Business

Thinking of Hiring a Family Member for Your Small Business? Here’s Why You Should Think Twice

Bringing family members into your small business might seem like an appealing idea, often driven by the desire to strengthen family bonds and keep the business within the family circle. It very much seems a win-win situation. At least, on first thought.

However, this decision merits careful consideration. While there are undeniable advantages to hiring family, there are also potential pitfalls that can impact both personal relationships and business success. So, read on to explore the pros and cons of hiring family members in your small business.

Pros of Hiring Family in Your Small Business

There is certainly no question that hiring one or more family members comes with a few enticing benefits. (You can probably think of a few right off the bat.) Here are some of the biggest advantages to bring a family member on board your small business:

Shared values and loyalty. Family members usually share your values and vision for the business, resulting in loyalty and dedication. Family members are more likely to be invested in the success of your business than non-family members. They’ll be more likely to work hard and go the extra mile to help the business succeed.
Trust and reliability. Family bonds often translate into greater trust and reliability, reducing concerns about employee dishonesty. Plus, you know their strengths and weaknesses, their work ethic, and their commitment to the family. This can make it easier to trust them with important tasks and responsibilities.
Flexible work dynamics. Family members might be more willing to work unconventional hours or take on varied responsibilities, contributing to the business’s flexibility. Additionally, hiring a family member can save you money on labor costs. You won’t have to pay them as much as you would a non-family member, and you may be able to arrange a more novel pay structure or compensation package.

Another benefit is their personal knowledge of family dynamics. Family employees often understand the nuances of family dynamics, which can be quite advantageous in managing the business together.

Cons of Hiring Family in Your Small Business

Obviously, as with anything else, working with one or more family members can cause a few headaches. While the good can easily outweigh the bad, there are some things you should think long and hard about before hiring family to work in your small business:

Blurred boundaries. Lines between work and family life can blur, leading to conflicts and stress that spill over into both realms. Working with family members can create conflict, especially if there are personality clashes or disagreements about how the business should be run. This can damage your personal relationships and make it difficult to work together effectively.
Lack of objectivity. Family dynamics can hinder unbiased decision-making, potentially leading to poor business choices. When you’re working with family members, it can be difficult to be objective. You may be more likely to give them preferential treatment, even if they’re not the best person for the job.
Creating unfair perceptions. Non-family employees might perceive favoritism or unequal treatment, affecting team morale. What’s more, it could involve limited skill diversity. Relying solely on family for expertise might limit the diversity of skills in the business.

The decision to hire family members in your small business requires careful consideration of both the benefits and challenges. While shared values, loyalty, and trust can be advantageous, the potential for blurred boundaries, lack of objectivity, and conflicts should not be underestimated. Navigating this dynamic successfully requires a balance of clear communication, well-defined roles, and professionalism.

Before extending a job offer to a family member, weigh the pros and cons, assess the potential impact on both your business and personal relationships, and establish strategies to manage challenges that might arise. By doing so, you can make an informed decision that serves the best interests of both your small business and your family ties.

Interested in learning more about business? Then just visit Waters Business Consulting Group to learn more about us and the services we offer.

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How to Build a Positive Brand

May 16, 2017 No Comments

One thing that makes companies successful is branding. We see it everywhere and all the time, from television spots, to radio ads, to catalogs and other marketing materials, businesses put out impressions of themselves to the public. The reason for branding is obvious but it’s not necessarily an easy task. It requires differentiating an entity from its competition to make it instantly recognizable to consumers. A brand has to not only be recognizable, it has to live up to its self promotion and establish a reputation that’s commensurate with its marketing. There’s practically little else which can destroy a company faster than having a bad reputation. Even the most effective branding won’t allow a company to escape bad publicity or a negative consumer image. Small business owners might not believe that branding is necessary for them precisely because of their small size; however, in a world that is digitally centered, that’s simply not the case. No matter the size of your organization, it needs a positive brand to help propel it forward. Ways to Build a Positive Brand To build a positive brand, you’ll need to think about the future–it’s what you do now that’s most important. There are defunct companies that doomed themselves by not being aware of the image they were presenting. Relying on gimmicks is another mistake. Companies that place their marketing efforts into gimmicks usually have little else to offer, and, that’s a precarious position. Being genuine and offering good service with a positive attitude are great ways to build a brand. Our personality and professional image sets the tone and stage for how we are all perceived. With the reality of a 24/7 online media world that can change things in a real-time split second, one small wrong move or right move can go viral and change everything. —Small Business Trends To keep your business growing, you have to employ more than one tactic. There are new customers to be found and try your products and services over competitors, and, it’s your brand that will help to convince them to do so. Here are a few ways to build a positive brand: Create a positive work environment. Your brand starts from within your organization. Remember, your employees have lives outside your company and talk to people about work. This is why it’s important to facilitate a positive environment. After all, people won’t give you any business if they’ve heard bad things from insiders. Have a clear and easy-to-follow customer service protocol. Your team members are one of the most powerful sales tools you have. The better they deliver, the better your company does. When it comes to customer service, everyone should know how to respond and to do so in a timely, polite manner. Offer something for nothing. People like free things, practically no matter what they are: great content that is helpful, complimentary items, discounts, and other things can have a big impact. What’s more, if you do this on a regular basis, it will create a positive impression. Make a commitment to your community. Volunteering is something every leader should do and not just for the sake of networking. When you volunteer, you send a very powerful message about yourself and your company. Another thing you can do to create a positive brand is to always follow-up with comments and reviews. Good or bad, these are helpful and the way you deal with comments and reviews will say much about your business. [shareaholic app=”follow_buttons” id=”26833294″]

Are You Delegating or Demanding

May 24, 2017 No Comments

Throughout the course of building a business, you’ll learn over time to delegate tasks and responsibilities to various people with the right skill sets. Some of the most successful entrepreneurs, like Sir Richard Branson and Mark Cuban, state no one can do it alone. That’s certainly true, you can’t do everything on your own and for those who attempt to do so, learn the hard way it’s an open invitation to trouble and even outright failure. The best business owners know their strengths and weaknesses and through this recognition, develop strategies and relationships which maximize their professional potential. Are You Delegating or Demanding? Delegating responsibilities is just part of doing business. Done smartly, this increases productivity and gives companies potential to grow and prosper. It also allows team members to realize their potential and creates a healthier and happier work environment. Delegating shows your confidence in someone and gives them pride to take ownership of certain areas. In addition, delegating allows you to focus on what’s most important while others can put their efforts into other tasks. Delegating is a great way to ensure that more tasks get done in less time, and it also builds team capacity. Unfortunately, a lot of managers don’t pay enough attention to the delegation process, and thus fail to reap the benefits. —Fast Company Another aspect of delegating is it gives you the opportunity to evaluate a person’s performance. When you give a team member responsibility, their approach and results will speak volumes about what kind of work ethic he or she has and what he or she believes are acceptable standards. In addition to evaluation, delegating gives you the ability to learn which of your team members are best suited for certain tasks. All of these things are great about delegating — if you are sincere. However, there is a real difference between delegating and demanding. Demanding does the opposite of delegating. It stifles creativity, decreases productivity, and poisons the workplace. It also drives a wedge between you and your employees, as well as creates tensions among your team members. Demanding doesn’t give you a true chance to evaluate, either, because it puts unnecessary pressure on people. Here are some signs that you’re demanding and not delegating: You rationalize unrealistic expectations. When you demand, you know it to be the case, as does the other person. This creates a need to rationalize unrealistic expectations, not only to the other person, but to yourself. In the end, no one is fooled, but, it gives you at least a pretense of having reason to demand. Your employees mislead or lie to you. If you get the feeling or learn that an employee is misleading or lying to you, there’s definitely a reason. Before jumping to conclusions, you should look back and think about the overall situation. For instance, if you interrogate an employee who wants time off, you’re creating an atmosphere where there’s little choice and lying becomes the only viable option. You create emergency situations. We all know that unexpected things crop-up from time to time, but, if you’re turning every surprise into an emergency, you’ll feel an undue urgency and that can easily lead to demanding. You justify your actions as legitimate and/or legal. If you ever have to ask if something is legal just to get it done, that’s troubling. You shouldn’t have to walk such a fine line because if you are, chances are excellent that even if it is legal, it’s not entirely ethical. You don’t want to deal with this or that. Delegating is done because it puts the best talent where it is most needed. Demanding comes from a need to get something done, particularly a task that you don’t want to deal with personally. Another sign that you’re demanding rather than delegating is your willingness to take credit or give credit to the person who deserves it. If you are taking credit of the work of others and not giving credit where it is due, that’s unethical and will undermine your entire organization. In summary, your employees are your greatest appreciable asset. Invest in them through servant style leadership by delegating with clear expectations and the kind of results you are looking for … then ask; “what can I do to help you succeed with this responsibility or project?” Want to find out about what a business coach can do for you? [shareaholic app=”follow_buttons” id=”26833294″]

Why Hosting Thanksgiving Dinner Teaches Us a Great Business Lesson

December 11, 2017 No Comments

Yes; you read the title correctly, hosting Thanksgiving dinner can teach us a very good business lesson. How; you might ask? Well, think about it this way. When Thanksgiving rolls around and you’re hosting dinner, what’s one of the first concerns which goes off in your head? Of course, being anxious about getting the meal cooked right is one. But, equal to that is how much of a mess your home is! You begin to panic. It’s a total mess. Things are everywhere. The floor is dirty. And, you notice just how cluttered it is. Time to do some serious cleaning and organizing. Why Hosting Thanksgiving Dinner Teaches Us a Great Business Lesson It’s a known fact that where you work affects just how you work. For example, if you worked in a chaotic environment, like an elementary classroom, you’d have little choice but to stay well-organized. However, too many business professionals let their workplace become disorganized. And, it causes needless wasting of time. So you’ve got a messy office you’d like to tame. We’ve all been there, and many of us still are there. You may think that the people behind your favorite productivity and organization blogs are immune to such things like clutter and disorganization, but more often than not we’re brimming with organization tips, tricks, and solutions because of our own struggles with disorganization. —Lifehacker.com Now, you might disagree. There are people who believe a messy workplace doesn’t really matter at all. But, it actually does. Organization is a key factor. It’s particularly integral to success. Without organization, there’s too many loose ends. Those can easily become distractions. Or worse, cause serious problems. How to Do Office Organization Right When you ignore disorganization, it inevitably comes back to bite you. It’s a quasi-blind spot. A well-organized workplace has big advantages. First and foremost, it gives you a genuine feeling of control and competence. That directly translates into improved and increased productivity. Second, because it’s organized, you’re more free of pointless or counterproductive distractions. Third, it allows you to put your focus where it bests serves your interests. So, let’s look at how to do office organization right: Purge with purpose. The first step is to get rid of as much junk and useless stuff as possible. Purge everything that’s unnecessary or unusable. Take this seriously and you’ll feel an instant sense of gratification. You’ll also be amazed how much space you free up. Designate catch-it spaces. There are all kinds of things that come into a workspace, be it an office, a workshop, or retail store. So, designate where that stuff goes. For instance, a place for things like an umbrella, bags or briefcases. As well as a place for incoming documents and other things. Basically, live the phrase, “A place for everything and everything in its place.” Keep your workspace clutter free. The single best way to stay organized is to keep clutter away. Don’t ignore junk, things, and stuff that come into your workspace or you’ll fall right back into the same cycle. Keep it free of clutter and you’ll develop a good habit. Prioritize and always act accordingly. Another good habit to develop is prioritizing. It’s a great way to know what’s next and what can wait. A shotgun approach is a sure-fire way to disorganization and confusion. Plus, you’re unlikely to get very much done. How do you deal with junk and get organized? Have you found you’re more productive when your office is neatly organized? Please share your thoughts and experiences by commenting! Interested in learning more about business? Then just visit Waters Business Consulting Group.