Many of the businesses that are opened in the United States each year are family-owned. By going into business with family, you know you trust your business partners, and your commitment to one another puts you in a great position to succeed. On the other hand, working with family members can cause unique challenges, like a loss of work-life balance and personal conflicts bleeding into the business. While running a family-owned business can be incredibly rewarding, it’s important to plan wisely and prevent potentially catastrophic issues from becoming a problem that hurts your business – and your cherished family relationships.
Why choose franchising?
The first year of any business can be stressful and high stakes, but in a family-owned business, the relationships make the risks much higher. A big part of making sure that your business is in a position to thrive is managing personalities and being as proactive as possible in order to make that crucial first year go smoothly. One of the best things about franchising is that most of the work that goes into starting a business has been done for you! When you choose to open a franchise rather than start a business from scratch, you benefit from a turnkey business model that enables you to hit the ground running. DUCTZ is proud to be a family-friendly franchise – our nationwide network of franchises is full of family-owned businesses.
Here are a few of our favorite tips for family-run franchise success!
- Set Boundaries
The single most important piece of advice we can give you is to set boundaries. In order to have a healthy work-life balance, it’s important to set and maintain boundaries with any job, but it becomes an even more urgent matter when family is involved. Make a point to keep your work and home lives separate. This won’t always be possible, but if you need to talk business after work, set aside a time to do it (and never make that time during family dinners, holidays, or parties). Because work conflicts pose additional problems when they’re among family, create a communication plan to handle conflicts wherever they arise and stick to it.
- Treat All Family Members Equally
This one is true whether your whole staff is made up of family or if there are some team members who aren’t related to you. It’s crucial that you give everyone an equal opportunity at promotions, raises, projects, and time off. It goes without saying that staff who aren’t members of the family will notice immediately if you’re playing favorites with a relative, and that is a simple way to wreck your company culture. Likewise, all families have their own dynamic, and it’s important that you leave it outside of the office. Treating your child more favorably than a niece or nephew, for example, will create issues both at work and at home.
- Seek Outside Help
After a while, a family business can become an echo chamber. You may run out of new ideas, you may find that you agree on everything, or you may be averse to conflict because you don’t want to hurt a family member’s feelings. Fresh thinking and competing ideas are key to a successful business, and that’s why many family businesses benefit from having people outside of the family on their team. Including outsiders in leadership and decision-making wherever possible is a great way to keep a family-run business healthy and successful.
- Require Outside Experience
Your relatives should work for you because their skills and experience make them helpful, not because they’re family. It’s especially important to stick to this rule if your children are following you into the business. It can be easy to rest on your laurels when you have the job security that comes with working for a parent, and that’s the last thing you want – both for your business and your relationships. There’s no particular need for them to work in the same industry as your business, but having a few years of working experience will help them understand how to be good team members and may even teach them new skills.
Why should I franchise with DUCTZ?
At DUCTZ, we consider it a privilege to have been on so many families’ paths to business ownership. Our shared values of passion, commitment, and hard work have made it easy for tight-knit, entrepreneurial families to thrive as DUCTZ owners. And because we’re part of the recession-resilient home services industry, you can feel confident that your family’s business will remain profitable even during the toughest economic times. If you’re ready to give your family a better life, and learn more on how to become a franchise owner, call DUCTZ today to receive a free copy of our Franchise Opportunity Report.