HOW DO I TAKE OVER MY FAMILY BUSINESS?

On the other hand, when it comes to taking over a family business; when you take control of a business that has been owned by members of your family. The following questions are the list of important questions needs to look at before taking over a family business:

WHAT IS THE FAMILY BUSINESS?

You should consider family and business issues separately as it will be conflicting in managing the business relationships and family relationships if you are working with your family.

HOW DO I PREPARE FOR RUNNING THE BUSINESS?

Preparation for taking over a family business cannot start too soon. Some important steps in preparing are declaring your intentions, apprenticing, studying business, getting outside experience and building network will help you building up the confidence and the support for running the business.

HOW DO I HELP PREPARE RETIRING FAMILY MEMBERS?

When you own your own business, there is no retirement age but as part of the baby boom generation, a large proportion of family business leaders in Canada expect to retire over the next decade. The majority of these don’t have formal plans for what they will do when they retire. So you should involve information and advisers and identify the needs and the wants for their retirement and include it in preparing a plan.

WHAT ARE THE LEGAL ISSUES?

Taking over the family business is really about two separate issues that is taking over management authority for the business and taking over legal ownership of the business which includes taxation issues, legal form issues, insurance issues and alternative compensation issues.

WHAT TAKEOVER PROBLEMS WILL I FACE?

There are great many factors that contribute to the poor success rates for second generation entrepreneurs because of the hasty expansion, losing key employees, succumbing to family politics, failing to develop a strategy and problems in managing the transition such as empowering employees, providing ongoing communication and rewarding support.