Is a Lifestyle Business for You?

Have you ever dreamed of starting your own lifestyle business and escaping the rat race? Have you wished you could turn your passion project into a 6-figure business that can sustain your family?

Almost a decade since we founded our glamping lifestyle business, we felt compelled to bring together this guide with our business hacks, how-to’s, trade secrets, processes, and much more — and we’ve just finished updating it for 2026. Best of all, it’s completely FREE. Why now, more than ever? Two big shifts are converging on the outdoor hospitality space right now. Baby boomers are retiring and transferring record amounts of rural land — through sale, inheritance, or estate planning — while rural and small-acreage living has never been more culturally desirable, thanks to remote work and a growing appetite for the experience economy. On top of that, California just signed AB 518, the Low-Impact Camping Areas Act, into law — the first real regulatory pathway for small-scale camping and glamping operators on private land. We break down exactly what that means, and what it doesn’t yet mean, in the updated guide. If you’ve ever thought about pursuing an outdoor hospitality business, or any other lifestyle business model — this is the guide for you. It’s also useful if you already run a hospitality or lifestyle business and are looking to streamline, improve, or scale it up or down. Our updated guide covers what you need to know along your journey: cost and financing routes, the new AB 518 private-land pathway, concession options, applying to the USFS Outfitter & Guide program, industry trends, the landowner-partnership and consulting opportunities opening up right now, internet marketing, and building an integrated booking system. In the almost ten years since we started our glamping model, we’ve grown into a six-figure business and expanded rapidly across the San Diego backcountry hospitality scene. We’re currently helping other hospitality entrepreneurs streamline and scale their own operations — and, increasingly, helping landowners navigate the new permitting landscape. Our easy-to-follow guide is broken down into six main sections, with real-life examples and practical next steps, so you can learn from our experience and make better decisions for your own business. Whether you’re just starting out or already underway, this guide will help you spot practical opportunities for expansion in your local hospitality and recreation scene — including some that simply didn’t exist when we first wrote it.

Here’s what the 2026 edition covers: