The Delights Of Working In A Family Business
Personally I will never entertain the thought of working in a family business ever again.
The idea sounds awesome until the honeymoon period is over and you start to regret thinking it was such an awesome idea in the first place. The truth is it rarely works and you all end up hating each other. Hate may be the wrong word, but you do get to see everyone in a whole new light.
Thankfully that is all behind me now after it nearly killed me 7 years ago having a medical scare. I think it is at times like that it is advisable to listen to your body and change your job and lifestyle. I know if I had carried on changing nothing the chances of me being around today would be slim.
I raise this today as my business partner has been rather shady of late as in 'not making any sense. I knew something big was up and just couldn't put my finger on it. The business has been on hold for the last 3 months due to a severe shortage of raw materials so I wasn't overly bothered. Maybe it was more than raw materials though and I thought someone was seriously ill and keeping quiet. The possibility of a business closing down owing us a small fortune was also right up there and was never marital issues.
The only thing nagging at the back of my brain was the lack of communication as all coms were down. No answering the phone and when the email disappeared on Wednesday last week I thought the worst case scenario was we had closed down.
Far from it as it happens as he has been having marital issues and his wife who runs the admin needed to be cut out. My business partner has moved into the factory and has been there for the last 2 months. Saying his life is a mess is an understatement and regretting involving his wife in the business at all. She was interfering to the point she had his email login as she set this all up so that has been stopped until we get a new provider. She had interfered with some of my decisions in the past and she was never a favorite as I believed she held us back.
Going forward without family is what is important now as I have no idea what the outcome will be. The business will survive and having no interference will
improve things. It may have just been me but I felt a tinge of jealousy every time she was around and I think I was correct in that assumption.
Luckily financially the business is fine and we have something to salvage and rebuild but it could have been a whole lot worse. I will remain onboard for now but have had a few months of serious thinking behind me and not 100% sold on staying as the economy has not changed. 6 months should tell me all I need to know as my clients are all still on hold. Getting them back on board may be tough but I know I have the personality to do just that.
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Hope things work out whatever decision you make, having family in business together can bitter a relationship.
Lesson learned partnership arrangements, never includes family, that becomes nepotism, never used to be allowed however has reared it's ugly head on more than one occasion.
Things always seem to work out for me and always come out on top some how. Whatever family business I have been involved in I have made sure nepotism is never an issue. Sometimes this has affected the business as the right person was a family member and they were bypassed on purpose.
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Another reason is being overlooked even if the right person for the position all because member is family. Healthier to not have family, unless business started out as a planned family business unit which is totally different.
Are you at the point where you need to worry about any of your clients not being in business anymore when things finally do recover? It seems like a lot of those places might end up shutting down.
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I think we have another 18 months or longer still to worry about. One client can take you under so keeping an eye on what they are doing is just as important as what you are doing. Fortunately I have a good network that feeds me information so know who to avoid. I would guess 60 percent of businesses will not make it as the economy here is that bad.
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That is horrible. I am sorry to hear that! I sounds like there is still a very rough road ahead!
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60 percent fail expectancy sure sounds scary.
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When you have 50% unemployment and it is getting worse I don't see a sudden boom so this is going to take time and businesses will fail.
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It's considerably comfortable to not mix family with business.
Trying to balance things out between the two takes extra effort and energy that we might or may not have, or could be used else where to further the business growth.
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Good luck!
Non-amicable divorces can destroy in amazing forms.
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I have no clue if this is good or bad but if he is living in the factory then I guess it is bad.
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Your post lead me to believe it is bad.
An uneasy feeling around the wife, feeling like she keeps you back, issues with VM, and now living in a factory - not "good" signs.
At least if he is sleeping in the factory he'll get lots of work done! (ok that was part sarcastic, part toxic positivity)
He better be working and my kind of humor as I also think it is bad.
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Sometimes working without family obsession relieves stress and removes problems, in addition to having better results.
As long as the financial conditions are fine, it is a positive indication of a new great start.
Wow, that's quite a mess. I had the experience of being in a family business and I agree with you. Not doing that again.
My experience wasn't as bad as what happened yo your business partner but it was enough for me to decide not doing it again.
I hope your business do well from now on
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