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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
‘Daniel Priestley is one of our most popular guests to talk about entrepreneurship on Diary of a CEO. He offers clear, practical guidance for adopting an entrepreneurial mindset and starting and growing business. In Lifestyle Business Playbook, he explains how to understand the big trends and then lays out bold, clear steps to building a business that serves your life, not the other way around. This isn’t theory - it’s a distillation of real entrepreneurial wins, losses, and wisdom. If you want a business that gives you freedom, purpose, and profit, this is the book you’ve been waiting for.’
Steven Bartlett, Entrepreneur, Investor & Host of The Diary of a CEO Podcast
Unlock the secrets to crafting a thriving business that enriches your life
In Lifestyle Business Playbook: How to Have Fun, Freedom and Fulfilment With Your Own Business, award-winning entrepreneur Daniel Priestley delivers a compelling guide that takes you on a journey to redefine success on your own terms.
This isn't just a book; it's your roadmap to creating a business structure that emphasizes fun, freedom, and flexibility. Daniel Priestley dives deep into the essentials: from assembling a dynamic team to choosing the right technology, from developing impactful products to identifying lucrative markets. This book is your compass through the crucial phases of business development, helping you set and achieve clear objectives to keep your venture aligned with your lifestyle aspirations.
You’ll learn how to:
- Recognize opportunities for lifestyle businesses, learning from real-world examples of successful lifestyle entrepreneurs
- Strategize effectively to achieve niche market domination by executing skilful marketing campaigns that resonate with your audiences
- Overcome the most common fears associated with taking unconventional career paths
Daniel Priestley doesn't just share strategies; he prepares you for a transformation. Lifestyle Business Playbook is a catalyst for change, inspiring you to build a booming business that not only meets financial goals but also supports a life filled with joy and purpose.
Make Lifestyle Business Playbook a cornerstone of your personal and professional development library. Start your journey toward a lifestyle business that brings you the ultimate blend of prosperity, passion, and peace and embark on your adventure to build a business that’s as fulfilling as it is profitable.
Whether you're an entrepreneur, marketer, team leader, or founder, this book is tailored for those who dare to dream of a work-life synergy. Business students and aspiring business owners will also find invaluable insights into turning visions into reality.
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Seitenzahl: 300
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025
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Table of Contents
COVER
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE
COPYRIGHT
DEDICATION
INTRODUCTION
SMALL TEAMS HAVE INFINITE LEVERAGE NOW
PART I: THE SHIFTS
CHAPTER 1: SHIFT 1: FROM INDUSTRIAL TO DIGITAL
CHAPTER 2: SHIFT 2: FROM MASS MARKET TO NICHES
CHAPTER 3: SHIFT 3: FROM TIME AND SKILLS TO CONTENT AND CODE
CHAPTER 4: SHIFT 4: FROM MANUFACTURING SUPPLY TO MANUFACTURING DEMAND
CHAPTER 5: SHIFT 5: FROM PHYSICAL ASSETS TO DIGITAL ECOSYSTEMS
CHAPTER 6: SHIFT 6: FROM BUSINESS BRANDS TO PERSONAL BRANDS
CHAPTER 7: SHIFT 7: FROM ENDLESS GROWTH TO HAVING ENOUGH
PART II: THE PLAYBOOKS
CHAPTER 8: THE ENTREPRENEURIAL APPRENTICESHIP
ENTREPRENEURIAL APPRENTICESHIP PLAYBOOK
COACHING, MENTORING AND ACCELERATORS
CHAPTER 9: THE SIDE HUSTLE
SIDE HUSTLE PLAYBOOK
CHAPTER 10: THE SCOUT TEAM
SCOUT TEAM PLAYBOOK
THE CAOS METHOD
CHAPTER 11: THE FIRESTARTERS
FIRESTARTER TEAM PLAYBOOK (LAUNCH SQUAD)
CHAPTER 12: THE CORE TEAM
CORE TEAM PLAYBOOK
DO NOT READ THE NEXT CHAPTER
CHAPTER 13: THE PERFORMANCE TEAM
PERFORMANCE TEAM PLAYBOOK (OPTIONAL)
ALIGNING YOUR TEAMS AND BUILDING CULTURE
DIVISIONAL TEAMS
THREE BUSINESS PLANS
CHAPTER 14: NOW IS THE MOMENT TO CREATE YOUR LIFESTYLE BUSINESS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
INDEX
END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT
Guide
Cover Page
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Introduction
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Index
End User License Agreement
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“Daniel Priestley is one of our most popular guests to talk about entrepreneurship on The Diary of a CEO. He offers clear, practical guidance for adopting an entrepreneurial mindset and starting and growing business. In Lifestyle Business Playbook, he explains how to understand the big trends and then lays out bold, clear steps to building a business that serves your life, not the other way around. This isn't theory - it's a distillation of real entrepreneurial wins, losses, and wisdom. If you want a business that gives you freedom, purpose, and profit, this is the book you've been waiting for.”
—Steven Bartlett, Entrepreneur, Investor & Host of The Diary of a CEO Podcast
‘If you want a business that gives you freedom, purpose, and profit, this is the book you’ve been waiting for.’
STEVEN BARTLETT, DIARY OF A CEO
LIFESTYLE BUSINESS PLAYBOOK
HOW TO HAVE FUN, FREEDOM AND FULFILMENT WITH YOUR OWN BUSINESS
DANIEL PRIESTLEY
This edition first published 2026
© 2026 Daniel Priestley
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by law. Advice on how to obtain permission to reuse material from this title is available at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
The right of Daniel Priestley to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with law.
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While the publisher and the authors have used their best efforts in preparing this work, including a review of the content of the work, neither the publisher nor the authors make any representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Certain AI systems have been used in the creation of this work. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives, written sales materials or promotional statements for this work. The fact that an organization, website, or product is referred to in this work as a citation and/or potential source of further information does not mean that the publisher and authors endorse the information or services the organization, website, or product may provide or recommendations it may make. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a specialist where appropriate. Further, readers should be aware that websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read. Neither the publisher nor authors shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Priestley, Daniel, author.
Title: Lifestyle business playbook / Daniel Priestley.
Description: Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, 2026. | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2025033017 (print) | LCCN 2025033018 (ebook) | ISBN 9780857089922 (paperback) | ISBN 9780857089946 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9780857089939 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: New business enterprises. | Entrepreneurship. | Work environment. | Industrial management.
Classification: LCC HD62.5 .P676 2026 (print) | LCC HD62.5 (ebook)
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2025033017
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2025033018
Cover Design: Wiley
Cover Image: © Nazia/stock.adobe.com
I dedicate this book to my dad who role-modeled to me a lifestyle and a way of doing business based on kindness, humility and service to others.
INTRODUCTION
SMALL TEAMS HAVE INFINITE LEVERAGE NOW
There are businesses that are built to deliver fun, freedom and fulfilment. The people who run these businesses get to live their lives in a way no human has ever lived before. They can live and work from anywhere – their wealth and income isn't linked to the time they spend in a given workplace; they don't need to own and maintain physical assets in any particular location. The assets they create are digital – they transcend geographical boundaries, are impervious to decay and deliver value at any scale. The more of these digital assets you create, the more you will have a business that sets you free.
These businesses are often called lifestyle businesses. They aren't like the businesses of the past that were built to deliver profit to offset the pain and drudgery that had to be endured. A lifestyle business is able to pump out profit and passion. It makes money and it's meaningful. It's valuable and it fuels your vitality.
I have a lifestyle business. In any given month I might find myself getting paid to attend a rooftop pool party in Dubai, doing a podcast in LA with someone I massively admire, hosting a team retreat in Portugal, taking a big group of clients skiing in the Italian Alps or flying to Bucharest with my co-founder to talk to a group of thousands of cool creative types. All of these things happen so regularly that I often have to turn down amazing experiences because I'm already booked to do something else that's mind blowing.
At the same time, I get to work from my home office, I drop my kids to school most mornings, have regular date-nights with my wife, get several fitness training sessions in a week, go on long walks in nature and enjoy fantastic lunches with my mentors. How is it possible that this is my life? At what other time in history would it be possible to live this way? I'm not special. I have no qualifications. I don't have rich parents. I do not possess genius-level intelligence or mesmerizing good looks.
The only thing I have leveraged is an awareness that we are living through a special time in history.
Mind you, I didn't arrive here on a smooth path. I boomed and busted three times before I was 35. Each time was a gut-wrenching roller-coaster ride. Each time I started with nothing, quickly built, discovered a fatal error and fell flat on my face.
At 21, I quit my job working for my mentor. I had no money but I'd learned a lot about marketing and sales campaigns so I put all of the startup costs on my credit cards. The business got off to a strong start and did over a million in its first year running campaigns in the financial services industry. No sooner had we taken off, a change in regulations forced our clients to change the way they could advertise and everything got put on pause. I pivoted the business to marketing franchises and created a partnership with a franchisor expanding nationally.
At 24, they offered me $14 million for the business I'd started just three years earlier. The negotiations revealed our values were not aligned; we ended up having a massive fight in their boardroom and the deal was off and with it was my biggest-paying client. I found myself the day before Christmas drinking heavily in the realization that I was back to square one with no plan and serious financial pressures. I had put everything I had into the growth of someone else's brand and now had nothing to show for it.
The following year I rebuilt from scratch. I moved to London and began promoting two international speakers and best-selling authors as their agent in the UK. Things were flying, only to get wiped out by the global financial crisis. One minute I was running campaigns that made $500,000 in a week and living in a luxury penthouse, then the following year I was living in my sister’s spare room and maxing out my credit cards just to live. My business was totally reliant on other people’s personal brands and ideas. My company was great at marketing and sales but we didn't have assets of our own and when those partnerships stopped, the whole business crashed.
The third wipe-out was particularly painful. I rebuilt after the 2009 financial crisis and once again got off to a fast start. I opened offices in London, Singapore, Melbourne and Tampa. Everywhere we went, our launch campaigns created explosive sales and I thought the rocket ship was finally heading to the stars. I flew back into London and found that my financial director was waiting for me in the office telling me that our UK business was borderline solvent and he was going to quit. Then my UK team of 10 people took me to breakfast, threatening to all quit that day as well.
While I'd been away, the business had run into the ground under the watch of the people I'd put in charge. I was forced to choose to take on a massive loan or to let the whole business topple again. We were showing such promise so I decided to take on the loan. With a newborn baby at home I signed up to take on 60 months of payments neither the business or I could afford. It would take every ounce of me to stay sane during the next five years as all the spare money I had went straight out the door. I barely paid myself anything, I took on consulting work at night and agreed to write books I didn't have time to write. I would travel for hours to do a quick speaking gig if it would lead to even a marginal amount of cash in the bank that month.
By the time I finished paying the loan off, I had three kids under five and I was objectively a wreck. I was a workaholic, I'd neglected my health and put on 10 kg. I was consumed with anger and resentment every month when the loan payment went out. I wasn't being a great husband or father but I was blessed with a wife who stuck it through with me and never wavered. I paid a high price but I'd rescued the business, we'd built solid foundations for future success and was on the other side of this five-year financial marathon – finally it was time to channel those monthly payments into the growth of the business and then start paying myself properly.
The final payment for the loan was in early March 2020. The relief in paying that last payment actually made me tear up. It took five years of payments but now I was free. Or so I thought for a few weeks; there would be another challenge to face. Three weeks after making the final payment, the UK went into lockdown. My entire business revolved around live events and workshops and now everyone had to stay at home. I had hundreds of clients due to start with us in April and no way to deliver what they'd paid for.
The team who had ridden with me through the ups and downs looked into my eyes bewildered as I told them all that every employee except one would be put on the furlough scheme – basically their employment would be put on pause and it would be against the rules for them to help me. We had faced so much together and now I was telling them they weren't allowed to do anything; they had to log out of their e-mail accounts and sit at home. I stared at their faces on Zoom and I did my best to put on a confident, matter-of-fact face; internally I felt like I had betrayed their loyalty. I had no idea how this was going to work out.
A few of us spent the next six months rebuilding the business to run digitally. I was already a workaholic, I already suffered chronic stress and I had dealt with hemorrhaging cash flow for years. This felt familiar territory but it also felt like I was getting very close to destroying myself. My business career was not exactly a lifestyle up until this point.
This last push was the one that changed everything. Through each of my booms and subsequent busts I had learned valuable lessons. I discovered the power of building my own personal brand instead of being reliant on others. I learned the power of owning my own ideas and turning them into assets. I'd discovered how to make marketing and sales perform urgently and under pressure. I'd learned how to make a business churn out consistent cash. I had learned how to build and leverage digital assets. Then the Covid-19 lockdowns became the impetuous for me to bring it all together and build businesses in a different way – robust, profitable and flexible.
I discovered all of the pain, stress and volatility had prepared me pretty well for the trends that converged in that moment. The lessons and strategies I learned in that journey and share in this book are perfect for the times we are in. If you're prepared to shift your thinking and act strategically, you don't have to ride the ups and downs – you can skip straight to the part where business is fun and fulfilling.
You are living through a unique time.
At rare moments in history the entire system changes. The last time this happened was when the Agricultural Age gave way to the Industrial Age. Most humans went from working on the land, producing food and serving the landed gentry, to working in factories or offices, producing goods and services and serving large corporations and the national tax office. This was made possible because of steam power, breakthroughs in steel and iron, electricity and combustion engines and nation-states that could more easily trade than fight.
The businesses that emerged during the Industrial Age revolved around standardized components. Factories developed standardized processes using standardized machinery and parts to produce standardized products and services. These businesses needed humans to be components in the machine and we developed standardized labour for standardized pay. The way the economy was set up reflected the dominant technology that it ran on.
Today's technology dictates a different type of economy in formation. The Industrial Age technology took us beyond the limits of our biological muscles and brute strength – cars replaced horses and tractors replaced farmhands. Digital technology takes us beyond out natural limits of communication and intelligence. Digital technology isn't confined to any place – it's decentralized. It doesn't break down with use – it self-replicates flawlessly, infinitely. It doesn't require costly maintenance – once created, it costs almost nothing to store, move or use. The economy is reorganizing around the new attributes of this dominant technology.
Old businesses are centralized – they decay and require endless maintenance that must be paid for with endless growth. New businesses are able to operate anywhere, anytime, forever, at low cost.
The old type of businesses are going to be replaced by this new type of businesses. You are at the forefront of this trend and you have the ability to live a life that would seem beyond magical to any of your ancestors.
The traditional businesses of the last 200 years weren't fuelled by human spirit. Genuine human spirit had to be parked outside so that jobs could be done. Sitting in a cubicle wasn't an entirely weird way to spend your days. Fighting off the will to sleep, scream or walk away was just a normal part of going to work. The new businesses run on vitality – the irreplaceable life force we all possess. Anything that isn't based on pure human energy will soon be done by computers or robots. The more your life is repetitive drudgery, the less you will earn because technology can do it better, faster, cheaper and safer than you. The more you do things that are playful, silly, fun, wild, adventurous, creative and messy, the more you will be able to earn – if you know how to structure it into a lifestyle business.
These changes were all happening slowly and then two things happened in the early 2020s. The Covid-19 lock-downs showed the world that most jobs could be done from anywhere. Then ChatGPT showed the world that most jobs could be done with AI.
In the 2010s, faster and faster internet, cloud computing and social media began to open up a world of new opportunities. The smartphone democratized the ability to create media and have super computers everywhere, banks went online and cryptocurrencies emerged as a low-friction way to transfer value across borders. The disruptive technology was in place but the way we worked hadn't changed much – most people still felt they had to go to a fixed place of work in order to get anything done.
Then came Covid-19. Governments all over the world shut down their economies, locked people in their homes and pumped trillions of dollars into the system with almost no rules or conditions attached. In one fell swoop they normalized working remotely, buying online, getting things delivered virtually or by post. All at once we didn't have a choice to do things the conventional way, we all had to figure out how our lives would work doing almost everything online. We didn't just buy our groceries online and consume more podcasts, we started hosting cocktail parties online, getting live guitar lessons from someone on the other side of the world, conferencing with industry leaders by talking on our phones. We discovered all sorts of products and services could function even with everyone being stuck at home.
The stage was suddenly set. The economy was ready and willing to do things differently. There was more money flowing around than ever before, more technology in people hands, a willingness to connect with people remotely and huge problems that needed solving.
Then in late 2022, along came the launch of ChatGPT and for the first time millions of people woke up to the power of large language models (LLMs). We added a new layer of computing power that could augment human creativity, innovation and reach. Everyone suddenly had access to a basic lawyer, life-coach, management consultant, marketing assistant, health advisor, software developer, solutions architect and graphic designer. Our jaws collectively hit the floor every time the AI models got an upgrade and we could witness it doing more and more advanced tasks in a heartbeat for free. Some of the most highly paid traditional jobs were suddenly put on notice – this thing will soon do 90% of your job for free!
Suddenly the world lurched violently towards a new way of doing things, and one of the byproducts was the birth of the lifestyle business.
A lifestyle business has three elements that make it unique.
Creative freedom
– the ability to work on projects you are passionate about and say no to work that is not right for you. The ability to do something a little strange, for a niche community on a timescale that suits you. This is made possible because over 70% of the world's population has access to fast internet and has organized themselves into niche online communities and common interest groups. The ability to tap into these groups allows you to make money from things that were previously considered too weird, nuanced or esoteric to be commercially viable.
Location freedom
– the ability to live and work from anywhere and to move when you chose. The ability to serve your customers no matter where they are in the world. This is made possible thanks to cloud computing, software as a service and ubiquitous fast internet. It's also acceptable thanks to Covid-19, which rapidly normalized remote working and online shopping.
Time freedom
– the ability to structure your day (or night) the way you choose without the pressure of having a direct relationship between your time working and the money you earn. This is made possible by the countless ways you can create a product or service that is available online.
A lifestyle business isn't only possible right now, it's probably a safer and more sustainable option than a career working for large corporations. Millions of people are already exploring their options to have more fun, freedom and fulfilment.
Large corporations are losing their power. It used to be the case that smart, talented people went to work in big organizations because that's where they could earn the most money, get job security and learn new skills fastest.
Today it's the opposite of what people experience. Large corporations pay people a basic average of what they are worth based on a market rate. Highly skilled and talented people get overlooked or excluded because they don't fit with an arbitrary human resources (HR) policy. Big companies have become hostile environments for anyone who likes to get things done fast without the office politics. Big companies often hire large numbers of workers to fulfil jobs they later perceive they don't need. Then when they realize their folly they often fire large swathes of workers to get their profit margins back in line with expectations. It's not a fun environment for those that get sent packing or those who get to stay.
Large organizations regularly deploy workers into projects that make no sense to anyone on the ground while ignoring the sensible recommendations of people who are actually working closely with paying customers. Asking for time off can be like negotiating a divorce; working remotely comes with spyware that tracks how many mouse-clicks you do each hour; and if you work in the office you pay inflated rent and endure a dehumanizing daily commute. No one in their right mind wants to work this way once they know how good the alternatives are.
So what's the alternative? Imagine earning more money than you could work in corporate, while living or travelling wherever you like and only working on projects that excite and delight you and others.
All of this is conditional on being set up to do business in a way that leverages the new technological and societal landscape. You can't play by the old rules of business and expect to win. It's vital that you adopt new playbooks that are designed to deliver more freedom, more fun and more flexibility. This book will give you the playbooks.
When the world changes, it produces winners and losers. This book is about giving you the new playbooks ahead of time so you can win.
What do you think of when you hear the word entrepreneur? Most people think of someone who raises money from a venture capitalist to create a groundbreaking new technology or disruptive business model. Elon Musk comes to mind first for many people globally – a man who in one month in 2024 launched a 23-storey rocket into space then had it fall back to earth and reverse parallel park into a giant pair of chopsticks; then he launched a humanoid robot prototype – a way of syncing your brain with a computer – and a campaign for free speech, a new fleet of vehicles and a new government department. By that standard, most people wouldn't dare to even aspire to be an entrepreneur.
What if the definition of an entrepreneur was a lot more gentle. What if being an entrepreneur simply meant that you are taking a personal risk, to build something commercially successful using resources that are currently outside of your control. This doesn't have to be a wildly disruptive new approach that turns an industry on its head; this could be a health or fitness clinic, a consulting firm, an IT service provider, a wedding planning service or a business that helps people with their pets.
The scale of your business might be relatively small. Someone like Elon Musk might not even recognize it as a proper business, but that doesn't matter. His businesses bring him endless stress at an unimaginable scale; your business might bring you new levels of enjoyment – who's the real genius? Your business might support wider goals like time with family, maintaining your health, travelling the world or volunteering for a charity. There's no rule that says a business has to raise money or create a new technology that disrupts anything at all. A business can be set up to deliver a wonderful lifestyle to the people who own and run it.
It is commonplace for entrepreneurs to get absolutely screwed over by venture capitalists. There are entrepreneurs who have built businesses worth over $500 million who did not earn anything significant from their venture because of the way the finance was structured with their venture backers. Many founders you have read about in the news whose companies achieved dizzying valuations and even big exits earned less than $5 million from the deal; they might have been better off buying a small agency, growing it and selling it. These people took on massive amounts of stress and focused their entire life on one thing for 5–10 years only to miss their targets and get cut out of the deal.
Famously, Hollywood star Jessica Alba was instrumental in the creation of the eco-friendly household goods business The Honest Company. When the business floated on the Nasdaq it was valued at a fantastic $1.7 billion and on paper Alba's stake was worth over $100 million. Unfortunately, her shares were locked up by her investors until even loftier targets had been achieved. Alba was able to take $3.5 million off the table but the rest of her shares are still in a contractual vault and she has stepped down from her role in the company. For a woman who can earn over $2 million per film she stars in, she might have been better off doing a deal with Netflix and saving herself the hassle.
Contrast this story with my own. I am an entrepreneur who owns a small group of businesses that I run with a group of close friends. At the time of writing, my businesses collectively have 8-figure revenues and employ about 100 people full-time. My businesses are profitable, I do not have investors who can control my decisions and I can live and work the way I want to. I have successfully sold businesses too, and when that has happened the money goes to my friends and me straightaway – there is no one standing in line before us stopping the flow of money until they get a 500% return first (as is possible with venture capital or private equity-backed companies).
I've worked hard to get into this position and it's taken me over 20 years to figure things out. I've endured chronic stress and lost relationships over poor business decisions. I spent over five years creating a business that was flawed by design. I've had the opposite of a lifestyle business – a business that was fuelled by enormous sacrifice and gave little back. I've ruined a lifestyle that was wildly fun and profitable by growing it bigger and making it too complex. This book is designed to share with you painful lessons I fought hard to learn so you don't have to make the same mistakes.
I now have multiple businesses including software, agencies and training. To be fair, my group of businesses are overkill when it comes to being a lifestyle entrepreneur. I could live very comfortably with any one of the businesses I own. Your life could be amazing with one business and a small team of 4–12 people. Knowing what I now know, I would recommend most people focus on achieving this goal to avoid overcomplicating things.
Based on my experience of building multiple businesses and working with over 5,000 entrepreneurs to create successful ventures of their own, I have constructed this book in two parts:
Part I
: The seven mindset shifts that unlock your ability to create a lifestyle business.
Having a lifestyle business starts with a new way of seeing the world. The first half of this book covers the old way the world worked and contrasts it with the shifts that have created the new way. If it wasn't for these shifts, your lifestyle business wouldn't exist, so you need to be aware of them and how to approach the new world we are in.
Part II
: The six business playbooks to move you from having an entrepreneurial idea to a fully developed lifestyle business.
These playbooks assume you are starting out from scratch in a new world of work and life. You'll start with an apprenticeship, then you'll conduct some experiments to build your confidence and, if you're ready, you'll build a small dynamic team to collaborate with.
When you read this book, you'll see a specific set of rules and steps to take. It might seem like it's rigid and narrow. You might think of plenty of examples that break the rules or deviate from the steps prescribed. This book is designed to outline a path that I know has a high chance of success for the times we are in. Are there other types of businesses that work? Of course. Can you be a ‘solopreneur’ with a great life – sure, there are people who have that figured out. Can you build an amazing business in a local geography? I'm sure plenty of people are doing that. Do some lifestyle businesses thrive without building the personal brand of the founder? Of course you can find them if you look.
This book steers you towards ideas that work best most of the time. In the same way, you can find people who survive a car crash without wearing a seatbelt, you can find successful pop-songs that go for over seven minutes, you can find some players in the NBA who are under 6 ft and there are examples of people who lose weight while eating donuts every day. Even though you can find examples of people who break the rules it doesn't mean rules aren't incredibly useful to follow. If you do find yourself breaking the rules, at least you know you're doing it deliberately. The rules aren't there to limit you, they are there to assist you and steer you towards choices that make your success easier more often than not.
In reading this book, I hope your mindset starts to shift so you can recognize amazing opportunities surrounding you right now. I hope you gain deeper clarity about the business success available to you and how to get it. I want you to avoid mistakes I have made, learn from my lessons without having to endure the years of frustration and have a step-by-step guide for going after a business that will make your life magnificent.
Something to be clear about
You have come to this book for a reason. Most people reading this will want specific steps to follow and you will get them in these pages. It won’t be enough though. Every entrepreneur needs to bring something to the table that is truly unique to them.
Your job is to discover your magic and then combine it with the steps you find in books. Without this magic, the steps won’t work. Entrepreneurs can’t be told everything – being an entrepreneur is about unleashing something that is personal to you into the world.
Enjoy reading the playbooks but stay tuned into your own vision, mission and values. To get the most out of this book, you will have to put these things in.
