My First Business Lesson

In 2010, I created my first social media webinar and was proud of it. Now, it was time to get people to register. I had a bright idea. I would simply ask my friends to forward the email to their friends to spread the word. Simple, right?

Not so much… What I thought would take someone less than five minutes to do proved to be fruitless. I was expecting them to do something for me that they wouldn’t do for themselves. And it made me angry for some time because these were people I had helped with numerous things.

I was reminded that my reason for helping them wasn’t because I wanted them to help me in return. But, I naively thought that they would see my hard work and want to support me.

Sometimes we project our expectations unto others and that can be unfair. We put undue pressure on our family and friends. Anything could be happening in their lives to get in the way of their support.

I’m not suggesting that it’s okay for family and friends to drop the ball of support. I am suggesting, though, that you should not be angry and offended if they do not support you. Focus your efforts on attracting those your product and services are designed to help. After all, you created your business to be a solution to a specific problem, not for it to be a family and friends special.

Your business will experience true growth when you go beyond your network of family and friends.

Have you had a similar experience? Comment below.

Suzzette Turnbull is a social media speaker and trainer. Also, author of The Ultimate Guide to Understanding and Getting Started with Social Media.