How To Build a Business That Works for Your Life

Have you ever known someone who seems to be highly successful in business, but the rest of their life seems to be in the toilet?

I had a meeting the other day with an entrepreneur who built and sold two highly successful companies; in fact, his last exit was for almost a billion dollars. Needless to say, he doesn’t necessarily have to work anymore. But the entire time we were talking, he sounded nervous about whether or not he was going to be able to build another successful company.

Our meeting was for an hour, and during that hour, he wanted to brainstorm different industries he could start a business in. About halfway through the meeting, I had to ask him why he was starting another company and what he was doing with the money he had from his first two companies.

Because there are really only two reasons, as far as I’m concerned, to start a company.

One reason might be to disrupt an industry, advance the world, and help people with what you bring to market.?

The other reason would be to create enough wealth to support the lifestyle you want, including the family life you want, the relationships you want, the health you want, the amount of travel you want to do, or anything else that makes you feel happy and fulfilled as a person.

Because business is just a tool to help us live the kind of life we want to live.

For me, that lifestyle includes helping the greatest number of people possible as my customers, prospects, or anybody else we reach with our message. But it’s also to create the wealth and success that helps me feel fulfilled, and to support a certain lifestyle for my family, my employees, and myself.

The guy I was speaking with already had way more than enough money to do whatever he wanted to do in life, so I assumed he was going to answer my question with a profound idea about how he was going to help the world, or at least help the customers and employees in his new company.

But all he wanted to do was make more money.

He had no goals in any other area of his life.

And he had no idea of what it means to feel fulfilled.

To give you a visual of the person I was speaking with, this is a man in his early 40s, about 25 pounds overweight, with a decent but strained relationship with his family, and he suffers from mild depression.

I’m not a doctor and not trying to diagnose anyone here, but after working with hundreds of entrepreneurs who work inside my companies, entrepreneurs in the companies I invest in, and entrepreneurs in our advisory program, I’ll tell you that all of those are signs of someone who isn’t living life.?

And I’m not trying to get all woo-woo in this episode, but the truth is the healthiest, most successful people I’ve ever met all value experiences more than anything else. They’re not just working to accumulate a mass of money; they’re working to accumulate experiences and memories, to grow something worthwhile in business, maybe to create a legacy, and to help others.?

All of those create this feeling of fulfillment for most people. They give you a reason to push through obstacles, even in hard times.?

My hope for you, no matter what stage of growth you’re at in your life or in your business, is that you take time to create a list of experiences you want in your life and design your business to help bring those experiences to you.

My first many years in business were mono-focused on grinding it out and never taking time off. So my first list included things like traveling around the world—which I did dozens of times—and during those trips, I met with amazing people, discussed business trends happening in different countries, experienced a lot of different cultures, and grew my business and profit. Growing became fun.

Also on my list was time with people I love, time to exercise regularly, and time to sit and think (which is rarely discussed on social media). It seems like everyone is going viral telling you to grind harder, take ice baths, and be stoic—all of which have their place—but time to think, read, and laugh is vital to being able to grind without burning out.

Burning out doesn’t just mean getting stressed and not sleeping. Most people don’t realize they’re burning out until it’s too late because they don’t realize that burnout first manifests as being less creative, having less patience with people, getting distracted, and chasing shiny objects because they want success to come faster. Those things are the first sign of burnout in business, and the result is that you get numb, and most of the time you’re not happy.

The guy I spoke with told me several times during our meeting—point blank—that he was not happy. He said he couldn’t wait until the day he could retire and put more time into his family.

But my guess is that one of three things will happen in his life if he doesn’t change his mindset a bit:

1. He won’t have a family to put time into when he finally retires because they’ll have left him. Nobody who’s loyal follows someone who’s always grinding at work.?

2. He’ll never retire because he thinks he needs to keep working to feel fulfilled. But no one ever feels fulfilled from just one area of their life.?

3. He’ll be too unhealthy to enjoy retirement when he finally agrees to slow down.?

Those are most likely his only three options.?

I’ve seen this in some of the executives who work in my companies, in the companies I invest in, and in myself during the first many years of being in business. Luckily, I met someone who convinced me to make a slight change that opened my eyes to what I was building—because what I was building was a job for myself, not a company that would give me the money and time I wanted.?

The takeaway message here is not that you should work less. It’s that you should focus more on building the life you want, so your business funds your life instead of sucking the life out of you.

I posted a video about a year ago with the experiences I was working towards, which are still focused on relationships in my life and traveling with my kids. But I also want to go toe-to-toe with a professional boxer (in a ring with a referee, not in a bar fight, so if you’re a professional boxer, it would not make my dream come true if you just walked up to me and hit me in the face). I also want to experience hosting a party with some of my favorite actors, actresses, and singers. I have a long list of experiences, and every year I enjoy a lot of the experiences on my list. I’m accumulating a long list of great memories that fuel my desire to keep growing, and the companies I build are designed to give me what I need to live this kind of life.?

They also allow me to accumulate money for future generations and donate to places I believe in.?

This month can be your biggest month in business if you start thinking outside the box, because business growth happens significantly faster when you persistently do the small things every day to scale. But to be persistent—especially when times get tough—you need to see that every time you succeed in business, every time you break through a new level of growth, your life gets better.?