There is often more than one right answer, and this seems to be particularly true for the question of whether folks should lean on family and friends for support with the brands. Your circumstances, relationships and other factors can determine what’s right for you – but we wanted to get a conversation going on the topic as it’s something that comes up often in our chats with entrepreneurs and creatives in the community.

Jen Enck

Asking friends and family for support is definitely something I have struggled with. I have had to change my mindset about it. I do art shows locally in Arizona so mostly I use social media to let my friends and family where I will be doing my next event. I’m so thankful they support me by sharing a post or showing up to check out the event. Not only do these actions support me they are also supporting hundreds of small business/maker friends they are also selling their work at the event. I’m so proud of my fellow makers and I get excited to share their work. I realized that if I didn’t share the info, it would be hindering others and not just myself from growth and potential sales. Read more>>

Yaya Anthony

I feel that you shouldn’t have to ask family and friends to support. It should be an automatic thing. Family should be your number 1 supporters. Friends can sometimes be a little tricky though but you still shouldn’t have to “ask”. You can’t draw a line if there is not one to draw. Either you or you don’t. I’ve learned this by just living life. Every Support is not a genuine support. The ones that do support me I love yall and soon as I make I’m coming back to grab my people. Read more>>

Kamesia Rainey

Starting a business, typically your family and friends are the first to hear about it. An idea pops up in your head and to ensure that it is a great one, you test it out on the ones closest to you. Let me just say that it doesn’t always stay that way. I’ve learned in my years of being in business, that strangers are your biggest supporters. They would believe in your dreams, patronize your services and manifest success in your business faster than people you’ve known for decades. I have family and friends that would rather support others, doing the same thing as me, instead of me. I used to blame it on financial instability but seeing them not hesitate to pay others, sometimes more than what I require, let me know that wasn’t the reason. I have some family and friends that loves to support me, but it comes with negotiations. My target audiences when promoting and marketing will always be strangers first, they seem to value your worth more than the ones under your nose. Read more>>

Janece Streeter

As a realtor, a huge part of the business is relationship and referral based. We rely a lot on our SOI (Sphere of Influence), these are people who already know, like and trust us enough to allow us to handle their real estate transactions. When first starting as a realtor, we almost expect our friends and family to utilize us to help them. While most friends and family are very supportive, it is also sometimes hard for them to look at us in a professional capacity, especially if real estate is not our first career. Read more>>

Tiera Coleman

I found in my experience that unfortunately, sometimes the biggest supporters of your business happen to be those that are not a part of your family/friend group, and it is also been proven overtime that the work that you put in is appreciated more by those who are outside of your immediate family rather than those that you just me or build strong bonds with due to business. Overall, the silver lining to this can be that sometimes, those strangers then become chosen family/framily. Read more>>

Kathrine & Megan

For us, it was a no-brainer that our friends and family would be on board to support our dreams. Sometimes, it can feel awkward or create a sense of pressure to feel like you HAVE to support a friend or family member’s small business, so we were very mindful of that at the beginning. As it turned out, we didn’t even have to ask them to purchase anything. They all knew what we working on because we talked about it nonstop and bounced ideas off of them frequently, so they were excitedly anticipating our launch date with us. Once we launched, most of our first orders came from names we recognized. We were so grateful for that initial support. Read more>>