What's so special about family business? Business is business is business, right? Isn't any business better than no business -- no matter the size, family-held or not? Do family businesses impact a local economy?
In every measure that's significant -- from return on assets to profitability and from sales growth to return on equity -- family firms outperform non-family firms in the long run. Communities interested in preserving and growing their economies need to know that the engine of job creation and prosperity begins with family-owned firms. They play a vital part in any sustainable economy.
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On a recent post titled Family Business Challenge: Attitude of Entitlement, I asked people to share what they do in their family to avoid an attitude of entitlement and also what and how they are teaching the next generation to “Prepare” and to “Protect.” The response was great and some wonderful tips and best practices were shared.
One of those responses came from Phil Clemens, CEO of Clemens Family Corporation (i.e. Hatfield Quality Meats) and a regular reader of The Exuberant Accountant. I did a feature post on Phil last April which you can read by clicking this link. Phil often speaks and coaches on family business issues and he is someone I respect tremendously. With his permission, I share some wonderful insights from him and the Clemens Family.
Some of the things we do are:
Continue reading "Family Business Challenge: Attitude of Entitlement (Follow-Up)" »
I have been called the Energizer Bunny on Steroids and people often ask me, “How do you have so much energy?” I never really thought much about it until I read The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz. The number of hours in a day is fixed, but the quantity and quality of energy available to us is not. This is something we can control with our decisions and actions.
We live in the digital age and our pace is fast and relentless. We face heavy workloads, many family responsibilities and we try to cram as much as possible into every day. We may be wired up, but we are melting down. Time management is no longer a solution; instead, we need to learn how to manage our energy. As energy is the key to high performance as well as health, happiness and life balance.
The book outlines four key principles to increase our energy level:
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This past week I had the privilege of participating in a Hope International Vision Trip. Last July, I posted on this blog an invitation to join me on a trip to the Dominican Republic. Several folks answered the call to experience first hand the most effective way to wipe out poverty – Microfinance.
The principles of microfinance involve giving small loans to the poorest of the poor to enable them to start or expand a small business thus enabling them to take steps out of their poverty. These poor have no access to capital and would never qualify for a typical bank loan. The local “loan sharks” charge an interest rate that is 20 times higher than a HOPE loan. These people have no savings (and actually need to pay someone in order to save). Many of these people need to choose which child to feed or which one gets an education. They have to pick winners and losers within their own family due to a lack of resources.
Continue reading "HOPE International and Microfinance – Defeating Poverty and Changing Lives" »
People often ask, “What happened to all the good paying jobs?” Politicians will usually blame each other and then try to “fix” the problem. I recently came upon the chart below from the fine folks at Chart of the Day.
The conventional wisdom for the evolution of our economy has been that we have moved from a manufacturing based economy into an innovative knowledge economy. That's not quite true. In fact, the decline of the jobs in goods producing sectors of the economy (construction, manufacturing, mining and agriculture) has largely been met with an increase in jobs on the government payroll. We've gone from providing jobs in profit-making private industry to providing jobs in profit-eating government work.
Continue reading "How The Government Payroll is Replacing Goods Producing Jobs" »
"Someday this company will be yours." This statement may sound like an innocent promise from a well-meaning parent, but it can wreak havoc within a family business. When children grow up believing that no matter how they act, the business will be theirs to run, an entitlement attitude often flourishes. Furthermore, once that seed is planted, it's very difficult to stop it. As I have written before, it is difficult to escape a culture of entitlement and that entitlement is very effective at strangling the growth of an otherwise vibrant family business.
Continue reading "Family Business Challenge: Attitude of Entitlement" »
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