Working with family may seem like the perfect arrangement when there is already trust and understanding. But for LinkedIn user Avanti Nagral, having her mother manage her career did not work out as planned.
Just two weeks after hiring her, Nagral decided to let her go. In a candid post, she explained why her mother’s instincts as a parent made it difficult to separate family from professional decisions.
Nagral wrote that she was on a gap year before Harvard and was performing across stages around the world, including theatre and music. As her work grew, she realised she needed someone to handle the business side of her career, including emails, rates, logistics, outreach and operations.
Her mother, who had some free time at the time, volunteered to help.
“Initially, it sounded perfect,” Nagral wrote, explaining that her mother had reinvented her career multiple times and understood the hustle involved in building a career.
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However, things changed within two weeks.
{{/usCountry}}However, things changed within two weeks.
{{/usCountry}}“I fired my mom in 2 weeks,” she wrote.
Nagral clarified that it was not because her mother did not care. In fact, it was because she cared too much.
“She said no to almost everything, because she felt I deserved much better,” she wrote.
Her mother was also hesitant about opportunities that involved potential risks, such as late-night shows, unfamiliar cities and crowds that she could not vet beforehand.
“She wasn't managing my career. She was protecting her daughter. Those are two very different jobs,” Nagral said.
‘So many creatives never get that option’
Nagral said she eventually found managers, agencies and other professionals who could separate her personal life from her professional career.
However, she pointed out that many creatives do not have access to such support.
“There’s no real infrastructure for a working artist to find their crew,” she wrote, adding that many people end up asking a parent, partner or friend to help because they care enough to say yes.
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Her post prompted reactions from LinkedIn users.
“I remember when I used to work for a company called Primerica Financial Services. It was hard at first, but I removed the ‘im’ from impossible and made it possible and never gave up. That is why I also recruited my parents to work in that company,” one user commented.
Nagral ended the post by asking others how they found their first team member.
(Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.)