My mom won’t let me start my own business
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I just read this article from Steve Pavlina My wife won’t let me start my own business. I found this article really funny. I can’t help and keep thinking to myself - this absolutely could happen to you as young entrepreneur as well. In fact, this will for sure happen to you. After all, you will always be the baby in your parent’s eye. They are protective. They want you to have a childhood. They want you to have fun. Plus, they really don’t want you to do something that they don’t understand.
Trust me. I understand. I am 30 years old. My mom still wants me to practice piano (my childhood activity which she loves) instead of setting up businesses. Accordingly to her ‘it is too risky’.
You have to respect your parents. Getting upset with your parents will not help. Remember – building businesses is all about working with other people. Your parents could be your number 1 investors. You need to figure out a way to gain emotional and financial support from your parents. How can you do this?
Here are 7 things I can think of right now:
1. Tell your parents – Why not? This should not be a secret. Definitely not to your parents. You never know if they are excited or supportive of your venture. If they are excited for you. Stop here and concentrate on building your business. If they don’t agree, stay calm. Don’t cry. Tell them why you are excited about this and you are working on a business plan.
2. Write your business plan – make sure to cover topics such as target market, marketing plan, sales, orders, services, financial, etc.
3. Setup a business plan review meeting with your parents – Ask them for advice. Review the document with them. Ask for their opinions. Write down everything they say. Even those items that you don’t agree. Don’t overreact. You are an entrepreneur. You can deal with this. Tell them you appreciate their input. And you will setup a follow up meeting with them.
4. Follow up meeting – Answers and respond to all the questions or comments that your parents bring up. This is your first step in working with people. In the business world, you will come across positive or negative people. You will not know if they are being honest or not. But one thing for sure is that your parents WILL be honest with you.
5. Don’t take no for an answer – Think from your parents’ shoes. If they are not business owner, they probably wouldn’t understand or supportive of your business. It is absolutely okay. Ask them if they have friends who are business owners. Tell them you really want to learn. They would not say no to you when you want to learn. If they don’t know anyone, ask your friends. Their parents might be business owners. Learn from someone who have done it before.
6. Be persistent – If you encounter objection, remember it is only temporary. You cannot move mountain just like that. It takes time. Building business takes time. You can continue to plan and think about your business meanwhile work with your parents and consistently (weekly or biweekly) talk to them about your idea and how you are going to go about doing this.
7. Excel in your school work – Why? Show them you can multi-task. You can handle not only the homework, you are better than that!
Don’t expect your parents would magically turn around within a day. It won’t. Trust takes time to build. It may take weeks or months. But it is worth it. However, if your parents are so stubborn that they absolutely will not support you in building businesses. Please show them the following letter. Just tell them you wrote this yourself:
Dear mom and dad,
I really need your love and support in my new business venture.
I am learning a lot in school. My teachers and classmates are great. But I really want to learn, grow and prepare myself for the real world. Learning to build businesses is fun and challenging for me. And I am very excited about this.
This is really important to me. I know you will support me. I need your help. I know you love me and want to protect me. This is something I really want to do. I will study and plan thoroughly. My school work will still be my priority. So don’t worry!
I know I will not succeed overnight. I will make mistakes. I know you will stand by me when that happens. I know you want to help me to succeed.
I love you. Please support me.
Your son (or daughter)
Good luck! And tell me how it goes!