-Family vs Clients in your Spiritual Business-
Why are my family and friends not liking or sharing my posts? This was a question a fellow Tarot reader friend asked me recently. She was upset because none of her close relationships were supporting her work.
And the truth is this isn’t the first time I have heard this from those who work in this field. I know from my own experience I cannot depend on friends and family to support me. In fact, most of my family who I have invited to like my page haven’t accepted the invitation. Other than a faithful few, very rarely does my family or friends like any of my posts and hardly ever have they shared any of my work.
Does it bother me? NO, it is something that I have learnt to accept as just the way it is. Some of my close relationships are busy, they don’t have time to read, like or share my posts. And others, well frankly they are just not interested. I am not their cup of tea. Spirit, the Afterlife and Tarot are not something they like or want to share, so why should they?
Even those who are included in my spiritual journey, those who have had readings from me over the years or have walked spiritual paths with me, also do not like or share my posts and even though they like the “stuff” I talk about, I accept they may just not like “my stuff” and that is fine with me. Everyone has their own tastes.
When I wrote my first book, Always by your side, I was rather naive and thought my family would be running out to buy the book and read it. A handful did, (thank you to those who did) but I have a massive family and the majority were not interested. It baffled me a little at first, of course by the time the second book came around I knew what to expect and had accepted it as just the way it is.
Then I asked myself, Why should they like my work? Why should they read my life story and my work? They have very busy life’s themselves and I am a small niche, maybe if I wrote about interior designs, cooking, fashion or something different some would have a little more interest, maybe not.
What I do know, and what I told my friend who asked me the question, is that it isn’t personal. I reminded her when someone likes your page or a blog it is because it is work related and although family and friends may like, or love her, they may not like her work. That is the way I see it.
Running your own business is often very lonely on a personal level.
The work involved behind the scenes is often hours sat alone behind a computer. My Facebook posts on my page are part of my work. It is on my to-do list, it is not random and it is part of my business, and although I have fun it isn’t as it was before, where I could lose hours chatting and chilling. My blog posts that are ignored by my close family and friends are not aimed for them, they are part of my business and many don’t see or care that each blog can take up to an entire day to write, edit and post.
My Instagram is part of my work, showing both my work life and my life. It isn’t aimed for my family, it is aimed for my clients and my work.
My website is the home for all my business and social media, it my daily work. My family and old friends are not bothered that I just spent 7 hours to learn how to improve one tiny thing on my website. They don’t know it has taken me months of hard work to create the website of my dreams. They never saw the tears, or the drama I had along the way. Many don’t even know I opened a school, because it isn’t aimed for them.
And this is the point, my work isn’t aimed for my family and close friends, and sure it would be great if they liked and shared, but really why should they? They weren’t in mind when I created it so why should they participate?
If you run a spiritual business and are wondering why those close to you do not participate, ask yourself, did you have them in mind when you created your work content?
My clients and my work friends and the people who are benefiting from my work are the ones I have in mind when I create anything work related. And thankfully they are the ones who get my work, they are the ones I reach. They are the ones I want to reach and that is my aim.
When I post a picture of my mum or something personal on my profile, my family and friends often like and comment. I can chat to them on messenger, phone them and see them during visits. I can have great family moments with them, because they are family, because they are friends. I can write anything work related, including two books. I can work endlessly on my business and have it scrolled by, because they are not my clients.
If you are in the spiritual business and have 100’s of family and friends who bypass your work, just ask yourself, was your work aimed for them or for your clients?
Remember, family does not equal clients.
Learn to separate the two. Don’t expect them to jump on board with your business just because they may love you as a person. Also remember, some people are busy, some have their own work equally as time consuming and as hard as yours, (to be honest I don’t even know what jobs half of my family have, so why should they be involved with mine.) and some are just not interested in what you offer. (also remember many are not as into social media as we may think. Some people still don’t get what a Facebook page is and skim the invitations because they have no idea what it is all about)
Keep family as family, appreciate those few who do support you, (thank you to those who have supported me on my journey) even if they are not really into what you share, and let go of expectations of others.
One thing I know for sure, is to not take it personal. It is what it is. Don’t expect family and close friends to automatically be part of your business adventure. And never expect them to be clients. Understand who you aim for in your work and if you are ignored, or even if your family has a negative response to you, (thankfully my family have never had a negative response to me, or if they have they have kept it away from me,) but if you find you have a negative response from a family member, no matter how hard this may be on a personal level, let it go and concentrate on your clients when you are creating content for your work.
Your family are not your clients, keep it separate and appreciate those who do participate and support you in your business. But don’t be upset because your family have not become your clients or are not spending their time on YOUR business. Let it go and enjoy the relationships you have with them outside of work. Create memories to share with them, not content.