I’m taking over the family business. I’ll be a third generation owner. I will purchase it through contract for deed.
My father told me the number one thing he wanted to do was run the business better than my grandfather. I feel the same way, and sometimes I’m not quite sure how to vent my frustrations to my father on what he could do better.
He’s a terrific businessman who had brought our family comfort. Sometimes I think he has some blind spots.
How do I approach these things without being insulting?
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Ask questions instead of pointing flaws. There may be reasoning that his experience knows that you don’t.
If you’re the new boss/owner then that role should be clear to everyone. You are responsible to take the lead and make the decisions and implement change. My business is so niche most all of us know each other and can see what each other does and what we’d do differently.
It’s not easy, my wife and I have been trying to transition for 6 years from her parents. They fight us on everything, no one likes our accountant but for some reason they won’t sign the paperwork to switch.
Our biggest mistake was not having a plan laid out and signed with lawyers before taking on our roles, that still hasn’t been sorted out and major issue for us.
My problem was the previous generation not getting out of the way.
My dad was a great guy but terrible business man. He always talked about succession, but never wanted to give up being in charge. He had several personal issues and eventually they drove the business to fall apart.
I feel this. FIL always talks about the succession but never makes a decision. I’m now deploying for about a year because I’m just a guy who works somewhere. I’m not a business owner which has more leverage when trying to tell the national guard “no”. Place isn’t falling apart but after 25 years of paying rent, finally decided to buy a building so we had more space but instead of investing in what we do (warehousing and rebuilding product) they spend nearly $100,000 on furniture. Ignoring the lack of adequate pallet racking, safety equipment, and tools. I think he let the architect take him for a ride. I digress. Fuck.
Not ruining it lol. Look at Sriracha, so many kids believe they can do things better than their parents only to wreck it.
What happened to sriracha?
Greedy kid took over Huy Fong Foods and wrecked it. Lost court case against farmer, got banned in EU, their previous biggest supplier started selling their own sriracha since it’s not trademarked, massive production issues, ongoing shortage, lost shelf space to knockoffs… It’s a market worth billions that they’ve lost market space in so the financial loss must be massive.
Thank you for the explanation and not telling me to “look it up” like a lot of people do. I did look it up but your explanation was way better to understand.
Sure I’m not a fan of that snarky attitude either. I don’t know all the details, but it’s an interesting story and a good reminder of how to not ruin partnerships to try and save pennies…
My experience show hardest part is making commitment.
I’ve seen children and family members who don’t want the responsibility to operate or even own business or waffle over decision.
It’s going to be your show now. Consequently, it’s up to you to determine how best to ensure a customer-centric operation.
Your worst enemy is your family but that experience is still worth it.
Company I used to work for the kids did not want to take over because of their father. They waited until he completely got out before taking over. By then he had killed revenues in one of his companies by over half.
Family.
You need to actually be in charge. Also, how much are you paying to buy the biz ? It’s bad if you have to finance your dad’s retirement and then you have big debt. Also what is the arrangement to keep him around as a consultant. We need to know all these things in order to weigh in properly
Commitment. Responsibility. And knowing that there’s no one to hide behind or run to to make a decision. Your decisions are what sets things in motion and that’s scary af.
Making a wrong decision and having everything that your family has built essentially burn to the ground. Destroying their reputation and life and their hard work, and maybe their retirement plans as well.
Also ask in r/familybusiness. Its a community for people in family business.
My wife’s company started 60 years ago and grew to 18 locations and $50+ million in sales and 500+ employees. The son came in and took over from the father who built it from nothing. Less than 3 years in, it’s down to 1 single location doing under $1 million with only 5 employees. Don’t be like him.
I would think the other family members if they are still involved in the endeavour.
Don’t get too harsh on your dad. You said he’s a terrific businessman and a good provider. Prove yourself better than him first. If you’ve got to make the business bigger and sustainable by improving and doing something about the blind spots, then that’s the time you can brag about how good you did and how better you are than him.
I’m not quite sure how to vent my frustrations to my father on what he could do better.
Instead of assuming your vision is better, ask why they are done the way they are, and if you aren’t convinced, ask what he thinks about your idea… if he’s as good of a business man as you think even if he isn’t open to the idea of change he will be able to give you clear reasons why.
What’s the hardest part of taking over the family business?
Beyond that, its a LOT harder to tell your father to get out of your way if they don’t want to, as you now have to deal with family relationships… Similarly its a lot harder to not give your brother a job even know he’s high all the time and doesn’t show up on time or at all, and isn’t effective at work…
As an outsiders perspective from some one who has been trying to buy businesses recently… There is also often a lot of unrecorded effort/hours that happen between family members… If you were a skilled employee that was underpaid by your father, don’t expect the person you hire to care about that job the way you did, or work for as little money or be willing to work overtime as often, or whatever else that just doesn’t fly in the normal working world…
In the same vein if your father is working 12+ hour days to make the business work and you are also putting in that kind of time… expect to have to hire not just one replacement, but two or see a significant drop off in output…