Recently, I sent a rather self-congratulatory email about how my preference is to build lifestyle businesses.
You know… businesses that kick off large amounts of profit, and don’t require you to work all that much…
So you can enjoy life in the here and now.
Online education businesses are uniquely suited to this kind of low-grind, high-profit setup, because we trade in intellectual property (not services or physical goods), don’t need large teams, and have an unfair marketing advantage by just being ourselves.
But what does this all mean in concrete business terms?
Well…
I thought I’d tell you a few personal beliefs that I live by, in no particular order…
Freedom is a constraint, not a reward.
I design the business assuming I must protect time, location, and mental freedom now, not “once I’ve hit a number.” Knowing your red lines forces you to think harder.
(It’s the ‘Profit First’ spirit applied to business design.)
Revenue is a side-effect of alignment, not the primary goal.
If the model, audience, and offers are right, money follows. If they’re wrong, no revenue target can save it.
(This isn’t woo-woo. It’s a consequence of educators working in their zone of genius and creating maximum resonance as a result.)
The right business should get easier as it grows.
If scale makes my life heavier, more chaotic, or less creative, that’s a design flaw, not an unavoidable phase.
Time off is a tactic, not a reward.
Rest and spaciousness are where I see patterns, make better decisions, and avoid building the wrong thing faster.
“Enough” is a strategic decision, not a cop-out.
I’m willing to cap revenue, headcount, or growth if crossing that line would start to degrade my life.
Personal brand is leverage, but also a liability.
I will use my name and story for trust, but I refuse to build a business that only works if I’m “on” all the time.
(It’s your signature mechanism that does the heavy lifting here. e.g. the StoryLearning method)
I will not build a Golden Cage.
I’m not impressed by “big” businesses that imprison their founders. (This is usually just a consequence of emotional immaturity or a woefully unchecked ego.)
Growth that destroys my life is failure, not success.
Operations exist to protect creativity, not the other way around.
Systems, hires, and processes are there to guard my thinking time and creative work, not to turn me into a manager.
(I mean… what made you think you’d be a great manager anyway?)
I don’t owe the market my whole life.
Students and clients get my best thinking and support, but not at the cost of my health, family, or long-term sanity.
(Inside Elevate, for example, I personally run Office Hours twice a week. But if I’m travelling, I simply cancel it.)
High prices are an integrity move.
Charging premium rates for high-leverage outcomes allows me/us to serve fewer people better.
For example, DuoLingo is free. But this is what you get for your money…
Most “hustle” is a cover for lack of clarity.
If you know the right few levers to pull, you don’t need to work like a maniac. If you’re working like a maniac, something upstream is unclear.
I would rather subtract than optimise.
Killing offers, channels, or projects that don’t serve the core vision or my energetic reality is often more powerful than “fixing” them.
Complexity is a hidden tax on freedom.
Every new product, funnel, or system must justify the complexity it introduces in terms of freedom and profit.
A smaller, higher-quality customer base beats endless audience growth.
I’d rather have fewer, better-fit customers who value depth and pay higher prices than chase mass-market volume. (Regardless of revenue, it simply makes business more fun.)
The business should amplify my life, not replace it.
Travel, family, health, and creative projects are not “what’s left over”; they’re design inputs for how the business is built.
Teaching and thinking are the highest-value activities.
I’ll structure the business so that I spend the majority of my time on insight, articulation, and relationship – not on admin, operations, or content hamster-wheeling.
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Namaste,
Olly
