wholeheartedly recommend working with your spouse, there is no one else out there that you will be able to trust more.

Plus, your spouse will never hesitate to challenge you or make you sleep on the couch when push comes to shove:)

No matter who you decide to work with, the key is to find someone with a complementary skill set who will push you harder than you are normally comfortable with.

Starting any business can be a lonely path and it helps to have someone by your side to keep you motivated so you never give up.

Make Decisions And Execute

In the beginning when you have no clue what you are doing, it’s easy to sit on the sidelines until you are sure which path to take. The problem however is that you’ll never know which path to take unless you pick something and go for it.

So whenever you feel indecisive, take action regardless of how you feel about your decision. By getting off your butt and jumping into the ring, you will obtain valuable data that you can learn from and make adjustments accordingly.

When I first wanted to teach an online course, I waited on the sidelines for over 6 months because I wasn’t sure where to begin. I just couldn’t get myself motivated.

But one day I decided that things had dragged on long enough so I launched my class with ZERO content. Basically, I presold the class to 35 students at $299 a pop with NOTHING.

With actual money on the line, I forced myself to pump out content on a weekly basis and today, this class has generated millions of dollars in revenue.

Remember, you’ll never get anywhere by staying on the sidelines. Go out there and gather some data points!

Build And Own As Much As You Can

Many people who start their own online business want to outsource as much as they can. As a result, many would be entrepreneurs take shortcuts and rely on third party services to run their websites for them.

While going this route may reduce your time to market, relying on a 3rd party will limit your flexibility and potentially put you at their mercy in the future.

For example, many entrepreneurs who used to rely on Ebay as their primary sales channel got shafted when Ebay drastically increased their prices.

Similarly, many Etsy users saw drastically reduced sales when they decided to change their product display and ranking algorithms.

Amazon continues to raise prices and change the rules on a quarterly basis. Not only that but the marketplace is extremely cutthroat and many sellers are using underhanded tactics to cheat and get ahead

Do you want to be at the mercy of someone else? That is why it’s important to own your own website.

Sure, it takes a little more work to understand how websites work. But it is valuable knowledge to have and will make you more self sufficient.

Understand The Underlying Principles Of What You Are Outsourcing

Sometimes it makes sense to outsource certain parts of your business if it will save you time. But make sure you understand the underlying principles of what you are outsourcing!

I’ve had friends who have hired website developers and wasted a ton of money because they had no clue what they were doing.

Every time they wanted to make a simple change, they would have to contact their developer and pay an additional fee to get things done.

The problem was that they had no clue how much time or effort was required for each task and as a result they were taken advantage of by their contractors.

Take some time and understand the underlying principles of what you are trying to outsource! And try to learn as much about the technology as possible so you understand the effort involved and what is actually feasible to implement.

Establish A Routine And Stick With It

The key to starting a successful business is to not burn yourself out by pulling a bunch of all nighters and trying to finish things all at once.

Instead, you should establish a set routine and plan on slowly making progress over time.

For my wife and I, we devoted Sunday mornings and various nights during the week towards working on the business. And our only objective was to accomplish one thing per day.

By creating a priority list and checking off our goals one at a time, we always made consistent progress and our shop was ready to launch before we knew it.

Treat Your Customers Like Royalty

To this day, I’m still shocked by how fast word of mouth travels. When you treat a customer with the utmost of respect, they will return the favor and tell all of their friends about your business.

On the flip side, if you treat a customer poorly, you will lose a lot more than just a single customer.

Here are some interesting statistics courtesy of the Research Institute of America for the White House Office of Consumer Affairs

The average business does not hear from 96% of unhappy clients.
Each and every dissatisfied customer will, on average, tell at least 9 other people.

Let’s put these statistics in perspective with a few numbers.

Every customer complaint that you receive means that you really have 24 other dissatisfied customers.

Those 24 customers will then go on to tell a combined 216+ people of their negative experience with your business.

Here are some other statistics that are really interesting. Of the customers who register a complaint…

Up to 70 percent will do business with the organization again if their complaint is resolved.
Up to 95 percent will do business if the problem is resolved quickly.

Moral of the story: Treat all of your customers like royalty and your business will be guaranteed to grow. Never underestimate word of mouth and social media.

Get Some Exercise

When my wife and I were working our butts off starting our first business, I stopped exercising and it took a tremendous toll on my psyche.

I’d feel listless from a lack of energy.
I’d lose focus easily.

But once I set aside some time to lift weights, run and play sports, I found that I was way more productive afterwards.

If you don’t treat your body right, your mind will gradually deteriorate. Don’t neglect your health!

Just Ship It

I remember wasting a ton of time tweaking the aesthetics of my website and having endless debates with my wife about the “right” way to do things.

There’s no way to find out how good your business is until you actually go live and get feedback from real customers.

If you find yourself making too many minor tweaks or second guessing yourself, then you are likely stalling your business on purpose because you are afraid.

Break things down into small obtainable goals and constantly work towards your launch!

Don’t Be Too Cheap

I’m probably one of the cheapest, most conservative entrepreneurs that you’ll ever meet. But over the years, I’ve started to factor in the costs of my time when it comes to making purchases that make things more efficient.

These days, if a piece of software or a tool will save me a decent chunk of time, I’ll usually pull the trigger..

Don’t neglect the costs of your own time and efforts!

Don’t Take Yourself Too Seriously

I’m not that intense of a person and I rarely take myself too seriously, but I know a lot of people who do.

Hell, I sell wedding linens. I can barely say that with a straight face! As you are running your business, take some time out and simply enjoy the process.

Chances are, you are learning way more than you ever have before so take a break every now and then and just take it all in.

You are doing something that 90% of other people never dream of doing! Enjoy it while it lasts!

Be Inspired

My final tip is to hang out with the right people and get inspired. If your current social group is bringing you down, find some other like minded entrepreneurs and start a support group.

After all, the best way to stay motivated is to be amongst those who inspire you to push yourself beyond your comfort zone!

Anyway, I hope that this post inspired you to take action today. As I mentioned earlier, if you are interested in learning how to start your own lifestyle business, then click here to take my FREE 6 day mini course on ecommerce.

Ready To Get Serious About Starting An Online Business?

If you are really considering starting your own online business, then you have to check out my free mini course on How To Create A Niche Online Store In 5 Easy Steps.

In this 6 day mini course, I reveal the steps that my wife and I took to earn 100 thousand dollars in the span of just a year. Best of all, it's free and you'll receive weekly ecommerce tips and strategies!