Many people have equated being in business with someone to being in a
marriage. And a marriage is based largely on love and trust, right? Right. So,
it is important to trust and love, well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves…how
about really like… your business partner. Especially if you plan to be in
business together for a long time.
So, for some, they don’t have to look past their family to find that
person, or persons that they love and trust enough to enter into a business
with. Their sister, their cousin or better yet, their spouse. You are already
in a marriage with that person, so why not??
Many people have gone into business with family successfully and wouldn’t
do it any other way. Your friends and family are your built in support network.
They are always looking out for your best interest. There is a lifetime of
love, trust and commitment there and those things are valuable in the business
world.
There are so many successful family run businesses in the world that
there is something to this concept. But like anything else, you need to be
smart about it. My advice would be to treat it like any other partnership. Draw
up a partnership agreement. Spell everything out in writing. How the company
will run, what each of your rolls will be within the company, how each of you
will leave the company if so desired, etc… And sign off on it together. In any
business arrangement, If you can be clear up front, things will run a lot
smoother in the long run.
We recently asked sisters and business partners, Susan and Katherine of
Hable Construction, a very successful home furnishings and interior design company,
how they make their partnership and relationship work and here’s what they told
us…
A: Working with
family is a challenging way to do business, but can be a great situation if
given the right dynamic. Having my sister Susan as my business partner is a wonderful
fit because we are similar in many ways. We share similar values and goals and we
both take the same approach to business.
However,
our skills and backgrounds are very different. To remedy this, we use the best of
both worlds to complement one other. I’m
the businesswoman and Susan is the designer. She’s very creative and can do
more with a Sharpie pen than I can do with a set of oil paints! With her innovativeness, I’m able to take her
artistic acumen and help turn it into a saleable product.
We have
known each other literally since birth and have an undying trust and loyalty that
is inherently built into our partnership – another perk to working with family.
Our relationship has grown from sisters who enjoy taking longs walks and getting
weekend pedicures to business partners that can negotiate contracts and work
through the ever-changing landscape of our economy and business environment.
In
addition, we have been lucky enough to have people working at Hable that are
able to expand our knowledge and add on in areas that we both lack. It makes for
a small, but powerful team. We were
discouraged from working together initially, but in retrospect, we realize that
this experience has only strengthened our relationship as sisters. For that, we
are grateful.
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