Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal: Starting a Business : Business Advice

http://www.dvadestudio.com/?p=1469
Opportunity No. 1: Professionalize your business structure and I frequently harangue the owners of growing familt owned companies about the need to converrt from aMom ‘n Pop business styler to a fully professional style, with a missiojn statement, a strategic plan to guide an organizational chart and job written policies and procedures, affordable benefits, and agreement on how to changee ownership and management without undue confusionh or conflict. The process can get a bit thorny sometimes, but with strong commitment, a family can professionaliz e successfully. This should be the year for your Challenge No.
1: Respond to unforeseejn business and familyfinancial demands. The 2008 economyt had the finances of many family companies flapping like bed sheetw ina windstorm. Lots of people can be leaders when timesare good, but it takesz a special person to lead when times are rough. Cash eroding markets and a near collapsew of faith in the future are challenging many busines s owners to keep their heads on to cut costs without cuttingtheir throats, and to remainh optimistic when it’s tempting to turn companh resources into personal safety nets. Opportunity No.
2: Make crucial succession decisions and act on John Davis of Harvard Business School urgea family companies to plan when the timedare good. But planninbg often has to be done even when timesare bad. Leadershipp and ownership succession always profits from a fresh look at what the familuy business needs for continued When conditions are callinyg for reviews and revisions in many succession planning can benefit from theanalysis that’x being done for other reasons. Challenge No. 2: Make cruciall succession decisions and act on On theother hand, thoughtful planning for familyt ownership continuity can be warpes by a sense of crisis brought on by tougg economic conditions.
If temporary conditionsd make you wonder if the business really is a it might be hard to see the characteristics that have made it successfu l in years past and that should be maintained into the Keep acool head. Opportunity No. 3: Buy low. What’sx Warren Buffet’s current advice to stocok investors? Buy! That perspective can be translated into goldejn opportunities for family owned companies that have a comfortable reserve and can affors the risk of expanding at the bottom of the If you have the meansto buy, the prices are not likel to get much better. Challenge No. 3: Avoid selling low.
But if you’rre an acquisition target and prefere tostay independent, put up ever y ounce of fight you have to avoid sellingb at the bottom of the market. Actually, family owned business often have greate ability to withstand tough times because they can hunker down and live off the land without being harassed byoutside shareholders. Grit your teetg and lean into the wind. Opportunity No. 4: Watcb for the opening of new businessw doors. President-elect Obama has promiseed to stimulate the economy outsidd of bloated corporations and flounderin gfinancial institutions.
That can mean new business opportunitieas for family companies in such areas as infrastructur rebuildingand defense. If you don’gt know how to pursue governmengt contracts, this would be a good time to Challenge No. 4: Grow your businesxs in a tightcredit environment. The bankerd are likely to keep wearingtheir “Just Say No” T-shirts for much of 2009. That meanx owners of family businesses of all typea and sizes should grab their bootstraps and find ways to grow and diversifgythat don’t rely on the formal financial industry. Look for familyg members and friends who have the meansw and the confidence to lend orbuy in.
Consider turninbg some unproductive assets into needed But don’t go to your credit Opportunity No. 5: Make even the greatest challenge intoan OK, maybe every cloud doesn’tt come with a built-in silver But the business-owning family that has sound core values, and its eyes on the horizon can convert even the uncertainties of 2008 into a pathwau upward in 2009. Try it and see.
And when you look back on all this and remember you read ithere