The Lifestyle Business League

The Lifestyle Business League

A support network for lifestyle business owners like you.

Online / Virtual

It’s always blown our minds that according to the SBA, 99.9% of all businesses in the US are small businesses.

If that’s true, then what even is a small business, really?

Well the SBA says it’s any company with fewer than 500 employees — whether they’re making $600 a year or tens of millions a year.

But according to us…that doesn’t mean a whole lot.

As people who run small businesses, it can be challenging to know how to describe ourselves. Are we founders? Entrepreneurs? CEOs? Owners? Operators? Solopreneurs?

After much confusion and reflection, we’ve decided the term that resonates most with us is lifestyle business owner.

But again…what is that?

If you’ve been around the startup space, you may have heard the term used as a borderline slur — like they’re-not-good-enough-to-be-venture-backed-so-it’s-a-”lifestyle business.” In their eyes, running a lifestyle business means that you’ve failed. But who wants to be a “success” in their eyes, anyway?

To us, running a lifestyle business is the ultimate success. So we're reclaiming the term lifestyle business, and launching the Lifestyle Business League.

We’ve identified five elements of a lifestyle business. Here they are:

  1. Profitability; You run a business, not a hobby. That means it actually makes money. Maybe not enough to fully support you yet, but you’re on your way there.

  2. Values-aligned autonomy: You (+ your team) determine your values and guiding principles. You make decisions based on those — not on what investors want.

  3. Growing Intentionally: You’re thoughtful about the way and the pace you grow. You have a clear vision for what you want, and you’re figuring out how you’ll get there.

  4. Doing business differently: You’re critical about the tools, systems, & approach your business implements for growth. You acknowledge we live in a screwed-up system, but you’re using your business to change it for the better.

  5. Legacy: You think about the impact your work will have in the short and long-term. Legacy is about how your leadership impacts your business, your communities & our planet.

If this sounds like you and your business, we’d LOVE to see you in the League.

Jorge Del Pinal