How To Succeed As Leader In A Family-Owned Business

Dustin Lemick, founder and CEO of BriteCo, an innovative insurance technology company transforming the retail jewelry insurance experience.

According to Cornell’s research, 77% of all new U.S. business ventures are founded with significant family involvement, and another 3% engage family members within the next two years. My company falls into this category because my family members were and are very involved in starting my business. My father-in-law is on my board, and my wife’s cousin is one of my cofounders.

Aligning family and work dynamics while ensuring unique perspectives are heard throughout the company can be challenging. The following are a few lessons I’ve learned with my team and family along the way.

Family members know you better than anyone else, and they’re often the ones who aren’t afraid to give you direct, sometimes brutally honest, feedback. Trust is an essential element of building a business, and it’s something that I found to be particularly important in my journey.

This setup has worked well for me because of the inherent trust within our relationships. When building something as complex and demanding as a business, having people you can trust implicitly makes a significant difference. They have your best interests at heart, which might not always be true when dealing with outside advisors or partners. This trust allowed us to navigate the challenges of entrepreneurship confidently, knowing that we were all working towards the same goals.

Starting a business or company is one of the most challenging endeavors anyone can undertake, and the journey is deeply personal. Various factors shape the path, including your family dynamics, individual responsibilities and the support system you have in place. When I embarked on my entrepreneurial journey, I found that my circumstances—being a husband and a father to young children—significantly influenced how I approached building my business. These family influences were not just peripheral concerns but central to every decision I made, from the initial planning stages to the ongoing business running processes.

Diversify perspectives.

When including family in your business, it can be easy to make decisions for those you trust the most, but it’s imperative to continue highlighting other voices and perspectives in your company. Delegate top-level decisions to team members in and out of your family so that you have a well-rounded perspective to make the best business decisions.

When starting my business, I took ideas to as many people as possible. Feedback is essential to starting and running a business and should come from various sources. I would ask my family and friends to review things like the design, accessibility and ease of use of our online tools. I obtained great insight by getting as many perspectives as possible. I strongly suggest other founders do the same.

A key family figure in my business is my stepdad, who cofounded the company with me. He has years of experience helping market several startups and emerging growth businesses. His marketing skills and insights served businesses in other concentrations, and there were many situations where his wisdom was invaluable. Tapping into his promotional positioning expertise has helped us meet our challenges.

Ensure a robust support system.

Founders face extensive roadblocks and hurdles while growing their businesses. Hence, creating and ensuring a robust support system is critical to getting started. One of the first and most essential steps in my pursuit of starting a business was ensuring my wife was on board. From the outset, I made a conscious effort to keep her involved with the business. This fostered a sense of shared understanding and ownership. Keeping her connected to what was happening kept her up to speed and prepared whenever challenges inevitably arose.

When you want objectivity, I find it ideal to expand beyond immediate family members, like spouses, parents and siblings. For example, I have an uncle who is one of my business coaches. Business groups and trade groups are also really beneficial support systems and can offer relevant advice. The most important thing is that it must be a good fit. If it doesn’t feel right, it can be detrimental to your business. The only way to know is to try it and put yourself out there: Do the research, start the conversations, network and really work to curate your inner circle.

Find ways to integrate your family’s perspectives.

It’s important to take all family members’ perspectives into consideration and be transparent about the decisions you make. Even if you’re not going to follow someone’s lead, if you’re honest and clear about why, it goes a long way. Another helpful option is finding an outside consultant to help structure the family business, especially specifying terms when family members come in or leave. Families naturally have conflict, and when there’s a business involved, it can get messy. Bringing in a third party to help mediate or referee in these situations is paramount.

For me, having young children while starting and building my family business added an additional layer of complexity to the mix. While business founders are typically relatively young and have the freedom to take this leap, I harnessed the pressure of being a father to drive success, and it guided me through tough times. This sense of responsibility drove me to work harder and stay focused on long-term goals.

Final Thoughts

Starting a business is not a sprint; it’s a marathon. It requires perseverance, resilience and a willingness to push through challenges that might seem insurmountable.

Founding a family business is deeply personal and profoundly influenced by the people closest to you. Remember that your family member’s criticism and advice have your best interest in mind. Building your business alongside your support system and inviting honest communication can point out your blind spots and aid in achieving a successful, growing company.

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