Smart Business Investments In Lifestyle (You’ll Be Surprised)
Today, I’m about to surprise you with some advice about smart business investments for your lifestyle that is definitely got to shock some of you, so be prepared.
Why Make Smart Business Investments In Your Lifestyle?
The first surprise of this article is that I totally support the idea of moving to a bustling part of your local city. If you can find a nice place, trust me – move there. Think of this as an investment that will have hidden but extraordinary benefits, and by the end of this piece, you’ll know why.
Here’s a little background on how I came to this realization. When a few business partners and I moved to Vancouver, Canada – the city I currently reside in – we began working and living out of the suburbs. At the time, there was nothing to rent downtown, not even on AirBnB.
We literally lived in a basement in the suburbs. Sure, it was quiet, but there was nothing around. This was the only place we could find at the time and we were already positioned to build a home base in British Columbia. Consequently, we had to live in this basement in the suburbs for an entire week. Sure I got work done, but I quickly realized this situation was NOT ideal.
See An Immediate Change In Lifestyle Quality
Once the rental market opened up a bit, we immediately moved downtown. Sure, it’s more expensive than what we were paying for “the basement”, but the contrast was immediately apparent. The differences between my current place and the suburbs are about as stark as they can be.
We’re right in the heart of everything downtown and there’s no necessity or luxury that isn’t a stone’s throw away. By the way – don’t think this is a vanity thing as if we’re out here to look cool and name drop our postal code. Far from that. As the title says, we think of it as one of many smart business investments we’ve chosen to make. In this case, we’re talking about a lifestyle investment.
If your income is not fixed every single month and you’re not salaried, your performance affects where you live. It’s all dependent on your performance and how effectively you operate your business. Considerations like time, mood, and location are at a premium in this scenario. Once things start rolling, you should invest in streamlining these considerations.
In my opinion, having lived through the contrast we talked about earlier, a move to a centralized downtown area can be totally worth it. I can barely compare how much better things are currently.
You Have To Save Time To Make Money
The amount of time that I’m saving being “close to everything” is off the charts. If I need to do a quick errand, I’m there almost instantly. A perfect example is eating. Whereas a trip with a car in the suburbs can make every meal close to an hour-long mission, I can get things delivered to my door here with no hassles and keep working.
If I need to go shopping, I don’t have to go out of my work zone, hop in a form of transportation, shop and browse, go back to my house, drag the bags up the stairs or anything. It can all be delivered here to my door, no problem.
The fact is anyone who’s spending time to shop and even furthermore adding to this time by living in a remote part of your city… you’re wasting time in my opinion, frankly. In most countries, if you’re in a part of the central area, you can have it delivered practically for free. In fact, here in Vancouver, it IS free… there’s no delivery charge.
If I need to go to the gym… the gym is RIGHT there. I can actually see it from my balcony. It’s really that simple. In other words, I literally waste no time living a healthy, active lifestyle while also building my business.
That two hours a day you may be wasting traveling the long route to the gym, shopping, waiting in grocery lines – it adds up. That time is much better spent working on what can actually make you money and develop your content to a higher standard.
Do A Cost-Benefit Analysis On Your Smart Business Investments In Lifestyle
Right now, I’m writing this article… imagine if I couldn’t do that because I spent hours of my day running errands. Is my business growing or slowing down? Those two hours can make more money that the entire shopping bag, get it?
So ask yourself… is it worth moving downtown? Once you reach a certain level of income, absolutely. Absolutely you should save time. Absolutely you should invest in every second of this thing that is your “life”, your “business”, and your “dreams”.
It’s even better if you can find a place with a view or beautiful ambiance. We live in a high-rise in the middle of the city and I can definitely notice the changes in my mood. It’s actually been scientifically proven that an improved quality of life in your home environment can boost mood.
You actually learn how to relax and settle into your work more effectively in a nice home environment. Trust me, I know from years of experience how working in front of a grey wall looking at my laptop for hours on end can make it pretty difficult to wake up excited for work. The contrast in my mood is MASSIVE.
But Aleks, What About Saving Money?
Now, I know the common rhetoric is to “save money at all times”, “be a penny pincher”, or “a penny saved is a penny earned”, and in many cases, that can be true.
And yet, I see so many people who tend to “shop around” for hours a day. What I mean by this is, they’re spending HOURS of their day looking for that extra “10% off” or “2 for 1 deal for lunch” rather than actually working. Again, you could be making more money than the meal itself during those hours.
You always have to be thinking about if the time spent on the errand is worth more than it would be if you were actually still WORKING.
If you’re a hardcore entrepreneur like myself, you’ve been grinding it out for years, and your income is fairly solid… make the investment in a good lifestyle. If you’re not panicking that “everything’s going to fall apart” – and trust me, I’ve been there before – then make the investment in a good lifestyle. It’s that simple.
