What the F*ck is a Lifestyle-First Business?
Hello, my friend, and welcome officially to the Chillpreneur podcast. I'm your host, Erin May Henry, and today's episode is all about what the fuck is a lifestyle-first business, and more importantly, how do you build one so that you can live your most extraordinary life, become the coolest person you know, make the money of your dreams and do just a bunch of fun stuff in 2026.
I'm Back After Three Years
For those of you who are subscribed to this podcast, for those of you who have been following me on the internet for some time now, you may have realised that this is actually my first podcast back in almost three years.
So just a little bit of an update for anyone who's been wondering where I've been—I've been on quite the journey, and I'm so excited to be back sharing all of this with you.
The Foundation: Your Most Extraordinary Life First
Here's the thing about building a lifestyle-first business that most people get completely backwards: you need to start with the life you want to live, not the business model that someone else says will make you the most money.
I'm talking about getting crystal clear on what your most extraordinary life actually looks like. Not what Instagram tells you it should look like. Not what some business guru says success looks like. What does YOUR most extraordinary life look like?
For me right now, at 36 years old, having just moved to Queensland and learning to surf, I know exactly what I want. I want chill days doing work I love with really cool people. I want clients that I'm fucking obsessed with, that I can build friendships with. I want easy, flowy days where I can just take a day off if I want to surf all day, or go skate, or go on a trip. I want to be able to book a trip to Bali tomorrow.
And here's the beautiful truth: the life I want to live doesn't cost $100k a month. It doesn't cost $200k a month. It definitely doesn't cost $400k a month. I'd be happy with $50-80k months, honestly.
Building Your Business Around Your Natural Magnetism
Once you're clear on the life you want to live, the next step is understanding your natural skill set and your natural magnetism. This is where most people go wrong—they try to force themselves into a business model or marketing strategy that doesn't align with who they naturally are.
Some people are just more magnetic when they're in a state of creating art. Others are more magnetic when they're speaking from the heart, like myself. I know that when I speak in this way, it's what attracts my ideal clients and builds trust. That's where sales are made. It's as simple as that.
The goal is to find a business model that's tailored to your most natural skill set, so that instead of putting in 10 units of effort to get a result, you can put in 1 unit of effort because it's just easier for you.
The Six Key Elements of a Lifestyle-First Business
1. Start with Your Most Extraordinary Life
This is the most important step in this whole entire process. You cannot build a business that supports your dream life if you don't know what that life looks like. Get specific. Get detailed. Get fucking clear.
2. Choose a Business Model That Aligns
Your business model needs to support the lifestyle you want. If you want freedom and flexibility, maybe a one-on-one coaching model or a small group program works better than building a massive agency with a huge team.
3. Find Your Natural Marketing Strategy
Just like your business model, your marketing strategy needs to align with your natural skill set and magnetism. For me, it's speaking from the heart on podcasts and in long-form content. For you, it might be something completely different.
4. Build Belief in What's Possible
This is why long-term mentorship is so incredibly important. 90% of the time, it's going to be your beliefs around what's possible that's stopping you from actually taking the right action. You self-sabotage by making things more difficult than they need to be.
5. Make Your Offers Flow and Fun
Your offers have to be fun for you to deliver. If you dread showing up for your clients, something needs to change. Your work should energize you, not drain you.
6. Automate, Delegate, and Eliminate to Scale
At some point, if you do want to make more money and scale, you need to work smarter, not harder. Automate what you can, delegate what drains you, and eliminate what's not working.
For me, I'm grateful that I've gotten to a point in my life where I can hire someone to do all my life administration, emails, banking, insurances, everything. I don't want anything like that. That's the worst thing you can possibly ask me to do. So now I can just float around and talk to people. That's literally all I need to do.
The Path of Least Resistance to Making Money
Here's what I want you to understand: a fun, enjoyable, lifestyle-first business where you don't constantly have to struggle for money is available to you. It's not some fantasy fiction thing that a few people talk about but doesn't really exist.
There are so many people out there living this kind of life. So many examples of people who have chosen the path of least resistance towards making money. Whether it's spiritual perspectives like Bashar or Abraham teaching us that alignment is powerful, or examples like the lazy millionaire, the lazy CEO, or even faceless marketing accounts making $20k a month—it's all there to show us that you don't have to hustle and grind to be successful.
And I'm one of the people that can say to you: no, it actually exists, because I've lived and breathed it. And I want to teach you how to do the same.
What I'm Doing Now (and How You Can Work With Me)
As I mentioned, I'm running the Becoming Chillpreneur one-on-one mentorship program. I currently have two spaces available at $4997 USD for three months. If you're reading this and that price isn't available anymore, I'm sorry, but it will probably be going up again soon, I have a price-raising schedule for my one-on-one work.
This mentorship is for you if you're ready to build a business that actually supports your dream life, if you're tired of following cookie-cutter strategies that don't feel good, and if you're ready to embrace the path of least resistance to making really good money.
All the information is in the description, but just reach out to me on Instagram if you want to chat about whether this is right for you.
Final Thoughts: It's All About Alignment
Getting to the stage where you have a true lifestyle-first business is all about alignment. Alignment with the kind of life you want to live, a business model that's tailored to your most natural skill set, and a marketing and sales strategy that's in alignment with your natural magnetism.
When all of these pieces come together, that's when the magic happens. That's when you can work less, make more, and actually enjoy the fuck out of your life.
I hope this was helpful. I hope it helped you to reactivate what Chillpreneur is all about, to remind you of the work I'm doing with this business, and to inspire you that this kind of life is absolutely available to you.
If you found this valuable, I'd love if you sent me a DM and shared any downloads, thoughts, or ideas with me. And if there's anything you want me to speak on specifically in future episodes, let me know!
Podcast Audio Link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2xLIgCjDGEWVEQEQ3nJcEl?si=dc1b0b6f6ff94cd1