What’s up y’all, welcome back to another rare solo episode of The Boujee Boss Up Podcast! First things first, Happy Memorial Day to all those who have given up their life to serve our country. I salute you for your service, and may you eternally rest in peace!
Today I wanted to talk about family and my take on how they tie in into business. And when I say family, I’m including friends as well, since I consider my friends a part of my family. I wanted to come at this from two different angles, both internal and external. So, let’s go internal first, addressing my thoughts on working with family within your business.
I don’t like it. Issa no for me.
Let me tell you why. I personally feel that no matter how professional a person is, when it comes to their loved ones (aka you), they will always see you as their family member or friend before anything else. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
Just so long as you don’t add business in the mix. Because when you do, they just won’t try as hard, or take you as seriously as the business professional you are. Now please, let me be clear: I’m not saying that your family will take you for a joke or not believe in your business. All I’m saying is that all humans subconsciously have their guards down more with their loved ones, and don’t put as much effort into making a good impression simply because they don’t have to.
You’re going to work a lot harder to win over a boss you’ve never met as opposed to your cousin who hired you to help them with some backend logistics. And that’s just fax, no printer.
Additionally, I know for me, I have extremely high standards with how I conduct business. And while I know that, once again, a lot of my loved ones are capable of producing quality work, I also know that sometimes one’s definition of quality may differ depending on the situation at hand. I also know that when there’s a difference of opinion between two parties in business, it’s extremely hard to not involve personal feelings. This can be a major problem if there is a personal relationship outside of the business (which in this case it is).
We all know that developing boundaries is hard, especially with your loved ones. Because you have that personal connection, a lot of times lines are crossed that wouldn’t be otherwise. And it would suck to have either your business or your relationship take a hit because someone overstepped due to being too comfortable (or entitled).
It’s at this point that I feel the need to make another clarification.
I know that based on everything I’ve said so far, it seems like I’m against developing personal bonds with those you do business with, but that’s not exactly the case. I wholeheartedly believe that you can become friends or potentially something more with a business partner, however, I feel like this is different because you would’ve been business partners FIRST.
Remember, I said I believe that people often prioritize the roles they place you in by which role of yours they were exposed to first. So, if they were exposed to the business side of you first, they will likely always maintain a certain level of decorum with you, even if you develop a relationship beyond the realms of business.
Now, just for clarification purposes once again, I am aware that there are family members, friends, and romantic partners who go into business together, and are able to collaborate successfully (successfully meaning maintaining a profitable business and a solid relationship).
The truth is, though, this is rare. And it’s mainly rare for the reasons I just listed.
Furthermore, I just don’t want to.
I like that my business is mine alone, and something completely separate from my personal life. Everything shouldn’t have to be shared with other people, loved ones included.
So, now that we’ve addressed the internal ties, let’s explore the external.
I will be the first to admit that I used to feel entitled to the support of my loved ones. Most entrepreneurs do. We feel like our family and friends aren’t solid if they aren’t buying, sharing and showing up for our endeavors.
But the truth of the matter is, they don’t owe us anything. Nobody does. It is our job as the Entrepreneur to entice people enough to buy our offers, not just create the offers and expect to get rich off of our family sharing our business posts on Facebook. And to be quite frank, 9/10 your family isn’t in your target market anyway, so you wouldn’t even expect them to buy into your brand if you didn’t know them personally.
Furthermore, buying your offers is not the only way of showing support.
They can show support by taking you out when they see you need a break or just listening to you vent, there are a plethora of examples here. So, the moral of the story is to stop expecting handouts for your business from your loved ones.
Now, on the flip side…
If they are a part of your target market, and you see them going out of their way to support similar businesses that aren’t yours, I do recommend at least keeping your eyes open. There are some cases where family secretly harbors negative feelings about you and your endeavors, and you need to avoid that energy as much as possible. But it’s usually pretty obvious in situations like that because they also don’t offer any other type of support, and there’s usually some other things that have gone down previously.
You don’t want to act entitled, but you don’t want to be naive either.
So, this is my take on family ties in business. I just want to clarify once again that this is my personal preference on the matter, you are entitled to your own and are free to share them on your own platforms.
As always, it’s been fun chatting solo with you. I’m super excited about what we’ve got coming on the podcast, it is going to blow your mind! In the meantime, stay boujee and bossed up, and I’ll catch you next time!
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