A family member wants
to be your business partner.
They aren’t qualified.
Or there is some other reason
you don’t want to partner with them.
But you also don’t want to
damage your relationship with them.
How do you turn their offer down
without doing that?
I usually answer with
“Oh, I could never
put you at risk like that.
I love you too much.”
I stress how risky
starting a new business is,
how much they could lose,
how badly that failure
could mess up their current life.
If they’re still not dissuaded,
I put them to work.
I work them hard.
I call them late at night
and early in the morning.
I work them on weekends.
I give them a taste
of the entrepreneurial life.
If THAT doesn’t do it,
well…that has never happened
but if it did,
I would likely rethink
not partnering with them.
There are ways
to turn family members down
tactfully.
Employ one of those ways.