Over the last 14 years of owning my business, I've developed a list of five criteria for my ideal business. These act as a filter that I run my new business ideas through to help me see what may be worth pursuing.

1. No open sign

I don't want to own a business that requires a door to be unlocked and an open sign to be displayed at a specific time every day.

That removes a large swath of potential businesses from the list of options. I'm ok with that.

There are plenty of amazing businesses that require an open sign. The owners of the successful ones never have to think about being there to unlock the door and display the open sign. It's possible (but not easy) to own a business with an open sign and not be a slave to it. It's just not the type of business I want to own.

2. Recurring income

I like to go on vacation and know that my business is generating income while I'm gone.

I've met dentists and doctors who pull in high annual incomes but are hesitant to take vacations because when they're gone the income stops.

This isn't the rule, of course. Good business systems can be put in place so that income isn't reliant on a single person. You could also run a high income/low overhead business and take two months off per year. Either way, trading units of time for units of money needs to be well thought out before being implemented.

Baking a recurring income model into the business from day one is ideal.

3. Thirty hour work week

Whether it's working a few hours per day or stuffing more hours into a couple of longer days, I've found that 30 hours is an ideal work week for me.

That certainly doesn't always happen. The reality is sometimes you've got to put in some longer weeks to get the job done. But if the rolling average over the course of a year is 30 hours per week I think you're winning.

4. Long product life

I really don't like reinventing the wheel every year.

What I mean by long product life is that I don't want to have to be continually designing & manufacturing new products to keep the business going. I want to sell products (or services) that can be sold for years without redesigning them.

My current business has two product releases per year and we create hundreds of new SKUs for each season. The continual process of trying to stay relevant and creating new products can be exhausting.

5. No emergencies

I want to avoid panic situations. No physical injuries. No equipment failures. And no chance of death.

On my first day working for an arborist I had a running chainsaw bounce off my leg. Thankfully, I was wearing protective chaps and wasn't hurt. That experience has stuck with me.

There are plenty of great businesses where physical safety must be a priority or emergencies will happen. I'm thankful for the people who own and operate those businesses. Those businesses aren't for me.

What's your ideal business?

These five criteria aren't mandatory for my next business. I can see having to bend a couple of them to get a new business launched. But the important thing is that they act as a filter to run my ideas through.