Q: Mr. Strauss: Although my wife, and the mother of my three children, isn’t an entrepreneur, I hope you can help me acknowledge her and other moms like her who help us run our small businesses and make us successful. Thank you.
Jermaine, TN
A: Mother’s Day certainly makes us appreciate the moms in our lives a little bit more, doesn’t it?
Long-time readers of this column know that I like to refer to my dad now and then, as he was the first and best entrepreneur I ever knew. Dad had a business partner, and together they grew their single, tiny carpet store into a significant chain of stores throughout Southern California.
At the time, as I was growing up, I remember my mom saying how she and my dad had created that businesses and grew it together. I always humored mom when she said that, but in my heart I figured that it was really my dad and his business partner who built that business.
That is, of course, until I grew up.
I have started and run several businesses over the past fifteen years or so, and if it wasn’t for my sweet wife – and the mother of my children – I don’t know what I would have done.
I have this pet theory: I think every great cuisine has a “secret ingredient” that gives that food its unique flavor. For Chinese food, for instance, I would say it is sesame oil. Mexican food? Cilantro.
What I now know, what I didn’t know when I was a young boy listening to my mom, is that a spouse, be it a husband or wife or significant other, is often the secret ingredient in the recipe that makes for a great small business. If you think about it, mates serve several functions in an entrepreneurial home:
They are a sounding board: The vast majority of small businesses in this country are one-person business run by someone working alone, for the most part. These may be sole proprietors or freelancers or even LLCs, but whatever the case, it is a situation where one person wears a lot of hats.
This is where their mate comes in.
The good news about working alone is that there is no one to report to or to bug you. But the bad news is that you end up in a vacuum where it is hard to get perspective. Does this pending deal make sense? Should I invest in that new product line? For many people, it is their spouse who helps them answer these sorts of questions.
Without a business partner or staff or board of directors, solo small business people rely heavily on their mate to keep them moving in the right direction.
They can be brutally honest: The adjunct to this is that a mate can be more frank with you than probably anyone else. I run a lot of business ideas by my wife, some of which she thinks are rather kooky. That’s actually good to hear because it can help save me from investing time and money in a plan that may not be so great as I first thought.
They give you a unique, different perspective: While mates usually do not know our businesses as well as we do, that can sometimes be a blessing. By discussing business issues with a “novice” you get a perspective that can at times be invaluable. (At other times it can also drive you crazy, but that’s the subject of a different column.)
They keep the home fires burning: Starting and running a small business is, as we all know, a major commitment in a variety of ways. Having a supportive partner can make things easier by taking care of some extra household duties, especially in the first few years of the business when the time commitment to the business is usually the worst.
They are the cheerleaders: Finally, a great mate can help boost morale when it is needed, and cheer you on when things are going well.
So, although my dear, sweet mom is no longer with us, I would still like to say “You were right, mom.” And to all of the great spouses out there (including mine!) who help we entrepreneurs live the dream, I would like to say thank you very, very much. We couldn’t do it without you.
Today’s tip: Bette Nesmith was a remarkable mom an entrepreneur. A single mom and secretary at a bank in the 1950s, she was also not a very good typist. So one day she snuck some Tempura paint into work and secretly painted over her typos. Eventually, word of this great idea got out and friends said, “Bette, you have got to turn this into a business.” She did, creating “Liquid Paper” in the process, while continuing to raise her son Michael Nesmith who went on to star in The Monkees and become a Hollywood producer.