So, every now and then I get concerns from the Policing family in regards to going into business and banter from colleagues, friends, and family. Now, before I begin, I just want to say that I love banter, I loved it in the job, and I love it in business now. But this can have a negative impact on someone’s mindset and business when they’re about to start their own new different career path.

Now, it’s safe to say I’ve had my own fair share of banter from friends, family, and colleagues. But what sometimes they don’t realise is that their words and their banter can actually hurt the most. Now, I wrote about this in my book regarding crabs. If you were to put one crab in a bucket, that one crab would escape from that bucket, no problem. Literally just run away off to freedom. However, if you were to put that same crab in with a group of other crabs in that same bucket, and that crab tried to escape again, well the other crabs would pull it back down. And if that crab were to persist in trying to escape, the other crabs would break its legs and eventually kill it.

So, what I’m trying to explain here is that you are this crab. The bucket is the job stopping you from living an extraordinary life, keeping you within its boundaries, and trying to stop you from achieving freedom. Now, the others crabs are friends, family, and colleagues, pulling you down with their words and banter. And when I talk about breaking your legs, they’re actually breaking your dreams.

So if you’re watching this and you’re worried about friends, family, colleagues, you know, giving you a bit of awkward banter and really deep down you don’t want it, then you need to have that conversation with them. That you are indeed going to start this journey, and you would appreciate their support rather than their banter about you and your new found business. Because if you don’t, potentially it’s only going to stop you from making progress, and ultimately affect your relationship with them.

Now, one of the key reasons why a complete stranger can support your success more than family and friends is because your family and friends started from the same point as you. And seeing you go off and try something new doesn’t make them feel great. In fact, it makes them feel insecure. And sometimes on a conscious level, and in almost every case, a subconscious level, they create banter as a way of raising their own self-esteem.

Now, the people who put me down when I first started my own business, and used to position that as banter, well they’re not around me anymore. And in fact I call them still people, they’re still in the job, they’re still complaining about the job. They’re still doing nothing about the complaining about the job. They’re still broke, they’re still putting others down, and they’re still going nowhere.

So, if you have a family member, a colleague, or a friend who’s starting something new and exciting like business, look at it from their perspective. Do they really need your banter in a time where they really need your support the most?

So, I hope this video’s helped, and if you’re an ex or serving police officer going into business and would like a supportive network around you, then click on the link around this video to check out our business accelerators. Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you on the next one.