Tweet

Overcoming Obstacles in a Family Owned Business (Pros and Cons)

Guest post by: Tammy Finch

Article Overview: Problems and rewards for running a family owned business. A family owned business can be a huge success and can be a wonderful experience for all involved. It is important to consider the obstacles that could arise and determine how you will overcome these obstacles before they occur.

Overcoming Obstacles in a Family Owned Business (Pros and Cons)

Are you considering running a business with your spouse? Have you inherited a business from someone in your family? Has a family member approached you to start a business with them? Are you trying to determine if you should include your children in your family owned business? No matter what the situation is, there are pros and cons to running a business with any member of your family. Before you make that final decision, take a serious look at the pros and cons to make sure you are prepared to overcome any obstacles that are very likely to happen at some point in time. Obstacles are a fact of life. It all depends on how you handle these obstacles on whether your business with your family member will be a success. In the following stories, you will find the challenges families have faced and how they have handled these obstacles.

Kristi and Lisa are sisters that inherited their mother's soy candle business. For the most part, Kristi and Lisa were able to get along pretty well. However, there were times when they disagreed on how to handle situations that would arise, or they would simply become annoyed with each other for the simplest things. How they handled these situations is what would determine if they would be able to run a successful candle business.

Because this was their mother's business, they made every effort to diffuse feuds, so they could remain on the right track, which was to keep their mother's legacy alive. It was not always easy, but they came up with simple ideas and ways to handle things that would arise. The most effective strategy was to put up a picture of their mother and a small handwritten note to remind them of her love and why they were there in the first place.

Chris and Patty were owners of a successful advertising business. Once they felt their business would be successful, they began to extend offers of employment to the family members they felt would be an asset to their company. However, they also decided to hire outside of the company, as not all family members were experienced for the jobs that needed filled.

Chris and Patty fell into the trap of nepotism, which is when family members are favored over non-family members, as far as perks, tasks, etc. While this is a natural feeling to overcompensate with your family members, you are setting your business up for failure. Employees that are not family members will begin to resent and lose respect for you and the family member you are favoring. Chris and Patty ended up losing a very valuable employee because they favored their niece and offered her raises and positions that were better suited by the non-family member. Chris and Patty learned their lesson. They did not realize nepotism was happening, but they corrected the matter immediately.

Jessica and her husband Jeff owned a remote control helicopter business. Their business became a huge success. They wanted to include their children in their business, but were not sure if it was the right thing to do for them. There are many pros and cons on including children in a family business. A job working for mom or dad is excellent for a child's self esteem and will give them a variety of skills they will keep with them through their lifetime. Jessica and Jeff decided this would be a great opportunity for their children.

After some time, problems began to arise because it seemed that all they ever talked about was work. It is sometimes difficult to separate family time from work. It is important to establish your authority figure as either boss or mom/dad. This is very important. Jessica and Jeff made a firm rule that work was only during certain times of the day and was not to carry into family time - no matter what! They also decided that their children would also have to find jobs outside of the family business, at some point, to give them a variety of options for their future. If they only work for the family business, they may miss out on their calling in life, which would be tragic.

A family owned business can be a huge success and can be a wonderful experience for all involved. It is important to consider the obstacles that could arise and determine how you will overcome these obstacles before they occur. Remember that family is the most important thing and business must never come between your relationships. Family cannot be replaced. Therefore, nurture your relationships, while finding ways to create a successful family owned business.

Related Articles
  The Pros and Cons of Hiring Green Salespeople
  The pros and cons of working as an independent contractor
  Should You Hire Family Members?
  To Change or Not To Change
  Pros and Cons of the Coffee Franchise

Article Tags: challenges, fact of life, family member, family members, family owned business, feuds, final decision, handwritten note, kristi, legacy, love, nbsp, obstacles, point in time, pros and cons, running a business, simplest things, soy candle business, successful advertising



Related Forum Posts
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Re: Kevin. What happened to all others moderators? - Hi Carol, It's good to see you back. Family comes first. Take your time.
Re: I thought social sites were a waste of time. How wrong I was - Social Media has only really been understood this last year or two. Before that I didn’t really understand or like Facebook for example because of the problems separating Family and Friends from Business. Twitter seemed a total waste of my time and a lot of people seemed to spend all their time building up their followers to brag about how many they have got. Now I understand the basics a bit more I can appreciate the value particularly of Twitter in building up relationships with others in your niche with a view to doing business later. If people follow me and are active in the general Internet world or marketing in particularly then I follow back immediately otherwise I don’t see the point. You could argue I suppose that someone who breeds dogs and enjoys painting for example might suddenly become an Internet Marketer and I am missing out on not following them but I tend to stick within my niche. regards, Mal.
Exclusive: Interview with Results - Hi Forum Members, I'm helping start up a Business Coaching and Consulting company here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (a Subsidiary of RSC Business in Los Angeles). As a Research and Development Intern I am required to practice my listening and interview skills by surveying Small and Medium Businesses on thier Business. This Survey is designed by RSC Business to also assist the Business being interviewed more insight into their own business. I am looking to interview about 30 businesses across North America over the span of 3 months. At the end of these interviews I will be publishing a report of the results and they will be made available for free to the Interviewees. The Report data will include responses from a minimum of 100 interviews. I would like to extend this opportunity to members of the Forum. If you would like to have this short 20-30 minute interview conducted on your Business and you reside in North America please send me an email or PM. Please contact me at andy[at]jvprosperity[dot]com to arrange our interview and to get free access to the results when they are published.
Re: POLL: What one thing... - Family and friends support is very important, especially at the beginning when it's hard. I didn't have any support, until my family saw the first check and since then I have all the support I need.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

The Neglected Art of Receiving

How to Improve Your Time Management

Executives and Elevators Perfecting That Pitch

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.