How to Sell Your Spouse on Entrepreneurship

Apr 24, 2018

If you have the entrepreneur personality type, chances are you get really excited about new ideas. But does your spouse feel the same way?

In this episode, I break down 3 tips to warm them up to the idea without hurting your marriage.

Think about it. In sales, it sometimes takes a prospect 12 encounters with your offer before they purchase. The same may be true here. Your spouse may need several interactions with your new idea before they’re on board. Give them time!

I even break down an example of a new entrepreneurial idea in my own marriage…and I was the spouse with hesitations!

Check out my 3 tips in the video and come join the conversation on Facebook. What happened the first time you told your spouse about a new entrepreneurial idea?

 

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Video Transcript:

Today I want to talk to you about how to sell your spouse on the idea of entrepreneurship.

We get really excited right when we have ideas and if we’re entrepreneurs and we have that personality type, we think it’s a great idea but our spouse may not.

So I want to give you three tips today to help warm them up to the idea so that it doesn’t hurt your marriage.

So tip number one is gifting time to warm up.

Think of selling your spouse on this idea kind of like you would a sale right. you go to the store you see something but you’re not sure you want it so you go home you think about it you go back again.

In a sale it can sometimes take 12 touches before a prospect will buy, so for your spouse, they may need to hear about this idea 12 times before it starts to really feel like an okay idea.

Let me give you a story.

So Alex and I we thought that you know one day we heard about Bitcoin and we’re like let’s invest in Bitcoin. I was not sold on the idea. Alex was, so he was really strategic about it.

Day one was just like, “hey what do you think of Bitcoin?”

Day two or a week later it was more like, “hey read this post about Bitcoin… oh look there’s a magazine article about Bitcoin.. hey did you know, that you know my friend invested in Bitcoin?”

And it was like, every day there were different angles at which he kind of warmed me up to the idea of investing.

So eventually I came around, but I needed like 12 different touch points before I was convinced.

So if you have an idea to go into business give your spouse at least 12 times to hear about it in different ways before you think it’s a lost cause.

Not only that but you want those 12 touches to be in different ways. Don’t just have the same conversation 12 times.

Think about it from different angles. Do you have other reading material? Do you have statistics? Do you have friends?  Do you have social proof? Do you have history together that can help you know push them over the edge so to speak?

So that’s my first tip is give them time.

The second tip is to know your numbers.

So people will feel better if they know that you’ve thought about it.

That you’ve actually figured out how much you need to make, what it’s going to cost to your business and what your numbers game is.

If it’s just like a big idea and you tend to have big ideas, it’s gonna be a much harder sell.

And entrepreneurs, if you have that personality type, you’re gonna have ideas all the time.

So before you tell your spouse about your idea sit with it for a while. Maybe tell some friends. Then crunch the numbers and then bring it to them.

The third tip is once your spouse is kind of on board and they’re ready to to entertain this idea, now you should really make a transition plan.

And this is where you need to kind of decide if your spouse is wanting to be a part of that transition plan or if they’re like, “nope this is your deal. You just let me know when you’re making money.”  

Especially if you’re leaving a corporate job. It’s gonna be really scary for the spouse who’s come to depend on that corporate job.

Sometimes it’s the women who are the breadwinner.

Sometimes it’s the men.

But it can be really scary, so make a transition plan.

That means things like think about what you’re losing in your job whether it’s health insurance, life insurance, a 401k and how you’re going to recoup that in a different way, as an entrepreneur.

And there are lots of options for entrepreneurs, if you start hanging around other entrepreneurs they’re going to give you ideas about how to get lower health insurance, how to find life insurance, what kind of investments to make.

Because entrepreneurship is a completely different gig than like the corporate nine-to-five.

So make that transition plan with your spouse. Or if they prefer not without.

And those three things together a transition plan, understanding your numbers and having the conversation and multiple different kinds of conversations over the course of several weeks and months should help your spouse get on board.

The worst case scenario is they never do. That’s a real personal decision.

I personally think it’s very very difficult to become an entrepreneur if you have no support. So I would definitely think twice before diving in if you can’t get your spouse on board.

You know that the best conversations happen after the camera stops rolling. I would love to know in the comments below how your spouse reacted the first time you brought up entrepreneurship.

Did they come on board right away?

Were they like gung-ho or was it a roll like it took a long time?

I find some couples the the spouse that was not very encouraging become so encouraging later. In fact, they become part of the business. So it’s your job to really cast the vision because as an entrepreneur, you’re gonna see the vision differently than someone who prefers that more steady security.

So let me know what you’re doing in your world, your marriage, your business to help both of you become on the same page. And for more videos like this one you can go to Juliechenell.com. I’ll see you next time.

Julie Chenell initials

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Get in touch! I teach strategic business growth tacticss for everyday people.

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