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has anyone worked with family for a decent period of time?

post #1 of 18
12/4/09 at 10:16pm
Thread Starter 
or currently work with them? whether it be at the family's dental, law, contracting, or anything practice... if so did you wanna shoot yourself or did you exploit the more laid back vibe, if any
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post #2 of 18
12/4/09 at 10:27pm
I bought them out and sent them home. It was one of the smartest moves of my life.
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post #3 of 18
12/4/09 at 10:36pm
Family business is general contracting/construction.

Mostly laid back, but there's no calling in 'sick' or otherwise being mildly irresponsible as there might be at other jobs. Routine annoyance at my memory being better than everyone else's, too.
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post #4 of 18
12/4/09 at 10:45pm
in the family biz.... work and responsibility's heavy, and there are times its laid back but there are moretimes its been hectic. but there are a lot of things I deal with that I didn't learn from business school that's for sure.
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post #5 of 18
12/4/09 at 10:47pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by acidicboy View Post
in the family biz.... work and responsibility's heavy, and there are times its laid back but there are moretimes its been hectic. but there are a lot of things I deal with that I didn't learn from business school that's for sure.

ditto on the practical learning side; i deal with MBA idiots and they could learn a lot from the shit that i learned..what industry is your fam in if i can ask
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post #6 of 18
12/4/09 at 11:08pm
The grass is always greener, but sometimes I wish I had been born into a successful family business. Given that my father and I never got along I probably wouldn't have taken advantage of it if it would've meant working with him, but by now he would have been retired and in the last several years we've both mellowed somewhat so may it would've worked out.
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post #7 of 18
12/4/09 at 11:09pm
I'd die in a ditch before doing that. YMMV.
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post #8 of 18
12/4/09 at 11:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuuma View Post
I'd die in a ditch before doing that. YMMV.
+1
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post #9 of 18
12/4/09 at 11:38pm
Some extended family of mine owned a restaurant. Some other extended family worked in the restaurant.

All kinds of BS went on. No one was happy. The business folded.

In summary, choose your family wisely before you are born.
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post #10 of 18
12/4/09 at 11:44pm
It is not an easy thing to get right. I sit on a board with a number of people in family businesses, and the pitfalls are many. Misery abounds. I work with family, and I am very thankful for the literally hundreds of things that have been done the right way to make it a successful situation for all involved. In my particular situation, it's fantastic.
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post #11 of 18
12/5/09 at 1:26am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuuma View Post
I'd die in a ditch before doing that. YMMV.
+2. I did, once. Never again.
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post #12 of 18
12/5/09 at 2:46pm
I'm going to be 'latching-on' to my family's law firm and I can't tell you how much easier and less stressful it has made law school. Basically I'll just be an independent attorney but have access to their contracts and advice, but most importantly the name recognition in the town. So we won't have to be divvying up profits, which is the point where family businesses get sticky. I'm glad I chose this career path, I would have had to start completely from scratch if I chose another, but this way I'll be able to get on the ground running. Continuing on with the family business is given a bad rep in American culture I think, it's the natural course of things in the rest of the world to take advantage of what you're family worked to create, rather than start anew each generation....
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post #13 of 18
12/5/09 at 3:04pm
family business can always be a good place to start, but because it is your family and you care about them, u will find urself working much harder and feeling more obligated than ur actual job title and pay should require.

it adds drama to the family. rather than being a worker and trying to focus on ur career, moving up in life, being paid more, looking out for what is best for u, your all about the business and not urself.

it may feel like u can leave and someone can replace u or what not, but u know that is not the case.

it is good for the business to have family working, but it is bad for the individual.

i had to turn down an internship to work with my dad at his small business. the internship would have been much better for me and my future. but the economy was bad and my dad needed help. he would have never let me turn down the internship, but i knew he would have barely been able to survive without me. i turned down the internship and never told anyone about it.

i hated working for my dad. low pay, tough job, long hours, but i knew i had to do it.
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post #14 of 18
12/5/09 at 3:17pm
Family business (on my dad's side) is importing and distribution (grandfather started it with his cousin over 60 years ago; now my father and my uncle run it, although my grandfather is still the president of the company)...I spent two summers working in the warehouse and two working in the office. From my perspective it was a pretty sweet deal -- while my dad would've canned me if I didn't do the work and I wasn't given any breaks in that regard, there were some other perks. That said, I haven't seen or heard of any drama between my dad and uncle due to the business. I guess occasionally one messes up or does something with which the other disagrees, but since they each run a different part of the company (and do a good job of it) they recognize that they need each other. And they're friends anyways. So overall, seems like a good situation in my family.
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post #15 of 18
12/5/09 at 3:34pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by confused View Post
family business can always be a good place to start, but because it is your family and you care about them, u will find urself working much harder and feeling more obligated than ur actual job title and pay should require. it adds drama to the family. rather than being a worker and trying to focus on ur career, moving up in life, being paid more, looking out for what is best for u, your all about the business and not urself. it may feel like u can leave and someone can replace u or what not, but u know that is not the case. it is good for the business to have family working, but it is bad for the individual. i had to turn down an internship to work with my dad at his small business. the internship would have been much better for me and my future. but the economy was bad and my dad needed help. he would have never let me turn down the internship, but i knew he would have barely been able to survive without me. i turned down the internship and never told anyone about it. i hated working for my dad. low pay, tough job, long hours, but i knew i had to do it.
first half of reading your post, i was thinking to myself 'true, if you have an honest and good family' ..but money can change anyone second half of your post the truth cometh out, which is that family (especially dads) are no better in exploiting the employee (son or daughter) than large corporations..ie you need to take your own advice and start looking out for yourself. not saying that internship would be better down the line, but when pops starts saying it's your responsibility for his firm (and i assume pay structure doesn't change), some red flags should be coming up though i'm generalizing. ps did you end up leaving him or are you still with him?
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