Balancing Your Family and Friends As You Start Your Small Business

A Home Business Article Contributed by Matt Charles

Balancing Your Family and Friends As You Start Your Small Business

You most likely have an idea for starting your small business. Why not do so now? There is absolutely no reason to wait to get involved in what may be the best opportunity to take advantage of in your life. While you may believe that your family and friends will be most supportive of your move to start your own small business (do not get me wrong, they will be proud of you), they will most likely underestimate the amount of time and even money it will take to make your small business a success.

Building Your Start up Small Business

Once you leave your current job, you will have to spend hour upon hour building your start up small business. This includes leasing space or setting up your home office. If you have a home office your family and friends may think that it is O.K. to come into it and talk or visit with you at any time. You will not want to have an open door policy with family and friends, because they will always overuse this privilege. Pretty soon you will not be getting work done at all.

Any work that you do complete will be shoddy, as it will not have the benefit of your full cooperation. Once you explain to your family and friends that they cannot come and visit at any time, you also need to make it fully clear that they cannot call you on your business phone unless it is for an emergency. You cannot afford to have your family and friends tying up your phone and fax lines.

Keeping Your Family and Friends Happy Outside of the Small Business That You Started

Even when you are not working, especially when you are not at work, your family and friends may get upset with you concerning your work ethic. There will most likely be many times when you will have to leave family events or social gatherings in favor of dealing with the small business that you started. You will probably try to explain that your business needs you at that time in order to stay afloat.

All your friends and family may respond with is that you should have more free time to spend with them know that you are not at your old job. After all, you are the owner of you own small business. One suggestion for quelling this attitude is that if you know that you will need to be present at a very important event (e.g., a wedding, religious event, etc.), have somebody that you trust and that is very capable to cover your small business.

You may believe that nothing bad can happen to your business over the course of a weekend, but most likely it will happen then. The more efficiently you cover your bases and prepare for any emergencies that you can fathom that may occur, the more your friends and family will support you in the long run.