Family business enterprise account for over 80% of all US businesses, contribute 50% of our Gross National Product and provide half our workforce. However, only about 10% of family businesses make it to the third generation due to the unequalled challenges family companies encounter. Here are the challenges that family business start ups face and tips for dealing with them.
There are certain advantages to starting a family venture:
In the capacity as Business Plan Writer, I have seen a lot of great advantages family businesses have which make them unique.
- The costs and losses innate in a start up are easily shared among the family
- Later success benefits the family as a whole.
- Enables the family to be together.
- Family may trust each other more than outsiders.
There are many challenges which come up during a family start-up venture:
- Tips for Spouses jointly running and starting a business:
- Follow business rules; romance is for non-business hours.
- Clearly define each spouse’s role.
- Accentuate each other’s talents.
- Keep business and personal life separate- understand the inherent conflicts of interest.
- Set strong ground rules and understand you won’t always agree.
- Define clear expectations
- Set aside family time.
- Involve young family members in the business for fun, short tasks and jobs.
- Have a system for recognizing and rewarding hard work and accomplishments of family members.
- Understand clearly what the business relationships of Family Members are.
- Have substantial SWOT Strategy which clearly defines the company structure, responsibilities, roles, strategic direction and so forth.
- Clearly identify who is the lead entrepreneur.
- Make sure to clearly identify the strengths and weaknesses of each family member.
- Understand each family member’s business experience and background.
- Establish how much money each family member will contribute.
- Agree up front how equity will be divided.
- further open and honest communication among family members.
- Professional, business surroundings and structure.
- How and where non-family will be merged into the venture.
Resource: To address the challenges facing a family business, consider reading my article on How to Write a Strategic Plan.
About The Article Writer – Frank Goley
Frank Goley is a business consultant, business turnaround consultant, business plan expert, business coach, small business consultant, business planner, marketing consultant, online marketing seo consultant, and business plan consultant for ABC Business Consulting. Frank is considered an expert in writing, developing and implementing business plans, business turnaround plans, funding business plans, marketing plans, strategic plans and web marketing plans. Frank offers comprehensive business consulting, business coaching, business turnaround consulting, along with web seo, web development and web marketing consulting, to small and medium size companies. Frank is the author of a business plan book, The Comprehensive Business Plan Workbook – A Step by Step Guide to Effective Business Planning, and he has over 140 published articles and e-books on business success strategies. He also writes the Business Success Strategies Blog

