Trying to raise a family the best way you know how is really hard work. It takes a lifetime of loving, understanding, forgiving, supporting, and caring; and there’s no real guarantee of anything.
Building a business is also incredibly hard work. It takes hours and hours of planning, stressing, working, reevaluating, fear squashing, and focus; (once again) there’s no real guarantee of anything. So when you mix the two extremes into your life, there’s bound to be complications and a tendency to let one fall away while you nurture the other.
Unfortunately, It’s usually the family that gets pushed aside (unintentionally).
Here’s 12 ways to strengthen your family while growing your business.
1.Plan your business around your family
This little piece of advice was given to me a while back and it has literally changed how I view everything in my life. To build your business is a long hard road that can will suck every bit of time and energy out of you if you let it. It’s easy to get so caught up in the excitement and momentum of building your business that family falls to the wayside without you even noticing. Chances are, if you’re building a business, it’s because you want something better for your family’s future. Always keep them first, and you’ll achieve your goal. Forget about them, and you’ll build a business that you like, but one that your family resents.
2.Explain what you’re doing
We’ve all had those conversations with our spouse. You know, the ones where you try to explain your master plan and how you’re going achieve it. They look at you with complete boredom or maybe even roll their eyes a bit and answer with, “Mmhmm, that’s great honey.”
Sound familiar?
No matter how bored and uninterested they might seem, they want to know about what you’re doing. Don’t be afraid to continue to share
your business plan and ideas with the family. To build a business takes support. Bored or not, your family will be able to better support you when you need it if they know what you’re doing.
3.Explain why you’re doing it
Not only is it important for your family to know what you’re doing, they also need to know why. There will be times when things are tough and they might not understand what the point of all your effort is for. By continuing to remind them why you chose this path, you will reassure them and give yourself the confidence to press on.
4.Let them be a part of the process (if they want to)
I know I know, it’s hard to let others join in to build your business. Sure we all say that we’re open to other’s ideas, but are we really? When your spouse has an idea, don’t just blow it off because you think you know best. If your kids legitimately want to help you, find something for them to do.
Not only will this help you out in some way, but it will also reinforce to them that you do think of them first. This may seem like such a little thing, but it’s the little things that make the difference.
5.Set achievable goals and reward the whole family when you reach them
This is just part of good planning. You have to set milestones and goals that you know you can reach. What’s the first thing we want to do when a goal is accomplished? CELEBRATE! Of course you need to set aside time to congratulate yourself on the victory, but you also need to have time to include your family in the partying, too. You might have done most of the work, but they’ve been the ones manning your support line and dealing with their own concerns about all the energy you’re putting into this endeavor.
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