My previous article My mom won’t let me start my own business had great responses from many of you. I can’t help but keep thinking to myself - the non-supportive reaction could also come from your friends and buddies as well.

I don’t know about you. As much as I love my parents, I don’t really see them that much. When I have free time, I would rather spend time with my friends. I love my friends and they have lots of impact on my thoughts and belief.
When I first started my own business, I had to give up weeknights and weekends to work on my business plan. I had to say no to my friends when they ask me out. `What are you doing?’ They asked. `I am starting my own business’ I said with excitement. Hoping that they would want to know more, they moved on to the next topic. I felt left out. Why don’t they want to know more? Starting your own business is the most exciting thing!! Why don’t they understand? Why aren’t they doing it? If they are not doing it, should I continue to do it?

Starting your own business could be lonely. Trust me. I have been there. Someone you *may* even need to get rid of the non-supportive friends *temporary*. Why? Hanging out with negative or non-supportive people can only bring your spirit down. I am not saying you need to say goodbye to friends forever. Don’t forget. Building businesses is about connecting with people. The tricky part is that your friends don’t necessary have the same education you got from Youngster yet. How can you bring them up to speed? How can you turn them around?

You need to figure out a way to gain emotional and (may be even financial support) from your friends. How can you do this?

Here are 7 things I can think of right now:

1. Tell your friends - Why not? This should not be a secret. You never know if your friends are also into building businesses. You will never know if you don’t ask. Your friends could be in business for years and you never know.

2. Ask them questions - Involve your friends and brainstorm ideas with them. Instead of saying `I am starting my own business’ and stop there; why not ask them for their opinions instead? For example:
- What do you think of this idea?
- Do you think you would buy this?
- What do you need the most?
Your friends are the best audience for you to do market research.

3. Involve them - During your market research time, you need help. It is impossible for you to do it alone. Ask for help. If you develop a survey online, ask them to send it to their other friends. Tell them what your goal is, let them see the light. Let them feel that they are working towards a bigger goal.

4. Inspire them - Building businesses cannot be just about money. Why not? Money alone can only get people excited for so long. If you don’t believe me, just look at your parents. Are they perfectly happy going to work every day? Inspire your friends. Share your dreams and business goal with them. Not everyone will get excited. A few will. Those are the ones who will follow you. You are the youngster that they should follow. Not those other ones they say they are cool, but not really so cool. Tell them it is cool to start businesses. Share the stories you learn from Youngster.

5. Employ them - Did I say that you cannot do it alone? When I say employ them does not mean that you have to pay them from Day 1. See - you already inspired them, your friends now know about your great idea and really want to join you. What do you do now? Claim your leadership. Be the employer! You may say. I don’t have money to pay them! Well - instead of paying them on the first day. Tell them you will pay them when the first payment comes (after all the expenses, your cut, etc - see Youngster Finance section for more info)

6. Be nice, but strict - Take care of your employee. Employing your friends is really hard. You want to be friends, but you also got to be strict. We are talking business here. You can’t give them money without them working. You can’t let them not do the work because they are your friends. You need to be a firm leader. You and your friends all need to take the business seriously. This is not child game.

7. Excel in your school work - Why? Show your friends that you are not only a great business youngster. You are also a great student! You can multi-task. You can handle not only the exciting homework, you also own a fantastic business.

Good luck! And tell me how it goes!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 27th, 2007 at 9:29 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.