Finding a New Path After a Family Business Fails
Finding a New Path After a Family Business Fails
When I was in my late thirties, I experienced a last day of work unlike most. Before the first 15 minutes of the morning were gone, I was punched in the mouth, my shirt was torn and the CEO had his hands around my neck.
That CEO was my uncle; and that day marked the end of a strange trip through the world of our family business. In an instant I lost my job, my family and my identity.
However bad it ended for me, our family business started with good intentions. Our parents thought it would be great to provide financially for future generations and keep the family close. As kids, we were excited to attach ourselves to something bigger than ourselves, something transcendent and exclusive.
Our environment made it easy for us to believe the road ahead would be smooth. We learned about life in an artificial environment of nice vacations, housekeepers to clean up after us, and the best things money could buy without learning anything about the value of a dollar.
As adults, we were surprised when the road got bumpy, then became dangerous, and finally ended at the edge of a cliff. As adults inside the family business, it seemed we were valued most by how well we could “toe” the family line.
A sibling, who regularly wore a t-shirts that read, “Life is Hard, Pray Harder,” was finally thrown out of the business for decades of embezzling, my father passed away, and a crueler surviving family member became the head of the company. Most of my siblings were fired or left. Those who stayed were the most compliant and the most financially dependent, attaching themselves to elaborate mythologies to prove they were their own men and women.
Fortunately, I lost all opportunity to lose myself in self-delusions after the violent end of my time at our family business. After my last day, I took a few weeks of soul searching, and declined an offer to return to the family business. Instead, I decided to accept a job making a little more than minimum wage, painting cabinets on track homes before the new buyers moved in.
Click to read the entire article Restorer’s Perspective: Finding a New Path After a Family Business Fails.
