Over the past 15 years, today's guest has helped thousands of business leaders and their teams create more success, from Fortune 500 companies to startups. He, along with his wife Ariana, founded a coaching and training company that helps entrepreneurs build their businesses to create more impact with their customers and more freedom in their lives. Together, they share their philosophies and guidance for entrepreneurs through speaking, coaching, on their Lifestyle Builders™ podcast and their upcoming book Lifestyle Builders: Build Your Business, Quit Your Job, & Create Your Ideal Life. Today I am excited to welcome the co-founder of Lifestyle Builders™, Tom Sylvester!
Tom shares how he and his wife got their business started.
- Tom met his wife the first day of college and was already looking ahead to retirement by 35.
- They were struggling to find work with their degrees, so they knew they would have to think outside the box or relocate.
- Tom’s first business was real estate investment, followed by a wine and liquor store.
- The benefits of the entrepreneurial life began making sense to Ariana when she was able to quit her job and stay home with their first baby.
- Tom was still traveling a lot with his full time job which didn’t align with their needs.
- They had to stop and reevaluate what they wanted for their lives.
- Other businesses were reaching out asking for help managing multiple businesses at once.
- They decided to use their skills to help businesses so they could be more dedicated to their own family.
Tom talks about how it was a process to become aligned with Ariana in their business goals.
- Ariana was not excited about the real estate investment plans Tom made and paid for with a high interest credit card without telling her.
- These conflicts forced them to get aligned about their future.
- The more they set and fine tuned their goals, the more they could identify how each of them contributed to reaching those goals together.
- Another struggle was that they both were doing tasks they didn’t want to be doing, but taking personality tests helped them shift the roles they played.
- They also decided to delegate more so they could focus on working in their zone of genius.
Tom talks about what it looks like to manage all the businesses.
- Implementing teams, systems, and processes allows them to only be involved in their first two businesses about 4 hours a month.
- Coaching entrepreneurs is now their main focus because it is their biggest passion.
- It took a minimum of two years to get these businesses to the point of being this self-sufficient.
- Every time they were able to scale, they implemented more strategy to move away from the business.
Tom shares how having kids impacted their business life.
- Having kids turned their lives upside down mainly because of how much time and energy needed to be reallocated to family.
- One of the keys to success at home was that Tom and Ariana made time to sync up for 15 minutes a day to plan and reflect.
Tom talks about how his kids are picking up on the entrepreneurial lifestyle.
- They brought their daughter on their own podcast to talk about what life is like for her.
- She is making reflections about how available her parents are for things like school events compared to other working parents.
- When she wanted to stop sucking her thumb, she came up with a challenge for herself complete with a chart and stickers.
- She used this experience to try to help other kids in her class meet their goals.
- At home, their kids have certain chores that are expected, but then they often get rewarded with money when they go above and beyond.
- They have been able to engage in lots of conversations about generosity through understanding the value of money.
Tom offers his #1 piece of advice for entrepreneurs who are trying to build their business and balance their family.
- It starts with your life and figuring out what you want for your family which means identifying your family values, culture, and vision.
- This also means identifying the things you want, the experiences you want and the relationships you want as well as the impact you want to have.
- People forget to think about what they want their business to be able to do for them.
- Always plan your life first and then build your business around that.
Tom shares what you can expect to find in the Lifestyle Builders Book.
- Plan with purpose: Figure out what you want your life to look like and figure out who you need to be to make that a reality.
- Find your freedom: Get a hold on personal finances, and identify the right type of business for you.
- Set up your systems: Make sure your business doesn’t continue to take time from your personal life.
- Quit your cubicle: How to quit your job and make the necessary mental shifts to adjust to your new lifestyle.
- Live your life: Make sure you incorporate the elements of your life that are most valuable to you.
- Stop your sabotage: Identify the challenges of entrepreneurship and how to overcome them.
- Make sure you’re living your life while you’re building your business!
Meet Tom Sylvester
Tom is a co-founder of Lifestyle Builders™, a coaching and training company that helps entrepreneurs build their businesses to create more impact with their customers and more freedom in their lives. Over the past 15 years, Tom has helped thousands of business leaders and their teams create more success, from Fortune 500 companies to startups.
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