Once you’ve finally reached your goals and you’re on your way to starting your first business, you begin to realize there are more pressures outside of the business life you begin to encounter.
The unfortunate truth that many business owners or entrepreneurs don’t realize is that the pressures of being a startup founder carry into your personal life as much as they are in your business life.
Once you have encountered the two types of social pressures that many entrepreneurs must face, it is severely important that you handle them in a way that isn’t detrimental to you.
Friends and family
One of the biggest outside social pressures of running a business or beginning a startup comes from your friends and family.
It starts out innocently and they obviously mean no harm; they simply want to see you succeed. What they don’t know is that it sometimes takes a long time to become successful when it comes to running a business.
Sure – your parents can probably name two successful startup founders: Bill Gates and Mark Cuban. They certainly couldn’t tell you how many times they failed as entrepreneurs or how long it took them to get to where they are.
Your family and friends will not understand some of the decisions you make or what happens if your business fails. They may constantly ask and pressure you to do things differently or give them unwarranted opinion. Their concern with how your business is going may be overwhelming.
While your friends and family only want what’s best for you, sometimes it would be nice if they would just take a step back.
The Internet
Thanks to the Internet, everyone’s opinion matters in one way or another.
The pressures from the Internet can be almost as overpowering as the ones from your parents. Sure; a few positive reviews can help get the ball rolling and the word spread about your business, but a few negative ones can crush everything you’ve worked for.
Despite how you do things for your business or how successful you are, the Internet and all of its glorious users will find a way to berate you and make your decisions feel mediocre.
If you’re doing something against the grain or out of the ordinary, people will find a way to destroy your reputation or make you feel wrong for choosing that path. Brands like Apple and Microsoft get ridiculed on a daily basis but because those brands are so successful, their founders don’t care about the negative comments found online.
As small business owner or entrepreneur, you may feel differently about negative reviews and comments.
Handling the pressures
So what do you do when these pressures begin to rise and the overwhelming anxiety takes over?
The key ingredient to surviving social pressures is to remind yourself that everything you do is for your customers. If you are making decisions that provide the best services and products for your loyal customers, then continue to do what you do. Stand firmly behind what your brand represents and don’t let a few nay-sayers make you think different.
There will always be people who don’t want you to succeed, especially strangers on the Internet. Resolving issues with unhappy customers can help keep the positive words about your brand out, but ignore the ones who have never dealt with your or your business. They will fade away.
Your friends and family will always press you about your business. Even when problems arise, it’s okay to tell your family that things are going well and change the subject if you have grown tiresome from talking about it. Unless your friends are entrepreneurs themselves, they will not understand what you are dealing with, so it’s okay to not feel comfortable discussing it. Once you have established a boundary with your family that you are comfortable with, some of the pressures they induce may feel less apparent.
If you’ve learned how to deal with the social pressures of your business but could still use some helpful advice and tips, sign up for your free newsletter to Successful Startup 101. You can find exclusive information for entrepreneurs and startup founders that you won’t find anywhere else.
