What about the family???

My Rule No. 4 - Family Support. I have to be honest here... it's great if you can get it.

When I finally made the decision to start my housecleaning business, I didn't get a lot of support. To be perfectly candid, I didn't get any support. A mom of three (ages 25, 15 and 11) My two younger children didn't have an opinion either way. My oldest and my husband, on the other hand, both told me how I would never be able to do it. How I shouldn't even try to do it.  "You never follow through on anything. You are in pain all the time as it is, you'll never be able to handle it physically. How are you going to find clients?" Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Okay, so I've talked a blue streak for years about what new business venture I was "going to do." Okay, so I've got fibromyalgia and will be 50 years old in a year and a half. So what. This time was different and I was going to show them.

Show them I did. In spite of them (or maybe in spite of myself), with constant prayer and God's help, I did it. It is funny. Even after I got my first client, they still told me that it wouldn't last for long. Well now, client number two and still they doubted. Guess what? Client number three was a "wait, stop, maybe she can do this." By client number four, my husband was talking about how "if you keep going at this rate..." By client number five (and paying for Weltson all by myself), they really took notice. "At this rate, you can quit your regular job." "At this rate, you'll be able to have him paid off in no time." "At this rate..."

How important is family support? I don't believe that I can answer that for anyone. For some, it may be everything. It may be so important, that you simply cannot get started without it. For others, it may be wanted but not needed. And for others, who may be like me, completely bent on making it work (no matter what anyone says), you will succeed with or without it.

Would I have liked to have had their support and encouragement? You bet. It certainly would have made it a lot easier to get started. And, it is probably why so many other thoughts about and attempts at self-employment in the past failed. I simply wasn't passionate enough about "something" to make it happen. And assumed that, without their support, failure was guaranteed. This is where we come full circle, without passion, no matter whose support you do or don't have, it won't work.

So, just HOW important is family support? If you are anything like me, it is important but certainly NOT needed. You must be the judge of that.