Family + Business

[d24]

My future sister-in-law's ('Emily') and her husband 'Pete' have a fledgling business. They run it together and although Pete is currently out of work and the business still isn't taking off Emily is pumping every single penny she has into his business venture.

 

Now, Pete is extremely talented at what he does and everyone knows it (and could easily see it). But he has no get-up-and-go, he has no business sense and really has no idea what he should be doing.

 

Emily is getting increasingly frustrated at the situation because she knows Pete can make an absolute fortune doing what he's good at - but through all her trying she really has no business acumen either. On top of it she's losing every spare penny she has trying to invest for him / their future.

 

They're basically floating down the river with no paddles - getting lucky breaks here and there allowing them to pay a bill, pay this or that supplier, or keep their spirits up.

 

We talked about this yesterday as I have two degrees in business/economics etc and he asked me for some business advice. I asked him questions he'd never even considered about cashflow, about marketing, about target markets, about publicity, capacity, costs, etc.... and at the end of it his mind was spinning. He'd never had so many options laid out infront of him, and I think he realised for the first time that he could really make a go of this.

 

So I jokingly offered to help him as his business manager and said with my help he could probably get to where he wants to be. Jokingly I offered him $1 for half his business. We all laughed but his wife Emily was insulted claiming they'd put in at least $3,000) into getting it set up. I joked again saying "don't worry it was only a joke, the real offer would have been far less" which made everyone except Emily laugh.

 

Fair enough it's their fledgling business and it's not fun to be the butt of the jokes... but still, she needed to lighten up a bit.

 

Later that night she got back to us and apologised. Said that if we wanted to help they'd be happy to talk to us about numbers.

 

Then I just thought to myself.... Oh..... Hmmm..... Do I REALLY want to be doing this?

 

To top it all off my future parents-in-law were there during - and said it would be fantastic to see the family working together, then dropped a bomb shell on us:

 

Emily is losing her job in August so they need all the help they can get.

 

Great! Now I either help them and worry about their business' success and hope they have enough to live on - or I drop out and the family says "oh well he could have helped but he didn't, and now Emily's house is being repossessed" You get the picture lol....

 

.... I honestly can see a LOT of potential in this but I don't want to fall out with them if things go wrong, or too well.

 

I'm not sure if there's an option available for me where I don't either helkp and risk my money and our friendship, or risk our friendship by not helping.

 

Eeek! Advice please!

[NJRon]

is there a way you can help them by consulting... let their business take off a bit? this would allow you the flexibility to do it outside of work hours and also not put so much pressure on the financial aspect.

[glegend]

Your in a tough bind here. Its a damn if you damn if you don't kinda situation. Maybe you could offer some help with the business. Maybe a few hours a week. It sounds like the business is still stuck at point A and not reaching anywhere near point B. Where point A is the ground and point B is the business getting off the ground. Maybe you could help them out to get the business off the ground. Of course there wont be a huge reward for you but at least your partner will be happy with you for helping out the family.

[d24]

well i've offered to make them a website so hopefully that'll be enough for Pete to get up and start some of the advertising things we talked about.

 

If he doesn't make the effort though I'm stuck again, like glegend said;

 

Its a damn if you damn if you don't kinda situation.

 

If it does get to that point maybe I should just go for it - and if it fails I can say I've done everything possible to make it work, but if it goes well - well hey, I'd be entitled to some of the pie!

[BeStrongBeHappy]

Most people who start businesses do it on the side of a regular job at first... nights, weekends etc.

 

I really think the best advice you could give them is that at least one of them needs a job to keep them going, earning enough to cover mortgage etc., or they shouldn't be considering starting a business now.

 

Businesses fail not because the people don't have talent, but because they can't run a business, or didn't raise enough capital to carry them the several years it would take to even break even.

 

So i think you can offer your business consulting services, but you need to be brutally honest with them that maybe they both need to get regular jobs and work to get the other business off the grounds night and weekends and not quit their regular jobs until the business can earn them enough to survive.

 

They will first ask for your expertise, then next they may be asking to borrow money to keep the business going, and that puts you in an awful position of having to say no if you have assets and your fiance knows it and hence her sister knows it. Someone need to be realistic about finances and whether this is feasible now, and don't go into this until they fully understand you won't be contributing capital to the enterprise or you may end up with them angry at you for themselves not succeeding (i.e., he could have lent us money if he wanted to... what a bad brother in law you are...)

 

I wouldn't volunteer too much at all until you are such they have a business plan they can succeed with, enough capital and revenue to support themselves, and a realistic understanding of what it takes to succeed.

[glegend]

well i've offered to make them a website so hopefully that'll be enough for Pete to get up and start some of the advertising things we talked about.

 

If he doesn't make the effort though I'm stuck again, like glegend said;

 

 

 

If it does get to that point maybe I should just go for it - and if it fails I can say I've done everything possible to make it work, but if it goes well - well hey, I'd be entitled to some of the pie!

 

 

A website is a good idea but I don't think that you should go for it. Persoanlly, if I was someone like the parents and saw that you only did a website and the business still failed I would be pissed when it would come up in conversation.

 

I say your better off helping with some advertising via flyers and word of mouth.

 

If you dont mind me asking what kind of business is it?

[glegend]

Most people who start businesses do it on the side of a regular job at first... nights, weekends etc.

 

This is how I see it and plan to do it. Start my business in April/May, work my part time job until it kicks off and then once it does all I have to do is worry about my business and school.

 

Businesses fail not because the people don't have talent, but because they can't run a business, or didn't raise enough capital to carry them the several years it would take to even break even.

 

Business fail not because they can't run a business, because they don't charge enough for their service. Management skills are also important but thats not the main reason why they fail.