I was sat in one of my favourite cafes and turned around to find a friend who was hosting a mastermind session with her Superwomen in Switzerland group (1)
I love spontaneous meetings and decided to join them. When it was my turn to ask for input, I asked for blog post ideas as they always come in handy. The ladies gave me some great ideas and one of them said that she hated it when asked “How was her hobby?” referring to her business. She went further saying that a man wouldn’t be asked this question.
Most of the entrepreneurs could relate and I know the feeling from my last business. Now that I come to think of it, the question was often phrased in this way by my male friends and I’m sure they didn’t mean it in a bad way.
When a business is being established, it takes time to build a reputation and a client base, so whilst the financials may not reflect a paying job, the business is being run, to the best of the ability of the owner, as a business and not a hobby.
So it is incredibly frustrating for business owners to hear what they are working on as a Hobby. So to anyone reading this, even if you think it is a hobby, I recommend phrasing in a different way such as “How is your work going?” or “How is your business coming along?” to avoid being hit ☺
Footnotes