No self-employed person is an island family, friends and employees have to be looked after... as well as yourself. Your family can be a vital ingredient in your success. Never underestimate their capabilities or forget about the impact self-employment is having on them. Not only are they affected by your change in working patterns and circumstances, but they may well be joint owners or a vital part of making your business work. It is estimated that over 85 per cent of small businesses in Europe are family-controlled.
Trouble can come in a number of areas.
- The family as investors. If members of your family have financial involvement in the company, this can lead to arguments and divisiveness. You may be uncomfortable with the idea and they may appear to be interfering in the business's day-to-day running.
- The family as workers. The family are often helping hands. This is great, but you have to be careful you don't abuse their assistance. Treating them as unpaid lackeys is hardly likely to be conducive to harmonious family relations. Similarly, if your business continues to rely on unpaid helpers, its financial sustainability has to be questioned. It is one thing taking advantage of offers of assistance in the early stages, quite another when the business should be well developed.
- The family as bystanders. At the other extreme, many families can feel excluded when you start your own business. It may be very exciting for you, but if you don't involve them they may well become less than enthusiastic. So, keep them up to date with what's happening and involve them wherever you can - without taking advantage of their natural willingness to help.
- People just don't understand. If you start your own greengrocer's shop, people can easily understand what you do and where. If, however, you work at home people, including family and friends, are notoriously slow at grasping exactly what you do and how. Their lack of insight or interest can seem hurtful, especially if you are taking a substantial risk in becoming self-employed. Among common comments are:
- The astonished 'What do you find to do all day?' Used to frittering away much of their time in traditional offices or spending hours commuting, people are amazed that you are busy doing something all of the time.
- The sensible advice. 'I saw a job in the paper which would really suit you' Uncomfortable with the idea of you working at home, people are keen to set you up with a proper job.
- The annoying 'I thought I'd give you a call just for a chat ...' This is a common problem. If you work in a proper job, your relatives would not call up in the middle of the afternoon and expect you to be ready to chat about ailing aunties for an hour. If you work at home, it is assumed that you have plenty of time on your hands.
- The patronizing. You'll have to be neat and tidy for that meeting'. If you work at home you tend to dress casually. People find it difficult to understand that when you have to be persuasive and impressively professional, you are capable of shaving and polishing your shoes.
No-one ever said that becoming self-employed would be easy. People setting out in search of a less stressful existence can be disappointed. But very many succeed in reducing the amount of unnecessary and counterproductive stress in their lives. For those in work, stress is an endemic feature of their existence. A survey of nearly 1,000 managers by the Institute of Management in 1993 observed: The impact of stress is far-reaching. Three-quarters say it has some impact on their morale, on their effectiveness at work and on their relationship with their partner. Seven in ten believe their overall health is affected. Two-thirds suffer disturbed sleep patterns and around half are often unable to get a particular worry out of their head,'
The British Safety Council estimates that stress and stress-related illnesses cost £90 million in working days and £13 billion in absenteeism every year. American figures calculate that stress cuts GNP by 10 per cent through inefficiency and absences.
A 1994 survey in the United Kingdom found that more than half of white collar workers claim that stress has increased in the past two years and 16 per cent admitted it had caused them to take time off. In addition, 37 per cent did not feel appreciated at work and more than a third would not pick the same job again. The research was carried out by the amusingly entitled Associates for Research into the Science of Enjoyment (ARISE). 'The nineties company is a lean, mean, stressful machine,' observed Professor David Warburton of Reading University. 'Most workers were led to believe that there would be a period of overwork in about 1992, and then they would go back to a period of normality. Now they find companies are downsizing and rightsizing and things are not changing: they are feeling more overworked.
Self-employment does not bring an automatic end to stress. Indeed, it can seem as if it simply produces a different type of stress. Among the most common causes of stress for self-employed people are:
- Isolation and responsibility. It's all down to you. There is no back-up. You are burdened with a heavy weight of responsibility from which there is no immediate escape.
- Work and play are inseparable. For those who work at home or live over their shop there is no escape. This can create problems on both sides as work trespasses into family life. Some sort of boundary needs to be established -make rules about working at weekends and evenings. Of course, these rules have to be flexible, but it is still worth having a few guidelines.
- Money. Without a regular assured salary, money worries are easily understood. To survive means that people need to be more pragmatic and flexible towards money. Poor cash flow is common to virtually every small business and is highly stressful. There is probably no way round it, so it has to be coped with.
- Worry is constant. You may land a big contract but, after the initial celebrations, your worries return - Will you be able to deliver? What happens afterwards? Are you putting all your eggs in one basket? Such concerns cannot easily be swept aside by blanket assertions that you are doing the right thing.
