How to run a business with your siblings

Family businesses can be serious business. Some of the biggest and best companies in the world are family owned, including Walmart, Volkswagen and Berkshire Hathaway. Business owners looking to build a team they trust don't need to look far, and enlisting the help of partners, parents, children and siblings can make all the difference. . In theory, it's great. In practice, it's a different story. Could you work with your family?

Ali Assadkhan knows how to work successfully with his siblings. As the founder and one of the owners of Vitasave, which launched in 2013 and is expected to generate $50 million in revenue this year, Assadkhan is working with his two brothers to run the business. Not only is their business thriving, but Assadkhan and his team have successfully transformed it from a brick-and-mortar store to an e-commerce only one. Today, the company offers more than 300 brands and 8,000 natural health products.

Based on nearly a decade of experience working with his brothers, here are Assadkhan's nine essential tips for running a business with your siblings.

Communicate clearly and regularly

Communication is key to any successful relationship, but it's even more important between siblings running a business together. "You may know your siblings well, but you need to make sure no one guesses what's going on in your business," Assadkhan said. "Running a business together might bring out new versions of someone's character that might surprise you, even though you all grew up together."

Distribute responsibilities according to strengths

"There may be a natural leader among brothers and sisters," Assadkhan said, "but each must possess specific areas of responsibility." As with any team, everyone will have different strengths and the workload must be shared between the partners. When building the team, the brothers “implemented a simple strategy taken from Michael Gerber's E-Myth Revisited. Each of us managed a department: marketing, accounting and operations. This allowed them to each focus on a key area and communicate their progress without duplicating their efforts. Divide and conquer and watch your efforts multiply.

Set limits

Separating personal life and professional life can be tricky between brothers and sisters, but it is essential to have harmonious relationships both inside and outside the company. "We set clear boundaries and draw the line so that we don't mix up our work and our personal relationships," Assadkhan said. For example, "whether it's discussing growth plans, reviewing performance, or resolving an internal issue, we stay professional and stay focused on the subject." Our personal lives are left at the door of any meeting we have in relation to the business. »

Align your goals

“My siblings and I have unique individual ideas and leadership skills, and without a proper strategy, our ideas could be the very things that break us,” Assadkhan said. To ensure he and his brothers' plans are all on the same page, they set a clear path together, accept it, and refer to it in everything they do. "Building a business or business with family is something many people don't think is possible, but with clearly aligned goals, including when to expand the product offering and how to improve the website, we were able to bring Vitasave at a respectable height. ."

Encourage healthy debate

When working with siblings, make the most of the fact that there are more of you and don't make decisions on your own. "Growing up, you may have seen the eldest decide for everyone or a sibling take the reins for everyone, but it's not just about who has the TV remote anymore." Assadkhan wants you to tell your siblings everything you think about your business, so you can make decisions as partners. "There were times in the boardroom where we debated for hours and challenged each other, always in favor of the company. So far, this strategy has worked. And there are never hard feelings! "