MBA1930 Q&A Wednesday: How do I tell my spouse I want to start a business?

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We've all been there. You hold on to a coupon, hoping to cash it in at the store, but then you forget about it and suddenly you've got a mountain of useless expired coupons.

Do you think this one's still good? Free milk.

Oh, mate, that expired in 1993.

Dang it.

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Ooh, how about this one? Half off floppy disks.

Now you should try a bit of spring cleaning.

It feels good to save big. It feels good to Geico. Having that talk with your significant other about starting a business is an important one. And at first you might think this is gonna be an emotional discussion. This is gonna be emotional talk. My significant other knows me more than anybody else. I'm afraid that they'll judge me or maybe shoot down my idea. And it's gonna hurt even more coming from somebody I love so much. So it's kind of safer just to keep it inside and not tell other people. But the reality is that this business won't be a reality if you don't start working, start doing, start implementing. And you're gonna need the person that's closest to you to be in the know to be supportive. Because eventually when this business grows and becomes your full time thing, their life is gonna be affected. It's who you are. You are changing. So my advice is to try to remove the emotion as much as possible and almost see yourself like you're pitching your business to an kind of like what you see On Shark Tank now, the sharks bite. You know, they invest when they see facts, they see information, they see numbers, they see action, they see proof that this business is viable, and they're convinced this is a good idea. I think we should do this. I think we should go to business together. And in some way, the person you live with, the person you're involved with emotionally and practically every day in your life, they're investing in you in terms of being a partner in your life. So they need to be sold. They need to be understood that, okay, this is actually not a bad idea. This is actually a good idea, and you have a plan to move forward. So this is probably your most important pitch, because you can pitch to several investors, but you can't pitch to several partners. You know, you got your partner, you want to stick with them, right? So what you don't want to do is you don't want to just approach them and say, hey, I'm thinking about starting a business. This is my idea. Ideas are dime a dozen. And it's easy for somebody to be like, okay, this is a great idea, but I deal with reality, right? They might say, hey, what about your day job? That's what's stable. That's what pays the bill. That's what helps our house, our family. Why would you leave something that's secure for something that's totally risky? And in their defense, that's a logical argument, right? And I wouldn't be advising coming into this conversation with more than just saying, I have an idea, if you weren't hesitant. The reason why you haven't shared this idea for over a year, Fred, is because you're afraid of the reaction. You're afraid of maybe you're going to get shot down or maybe you're going to be talked out of it. Some people are worried about that. So you want to come into this with some information, with some facts, and with a game plan, okay, that also addresses your partner's concerns. Just like if you sell a product to somebody, they have concerns, they have rebuttals. You need to address these or they're not going to buy. So this is a good starting point. What are some of the concerns your spouse might have with you sharing this news? And list them out because they might be different for you versus other people. I can suggest some right now and say, hey, they might be concerned with, you know, the stability of the household, the amount of time that's going to take. If you can pull it off, if you have the experience. Do you have any data to Prove that this idea can be fruitful. You know, it could be a whole list of things. You know your partner better than I do, so go ahead and list them. And then you gotta have some information, some research, something prepared for that. And by the way, they're not wrong. Like, this is actually great preparation for you. You need to prove to yourself and to them that this is a good idea, that this is something you should pursue. And this SWOT analysis really will allow you to do that. Next. Most people do not like spontaneity. They don't like extremes, they like consistency. Right? So if you have a plan to get to the end goal, let's say, for example, you want to start an online business like you mentioned, you want it to be your full time thing, you want to be able to make more money and have more freedom. That's the end goal. Maybe that's where you're at in five years from now. But what are the steps to get you there and what does that look like for you? Maybe that looks like you spending your weekends and your holidays working on your business for the first six months. Then that might graduate to also adding in, you know, a couple evenings during the week. If you're not going to be available. You need to include, they need to know, hey, you're busy, you're working on something else right now. The vacations that they might have in their head planned for the next summer may not happen because you are working on your business. You need to have some sort of stages or stepping stones once you get to a certain level of revenue. Maybe this means that you shift your current job to a four day work week. You're going to negotiate with your employer and work three days a week on your business. This might mean, you know, having a transition period where you become a consultant or freelancer for your company that you're currently working at while you work on the business, then finally that shift to full time entrepreneurship. But do you need milestones? You need some sort of like, hey, I'm not going to make these changes until we hit these certain milestones. The other thing I would recommend is try to include them in this process, in this transition where you actually say, I need you in this life changing decision, right? I'm going to have to learn a lot of things. I'm going to have to spend a lot of time doing different things. I'm going to have to maybe travel because of the business. I need your support. I need you to be there with me. I need you to push me when I need pushing. Get them to buy into your idea, buy into your business so that they can support you along the way. Now we got to talk about the elephant in the room. Finances. If you're starting a business with your own capital, you're going to have to talk about that. Some of the household money is going to be spent on something that you're working on, and you got to come to terms with that. You have to negotiate what is a good amount as your starting seed capital. They're going to dip in from your savings or from whatever. And again, this is very similar to somebody investing in your company, because they kind of are. Now, when you present your plan, when you present your business, when you present your answers to the rebuttals, you have to be ready for people's reaction. Somebody might just say, hey, I just don't think this is a good time for this. I don't think that this is the idea for you. Maybe they might say it's too risky. Don't get disappointed, right? Every good entrepreneur, every good salesperson expects rejection. Your job is to ask some questions. Hey, what's making you feel this way? How can we lower the risk? How can we make this happen? What is stopping us from taking at least one step forward? What's the low risk version of this plan? And see this as a discussion. Rather than you say something, they say yes or no. Lastly, ask how this makes them feel. Ask them what's going on in their head, what is in their heart right now, and just accept any emotions that they might experience. They have the right to feel any way they are currently feeling after you've had this discussion. But at the same time, feel free to share how you feel. Okay? How this excites you, how you feel like this is your calling, how you feel like you think that this is a great opportunity for you to grow as a person and something you've been looking for for some time. Express yourself as well. Because some people just don't know what's inside of you. They don't know how this makes you feel and how it affects you. So share that as well. And this leads me to one of my final points, which is spend at least half your time listening. Okay, I know that we frame this as like a pitch, but you are going to present and then you're going to ask some questions and you're going to listen to them. Give them a chance to speak and express themselves as well. Because you know what? They will feel cornered. Otherw if you just talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, pitch, pitch, pitch. They're going to feel. Oh, is there no room for discussion? Is this kind of an ultimatum? You don't want to create that tension. You want to make sure that this is a discussion and this is something that you really want to hear from, genuinely want to hear what they think and how they feel about the situation.

We've all been there. You hold onto a coupon, hoping to cash it in at the store, but then you forget about it and suddenly you've got a mountain of useless expired coupons.

Do you think this one's still good? Free milk.

Oh, mate, that expired in 1993.

Dang it.

Fortunately, there are better ways to save money. Like by switching to Geico, you could save about 900 on car insurance without ever touching a coupon.

Ooh, how about this one? Half off floppy disks.

Now you should try a bit of spring cleaning.

It feels good to save big. It feels good to Geico. To wrap up today's Q and A Wednesday's question from Fred. You got to tell your spouse about you wanting to start a business. Otherwise you can't start a business. Right? It's not something you can hide. Right? Nor do I recommend you hiding it. Okay, so really, this is your first step. This is your first level of making your business idea real. And listen, you know, you're probably imagining all different kinds of reactions and scenarios. You might be surprised, you might be surprised what they say. And the reality is you can't sell the people that love you the most on your business. You're not going to sell strangers. Thanks so much for listening to the 100 MBA show. If you love what you hear, hit subscribe so you don't miss an episode. Don't forget, if you've got a question you want to ask, just email me over at Omar MBA Net and I'll answer it right here on Q and A Wednesday. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. If you need to be an entrepreneur, if this is something that you just can't help but do you have to do this? This is your calling. And when you share this with your spouse and they are not on board, this could be crushing. But everything that is worth anything is going to be a little bit difficult. You might need a few talks, a few discussions, some time in between. Maybe you're going to need to prove to that person that you can do it. And this is a good idea. My point is, is that if you want to get something done, if you want your future to be a certain way, you're gonna have to fight for it, you're gonna have to work for it. Sometimes the best things in life are not free. They're gonna cost you some time, some energy, some commitment. Thanks so much for listening and I'll check you in tomorrow's episode. I'll see you. Gas, snacks, tolls.

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