A business lesson from my Mom

I've haven't started my own business yet, but I can resonate with what Lori wrote about starting a business with the Significant Other. What Lori wrote reminds me a conversation I had with my mom when I was in junior high.

One day, out of the blue, I told my mom that it was such a wonderful thing that she was still working full time in a property management company while my dad was starting his business. (As you may know before, my dad was an entrepreneur and started many different kinds of business). My mom asked me why I said so. I said it was wonderful because her stable stream of income bring food to the table as I knew dad's business wasn't doing too well.

My mom jokingly said all I cared was asking for pocket money and new tennis shoes from them. Interestingly, at such a young age, I said, "you are talking about a family of seven that is totally dependent on you, Mom." Mom didn't say anything afterwards and she was in deep thought for a moment. And fortunately I wasn't grounded for saying such an insight to my Mom. ;)

Other than working full-time, my Mom also worked for my dad's business part-time as the secretary, public relation person, the office supply person and the receptionist... (you got the picture). Based on what I saw from my parents, it's not easy to start and maintain a business.

And I wish that my dad could have read Lori's post and the article 15 years ago. If he knew to set limits on financial and time investments on his projects, he could reserve the resources to confront with the Dip in his own terms, rather than spending it on too many dead-ends.