MBA2618 Q&A Wednesday: How Do I Start a Business If My Family Thinks it's a Bad Idea?

0:00What if the people closest to your family don't believe in your business dreams? They love you. They want to protect you. But that same love can feel like the biggest weight on your shoulders. If you've ever felt like your family just doesn't get it, this one is for you.

0:21Welcome back to the$100 MBA show. I'm your host, Omar Zinhome, where I deliver practical business lessons three times a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to help you start, grow and scale your business. Look, this is not about bad intentions. Your family genuinely believes a traditional job is the safest path to financial security because that's what they know. That's what they worked with all their life. This is what they saw in front of them growing up. It's survival logic. Job equals food on the table. Job equals health insurance. Job equals safety net. You can fill in the blanks. So when you start talking about quitting your job or building a business, it's natural for them to panic.

1:00It's natural for them to feel worried. Not because they don't believe in you, but because they're afraid for you. And honestly, I get it. I feel for your family. This isn't about convincing. It's about showing. You don't need to start a debate. You don't need to argue about this. You don't need to win them over with logic or a TED Talk on entrepreneurship, right? What you want to do is you want to live out your journey out loud. Let them see it happening. Educate them throughout your experience. Let them know, hey, I'm not quitting my job and just throwing caution at the wind. I'm just using some of my earnings and the weekends to explore a business idea.

1:41Share little wins. I made my first sale. That's something that you should definitely share with your family, right? I made$100. I made$1 ,000. I helped somebody build something or create something. And then share the progress. This month I made$1 ,000. Next month I made$2 ,000. next month I made$5 ,000. Now, it's not as much as your paycheck, but it's good for them to feel that there is progress and that there is another way to earn money outside of a job. And slowly, without forcing anything, they'll see your momentum. They'll realize that you're not being reckless. You're being resourceful. And you are taking calculated risks.

2:15You're not just throwing your whole life away. You're building something on the side to see how it goes. I think it's important for you to respect your family's fear. You want to respect their caution. It just makes sense on their side of things. But don't adopt their limits. Over time, your progress will begin to chip away at the belief that a job is the only way to be financially stable. You might find them asking questions like, Wait, you made$3 ,000 this month working on your business on the side for just six hours a week? How did you do that? they might ask questions like so what if you had 40 hours a week but they won't ask any of these questions if you don't share your progress and that's how it starts the doubt starts to creep in not the doubt in you but in their old beliefs and guess who helped them get there you did by showing them not telling them no one wants to be lectured but if they can see without a shadow of a doubt that there is progress, that there is hope, that there is another way they convince themselves rather than you trying to convince them.

3:21So like I mentioned, the only way this works is that you share your journey. You must share your journey. Don't keep your business journey to yourself. Share the wins. Share the struggles, right? Let them know when you had a bad day or when things don't actually work out. Obviously, this is as a side hustle, right? They know that you have the security of the job, but it's good for you to share the wins and the struggles and let them see the ups and downs of your business to understand that, hey, you are putting in a lot of effort to make this happen. You're taking this seriously. You're putting your name out there and you are willing to take the blows in order to get some wins.

3:59Now, this is not just for their sake. It's for yours because building something in the shadows alone, that's isolating. That's hard. And there's no reason to do that. But sharing the journey, if you do this, even if they don't fully understanding it, it brings them along for the ride. They start to buy in. And eventually, you'll be surprised how supportive they'll start becoming. They just need to see it to believe it. The bottom line is that entrepreneurship is a way of life. And it's like you're trying to convince somebody that exercise is good. And they won't really believe that exercise is good in their bones where they'll continue to exercise every day until they actually see the benefits of exercise themselves.

4:41Experience is the number one way people change. They have an experience and their beliefs change and therefore their actions change. Come at it with a sense of love and support and understanding. See it from their perspective, but at the same time, do what you got to do to see some progress and share that progress with them. Listen, I get it. You might feel like I don't need their permission to start something. I should be able to do what I want to do in my free time. I understand that feeling and that argument. But you may as well earn their blessing through your progress, through your journey.

5:14It's good to have people on side to make things easier on you. Trust me, it's really hard to do this on your own against everybody. Make sure that their fears are heard as well as addressed. Believe in yourself enough to get the ball rolling because belief is contagious. They'll start to see things progress. Even if your family doesn't believe in your dream yet, they will start to believe in you as they see things moving along. And one day they'll be proud of how far you've come. Empathize with their situation, but also understand that you need to include them in your journey. That was a question from Anil.

5:54If you have a question you want to ask here on the$100 MBA show. Just send it over at 100mba.net slash Q. There's a form you can fill out and you can get your question answered right here on the podcast. And don't forget, if you want to go deeper and build your business with me, you could subscribe to our Three Things newsletter. Every week, I send you three things. One, something to think about, something to change your mindset. Two, something to do to see yourself moving forward every day. And number three, something to learn, something to enhance your skillset. It's how I coach you from afar.

6:28It's absolutely free. Just go to 100mba.net and sign up for any of our free guides and you'll get added to our newsletter automatically. I'm Omar Zenhom and I'll see you in the next one. Keep going. It's your turn to start turning things around.