Remember when the entrepreneurial dream was to run a cash-flowing business that was hands-off so the owner could live the life they wanted?

The lifestyle business seems to have been overtaken by the startup dream - come up with a game-changing idea, fundraise it into existence and then work like crazy until the big exit.

We could blame it on Tim Ferriss. He got us all jacked up on the 4-Hour Work Week only to turn around and invest his money into startups. 

I’m not going to blame it on him, though. I still think he was onto something really good with the 4HWW. That book is what convinced me to become an entrepreneur.

We can probably blame it on the unicorns - the few startups that hit it big and turned their young founders into billionaires. 

People love to hear about the overnight success stories. Startup culture produced more wealth than some countries' GDP, but it has also left a lot of heartbroken founders and broke investors in its wake.

Survivorship bias at its best - the upside stories of the winners blind us from all the downside stories of the losers.

I’m a fan of the lifestyle business. I drank the Kool-aid 15 years ago while reading the 4-Hour Work Week and haven’t looked back since.

Though I rarely have a 4-hour week, I rarely have a 40-hour week either. But it’s not about the amount of time we’re at work, it’s about the flexibility and freedom that comes with a lifestyle business.

Once you take on outside investment or bring in co-founders you begin to trade away the freedom and flexibility. The expectations increase and the timelines begin to shrink.

Lifestyle businesses haven’t gone anywhere. They’re always out there. But they have been overshadowed by the tech-startup-unicorn-dream.

I hope that we see a resurgence of interest in lifestyle businesses. If you’re into playing the long game and living the life you want it’s a pretty good option to consider.