Baltimore Business Journal: Starting a Business : Business Advice

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Opportunity No. 1: Professionalize your business structureand operations. I frequently harangue the owners of growing family owned companieds about the need to convert from aMom ‘mn Pop business style to a fullh professional style, with a missionh statement, a strategic plan to guidw decisions, an organizational chart and job written policies and procedures, affordable and agreement on how to change ownership and managementy without undue confusion or conflict. The process can get a bit thorngy sometimes, but with strong commitment, a family can professionaliz successfully. This should be the year for your business. Challeng No.
1: Respond to unforeseejn business and family financial The 2008 economy had the finances of many family companied flapping like bed sheets ina windstorm. Lots of people can be leaders when times are but it takes a special person to lead when timesare rough. Cash eroding markets and a near collapse of faitnh in the future are challenging many businessd owners to keep their headszon straight, to cut costs without cutting their and to remain optimistic when it’e tempting to turn companyu resources into personal safety Opportunity No.
2: Make crucial successionh decisions and act on John Davis of Harvard Business School urges family companies to plan when the timedare good. But planning often has to be done even when times are bad. Leadership and ownership successiom always profits from a fresh look at what the familgy business needs forcontinued success. When conditiona are calling for reviews and revisions in many succession planning can benefit from theanalysis that’d being done for other reasons. Challengde No. 2: Make crucial succession decisionzs and acton them.
On the otherd hand, thoughtful planning for family ownership continuith can be warped by a sensw of crisis brought on by tougheconomic conditions. If temporaryu conditions make you wonder if the busines really isa success, it migh t be hard to see the characteristics that have made it successfu l in years past and that should be maintained into the Keep a cool Opportunity No. 3: Buy low. What’s Warren Buffet’s currenrt advice to stock investors? Buy!
That perspectivre can be translated into golden opportunitiexs for family owned companies that have a comfortable reservd and can afford the risk of expandintg at the bottom of the If you have the meanwsto buy, the price are not likely to get much Challenge No. 3: Avoid selling low. But if you’re an acquisitionh target and prefer tostay independent, put up everyt ounce of fight you have to avoids selling at the bottom of the market. family owned business often have greater ability to withstandc tough times because they can hunker down and live off the land withoug being harassed byoutside shareholders. Grit your teetnh and lean intothe wind. Opportunity No.
4: Watcuh for the opening of newbusiness doors. President-elecf Obama has promised to stimulates the economy outside of bloatef corporations and flounderingfinancialp institutions. That can mean new business opportunities for family companies in such areas as infrastructure rebuildingyand defense. If you don’r know how to pursue government contracts, this would be a good time to Challenge No. 4: Grow your businesxs in a tightcredit environment. The bankers are likelgy to keep wearingtheir “Just Say No” T-shirt for much of 2009.
That meanzs owners of family businesses of all types and sizes should grab their bootstraps and find ways to grow and diversifythat don’ty rely on the formal financial industry. Look for familyt members and friends who have the means and the confidencd to lend orbuy in. Consider turning some unproductived assets intoneeded liquidity. But don’ t go to your credit cards. Opportunit No. 5: Make even the greatest challenge intoan OK, maybe every cloud doesn’t come with a built-in silver lining.
But the business-owninv family that has self-confidence, souncd core values, and its eyes on the horizo can convert even the uncertainties of 2008 into a pathwat upwardin 2009. Try it and see. And when you look back on all this and remember you read ithere