There are an infinite amount of different types of business in the world and every day new ideas turn into businesses.  Everyone has their passions and interests and should have an idea of the kind of business they’re building, much like a painter or sculptor knows what the end product will be.  Every day they work toward their idea.

I’d like to outline the criteria I believe make the best businesses for my desired lifestyle.  Your desired lifestyle will likely be different, so your criteria is different.  The process, however, is the same.

What do you want?

The first step when creating a business is deciding what you want out of it.  Do you want to try to build a large company, with employees, offices and a 401(k) or a small, lifestyle business can be operated from home.  Deciding what you want out of it will largely determine what kind of business to start and what resources you need. Starting a nuclear power plant will require different resources than selling something on eBay.

For me, I like a business that allows the most freedom, which I can operate from anywhere in the world, from my computer, or if possible, cell phone. That pretty much points directly to the Internet.  Furthermore, I like an online business that is streamlined, therefore, I don’t want a lot of employees to manage, an office to take care of or products to ship and inventory to store.  All that means lots of overhead, management, shipping costs and time, storage and rental costs, etc.  You can build a great business like that and I don’t discourage anyone from doing it, but it’s not for me for me.

Therefore, my criteria is as follows:

1. Online business
2. No physical products to ship
3. No or few employees
4. Worldwide market potential
5. Can be operated from anywhere
6. Not dependent on a small number of clients
7. Not a lot of customer service required (I don’t like talking to people)
8. Can easily work with contractors and VAs to scale

This list may be different for everyone. It works for me because every time I have to manage someone (office drama!) or take time away from my desk to go to a meeting with “the team”, that takes time away from my work and doesn’t pay me anything.  An attorney once told me that every time he steps away from his desk, he’s losing money because he charges in 6 minute increments and can’t charge for his time while he’s in a useless meeting.

When you work for yourself, efficiency matters. A mentor of mine told me once that the great thing about being an entrepreneur is the freedom: you can work any 12 hours of the day you want (zing!). The truth is, that unlike an attorney, you aren’t paid by the hour. You’re paid by how efficient you are.  If you can get things done in 1 hour, rather than 8 and still get paid the same for that day, your hourly rate is much more.

Challenge:

Think about what kind of business lifestyle you want and what you want out of the business. Define that before you get too far down the road because that decision will determine where you take the company and will be a guidepost for many decisions you’ll make.

What is your criteria for your ideal business and what are you doing today to build it?

Related

The lonely freedom of working from home