Financial Empowerment In A Family Business
This article first appeared in the Fall/Winter issue of Future Female Magazine
A family business is exactly that — a business that belongs to the family. It’s a delicate balance of past, present and future that teeters on a fine line between the hard numbers of business and the complex emotions of familial bonds. The business itself can fill the next generation with feelings of pride for the legacy they are carrying on, but at the same time, can also bring on feelings of loss of identity while trying to live up to a mountain of expectations — balancing new, forward-looking enthusiasm for the bottom line with deeply rooted family traditions. While the numbers are at the forefront of any business, there’s an added layer of emotions that come with family businesses, and that’s where this conversation really needs to start. As a Certified Financial Planner and financial educator, when I work with family businesses and the multiple generations that they encompass, the feeling of loss of identity is one of the most common feelings that surface in the conversation. What it boils down to is that we’re dealing with one generation — seasoned, experienced and knowledgeable — on one side of the conversation, and another generation — excited, motivated and ready to make their mark — on the other side. Conflict inevitably arises. When it comes to facilitating this transition, especially when it comes to tackling the financial conversation, in my experience, it’s more important to begin by discovering and resolving the feelings behind this new change rather than the numbers associated with it. What if we removed all the complexities of the broader conversations, and started with something much simpler? You!
A SENSE OF BELONGING
As someone who has joined the family business, the younger generation likely has visions, ideas, and a sense of excitement for what could be. However, all too often, these intentions can get overtaken by the role that ends up being assigned to you in the business. As a result, the incoming generation often feels that they’re entering as an employee rather than an owner with a contributing voice. A key idea that I encourage is to focus on the initial feeling of excitement and reconnect to the meaning the business has to you. It’s in focusing on the positive feelings that will help to build a sense of belonging — you do belong in the business, and the business does belong to you.
BUILDING ON POSITIVE EMOTIONS
To avoid feelings of displacement and loss, remind yourself why it was that you joined the business in the first place, and reconnect to the visions and ideas that you had. Whether those ideas are still applicable today or not isn’t the focus here. The purpose is to reconnect to those positive feelings to allow for your contributing ideas to surface. This exercise pulls you out of feeling like an employee to feeling like a valuable owner who belongs. This also allows you to connect to the business on an emotional level beyond the weighted feelings of expectations that you may be feeling. To do this, think about the question: “What does the business mean to me?” When you answer, be sure to focus on your perspective — not anyone else’s.
MEANINGFUL FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT
To start building a real sense of ownership, we started with positive feelings of belonging and what it means to be a valued and contributing owner of the family business. Now, with those positive feelings in place, the business has a meaning that only belongs to you, and what you’ve done is to bring a sense of self to your role, adding value and generating ideas for the business. Ideas and passion drive income, and the heart-led income drives the financial conversation through a positive connection. Your connection and ownership of the business builds your connection and ownership of its finances, making it the financial conversation one that you want to have! When you find your voice, it makes the financial conversation about the business, and that conversation about the business includes you!
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