Here are some sure-fire ways to fail at creating the UnWork lifestyle.

  • Read too much about Lifestyle Design. This one may be surprising to some, but reading too much can actually prevent you from accomplishing your goals. First, reading too much can cause you to become overwhelmed with ideas and then get so bogged down that you never act. Second, you can’t read it all, so saying that you just need to read that next product before you start is a guaranteed way to fail. So if you are looking to fail, go ahead and read too much.
  • Never focus. Businesses that try to be everything to everybody usually don’t succeed. Even companies like Google who seem to be doing everything started with a very small focus (in Google’s case, providing the very best search engine). When starting your business, whether it’s a product, a blog, or anything, focusing on a very narrow niche or providing one well defined service helps you succeed. You can also always add more to it later once you have grown a bit. When you are starting out, if failure is what you are after, don’t focus.
  • Never start. The best way to fail is to do nothing at all. Never start your blog or create your product. Never take the first step towards your new life. Of all the ideas for failing listed here, this one is the best. If you don’t want to succeed, never even try.
  • Quitting too Early. Most lifestyle businesses don’t have instantaneous success. It’s not “build it and they will come.” But given that you are providing value to an audience that needs value provided to them, they will come. You just have to keep at it. If you find that they are not coming, try evaluating why and change your tactics slightly. But even if you are totally awesome, your success will not be over night. There will be times when you feel like you are writing to no one. If you want to fail, that is when you quit. If not, just keep at it.
  • Not Quitting. When you start out, you may go through many ideas until you find the one that you like best. No matter what your niche, if after a month you can’t stand thinking about it, maybe that is not the niche for you. You need to be able to really enjoy your work. Don’t be afraid to quit something if it’s a bad fit for you. Trying to do something that you hate is a great way to fail.
  • Don’t Produce Value. I mentioned this above, but it’s worth repeating. If you don’t add value, you are doomed to fail. Don’t repeat others. Don’t copy. Add something special that only you can add. Your whole topic doesn’t need to be unique, but you need to add something to the topic in order to succeed. If you don’t, do one would have a reason to buy from you.
  • Don’t Market Yourself. Face it, if you are online you are a marketer. Jonathan Fields wrote about this in greater depth a few weeks ago. It is through marketing efforts, usually through social media and networking, that people find your blog for the first time. If no one ever finds your blog or sales page, no one will ever be a reader or buyer.

What other ways can you fail at all creating a lifestyle business?