In today’s post I’m going to quickly touch on the technology side of building a lifestyle business, but not from the perspective of which tools you should be looking into using that’ll make your life easier, rather I’m going to touch on how it can be too easy to let yourself get distracted or disheartened by all the options and jargon that’ll you’ll come across each and every day.
My hope is that rather than be intimidated by technology or worried that without being a techie guru you won’t able to create a successful lifestyle business, you’ll realise that your business is not just about having the latest or greatest technology at your disposal and even if it is an integral part of the puzzle you don’t have to be the expert in all things technical.
Why am I talking about technology?
Whether we like it or not the world keeps moving forward, new technology and tools are created each and every year that have the potential to change people’s lives for good or bad (depending on your perspective). And the reality is that the reason why so many people are successfully creating new lifestyle businesses is that technology is enabling them to reach more and more people far more easily than it would have been in the past.
In addition it is new technology that is allowing people to compete in markets and industries that would otherwise not have been possible in the past and in fact many of the largest and most successful companies currently in operation are built off the back of new technology and new ways of doing things that are changing and shaping people’s lives (Google, Facebook, Snapchat, Uber… the list goes on).
What does this mean for you?
Well, for many people it can mean fear, confusion and worry… usually about needing to become an expert in all of the various tools or technical aspects of building a lifestyle business. After all, we’re sold on the idea that we, as one man/woman bands, can create a business from the comfort of our own home which will give us the lifestyle we desire, but doesn’t that then mean that it’s down to us to make use of all of the tools available to us if we truly want to be successful?
Let me just list a few of the tools or services that you may have heard about or seen talked about when it comes to building a business:
- WordPress
- Aweber
- Facebook (Pages, Groups, Ads)
- Google advertising
- Bing
- Leadpages
- OptimizePress
- Tracking pixels
- YouTube
- Camtasia
- Web hosting
- CPanel
- Domain names
- DNS settings
- Mailchimp
- GoToWebinar
- GetReponse
- And the list goes on…
Granted you’re probably not going to have to use every single one of these if you’re looking to build a lifestyle business, but I can tell you that if you’re reading this post I’ve had to deal with at least 7 or so of these just to get this content in front of you today!
But it’s not bad news…
I imagine reading through that list may have had some of you breaking out into a bit of a sweat just thinking about having to get to grips with many of those things, all while trying to generate an income from your lifestyle business. For some of you it might not have been that bad, you may come from a technical background (I certainly do) and don’t mind getting your hands dirty, but even for those of you it’s important that you understand one thing…
You don’t have to do it all yourselves!
For every item on that list I can guarantee you there are thousands of people out there who are experts in that subject and not only that, these same people are willing to help people like you and me to apply those skills in our businesses. This could range from offering training materials (ebooks, videos etc) for a small investment, through to one-to-one coaching for a larger investment, right through to simply taking care of every single element on a project by project basis.
The absolute key thing to remember is that the technology required to build and run your lifestyle business should never, ever be a reason for you to doubt your ability to get yourself up and running. Technology is an enabler, but in many cases it is not the business itself… you might need to use YouTube videos to reach your audience and sell your product, service or information, but it’s your product, service or information your customers are buying, not the videos your producing!
Even a company like Facebook, which spends millions of dollars on technology each and every year, is not trying to sell you their technology, they’re talking to you about keeping in touch with your friends and family, helping businesses reach new customers, offering communities a place to grow and share their ideas.
Quite frankly even when they do shout about some new technology they are developing it’s usually only as a way of touting how it’s going to make all of those other things better. And if you take a step back for a second and think about it, this is actually fantastic for you, even if you’re the most non-technological person in the world… because you get to take advantage of what all of those techies have spent months and years of their lives making (and at a fraction of the cost it took to develop)!
In conclusion
I know it can be daunting when you are looking at lifestyle business opportunities and you come across things that seem complicated and you’re assaulted with a list like the one above and you wonder how it all comes together to help you build the business you want. But the truth is, the technology behind it all is not a reason for you to fail or worst of all not even try.
There are many successful business people out there that rely on technology to build and run their businesses who have no idea how it all really works, but they haven’t let that stop them from getting started. Yes, it can pay to have a basic understanding of many of these tools and platforms (and rest assured I am going to provide you with access to some great training on many of them), but if don’t know how to create a Facebook, Google or Bing marketing campaign to drive traffic to your WordPress site hosted with a personalised domain name there are plenty of people out there who do.
So concentrate on the core of your lifestyle business, providing value to your customers, understanding what it is that you can offer and let the technology enable you to reach more people in simpler, faster and better ways. In future posts I will share with you a number of places where you can find great people to deal with all of this for you, as well as cover off the basics of many of the common tools that power many a lifestyle business, so check back for those.
In the meantime, let me know in the comments below if there are any technology hurdles you are facing or specific topics that you’d like me to cover and I’ll be sure to put together some helpful content for you in the future. And please share this post with your friends if you’ve found it useful, I’m keen to help as many people as possible with overcoming their fears when it comes to building a lifestyle business and the more people who see this content the better.
Until next time…
