Family and Friends Don’t “Get” Your Business? Here’s Why That’s Not a Bad Thing.
Your family and friends may be the worst supporters of your social impact business.
Now, I don’t have mean intentions when saying this!
But I want to start out today’s post with this statement right here because family and friends are most always the first place we look to for support upon starting our social endeavors.
We have high expectations when it comes to the support of our family and friends. We want them to believe just as much as we do in what it is we are building and sharing to the world.
I’ve heard from many of you, however, that your family and/or friends are not supporting you the way you wish they were.
As difficult as this situation is, let me share with you a couple of reasons why lacking support from family and friends (as negative as that sounds) may actually be a blessing in disguise:
You will start from a place where you are truly not dependent on anyone
Showcasing your work to the public can be scary.
I’ve been there.
I think all social entrepreneurs have been there at one point or another.
Because your social impact business is something that comes from deep down within you and represents your utmost values, it can feel like personal rejection when not everyone finds value in or resonates with the work you’re doing.
This fear of rejection can lead us to lean on the ones we love the most and become dependent on their support, and this is problematic.
When we become dependent on someone else’s support, we begin to value their thoughts over ours.
As a result, we allow our friends and family to guide our decisions and we second guess ourselves.
And if your friends and family don’t support you, yet you are searching for that support to gain the courage to begin, you may never start.
We cannot rely on the encouragement of others and we cannot allow ourselves to be discouraged by others.
If you all remember one thing from today’s blog, I want this to be the takeaway: You are unleashing YOUR something amazing.
This is not your friend’s something amazing or your husband’s something amazing.
It’s yours.
Your values may not align with the values of your close friends and family, and that’s okay.
For those of you who have family and friends that just don’t “get” your social impact business, the value of your social endeavor doesn’t lessen.
There are millions of people in this world who need your impact. You just haven’t found your target audience yet (which we will discuss how to find later in this post).
My recommendation to you is to start now.
It’s much simpler said than done.
I know.
But I do not want any of you to get caught in the vicious cycle of feeling as though you must wait for the approval from those around you to begin.
It can be tough to remember that we choose our direction in life independently of everyone else.
You do not need everyone’s support to get the job done.
Your product - whatever it is - doesn’t have to be perfect.
You do not have to share your content today or tomorrow.
Just start and learn from the process.
Make mistakes!
And when you’re ready, put your content out there.
If your family and/or friends don’t support you, take advantage of it.
Unleash your something amazing because you’re ready and you believe in what you’re doing.
You can be sure it’s you who is ready, regardless of whomever’s supporting you.
2. You will waste less time
One of the most important questions when it comes to starting up any business is: how are you going to fund it?
Many social entrepreneurs rely on donations from family and friends early-on and while this is great, it’s not sustainable long-term.
Additionally, a great deal of social entrepreneurs spread themselves thin in the beginning and will ask anyone to donate to their cause.
But this couldn’t be more ineffective.
Let me tell you why.
Did you know that 71% of all donations made to nonprofits come from individual giving?
These individuals are not just family and friends.
The majority of people that give money do so because they love the work being done and feel personally connected with the mission of that specific charity.
What you need is a strategy to target those people, your “ideal donor,” in order to get those tougher donations and to create income that can be sustained overtime.
For example, if your social endeavor helps senior citizens in senior facilities, you may want to target the sons and daughters of those senior citizens.
1). You’re working directly with their loved one(s)
2). They will see the need in what you’re doing due to their personal experiences and struggles with their aging parents
Make sense?
Your ideal donors are those most likely to feel personally connected to your mission and see the importance in the work you do.
And then, the question becomes: How do I best reach these people?
I commonly see social entrepreneurs begin with their social media.
Let’s take Facebook, for example.
You’re creating content and sharing this content to your Facebook friends.
Maybe you aren’t getting the responses you want.
Again, this is because you’re targeting people you know.
You aren’t attracting attention from the right audience.
Social media is great for sharing content, but it’s not the place to create content.
This is why I recommend first creating content on a Youtube channel, your own personal website, or a blog.
What these three marketing tools have in common is that they’re all search engines, meaning that you can be found by anyone in the world.
If you’re putting quality content out there, people that resonate with your mission will find you and follow you.
Then, you can funnel these individuals into your social media, engage with them, and begin to build your brand.
But first, you need to create content on a searchable platform to connect with those like-minded individuals.
We talk more about this in my Unleash Your Profit course where we help you to promote, brand, and monetize your business.
We work with you to:
Build a roadmap to find your ideal donors
Create the right messaging to attract and connect with your audience
Design a sustainable, long-term fundraising strategy
Establish a brand your ideal donors want to be a part of
All in all, without those initial donations from family and/or friends, you’ll hit this hurdle early-on and will be challenged to think strategically from the get-go:
How will you fund your social impact business sustainably?
Many social entrepreneurs don’t reach this point until later on in their journey when they’ve exhausted all funds, and that’s okay!
It’s all trial and error.
But in regards to your situation, you’re one step ahead of the others.
You’re avoiding a common mistake.
And that is such a great thing.
3. You will find out whether or not people see value in your product
Sometimes social entrepreneurs find themselves in a situation that is completely opposite from what I’ve described above.
This situation is the so-called “echo-chamber.”
Family and friends are excited to support you and they all tell you that your product is great.
But, this isn’t showing you what the market wants.
Social entrepreneurs in this situation may receive a ‘false sense of value’ in regards to their product.
Don’t get me wrong.
It’s great when family and friends do support you and your social impact!
But there comes a time when we need to step out of our immediate circle and unleash our social endeavor to the world to understand our product’s place in the market.
From there, all the pieces will fall into place.
Once we solve a need in the market, we can then adjust our fundraising strategy, marketing strategy, and overall business plan accordingly.
In other words, you’re likely to be more objective about your idea if a situation like this is avoided.
Becoming attached to one idea is never good in the beginning, but remaining flexible and open to new ideas is important.
And this won’t be a problem for you!
I hope you now agree with me (if not before) that there are pros to a situation like this!
1) You will start from a place where you are truly not dependent on anyone
2) You will think about sustainability from day 1
3) You will gain an accurate representation of your product in the marketplace
All three of these points are necessary for your social endeavor to be successful and you’re in such a great place to accomplish them.
My final message to you is this: Don’t let anyone stop you from unleashing your something amazing.
If you need any help along the way, my Unleash Your Purpose course walks you step by step from the idea to the filing stage and connects you with other like-minded social entrepreneurs.
We would love to have you join us!
But for now, take baby steps towards creating a base of content on a searchable platform, learn along the way what resonates with people and what doesn’t, adjust your social impact from there, and you’ll find the support you need.
There is no perfect time to start.
