New business owners, take note: There can be many reasons why your friends and family are not supporting your small business. Let’s clear the air on some common ones.
Being a small business owner (or a salesperson) means carefully crafting a balance between your personal life and your professional life. I’m not talking about managing your time, even though that is important. I’m talking about walking a delicate line between being an individual and a business.
Business isn’t personal, but it is when you are your business.
One aspect of that: nearly every relationship you have is now a potential customer or a prospect and this can be awkward.
If you are too timid, the people in your life might not know you have a business or they might not know that you want their support. If you are too aggressive, the people in your life will start avoiding you.
Interactions involving your business need to be honest, but not manipulative.
Are you being authentic and open about the realities of owning a small business, or are you making people feel guilty for not buying from you? If you feel like a lack of support is personal and it might be hard not to respond from this place.
Why are my friends and family not supporting my small business?
They don’t know how.
So many people are truly unaware of what it takes to run a successful small business. If you’ve worked on commission before you might know the feeling of watching a family member purchase from a coworker instead of you because they didn’t know how it worked.
The Honest Approach: showing genuine gratitude for the support you get.
This is the time to post on social media that you are so appreciative of your customers. Tell your audience that every time they choose to support you it makes all the difference in the world. Explain that you would love it if they would tell their friends and family about your business. Tell them that you hope to see them soon!
Too many times I have seen business owners with bruised feelings falling into the trap of turning this into a reprimand. Everyone wants to know how to help, but nobody wants to feel like they’ve already failed.
They’ve forgotten about you.
Maybe you’ve been too timid, or maybe people are just really caught up in their own lives. You can’t fault someone for not thinking about you when their plate is overflowing.
The Honest Approach: It is okay to remind them that you exist. Social media is great, but it’s also not a bad idea to get creative. Depending on your relationship you might consider reaching out directly to tell people about new products or services you’re offering. Nurture your relationships with other businesses by showing your support. This is a good time to promote your fellow businesses on social media. Will mutual back scratching come from this? Sure. But most importantly, you’re modelling the kind of support and respect we should be showing each other. Be the person who lifts others up- that is the person people want to stand behind.
They are already doing the best they can.
Not everyone has the means to become customers. Everyone has different budgets and different responsibilities. Remember that not all support is financial. It’s also important to remember that you might not see all of the support you’re getting. I often refer people to my friend’s small businesses without telling the business owners.
The Honest Approach: Thanking your loved ones for all the support they give you, no matter how small. Don’t get caught up in the “would it kill them to spend $10 with me” mentality. It’s not your place to decide how other people should spend their hard earned money. Make sure that you are taking the time to show gratitude for referrals and social media exposure. Instead of thinking “it costs nothing to share my post”, think “thank you for taking the time to share my post”.
It is really hard to run a small business. There are going to be so many times when you have to focus on the negative, but wondering if your ex-boyfriends old coworker hates you because they aren’t waiting for your doors to open in the morning is not the time. Remind yourself that YOU ARE GREAT and all you can do is to continue to be great. Even if you do everything perfectly you won’t be for everybody. You can be the juiciest peach and somebody won’t like peaches (or you can sell the juiciest peaches and somebody won’t like peaches). And everyone who isn’t a customer is just somebody waiting to be turned into a customer, right?
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