OK. I admit it. We’re not the first to complain about this. And frankly, we’re so early in the creation of Jackson Fish that we’re not in a position to say we’ve created much of anything quite yet. That said, we do have goals. And sometimes, when we describe those goals, we get this look like… “oh, you’re creating a lifestyle business”. It’s pretty much a dismissal. As if the only kind of business that’s really worthwhile, or a real challenge is one that is trying to become a billion dollar business.

To us, the hardest thing about creating a business is creating something that:

• is self-sustaining
• generates healthy profit margins
• has an environment that enables the people who work there maximally express their creativity
• allows the people who work there to have impact on a broad range of customers through what they do
• gives back to the community
• gives the people who work there time to live their lives
• rewards people significantly so they can enjoy their time off

To me this is the definition of a healthy business. Lifestyle or otherwise. I don’t understand people dismissing this path in favor of blindly pursuing the “big score”. And it’s not like anyone would admit that they are not pursuing these goals in the hope that they flip or go public. But if you start dissecting their actual priorities, how they’re making decisions, and what they do, you’d often be hard-pressed to come to any other conclusion.

I’ve been monitoring Ryan Carson’s efforts to try and sell DropSend lately. I couldn’t be more pleased that they’ve decided to keep it and grow it (even though they may eventually sell). The degree to which the whole process has been transparent and they’ve shared so many key numbers has been educational and inspirational. Over on TechCrunch lots of folks have been criticizing Ryan’s guest post. It’s true that it’s probably not right for TC’s audience, and a bit high level. And even though DropSend’s numbers are small, the growth and profitability are a solid brick on which a business can be built. If it were me, not only would I keep and grow DropSend, I’d make ten more like it and create a significant recurring revenue stream from which I could finance all sorts of new cool products. But that’s just me.