If you take a moment to think about it, you probably know at least a few people who own their own small businesses. And if you have any experience as an entrepreneur, you know just how challenging it can be to succeed in this area of business. So if you want to be supportive of your friends or family members in their small business pursuits without actually financially investing in their business, you’ll be happy to know that there are all kinds of ways that you can offer this support.
To help you see how this can be done, here are three ways you can support your loved ones and their small businesses.
Hire Them When Possible
Depending on the type of business that your loved one is running, you should seek to hire them or make purchases from them as often as you’re able to.
Think about the products or services that you use on a regular basis, and then consider if you’re getting that product or service from a loved one that you know has a small business in this market. If you’re not already working with them, it might be time to start. While small businesses might have slightly higher prices than bigger corporations, you’ll be knowing that your money is going toward supporting your loved one, their dreams, and their families.
Give Them Referrals
If your loved one has a business that isn’t relevant to you, like they’ve just opened a senior living community but you’re not at this stage of life yet, you can still support them by sending referrals their way.
By sending more business toward your loved one and their organization, even though you yourself aren’t going to be financially supporting their business, you can help them to get more business and make more money. Along with this, the people that you’re referring to your loved one’s business will likely love having a personal connection to a company that they’ll soon be using.
Providing Emotional Support
Running a business is never an easy task. The amount of time, energy, money, and stress that goes into being a business owner can be too much for many people to handle on their own. Knowing this, any kind of emotional support that you can offer someone as they’re trying to make their own business succeed can be invaluable to them.
You can offer emotional support through things like sharing information about their business on social media, volunteering to help them when things get overwhelming for them, helping out with family obligations, and so much more.
If you have loved ones running small businesses that you want to support, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you in doing this.
