"My family was very supportive because they provided me with business know-how and showed me how sheer determination could pay off," says Eng, whose parents moved to Minnesota from China and worked 12 to 14 hour days to run their own restaurant.
"They did it not to make a million dollars, but because they had four children to feed. Failure was not an option, so I learned from watching them, and helping them, how to build a business around a strong work ethic."
Eng believes it's very important for a business owner to build his or her own personal little board of directors, so to speak, to have key supporters around.
The Expert
There's a fine line between tapping into a friend's expertise and taking advantage. Yet some friends (or relatives) are more than willing to go the extra mile by providing their expertise in a specific area.
"We talked with friends who were realtors and attorneys because we wanted feedback on our business idea," says Lila Cummings, who, along with her friend Susan Church, co-founded Get a Move On Inc., a New York tri-state area moving business designed specifically to walk seniors through the process of planning, organizing and making a move.
"We got support and good advice from several experts that we knew personally," Cummings says.
However, it was the husband of a good friend who provided the much-needed business expertise.
"He talked us through a lot of the big-picture stuff, such as our focus and a way of defining ourselves in the market. We were able to bat ideas off of him and he made us think about a lot of areas of business that we had not thought about when we were starting this business four years ago," explains Church, adding that they later hired him, when they had enough money, to set up their Web site.
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