Here's to family

This week we have been studying starting or being a part of a family business.  There are many successful family businesses but only one in three family businesses survives past to the next generation according to Startup Nation.  That is a rather sad statistic but you can see how true it is by just looking around you.  Many times there is not a child who wants to take over the business his parent started and so the business has to be sold.  There can also be a lot of discord in a family business that can lead to the business being sold or dissolved.  That is sad to see.  A family business can be a great thing with deep roots and people who want the company to succeed.  There are many things you can do to keep a good balance when starting a family business.  They are from Startup Nation.

1.  Set some boundaries
2.  Establish clear and regular methods of communication
3.  Divide roles and responsibilities
4.  Treat it like a business
5.  Recognize the advantages of family ownership
6.  Treat family members fairly
7.  Put business relationships in writing
8.  Don't provide "sympathy" jobs for family members
9.  Draw clear management lines
10. Seek outside advice
11. Develop a succession plan
12. Require outside experience first

As a business owner who sometimes gets tired of listening to her husband complain about her son who works in the business I think these are great ideas and I have shown them to Jerry and I am going to work on implementing many of them.  We have hired family members before and they have worked well for us.  Greg, my son, works hard for the business but he there are many of these areas that need to be improved so that the business can function better and everyone can be happier.  While Greg was in China Jerry realized that there were many things he had turned over to Greg that he should still do himself.  This has helped the business.  We use to have weekly meetings and we are going to start that again and work on setting boundaries and making sure each person knows what their job is.  I think these ideas are good and will help our company run better.

I think family owned business are good and that they can have sound family values and be good for our country.  I know that there has been a couple of times that my son has gone down to work on Sunday and I have always told him that our values are not to work on Sunday and that he can wait or go in on Saturday.  I think if a family works to keep communications lines open and to treat everyone fairly then they can work well.  

Action Hero:  Erick Slaubaugh

Erick Slaubaugh’s father asked him if he was planning to go back to college and he said yes.  His father said that they would sell the house so that he could attend school.  Slaubaugh’s father had lost a major client in his business and there was not enough money for him to go to college.  At nineteen he joined the family business and worked his way up to CEO of ABSCO alarms.  He said that at first it was hard because he knew his friends were making more than him and had reasonable paychecks and that they were having fun on the weekends.  But he worked hard and bought out a major client of twenty-five percent of the business.  He then worked hard and bought out more equity over a number of years.  Slaubaugh said that when it was time for his father to stop coming to work because of health problems that it was very difficult for him but he said that if you use your values you will be able to make tough decisions. 

Slaubaugh said that he thinks anybody can start their own business but that you need to have a lot of courage to do it.  He said that he wished he would have asked more questions and talked to more people when he was younger.  He said that now at forty-one he has many mentors that he asks for advice and mentorship.

$100. Challenge

Nathan and I went over and cleaned the office again on Thursday.  We cleaned the bathroom, dusted, vacuumed, wiped the outside of the door, swept the front, cleaned the brake room and got the hard water spots out of the bottom of the sink. The water in the break room sprays out towards you but the business owner has not asked the owner of the building to fix it yet.  I will probably go and fix it for Nathan so he doesn't get sprayed in the future.  

I sold the business to Nathan for $10.00 and he is not going to be responsible to keep it clean.  Nathan can- not stand being alone in places so I will probably go along with him so he will not be there alone while he cleans.  The business owner has had problems with some of the neighbors over there.