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IN THIS ISSUE:
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FROM THE EDITOR
Family Business: a Three Ring Circus In the last issue I reported that, according to my last “Bulletin” survey, about two thirds of you employ a spouse or other relative in your business. I promised to respond with my thoughts on the joys and perils of mixing business and family. I’m more interested in YOUR thoughts—you’ve been there, I haven’t. But to get the conversation rolling, I’ll draw on a book I helped Joan Gillman write. She grew up in a family business (a women’s clothing store) and has counseled many family businesses in her career with the University of Wisconsin—Madison School of Business. Her observations remind me of an old-fashioned three-ring circus. The spotlight could catch you in any role, in any ring. Anyone working in a family business plays three overlapping roles. You have a role as a family member, as a manager, and as an owner. Playing these roles simultaneously turns your performance into a high-stakes balancing act. As a family member, you’ll worry about the health and prosperity of your family. You want to participate in your family life and in your community as a family, too. But the demands of the business can whittle away at your ability to do so. You’re always a business manager, regardless of your family life. You’ll worry about operations, finances, and marketing. You’ll have concerns for the welfare of your “other family”—your employees, suppliers, and customers. The company’s plans for growth may have tremendous impact (positive or negative) on your own career and work life, and therefore on your family. And in a family business, it’s possible you’re the owner as well. With ownership come the problems of liquidity, capital allocation, and succession. Who is going to take over this business if something happens to the primary family members involved? Will the company continue to provide for the family’s needs? At what level: subsistence, or wildest dreams of success? How do you blend these roles successfully? How do you manage your competing priorities so that, at the end of the day, you have both a family and a business? I don’t know the answers. But Joan and I agree that communication is the key. Early and often, talk about it. How (and how much) you talk as a family about the business, and as a business about the family, impacts how successful you will be at balancing these three roles. Now, tell me what YOU think about life in a family business! - Sarah White Resources: Business Plans that Work, Joan Gillman with Sarah White, Adams Media Corp., 2001. Family Firm Institute, an international professional organization dedicated to assisting family firms, www.ffi.org QUIZ
How Much Do You Know About Family Business? Make no mistake: a family-owned business is a tough act to pull off. Yet the number of family-owned businesses grew 57% between 1986 and 1997, and continues to climb. How much do you know about “mom and pop shops”? Click here to take the quiz. TOOL BITS
E-Mail Marketing: No Thanks (Yet)
Recently it seems I’ve been getting more requests for e-mail marketing
lists. I wish I had the lists you’re looking for, because the demand is
certainly there. Unfortunately, not only do I not have a good source for
e-mail address list rental, I don’t believe such a thing exists. The
time is coming, but it’s not here yet, IMHO.
This is not the place to go into a discussion of laws governing personal information (although there are laws, and they are getting stricter). This is not the place because, frankly speaking, spammers don’t care about laws. Too many e-mail lists for rent are actually compiled without regard to opt-in status. They are undifferentiated lists of addresses harvested from dubious sources, for sale to all comers. This is a recipe not just for spam, but for disaster. Your company does not need the damage spamming will do to your reputation or brand image. I don’t care how cheap the list. If you are not absolutely certain it reflects opt-in requests for precisely the type of information you are offering, it is not a good list for you to use. As far as I’m concerned, the only way to be sure you are using a good e-mail list is to build it yourself. Use that list not to prospect, but to communicate. You could focus on
Use the tips in the articles listed below to build your own list, then keep in touch to keep that list current. And never, ever, use e-mail to make the first contact from you an unsolicited advertising offer. Resources: Make e-mail marketing work for you www.bcentral.com/articles/demographics/133.asp The 11th commandment: Thou shall not spam www.bcentral.com/articles/krotz/138.asp | |  | |
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