So, you're sitting around the living room and your better half is telling you about an idea they have for a business. What would your reaction be? You could (a) indulge them and let them pull you into their thought process, (b) scoff at them and tell them they're nuts or something similar or (c) you could ask them to wait until a commercial break and then run off to the kitchen for a drink. If you answered (a), then congratulations you probably won't be sleeping on the couch tonight. If you answered (b), I'd move fido over because you are probably going to be sleeping outside for a while. If you answered (c), then you might want to get real comfortable on the couch.

Everyone has ideas and to them they can seem to make perfect sense and if you confide in another the last thing you need is for them to scoff, ignore or avoid discussing your dream. Showing some interest will help encourage your mate to dream even more and someday that crazy dream could be your retirement nest egg. You never know.

It takes a good bit of nerve to open up so it would behoove you to at least give your significant other the opportunity to fully explain the idea because you may see the potential as well. Dismissing someone out of hand is both rude and uncaring. Something no one should have to endure especially from their partner in life.

I have always tried to be supportive of my wife's ideas even when I didn't fully understand how they would work out. Overall her ideas were successful. However, when I suggested doing some things with my spare time her responses were kind of a combination of (b) and (c) above, scoff and avoid the discussion altogether.

Everyone has a threshold for pain and rejection. After so many sessions you just give up and end up whiling away your time watching TV, eating and sleeping where your time might have been better spent if you had been given just half a chance to explore some of your less grandiose visions. However, when you are met with rejection each and every time, you stop bothering. Is there someone else who you can confide in? Probably and if they are of the opposite gender, friction can result if you are not careful. There is nothing more enticing than someone that will listen to you as you ramble on about the next generation weany baby.

Do yourself and your family a favor. Encourage everyone to dream and seek out a better life for yourselves. As long as it doesn't break the bank, who cares if you have a few failures? Mutual support goes a long way to achieve great things in life and it goes double for running a business that just might give you the extra cash you need to bankroll that Jet Ski you've been pining for since you rented one last summer (personal experience, I rented a Jet Ski, enjoyed it. I really wanted one but with no extra money, no Jet Ski). Given a little support and the leeway to explore some of these ideas could result in a mutually satisfying experience for everyone.