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Chapter

18

The Family as Entrepreneur

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Family Business Challenges

• Family squabbles in the business• Family and non-family employees caught up in

conflicts

• Succession planning• Can you afford to put off deciding?

• Who's in charge• Should the owner run the business?• Family power struggles and rivalries

• Under qualified family members• Balancing business needs and family loyalties

Source: http://www.stanislawconsulting.com/family_business_challenges.html

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Family Business Challenges

• Family member privileges at work• Impact on other family members and non-family

employees

• Complex interactions between family and business• Conflicts involving love and power

• Management out of touch with business realities• Long-term family management resulting in an

inaccurate, stale perspective

• Non-Pecuniary Goals• Family may seek other goals, like security or “staying

together” or “preserving the legacy”

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Resolving Challenges

• Some commentators recommend families must become more business-like• Objectivity and transparency in all dealings• Clear succession plans• Training and development• Written policies and procedures

• Others recommend some sort of family therapy or conflict resolution process• A lot of different therapies on the market though• May also involve non-family members

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PROJECT AND TIME MANAGEMENT

CONSULTING SKILLS

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Project Management

• The best project management systems include:• Project planning• Workforce planning• Time and expense tracking• Cost and revenue accounting• Analytics – on time and on budget?

• Both web-based and stand alone product• Free open source software:

http://openproj.org/openproj

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Why Use PM Software?

• There are a number of benefits:• Forces you to logically consider all steps in a

project• Most programs allow nesting (or sub-tasks)

• Makes dependencies (bottlenecks) explicit• Provides budget estimates based on tasks• Enables you to track changes to the plan and

provide new budget and completion estimates

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Billing & Time Management

• As most consultants bill hourly, it is important to have an effective way of tracking time. The best software:• Tracks time/billable hours by client or project• Allows additional expenses• Has an automated timer• Generates invoices and tracks billings• Links to accounting system

• Wide variety of options:• Web-based• Stand alone• Mobile apps

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SYSTEM DIAGNOSTICSCONSULTING METHODS