I’ve been a fan of Jim Kukral since 2010, when he was among my instructors in an online marketing course by the University of San Francisco. I’ve not met him, but it’s clear from hearing him and watching videos, he’s an upbeat person who truly loves to share what he knows about Internet marketing.

That brings us to his new book, Business Around A Lifestyle, Volume 1. The subtitle is First Step: How to Dream Your Perfect Lifestyle, Then Go Get It!

It’s short. The book will take about an hour or two to read. Kukral starts with the premise that the world has moved on, and many people are stuck in jobs that don’t support the lifestyle they want to lead. He offers some basic, concrete steps for figuring your own ideal lifestyle, and then offers lots of encouragement to go out and get it.

To his credit, Kukral is very clear about one thing: building a business around your ideal lifestyle is hard work. He’s not offering any get-rich quick schemes. Wrapped into his encouragement, he’s included interviews with seven people who’ve built “lifestyle” businesses. For most of them, the income isn’t as important as having the flexibility to spend time with kids and spouses, travel and spend time in the community.

Having said that, it seems that all of his interview subjects have found internet business niches that reward them handsomely. You won’t learn a lot of business details, but you will learn what motivated these folks to go into business for themselves, some of their fears and doubts, and some insight into their typical days.

I’m planning to focus www.SunsetChasing.com on people over 50 who have changed careers, and as far as I can tell, none of the interview subjects were that old. Kukral’s advice and examples, however, are easy to apply to the mid- to late-career changers among us.

I know that Jim likes to work fast, and as a result there are a few typographical errors in the copy, mostly among the answers his subjects give. I suspect they’re transcription errors. The mistakes only detract from the polish, not the heart of the stories.

The book includes links to the websites run by his subjects, but it would be nice if he explored a little more detail about their businesses, exactly what the do and how their businesses grew. Perhaps that information will part of the next two books in the series. Volume 2 will focus on taking your passion and turning it into a business. Volume 3 is about building a business through affiliate marketing.

I’m sure I’ll be reading both.