AP 0497: What Does Your Wife Think of Your Career?

Update: I interviewed April (and both of my kids) on the Smart Passive Income Podcast #225! Listen to it here.

AskPat 497 Episode Transcript

Pat Flynn: What's up, everybody? Pat Flynn here, and welcome to Episode 497 of AskPat. Thank you so much for joining me today. As always, I'm here to help you by answering your online business-related questions five days a week.

We have a great question today from Friede, but before we get to that, like yesterday, I just want to mention that I have a new book coming out. You can check it out at WillItFlyBook.com. It's actually called Will It Fly? and it's about how to test your next business idea so you don't waste your time and money, because a lot of us put a lot of time and effort into things and we want to … How do we know if they're going to work or not? This book dives into that.

I also know that a lot of people get into businesses and are successful, but they aren't actually happy. These are entrepreneurs that I know who have created successful businesses, but they're not happy in life. This book is not just a validation book in terms of how does this product idea that you have, this business idea, actually fit into the market that you're trying to get into, but it's also how does this idea that you have, this business, fit into your own life? How does it actually support what you want to do and what you want to achieve? Also, your strengths and all those sorts of things.

I'm so excited about this book. I've put a lot of time, effort, and love into this, and I cannot wait to share it with you. If you want to check it out and get early notice, it will be available soon, if not already, for pre-order. If not, it'll be there, and if you sign up you'll get early notification of that. Go ahead and go to WillItFlyBook.com. You can check it out there. Again, willitflybook.com. Thank you all so much for your support. I really, really appreciate it.

All right, here's today's question from Frieda.

Friede: Hey Pat, this is Friede. I'm curious to know … I would love to hear you interview your wife about her experience of your online business and your journey together. I would be really interested to hear her point of view, because you talk about her a lot.

Pat Flynn: Hey Frieda, thank you so much for the question and everybody else who asked this exact same question at some point in time, whether in person or here on AskPat or via email, because a lot of people have the same curious mind in terms of, what's this like for April, my wife?

My wife is amazing, and I've talked about her several times in the past. She's the unsung hero of Team Flynn, the one who puts in more work than I do in terms of keeping this family functioning. Because she's a stay-at-home mom, she watches both of the kids, and her number one priority is the kids. She sacrificed a lot of things that she's wanted to do for the kids because that's more important to her, and I love her for that.

I will always praise her as much as possible when I talk about her on the show or in person or onstage or in emails. Any time I have the opportunity to, I do, because she doesn't get recognition like I do. I put out a blog post and I get hundreds of people who comment on it and tens of thousands of people who eventually read it over time. She puts in a lot more work and doesn't get any credit for it. Any time I get the opportunity to give her credit, I do, and this another one of those cases.

Now, in terms of getting her on an interview, this is actually something we had talked about before. It hasn't been scheduled, it hasn't been really set in stone yet, but we are talking about it. It's not like she doesn't want to. It's just, she would much rather do her thing as a stay at home mom and just be behind the scenes. That's the kind of person she is.

She's done one podcast episode before, and it was for a woman named Annabelle on her show Perfect Pregnancy. This was a person who's been listening to my show and who has followed my blog for a while. She knew that my wife went through pregnancy, and she had a podcast about pregnancies and decided to ask my wife to come on. This was the first interview that she's ever done, the only one that she's ever done at this point, and she's pretty nervous about it. She's never done anything like that before. Again, I think she's just more comfortable being behind the scenes, and would rather not.

I have to respect that, obviously, but I think as she is seeing me doing this more, of course, and over time she might get some more opportunity. She might change her mind, and if she does I'm definitely going to want to have her on the show. I think she could provide a lot of value, too, and I do mention that to her, that there's a lot of people out there in the same position that she's in. Of course, getting her point of view on things and how I've been able to build a business, but how she's been able to support that, too, would be pretty interesting for people to hear. I think a lot of entrepreneurs who are in my shoes would love to share that with their spouses, too.

It might happen, it might not, but I'm not going to force her to do something she's not comfortable doing. That's something I have to respect. All I can do is just share that I would not be where I'm at today without her. Obviously, I always credit you guys for helping support me, but more than anybody, April's supported me through everything ever since the day I got laid off and she decided to support me through all of that. Even though I decided not to go and get a traditional job, she always believed in me.

We've had a lot of honest conversations over time in terms of making sure that my focus was still with the family over time as the business has grown, and I love her for that. I talked about her before, and there was one story where she had seen me going down this path of becoming successful and making money, and she had told me, even before it even got to my head, she said, you know what? If your head grows so big that you get cocky and that sort of thing, I'm not going to be there to support it. I love her for that, because she keeps me going in the right direction just like you guys do.

Whenever I seem to be getting off a path that isn't Pat Flynn online like you know me, and that's how I am in real life, too, you guys aren't afraid to speak up and share your mind. I love that, and that's what I love about April, too, because it's very easy to get lost in your online business. It's very easy to put all your focus, time, and effort into it. When you work from home, it's easy to step into your office and continue to work. When you have a family, that's not what you want to do. I have to remember that every once in a while, and she's a great reminder of that.

She's always supportive when I go on trips and things like that. But I do want to hear in her own words and have that be shared at some point in time. It's coming, and again, I don't want to force her to do that or make her feel uncomfortable. When she's ready she'll be coming on, and that invitation's always open, obviously.

There's been also talk with April about her creating her own business, which is what she wants to do. The kids are almost at that age where she would be working on something else, so that would take her time away from them. That was always her big concern. She's always wanted to start something on her own, especially since she's seen me do things, and she's just decided not to. I completely respect her for that, because she knows that if she were to build a business she would be taking time away from them. When you say yes to something, you're saying no to something else. She's not ready to say no to the kids. I love her for that. I know when she's ready to start a business she's going to go in and just crush it like she's done with being a mom, and I'll be there to support her through that. She probably won't even need my help.

So, yeah. It'll come, and when it does you guys will hear it. Yeah, thank you guys so much for being concerned and asking questions about that. I think it's important to talk about, and it's really interesting. I know this is common, but it's just something that is becoming more common. Again, when the time is right, it'll happen.

Thanks so much, Friede. Thank you so much, everybody else. Friede, we're going to send you an AskPat t-shirt for having your question featured here on the show. Everybody else out there, if you have a question you'd like potentially featured here on AskPat, just head on over to askpat.com and hit the record button. You might get featured on the show and get a t-shirt, too.

I also want to thank all of you for your support with my upcoming book. Head on over to WillItFlyBook.com to get notice. Whenever you're listening to this, you'll see the instructions there for where it's at. If you're listening to this the day it comes out, maybe the pre-orders aren't available yet, you'll get to sign up for an email list. Maybe it's already available for free order. Or if it's after the time when it launches in February of next year, it might be for sale. If you've read it already, appreciate you, please leave a review.

I just love you guys. This book is for you. I've written it for those who are just starting out, but everybody else out there who's already started and isn't quite sure where to go next. I've put a lot of heart into it and I hope you enjoy it. Again, check it out at WillItFlyBook.com. Coming to you early 2016, hopefully, if all things go according to plan, in February.

I appreciate you, take care, and here's a quote to finish off the day by Thomas J. Watson. He says, “The great accomplishments of man have resulted from the transmission of ideas of enthusiasm.” Hope you guys have that enthusiasm, too. Cheers, take care, and I'll see you in the next episode of AskPat. Thanks. Bye.