Are You Creating a Lifestyle Business or A Burnout Hobby?

You know those late nights when you’re up working and wondering when the lifestyle business you thought you were creating would go from 100 hours to 20 hours of work per week?

How about those times when you can’t make it to your kid’s soccer game because you haven’t built in time in your schedule?

What about all those hours you’re spending on your business and still don’t have any or many clients to justify all the hard work you’re putting into your business.

Those times really suck don’t they?

What’s even worse is all the time you’re putting in and not seeing the financial return.

Sure, the beginning of building any business is going to take more hours and money than expected but there also comes a time when you have to look your business in the eye and exam if it’s a money pit, time sucking hobby or a viable extension of your dream. 

Here’s how to know if you have a hobby or lifestyle business in development:

Examine the Money In vs. Money Out:

Take one of my clients Jane (not her real name by the way ;). When Jane started working with me she had spent $25,000 on her website, coaching programs and online courses in the last year. In that time she’d had only one client and made $1000. But Jane justified it by saying it was all start up.

Here’s the thing with Jane. She spent one year not getting out and doing the right combination of things to generate clients. She was working tirelessly on blog posts, Facebook, Twitter and networking. None of it was generating clients.

By the time she came to me she was exhausted, burnt out and ready to get a job. What Jane had was not a lifestyle business but an expensive hobby.

The Fix:

When we began our work together I examined her getting clients strategy including all of her marketing and income generation as well.

Jane was blogging to an audience that didn’t exist. She wasn’t building her mailing list and she wasn’t speaking enough.

Within weeks of working together we created a signature talk all about the results that she offers clients and within the first two months she gave that talk once in live and once in a teleseminar and was able to get 3 new clients.

Slowly we shifted her from doing all the wrong marketing activities into all the right ones.

Let’s look at your business…

Are you building your mailing list with prospective clients? Are you spending more behind the scenes in your business vs. getting out and speaking about what it is you do? Are you working hours and hours per day and not seeing the clients come in?

Then it’s time to look at what’s not working and simplify your marketing strategy.

The best way to start is to create a kick-butt signature talk that sells. Simply begin by asking yourself what your prospective clients most need help solving. Once you know what that is then create a presentation about it.

I encourage you to look for speaking opportunities online through blog talk radio shows, interviews or even hosting your own teleseminar.

So if you’re feeling like you have an expensive hobby then you need to look at what you’re doing and focus on creating a new strategy. It’s just not worth your time or money to fail.

Questions or Comments? I’d love to them on in the comments below!

Oh…and if you’re sick of not making money in your business then let’s set up a time to talk so you can create the lifestyle business you want. Click here to set up a complimentary session here.