Family Business

A family business can be a great idea. There are several success stories. Many families work very well together and are quite a team.

Then there are those families who would be better off staying away from each other. Unfortunately, as a small business owner with not a lot of money, you can't always afford the people you need. You have a choice of becoming an expert in every area of your business, or hiring someone to take care of the aspects you aren't skilled in.

If you choose to do it all yourself, you will be up against: knowing your product/service inside and out, sales, marketing, advertising, customer service, accounting, bookkeeping, payables, receivables, taxes (better not forget taxes, they won't forget out you!), payroll, employment procedures, safety procedures, insurance, licenses, security of your building/office, quoting, invoicing, collections, planning (including exit planning!), researching your best vendors, website development (if you want an online presence), website marketing (a bit different than offline marketing). I'm sure this not an exhaustive list. It also depends on what type of business you're in.

If you don't have the money to hire specialists in these areas, you may end up hiring family. If you belong to a family that doesn't display a team attitude, you may be in trouble. If you hire someone who isn't a specialist or accredited in the field you hire them for, they may (usually) end up taking a lot longer to figure things out! This is not very efficient, but it's what we are stuck with.

I am not an expert in business. My specialty lies in software development, and that is not a specialty needed for this current job! The first month on this job was spent reconciling every account we had. It was a bit of a nightmare. I couldn't understand why certain items were not reconciling... and they weren't even close.

Voided checks in the register had been cashed. Checks had been made out for a different amount on paper compared to the Quickbooks register. And the recipient of every questionable check was the same person.

Beware of family! A family member had embezzled several thousand dollars over a period of about 3 years. The check stubs were marked void when the checks were cashed. Some check stubs only showed half the amount of the actual cashed check. Maybe this is why the accounts had not been reconciled for 3 years?

There were other financial improprieties as well. It's a wonder this business survived.

Beware of family.