So you’ve built a family business from the ground up. You started from nothing and now you’re the proud owner of a chain of restaurants, an online business or even a multi-million dollar company.
Whatever the case is, your children are growing older now and they’re at the age where they can start learning about your business and how to take over. However, there’s a lot to think about before you hand over a family business and in this article, we’re going to go over some of the basics to teach you what you need to do.
Planning phase
First comes the planning phase. You need to think about what it takes to plan the transfer of a family business. For starters, consider contacting a probate lawyer to help you make sure that your will to transfer your business is proven. You can learn more at EastBayAttorney.com if you want to know more about probate lawyers or how they work. Now that you’ve guaranteed that your business won’t fall into the wrong hands, you can now start thinking about transparency. No child wants to suddenly be told that they’re going to be running the family business when they grow up, so communicate with your family to ensure they all know their roles. You may want to draw up a plan or diagram to show your family what’s on your mind and how you plan to distribute the labour.
Teaching your children
We all know that it’s important to teach your children how to run the business before you throw them into the deep end. As explained in this article at BanklessTimes.com, learning will be the key to long-term business success. Teach your children the fundamentals of business by taking them to a specialised class before you impart your own wisdom and knowledge. They’ll have a much easier time learning if they’re first taught the fundamentals and basics that they should be worrying about. If you wait too long, then they’ll have other educational commitments and they won’t be able to spend time on learning about your business.
Let them take control
Once your plans have all been decided and your children have sufficient knowledge on how to run a business, it’s time to step back and watch them take control. You may want to read some more resources like this post at TheFBCG.com that will teach you how you can welcome a child into the family business. This will get them started with their role at an earlier stage so they understand what it means to take over the business.
Once they’ve established some form of control, make sure you continue teaching them from the sidelines without ever intervening unless they’re about to make a questionable decision. Let them take control and let them learn from their own mistakes as long as it won’t cost your company. It’s important to give them space to do what they want so they feel like they’re in control instead of feeling like a bystander or like their hand is being held.
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