Family Business

Over the years, we have been involved in many small businesses made up of family members. One of the key components to make a family business run smoothly is to recognize that relationships exist and should not be intertwined with the day-to-day business operations. There are companies where you have employees with relationships that exist between parent and child, siblings, in-laws or spouses. Whatever family relationships or challenges you have outside the company, you need to make sure they don’t come into the day-to-day interactions or discussions with the business.
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Posted in: Couples, Family Business Posted on

How Do I Know If I Should Work With My Spouse/Significant Other?

Does the idea of working with your spouse excite or scare you? This thought of, “maybe my spouse/significant other can help with this,” is one that goes through most business owners minds at some point. It’s a perfectly natural question, especially in today’s world where it is getting tougher and tougher to find good people.

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Posted in: Business Transition, Family Business, Leadership Posted on

How Do I Touch The Third Rail and Survive a Transition?

For those unfamiliar with the term “third rail” we’ve including a link below talking about it’s definition in politics. The metaphor comes from the high-voltage third rail in some electric railway systems. Touching that third rail often results in electrocution so most folks don’t live to tell about it.

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Posted in: Family Business, Organizational Plan Posted on

Why You Should Hire Family Last Instead of First?

Unfortunately many folks starting out in business make the often fatal mistake of hiring family and friends first instead of last. Now this may seem counterintuitive to many folks, especially those who know us well since we usually espouse the importance of Know Like Trust when building your business. But just because it might be “easier” to start with family and friends, doesn’t mean it’s the best thing for your business.

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Posted in: Family Business, Leadership, Organizational Plan, Profit Plan Posted on

Family Business Issues – What’s Best For The Organization?

Small business can be emotional.  This isn’t a good or bad thing.  It’s just a thing.  It can be a great thing if you can get your team emotionally connected to the business where they start to take ownership of their decisions and activities.