Herberts Luwizza
Don't start a business and force your wife (partner) to work in it simply because you feel she should after all the business is supposed to help with the family's financial woes.
I have seen very many men who have made this grave mistake and I can reliably tell you that 8 out of 10 times these businesses have failed miserably.
Before you start a business and force your woman (or anyone) to run it ask her if it's something she really wants to do.
Is she the kind that loves to own and run a business or is she the career type that prefers keeping a job!?
Truth is not everyone is built to run a business actually if anything only less than 4% of any population are business people by birth.
So before you force your woman to sit in a business you want to start for the family, ask her if it's something that would interest her because interest is key when starting a business. No work without passion ever succeeds.
So find out if her heart is thrilled at the idea of owning and running her own business. I will share with you one of the many stories I've encountered in the course of my work as a business consultant.
There was a client who started for his woman a produce business. One day on a trip to eastern Uganda he realised food stuff was cheap there. So excitedly he hatched up an idea to start a produce business.
Of course madam would sit in it.
They would make lots of money for the family. It all made perfect sense.
So he came back and rented a place and fully furnished it for business.
He went and bought stock, starting with rice, beans and maize for posho.
After doing all that he told his woman about what he had done and demanded she go run the business, afterall she was a stay home mum.
The woman being a respectful wife didn't resist although this was not something she looked forward to doing.
The business opened shop and started working.
These men that cook pilau and sell it in the night started buying. Shops started picking rice from them on a wholesale basis.
All seemed fine but after some time it started being evident the business was struggling.
Stock was dwindling, debts were increasing and before they knew it they almost had nothing. No stock and no money to show for it.
The man didn't understand why what seemed a great idea was failing on its implementation.
He started demanding answers from the woman and at this point its when he realised the woman didn't really like what she was doing.
Her heart wasn't there at all.
He called to ask me what to do. Sell the business and get whatever you can salvage from what's remaining I advised.
Sit down with your woman and ask her what she wants to do. He sat down with his woman and they talked about it after which they agreed to start a poultry business.
Very skeptical about the woman's choice of business he started by investing very little.
The woman started rearing her hens for eggs and chicken (meat).
In a short while the business was doing so well. He had never seen his wife dedicate her time and effort to something before like she was doing to the poultry business.
As I speak he bought her farm land and put up a big poultry house with more birds.
My woman looks after those hens with more care and dedication than she looks after our kids, he joked later when we spoke after a long time.
He thanked me for the advice and even gave me two hens and a tray of eggs from the farm as appreciation.
So before you start a business and force your wife to seat in it, just run the idea through her and see what she'll say. See if it's something she'd be excited waking up to every morning.
Only then will the business you've started for her have a chance to succeed.
Diligence is key for business success and it come from the heart. A place of interests and passion.
Remember you in business to make money not satisfy your male ego.
