What If Family Does Not Support Or Approve My Business Ideas?

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This is a common scenario and many people ask me what to do if their family does not initially support their business ideas. Most entrepreneurs are very excited about their business. Most of the time they are a bit too excited and optimistic. That is often the result of daydreaming about your business.

But the family and friends of the entrepreneur are probably worried and concerned about the entrepreneur because they do not want them to fail, or are themselves afraid of the risk involved.  And the questions that entrepreneurs often face is whether they should get family support or approval for their business ideas.

There are conflicting schools of thought on this topic. On one hand, most entrepreneurs are adults and they need to be able to decide on their own. And after all, it is their business what they end up doing with their careers. But on the other hand, their family will play a large part in the business whether they like it or not.

Get Family Support For Your Business If You Can

As I just mentioned, your family will end up playing a large role in your business. They will need to partially deal with your financial situation, your work schedule, you being stressed out (yes, that will happen), and many other things from the business that will spill out from the business onto your family life.

So if you can get your family support behind the business, that will be great for your business in many ways. They will be more mindful of your difficult situation and will likely put less stress on you.  Additionally, having the support of your loved ones will give you the extra confidence to keep moving forward when things become difficult.

How To Get Support From Family

One way to get support from family is to discuss your business with every family member individually, to acknowledge their concerns and to, over time, work with that family member to placate their concerns, or ensure that they understand how important this business is to you. Once they understand how important this business is to you, many people will begin to feel sympathy and give you their support.

Another way to gain the support of your family is to show them that you are serious about the business. The best way to convince people that you are fit to start this business is by showing some signs of progress and momentum. Those signs can be anything. It can be a business plan, or a business model for the business that outlines how the business will grow and make money. If you can make people see the roadmap for your business growth and success, many of them will get inspired and give you their support.

Prove To Your Family That Your Business Idea Is A Good One

Actions speak louder than words. If you can, try to create either a small business plan or some way that your family can see your vision. Or better yet, try to make some kind of progress with your business to show them that you are serious and the business has potential. It will also help you understand those very same things. Sometimes we as entrepreneurs get caught up in our daydreams. But reality is sometimes quite different. Here is an article about how daydreaming about business success can affect our psychology.

Sometimes, your family might be skeptical of your business ideas because you might be choosing to go into business instead of going to college. In fact, many young entrepreneurs approach me asking whether it is a good idea to skip college and go into business. Here is an article I wrote addressing the question of whether a college degree is necessary to start a business.

And here is a video on how you can get started with your business with no money so that you can begin to make progress with your business.

Having Family Support Can Help To Relieve Stress And Anxiety

As entrepreneurs, we deal with stress all the time. Stress seems to come from every direction every day. Dealing with stress is a major theme in business psychology overall. And having the support of your family can go a long way to relieving your stress. So try to get your family and close ones on your side for the long term. It will make things much easier on you. Here is a video about business psychology elements that entrepreneurs encounter all the time.

Further Business Resources

For more business-starting resources, please take a look at our business planning mobile apps. Here is the iOS business plan app and here is the Android business plan app.  Additionally, here is the iOS fundraising app. And here is the Android fundraising app. And here are our business apps on the Kindle. And here is an article where I give the argument that our Android apps are the best business apps on Android.

And please check out and subscribe to my YouTube channel where we cover many marketing topics.

Author: Alex Genadinik

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