St.Louis Business Journal
SHOULD YOU WORK IN YOUR OWN FAMILY'S BUSINESS?

By Anna Navarro

March 2005  

Author's note: Case studies in this column are essentially true stories fictionalized to protect privacy and told with the individual's permission.

Lisa's parents owned a chain of gyms in small mid-western cities. When they asked her to join this successful enterprise she was lukewarm. Lisa had studied languages in college and wanted to teach high school French. She liked kids and wanted to have summers off. She'd seen how hard her parents worked and she wasn't sure she was up to the demands.

Her parents didn't try to talk her into it and in fact set some pretty clear ground rules. If Lisa joined the business, she would have to start at the bottom and earn her way up to a leadership role. She would earn the same pay and have the same responsibilities as other employees in similar jobs.

Over time, Lisa warmed to the idea. She admired what her parents had accomplished and liked the notion of continuing the family enterprise. They had always respected her as a separate person and allowed her to make her own decisions.

Lisa started as a receptionist/greeter for the flagship operation. In this role she reported to the director of that facility, a strong manager who had been very successful and had a reputation for being a good but tough boss.

At her 6-month review, Lisa received mixed ratings. She got high marks for her friendliness to customers and teamwork with the service providers. But her recordkeeping skills and her ability to obtain marketing information from customers were weak. Consequently, Lisa got a very small raise.

When she groused about this to her parents, they supported her boss. More importantly, they then took the time to teach her about the marketing strategy they used based on the information collected by the receptionists at their various facilities.

This experience was repeated in many different forms. Lisa was assigned to work as a subordinate to a variety of individuals who were skilled in what they did. In time she developed the humility to learn from each of them and grew in responsibility at the facilities. She also rotated as an assistant in the marketing, purchasing and finance areas. Sometimes she was bored and irritated by the nature of the work but she managed to hang in there and learn from each assignment.

After ten years in the business she became the vice president of operations. Her parents were still in charge, but she actively collaborated with them in making major decisions.

Then a major challenge came down the pike. Health clubs were opening up that combined workout facilities with a day spa and classes in things like yoga and pilates.

Lisa's parents believed the new trend would not last and they could ride it out by just adding a few classes. But Lisa believed they needed to seriously revamp their operations. She urged them to make the capital investments needed to add sophisticated equipment for the new offerings. She also wanted to add massage and day spa services, and update the "look" of their facilities.

They struggled with this decision for over two years, but eventually Lisa won. Her parents retired and transferred ownership of the business to her. They had made a successful transition to the second generation.

Looking back as an outside observer on Lisa's evolution from receptionist to owner, I could see that she and her parents had done many things well.

First, Lisa had wrestled with the question of whether she wanted to join the family business and she went in with a realistic picture of what it would entail.

Second, she was willing to start at the bottom and work hard to prove herself worthy of the positions she held. She was also humble enough to accept feedback and learn from valued employees who were not family members. She earned the respect of her co-workers and her self-confidence grew, knowing she was contributing to the business and deserving of a leadership role.

Third, once she had earned her stripes and qualified for a top level role, she was willing to persist and persuaded her parents to turn the business over to her so she could move it in a new direction - which they weren't capable of doing.

Only a small proportion of family businesses make a successful transition to the second generation. But in the case of Lisa and her parents, they were able to do some very important things well. The payoff, both emotionally and financially, was very high.

Anna Navarro is the founder of Work Transitions, a nationwide career consulting firm that trains independent career strategists and consults with individual clients.

This column was originally published by the St. Louis Business Journal. The actual title of the column and date in which it appeared in the Business Journal may be slightly different from what appears on WorkTransitions.com.