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One of the most significant obstacles for people wanting to work at home is getting their partner on board. Perhaps they’ve tried such-and-such before and it failed or they didn’t like it — and their partner has seen all of this firsthand.
We know that our spouses/partners, family members, and extended family included can be skeptical due to our track record and previous attempts that have not panned out.
Now that we’ve found something completely legit (like Work-At-Home School), our other half is less than enthusiastic about jumping on board.
How Do You Get Your Partner on Board with You Working from Home?
Ann Visser, a certified John C. Maxwell coach, mentor, and speaker believes there are four specific areas to focus on in helping to get your partner on board with your work-at-home dreams: mindset, relationship, finances, and habits.
She has fifteen years of experience helping ordinary women live their extraordinary lives by redefining their marriages, families, and professional careers.
She was actually a late bloomer in business. She started a new adventure working with women as a relationship mentor, coach, and speaker after raising five kids. So if you’ve ever wondered, “Hey, is it too late for me to start? Am I too old?” No, I can assure you you’re not.
So let’s dive right into the first area of focus.
Create a Positive Mindset
Mindset plays a critical role in our ability to work from home. One of Ann’s great friends Eric Hoffer says that no matter what our achievements are, we think well of ourselves only in rare moments, so we doubt ourselves.
We need people in our corner who believe in us. So Ann surrounds herself with people who help her focus on being a businesswoman.
Mindset is also not only thinking about ourselves but thinking about other people. Sometimes people can take that to an extreme where they only focus on others and not themselves, but we do need to take care of ourselves too.
And that’s why within Work-At-Home School, we arm students with knowledge about self-care, fitness, food, energy, and the like so they can support themselves.
Maintain Your Relationship
Our mindset obviously affects how we relate to our partner. And that’s the second area that’s important to focus on to be successful working at home. Mindset relates to relationships.
Ann believes connection is key to helping our partners come on board and stay on board. For the past fifteen years, she’s been helping people have stronger relationships free of charge. It was only two years ago that she and her husband decided to make this a business, and her husband was incredibly supportive of this goal.
It’s so important to have that strong connection of teamwork with your partner that makes you want to work on your goals together.
She believes in finding ways to stay connected with your partner such as regular chats, cuddling, praying, text messaging… whatever works.
It’s easy to forget, after a certain number of years together, that the other person is a living breathing human who needs that comfort and feeling of appreciation.
Talk about Finances
It’s so crucial to talk to your partner about finances. For example, how do we make this hobby a business? How do we make money out of what we’re doing? How can we meet our financial goals?
A lot of times when we start having conversations with loved ones about starting a business, the question of being able to afford it will definitely come up.
And a lot of that ties into mindset. It’s really interesting that these four aspects to focus on are so interconnected — mindset, relationships, habits, and finances — because there’s a lot of mindset that goes into the whole finance thing as well. We’ve got to spend money to make money.
Quality education is not free. And there’s a difference between being scammed and paying somebody for the privilege to have a job. If you ever are promised that you’ll make money by paying $500 first or even just $50, $25, or $5 — the amount doesn’t matter — then that is a scam. You should run the opposite direction.
However, if you are investing in yourself, that’s something completely different. You’re investing in education and skills training. You can use those skills for a lifetime, such as my proofreading courses, for example. That’s the way we differentiate it.
Cultivate Good Habits
Ann believes life is all about habits and choices. Some habits help our relationships and others hurt them. Habits are like ruts in the road. It can be hard to get out of those ruts and get into good patterns.
Good patterns help us to maintain relationships. So it’s important for couples to form those habits that keep their connection strong.
How You Can Get Your Partner on Board
When your partner has objections, you can listen to those objections and really address them. Target those objections and don’t get defensive. They’re not going to listen if we get defensive.
The key is listening to their objections so that we can really hear. How are they feeling about it? What are they concerned about? Get to the root of those fears and objections.
It’s also important to decide timelines and have a solid plan.
When our partner is on board, it makes us accountable and holds us to a higher standard of working at it. Our partner feels like they’re part of the team and are invested in our long-term success.
Even if your spouse isn’t on board all the time, if you stick to it, that’s what they need sometimes. They need to see your transformation and determination.
When you get your first win, celebrate that together! Include them in all your successes!
The only way that you can fail at working at home is if you just give up or if you never start, because there is a fit for you, and there is a skill you can offer. There are people who need what you have, and you’ve just got to cultivate that skill and find the people who will pay you for those skills. That’s really all there is to it!
If you’re still looking for the right fit for you, check out Work-At-Home School.