As the warmer than normal Florida sun dropped below the horizon to the west, John had no indication that the day was coming to an end. Hard at work trimming palm trees and laying sod for his boss, the thought that this was a particularly harder day at work crossed his mind a few times. John didn't mind though. He loves working outside and he loves working with his hands.
As he wiped dirt off of his hands and pants as the days work eventually ended, John had what he believed to be a reasonable request for his boss. Would it be possible to get an extra twenty dollars for the extra effort and time that he put in?
Absolutely not, the boss responded quickly.
We all have that moment. I had mine when I was offered a three percent raise as a newspaper photographer after winning the international award for Sports Photographer of the Year. I knew at that moment that I needed to make an uncomfortable change.
John did as well on that sweltering evening. He left the job site, the money he earned inside of the pockets covered in dirt. And instead of ending the day in his normal routine, he headed to a home improvement store to buy a tree trimming device. The next day, he nervously began knocking on doors to see if anyone would need his services. Fortunately, a few said yes.
That's when he said no. No to a boss that didn't value his work. He said no by quitting his job. A new business was formed in the way that so many are. A combination of a passion, experience and defiance.
Now, to many, that new business might not sound like your ideal lifestyle business. And that's where we can get confused. A lifestyle business does not mean sitting by the pool, with a laptop, raking in easy money. Even though that's possible, it's usually a character created by someone looking to sell the desperate something quickly. Lifestyle businesses come in all shapes and sizes- and they key question is this.
What kind of lifestyle do you want?
Not getting that twenty dollar bill- and the action he took from it- has opened up a world of potential endless opportunities for him. After gaining clients and experience, it wasn't long before he needed help with the work. It was clear that it was growing to where he couldn't do all of the work himself. But finding workers that were physically capable, punctual and with a work ethic proved challenging.
Even with the setbacks and challenges, his path has went from working on someone else's schedule and being rejected for extra cash to creating an asset within his own business with a vision of building a team around him.
But it's greater than that. All of this experience is giving him connections and wisdom. With each job, with each client experience and even with each hiring snafu,John is building an array of knowledge and information that is transferrable as well as transformational.
John is young. He's still in his twenties. He enjoys the work he does. But by building a lifestyle business that suites his lifestyle, he is living the course that he can eventually teach others on. He can turn his physical income into informational income if he ever grows weary of the work he does now. Aside from the option of building a team to free up time and earn income through ownership, he can take that knowledge to create informational income.
Because he is niched- and location niched as well- (Florida weather is unique to this industry), John has the option to shift towards income streams that expand into different areas that create more front loaded income. Writing books, podcasts, courses, speaking- all of the things that could inspire and inform the next generation of people who will looking to become what he has become.
Not getting that twenty dollar bill, from that cheap boss on that muggy Florida night, opened up an entire new world of opportunities.
