Hi there and welcome to Lifestyle Design Unleashed.

Do you feel trapped in your current life? Do you want for more? Do you long to take long vacations? Do you want out of your current job so you can do something more rewarding and meaningful? Do you want to travel the world? Do you have goals and aims you’d love to achieve but that you just never seem to get closer to?

If so, then lifestyle design is for you. And more specifically Lifestyle Design Unleashed is for you.

This website is all about a simple yet powerful concept. It’s about taking back control over your own life and making it extraordinary. It’s about creating the type of lifestyle that you love. Where you can’t wait to get out of bed every day. Where you can’t stop thinking about just how lucky you are.

Like so many other people my real wake-up call in terms of lifestyle design came about through reading Tim Ferriss’ book The Four Hour Work Week. Truth be told, I’d been working on similar concepts myself for some years but Tim’s book really helped to put a name to what I was doing, showed me the possibilities and provided me with a whole range of new ideas and experiments to implement.

I have been building websites since 2000 and over the years have created literally hundreds in all sorts of niches using a wide variety of systems and monetization methods but it wasn’t until I read Tims book that I really decided it was time to get out of the rat race once and for all.

Around three years ago I decided to become self-employed thanks to my internet income but I still felt there was something missing that I couldn’t put my finger on it. I did a load of travelling – I visited Cuba, Costa Rica, Malta and travelled all round the UK (my home country). But still there was something gnawing at me.

Finally last summer I realized what it was. I was running profitable websites and I had plenty of free time that I was using to follow my passions. Unfortunately I realized that I simply wasn’t passionate about my internet business.

Two things had gone wrong.

Firstly, I was running a large network of sites that spread me too thinly. Many weren’t getting the results they could have done if I had focused on them. I was working hard not smart.

Secondly many of my most profitable sites were on subjects that simply didn’t interest me. I was working for the money, not for the love of it.

I decided all that had to change.

So I did something that many people were shocked about.

I closed down my less profitable websites and sold my most profitable websites for a nice cash windfall. Then I dropped off the internet.

I spent the best part of four months doing nothing online. Just taking life easy. Thinking about what I really wanted to achieve. About what had worked best for me, and what was really a waste of time. I analyzed everything.

Then in January 2010 I came back again, fired up and with a plan.

I would build an internet business from scratch, based only around topics that I myself am passionate about.

And one of those topics is lifestyle design. I can see the possibilities because I have achieved many of the steps over the last few years. I have learned to earn a living online. I have taken “mini vacations” to foreign countries. I have started volunteering and donating money to charities I am passionate about.

Unlike some of the other lifestyle design sites around, this one is based on my own experiences. I didn’t just read The Four Hour Work Week last week and decide that looks fun. I have achieved many of the goals.

And that is what makes this site so exciting from my perspective. I don’t claim to know it all – not by a long way – and there are just as many excellent lifestyle design sites as poor ones.

But I’m on the journey, and if you subscribe to this blog then you’re coming along with me. You’ll see me go from no websites whatsoever to a lifestyle business that will cover all my expenses. You’ll see the changes I’m making in my own life to achieve the lifestyle I dream of. And hopefully you’ll learn a few practical steps along the way that you can use to create the lifestyle of YOUR dreams too.

In essence, that’s really the goal of this website. Not for me to make a heap of cash off you by promoting dodgy products as an affiliate. Sure, if I find a really great product it would be remiss of me not to mention it to you. But the real goal is to share my own experiences and experiments in the hope that I can arm you with the necessary knowledge and skills to be able to make the type of changes you want to make to your lifestyle.

I know it sounds old-fashioned, it sounds wet and sappy. Maybe in these cynical times it even sounds like a lie. But I want to help YOU to achieve YOUR goals and create a lifestyle you’ll love.

Because of this your feedback, your comments and your ideas really matter here and I would emplore you to get involved, ask any questions you have and leave information on your own experiences in the comments section at the end of each article here on the site. Let’s get to know one another – and together we can make this exciting process called lifestyle design work.

So welcome along for the ride, and please ensure you subscribe to stay up to date with everything I have planned for this site over the coming months.

I can’t wait to get to know you better…

Richard