Want To Live Longer and Prosper? Build a Lifestyle Business With A Purpose.

If you have a purpose in life — lofty or not — you’ll live longer, a recent study shows. – Health.com

And it may even stave off alzheimer’s.

Now I’m not actually sure if I’ve yet told you why I started this blog in the first place. I’ve told you the what and who, but maybe I haven’t emphasized the why factor enough. Let’s correct that.

Everybody seem to be talking about passion driven business nowadays. “Do what you love” – they say. Whether we call it a passion- or a lifestyle business, the main idea is the same: Building a business around a subject that gets you excited every day, that you know something about and basically – a work that does not feel like a work at all. That’s passion business alright?

But in the long run, is that enough? What if the passion fades? Knowledge is relatively easy to update, but what feeds passion? How can you kick start that? Passion is great ingredient, but it has a sidekick that is even more important.

Purpose.

Passion goes a long way, but if you don’t feel like you’re doing what you do for a (good) purpose.. chances are, it won’t take too long and you quit. Do you value your work? Do others appreciate the things you can help them out with? Do you get feedback from your clients that the work you did for them really helped them out and made their life easier?

Passion+knowledge+purpose = Lifestyle business that won’t fade.

There were basically three reasons why I started Nomad Couch:

#1 I was (and still am) very excited about the ideology of building & running a location independent business. – That’s where I’ve found my passion.

#2 I had learned a good deal of knowledge through other blogs, online courses and through my career history and wanted to help others learn about this lifestyle too. – Knowledge.

#3 I wanted to start building good karma by helping others turn their location independent dreams into reality. – The Purpose.

Location independence, 4-hour workweeks, passive income. The holy trinity?

A lot of people might think that starting a location independent business is about “escaping”. Some might even go as far as saying that if you’re building a business that implements the 4-hour workweek ideology – you’re a slacker. “What are you, a bum? You don’t like work?”

Quitting the rat-race and escaping the cubicle.. sure – that’s the first reason why most of us go after this lifestyle in the first place. But that’s not the point. The real reason why we go after the lifestyle is this:  We want to build businesses like these, because they bring purpose and meaning to our lives.

And not just our lives, but to other people’s lives as well. Many location independent people that I know, are the most warm hearted persons on this planet. They’ve built their businesses in a way that brings purpose and value to everyone who interacts with them. Just look at people like Cody McKibben, Corbett Barr, Lea Woodward, Chris Guillebeau or Brooke Ferguson. They run their businesses because they sincerely want to help. That’s the best purpose in the world right there.

And oh, did I mention.. we definitely don’t work 4-hours a week. Slacking? Not in our dictionary! We work our asses off and we love every second of it. That’s how we roll.

So The Whole 4 Hour Workweek Ideology is.. Wrong?

Well.. yes and no. 4-Hour workweek = having enough money coming through passive income streams that you basically don’t have to work anymore. Ok. How about if you’d win the lottery and get straight to that goal. A few million dollars straight to your bank account. Then what?

Would you quit your work? Would you stop running your business? Traveling the world, sailing ships, long siestas and margaritas on the beach for the rest of your life? At first – definitely. You’d do all of those, but for the rest of your life? I don’t think so. Why not?

We need something in our lives that give us a purpose to exist. I don’t know about you, but for me – sipping margaritas on the beach just won’t cut it. I want to do things that make a difference in this world. You don’t need to run for president and change the history books. Just change the lives of the people around you. Help them out. Make their lives easier. Give out.

Go for Work with a Purpose = The stuff that YOU DO in your live, that help other’s love more what THEY DO.

*Ranting starts*

If you’ve accustomed to the western business culture, you know that we actually do a lot of sh** that has absolutely no or very little purpose. Yes, it’s a hard cold fact. We do a lot of work just for the sake of work and that sucks, big time.

Just think about all those reports that you needed to do because of a company policy, meetings you had to attend just because there might be some subject someone might need to hear your opinion about and for god forbid – tasks (from which you know right from the start) that won’t bring any true value to the end user (if you’ve been in the software industry, you definitely know what I’m talking about) – it’s just some “nice to have” thing that you must work your ass off to get done.. and it never even gets used.

*Ranting ends*

Enough of ranting. What I mean is, that there isn’t a better feeling than getting positive feedback from the concrete help you’ve been able to give to others. Your help that have made a big difference in their lives. Something that you’ve done, that has truly made some person’s life/business more enjoyable and better. You know what I mean. That’s the kind of work everyone should do. And that’s the kind of business we should all try to build.

Want to Be the Happy Old Man?

Back to the original theme of this post – living longer. If you run or plan to run a lifestyle business that gives real value to others – you want to live long. You want to dedicate your life to making a difference in peoples lives, so the longer you can help, the better. That’s what I like to think anyway.

We’re all on our own pursuit of happiness. I want to be a happy old man when the time comes. I want you to be like that too! Inspire others, help out and do stuff that matters.

Before signing off, I’ll close this post with one of my all time favorite quotes:

One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it’s worth watching!

Ps. Oh, and if you really want to optimize your lifespan, consider moving to some of the Blue Zone areas and build your business from there. And joining The 12-Week Fitness Challenge won’t hurt either! Might get a year or two more to bring joy to other people’s lives. That would be pretty cool, huh?

Are you building a business with a purpose? I hope this post gave you something to think about. Please share your thoughts in the comments. And I really hope it put a smile on your face!

And like always, if you enjoyed reading, please share this post to your friends as well. Would love to get that good karma back, you know! If you want to keep up with all the conversation we’re having “off the blog”, you’re more than welcome to join us at the NC Facebook page. Hope to see you there! Have a great day and see you again soon!

Photos in this post:

Singapore Indoor Stadium before Sunset by williamcho

Oldman fishing for sunset by zoompict

Thai smile by mr.Alexander