Would you Start a business with a Family Member?

I have always loved the idea about going into a business partn ership with my brother and sister. I know I can trust them with my life and cooperating together would really interest me. I can't say the same for my cousins though, even though we meet everyday.

Trust, belief, love, respect, care and tolerance are the major factors that determines the success of a family business. Birkshere Hathaway, Walmart, EBay are family business that have survived for decades and are still growing stronger every year.

One good thing about a joint family business is that decisions are taken quickly as at when due as a result of the proximity between the members. No valuable nformation or suggestion is been held back by any of the members since they are all after the success of the business.

Also, in tough times, members are always ready to make sacrifices so that the family legacy can continue to live on. They wouldn't fancy a situation when they would be made a laughing stock by people since Tue family's reputation is at stake. Hence, there's always a higher level of dedication, commitment and accountability in a joint family business.

Anyway, research had shown that 4 out of 5 family businesses fail before 10 years.

You see, on the flip side money can really bring out the terrible side in a person no matter the closeness. When a sibling stab you at the back, the pain is more excruciating than when someone else betrays you. Worse is that you might not be able to initiate a debt recovery process by dragging him or her to court since you share the same blood. You wouldn't want things to get messier than they already are as the family would continue to be in the spotlight for the wrong reasons.

Also, problems might arise due to improper succession plan. Like a situation where the older members or founding fathers (brothers) ofnte business decide to retire after the long years of establishing a successful business. Now the next generation of leaders ( Children, nephews and nieces) could turn out to have different personalities and divergent views about the management of the organization.

Also, they might also be influenced by their spouses and friends. Hence the organization might begin to suffer due to disagreement among members as a result of lots of disparity in views and opinions. Not also forgetting that the older surviving members would always want their opinions to be seek before any decision is reached.

In a short while, nepotism, greed, incompetence, family feud would crumble the foundation and inadvertently lead to the demise of the organization

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Thanks for reading 😀😀