Your family business will be very personal to you and the people closest to you. But just because your professional life and your family life are interwoven like this, it doesn’t mean that you have to settle for less when it comes to how your business is run. Maybe now is the time to properly professionalize your business and make it the kind of place that’s taken seriously by all.
Protect Your Core Values
A family business is often more about values than other kinds of businesses. It’s more personal to you and your family, so as you start to make it more professional, you should think about how you might protect those core values and ensure they’re not lost. Aim for the values of a family business with the professionalism of a huge corporation.
Plan for the Next Generation
Think about how the business might sustain itself going forward. The next generation will be coming through and you should have a plan for that. Will they want to take it over and run it when you retire? It’s something to start thinking about. You shouldn’t pressure the following generation to take over, but having plans in place for what will happen will help a lot.
Ensure Industry Standards Are Met
When your business is trying to be more professional, it makes sense to start comparing it to other similar businesses and to ensure industry standards are all met. Whether that means investing in new IT systems or epoxy floor coatings or something else entirely will depend on your business. You have to meet industry standards to be considered professional though.
Put Better Decision-Making Processes in Place
Decision-making can be messy and complex in some family businesses. There’s less of a clear structure and accountability often isn’t clear either. But you should make sure that these processes are improved so the right decisions can be made quickly. If these processes are slow, they’ll hold back your business and stop it from exploiting situations. A chain of command that oversees decision-making is the best way to organize the business.
Bring in Employees From Outside the Family When the Time’s Right
Finally, think about how you might start bringing in fresh talent and making the most of people outside the business. Just because you’re running a family business, that doesn’t mean that everyone has to be from inside the family in order to work there. There’s so much talent out there, so why limit yourself to people within your family and friend groups.
Running a family business is always a challenge and it’s quite different to running other kinds of small businesses. But that doesn’t mean your approach can’t be professional while also sticking to the roots of what makes your family business unique; it’s not an either/or situation so don’t treat it as one.
