Project: The Trust Fall

Friends and Family!

Everyone who has ever had a cell phone through a major carrier (isn’t that everyone, you’re probably thinking. Haven’t we all traded in our landlines for handhelds?) has heard this cellular campaign rhetoric before. You get to pick a limited amount of friends and family members to make unlimited calls and texts messages.

Of course, if that gets leaked, it is a tell-all to who’s who in your life - a few of your favorite people in life. Maybe they are just your I.C.E contacts? Of course like a Netflix queue, we have the privilege of adjusting those we call our top priority people.

However, sometimes out of those five friends and family (or however few or many we may choose) we decide to take a risk, take the plunge and pursue the vision we have. We decide to open shop.

Whether it is developing an app.

Or breaking ground for a new shopping complex.

We take the trust fall.

But because we are a family we often make a trust fail.

Hive fives do not cut it:

Now, maybe business used to be conducted with a firm handshake – and if only things were that honest and simple. However, imagine if you were in a family, would that handshake translate to a high five? Even so, don’t take for granted the love, birth to the present life-long relationship and subsequent character reference that you have with a family member or friend good enough to go off of.

You need paper trails. You need John Hancocks. You need digital files.

You need to protect both of your interests.

1) Define leadership:

Sure, there’s always someone who will give the shirt off his or her back. And, sure, on the flip side, if the plane has the potential of crashing you have to put your mask on before you can help someone else. So it is all about give and take. Still, one of you has to take the role of leadership more seriously. Otherwise, you will have apathy on some parts or alphas butting heads.

Without a clearly defined leader, you will not have a clearly defined business plan or direction.

2) Family time is family time:

Learn to set business parameters. Home. Work. Play.

Also, there will be times you have to distance yourself from each other. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing.

Don’t let your basketball court squabbles come into your conference room at work.

Don’t let your shredded documents from work become confetti at your kid’s birthday parties.

If your cell phone is used concurrently as your work phone, use discretion.

You do not get ahead by putting in more hours. You get ahead by putting more in your hours.

Also, when it comes to friends and family, it is always been about the quality. The quality of those whom we spend time with and the quality of time we spend with them.

So the hours you are at work with them, use them wisely. Because the hours you are not at work are the hours that made you feel you could trust them enough to have a business.

That made you feel passionate to pursue your vision. That made you excited to start a business that would make you jump out of bed.

That is the kind of family time you need to structure.

3) Mom & Pop & Sons:

A Mom & Pop store. A Father & Sons Establishment.

Either way, it is more than making a name for yourself; it is about making a legacy. You do not have to own an entity that employees thousands, you do not have to own a megaphone or have your face plastered on a billboard.

You have to see a problem, come up with a solution and start to resolve it. You have to make a difference and open the door for those behind you so they can continue to follow through.

You may have started with your family, but it is essential that you maintain your business in such a way that you protect it for your business family.

The trust fall takes at least two people.

Shake on it, hug it out, high five all the day long. Call each other up on the ol’ friends and family plan.

Just make sure you sign on some dotted line, somewhere. Make sure you are honest and up front. Make sure you protect each other. So make sure that you not only have each other’s backs, but you are protecting the backbone of the community. Both now and that of the future.

Going into business with those you love may be hard, and it is not for everyone. However, you do not have to have your trust fail you.

Are you a risk-taker? Did you take the trust fall with your family and loved ones?

Tell us your story!

-The Green Couch

Project: Part of The Special Opps

They’re the elite, perform strategic operations, have the advantage of their superior’s support and the element of surprise and yet they are practically self-reliant. They are unconventional, can overcome innumerable obstacles and have undergone and surpassed both physical and intelligent hurdles.

They are the special operation task force. And they mean business.

They take calculated risks. And they have taught me there’s a big difference between taking chances and being a risk taker.

Characteristics of taking chances:

Being blindingly and obsessively passionate with end results. Being inconsiderate of your surroundings – not taking into account the welfare of your family, friends, associates and employees. Gambling away your investor’s collateral. Jumping into business ventures without taking time to research. Desperate. Done.

Characteristics of taking risks:

Someone who is courageous and who is willing to put aside materialistic and conventionally idealistic dreams in pursuit of selfless and worthwhile, fulfilling visions. Someone who is passionate about who they are, what they do and know what matters in life. They count the cost and are willing to come up short. Dreamer. Doer.

I was in the vicinity of a wise woman recently and heard her say,

“Another good sign of an entrepreneur – people think you’re crazy.”

It’s true. There’s a good kind of crazy and yet still that inner calling to be an entrepreneur is something that comes with its own set of code of ethics, rules and standards. As a risk taker, you will be presented with and will search and seek out many special opportunities. Be wise in how you choose them and what you do with them.

•    Will this help people?

•    Will this help the next generation?

•    Will this make people - make me - happy?

•    Does the purpose of the produce or service align with my character?

•    Is this part of my dream?

•    Will it be successful in more ways than just financially?

•    In 20 years will I still love it?

•    Is this a reflection of who I am?

•    Will this be another job or a joy?

•    Am I willing to fight for it?

•    Will I keep my day job too and stay up all night to sustain it?

•    If I cannot do it am I willing to learn?

•    If I were to fail, would I rebuild?

•    Am I in it for the money?

If the only question you answered confidently was the last one with a “heck yes!” then it’s time to reevaluate the status of an entrepreneur, a risk taker. The lifestyle isn’t as glamorous as you may think. People will think you are crazy. You see, an entrepreneur is a dreamer. A doer. You’re up all day. All night. There are times you hate it, times you want to quit. You think you’re alone; there are times you want to be left alone but you’ve been given a special opp - a special opportunity, that is - and you took the risk.

After the highs and the lows, the rewards are that much more meaningful, which we’ll see next week when we’ll learn that there is no such thing as an overnight success. No matter what media may tell us, we have an entrepreneur’s insight that tells us the battle that really happens between the hours of when you go to bed and when you arise refreshed.

Until then, refocus and remember why you do what you do,

-The Green Couch Project