5 steps to align family and business goals

Being a business owner can be…conflicting.

Let me explain.

I wear at least three hats relative to my business:

1. Management 
2. Owner/investor
3. Family member

You wear these hats, too. 

Like me, your job is to manage your business. You’re probably doing the work of 2 or 3 people. And you’re the most reliable employee - responsible, accountable, detail oriented, and deadline driven.

You wish you had ten of you! 

You’re also responsible for making sure that you and other employees are doing their part to ensure that you’re getting a return on your investment. That the everyday decisions being made and work being done increases the value of your business over time in a way that you can ‘take to the bank’ at some point. 

Of course, you’re building your business to provide for your family. You have obligations and responsibilities to fulfill for them. Sometimes doing what’s best for your family is also what’s best for your business. 

Sometimes not.

And even if you’re not in business with family members, they might have a lot to say about decisions you’re making as owner/investor and manager. 

In short, your different roles are sometimes in conflict, needing contradictory things at the same time, competing for finite resources, or requiring you to disappoint someone you love because it’s what’s best for your business in the long run. 

Here’s where you embrace the suck.

Honestly, there’s no way out of it. 

You had role conflict as an employee. Now you have role conflict as the employer. 

Choosing to work for yourself means you’ve traded off some restrictions and limitations for others. 

But you also have the ability to identify where conflict exists, purposefully align goals, intentionally manage resources, and consciously deal with the demands of, well, being you.

Start by recognizing that your family and your business are interconnected and separate from you while profoundly impacting your identity and sense of self.

Then accept responsibility for managing the coordination and tradeoffs your different roles require.

Conquering Conflict

There are five steps to creating and aligning your family and business plans. 

• Grab five sheets of paper.
• On each, label one side FAMILY and one side BUSINESS.
• For each, consider the following questions.   

1. Identify your assets: what valuable and useful things do you already have that you want to protect, improve and/or grow? What’s most important to you?

• People and relationships
• Health and wellbeing
• Culture
• Investments and savings
• Things/Possessions/Equipment/Real estate
• Education
• Experiences
• Expertise 
• Intellectual property
• Faith and spirituality 
• Reputation
• Legacy 
• Tradition

2. Protect what you have: what, if anything, is needed to protect the assets you have?

• Insurance
• Legal documents
• Wills and trusts
• Retirement planning
• Healthcare
• Self care
• Lifestyle choices
• Communication 
• Documentation and delegation
• Financial planning
• Debt repayment
• Contingency planning

3. Build with intention: what long-term opportunities exist? What investments do you want to make to grow or enhance your life?

• Of all the possible things you can do to make your family healthy, happier and more prosperous, which will give you the greatest gains?
• Of all the possible things you can do to increase revenue, profitability and the long-term value of your business, which will do all three? 
• Pick 1-2 things from each list to focus on in 2024.

4. Reap and steward your rewards: oftentimes, to reap the rewards of building a loving, happy family you will want to spend more time with them and doing the things you love. Early on, your family probably took the hit when you had to choose between a baseball game and a networking event. In order to reduce your family’s sacrifice and increase the rewards of owning your own business, it needs to provide you with income and generate profit when you’re not there. How much the business needs to provide depends on what you need and how you want to spend your time and money.

• How much do you need to live the way you want moving forward?
• How much do you need to pursue the other things you love, which may include a new business?
• If you no longer plan to work, what do you plan to do?
• What choices are you willing to make today to ensure that your business provides the wealth needed to achieve your family goals?
• What choices are your family willing to make today to ensure the financial resources are there for ‘what’s next’ when the time comes?
• How might you unlock the value of your business? Sell internally? Sell externally? Transfer to family? Retain ownership and replace yourself?

5. Reflect: what has this process revealed? Has it changed how you will approach business planning for 2024 and beyond? 

• What do you need to learn?
• Who do you need to know?
• With whom do you need to be having conversations?
• How can you make plans for the future of you, your family and your business present tense? Purpose First Advisors is experienced in facilitating this process and helping owners like you go from overwhelmed and conflicted to focused and intentional. Shall we get started?