Entrepreneurs or startup founders know the challenges involved in growing a startup. From the outside, it looks easy. Even if the startup has survived for a few years, their is always a constant threat of failing. The threats are market changes, competition, government rules & regulation updates, changes in the management team, and many more.
If you have a startup, have occupied an office, and have more than five employees, people see you as successful. Your friends and family see all that and they start asking for favors. Friends and family may want to work with you or become business partners, they start asking for job opportunities for them or for someone else they know. Sometimes you have to say yes even if you don’t want to.
In my last year of college, I had a startup idea and started working on it. I made the mistake of working with my friends. It almost never works.
With my experience, I always have friends and spend time with them outside. If you hire or work with friends and family, they will put the relationship first and work second, every time. There is no pressure on you to hire or work with them, but if you do, and they do not perform well, it could spoil your career and theirs too. If they do not perform as per the expectations, it will be very painful for you to fire them. They will never understand what they are costing you and they are not contributing enough in the revenue for your business. This can affect your friendship and relationship with them. Sometimes it can get ugly between family or friends because they don’t understand you and your business and it can cost you your business.
If any of your friend or family requires help regarding a job or career, just tell them politely that you’re not hiring and give them career advice, or help them in connecting with the right person who can give them a job opportunity.
Sometimes, in rare cases, your friend or family member might contribute and become a great asset for your business. In some cases, brothers start a business and create billion dollar companies. If you have someone who is your friend or family and working well, you don’t have to worry about anything.
If you have already made the mistake of hiring someone from your circle of friends or family and they’re not performing well, make a decision asap. They will not magically turn around and become productive overnight. The sooner you let them go, the easier it will be for both parties.
If you have a team member who is not contributing at their best, it sets a bad example for the other team members who are working hard. If one of them is working at 50% of their potential, this will impact all the team members, and they will synchronize themselves to that level of potential. It will destroy your company work culture and productivity.
If you lose money in your business, you have lost nothing. But if you lose your customers, work culture, and brand name, you have lost everything. Always think twice before you hire someone and always say no to your friends and family.
Pankul Bindal is a Blogger and Digital Marketer. He is passionate about Computer Programming and Digital Marketing.
