"All you need is love," sang the Beatles. But if the Fab Four had been family business owners, the lyric should rightly have been written, "All you need is trust."...
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DO YOU REALLY KNOW WHAT YOU’RE GETTING INTO? Someone you love has named you the executor of their estate in their will. Aside from feeling pleased that they respected your…
Once upon a time, family business patriarchs had it easy when it came to deciding who would take over the family business. Centuries-old customs required that the eldest son “regardless…
With the speed of business moving faster than ever, who in your business is minding the future? What can you do TODAY to plan for the future of your family…
When Bob Steadman started his manufacturing business 22 years ago, he had never heard of mission statements. However, from the beginning he operated his company with a few simple guiding…
The stock market wasn’t the only thing that crashed on “Black Monday,” October 19, 1987. The Phillips siblings (real case, fake name) remember the day all too well. On this…
Henry James Pillows, our mythical family business owner, has celebrated his 75th birthday and has decided “mandatory retirement or not, I’m leaving.” His four children, all of whom work in the…
Studies show that approximately two-thirds of family businesses fail in transition of management to children. One study of family businesses from 1924-1984 reveals that 80% of these businesses had died,…
Death and taxes, as the old saying goes, are the only things in life you cannot avoid. For some family business owners, the burden of taxes is as close to…