CHAPTER 1

Your Family Business Journey

Thank you for joining us on the path to long-term family business abundance. This journey may extend beyond your lifetime. But don’t let that stop you. If you see your part through, the rewards for you and your family will be immense.

Powerful families have gone before us, big and small; families have been succeeding together for thousands of years, and they do so to this day. You need vision, strength, and courage to join them, and you will judge for yourself, nearly every day, whether the climb is worth the view.

We believe itis.

We believe that for the right people, family business is the best way to become wealthy, to cultivate human capacity, and to make an impact on the world. It can be incredibly satisfying, and at times, even fun to work with the ones whom you love the most.

Rewarding, satisfying, and sometimes even fun. But noteasy.

Your aspirations, your family, and your business. Few things in life are more important. Family business provides the opportunity for you to integrate all three. And if you set the proper foundation in place, you can generate abundance for a hundred years or more.

Do you want to build a successful, multi-generational family business? If so, this book is for you, for the people with you today, and for future leaders, yet unborn, who will carry on your mission with purpose and gratitude in their hearts.

There are two core assertions in this book:

This book is about how tolean in. How to make a family businesswork. Why it’sworth it, how to make itgrow, and how to make itflourish. Because when they succeed, family businesses generate long-term abundance.

Consider this a lifeboat for family business owners. If you resonate with our core message, or even if you’re simply curious, then welcome aboard.

This book isn’t for everyone, and it isn’t meant to be.

Most business owners consider their companies a means to an end, a career choice, a gateway to status and respect. They intend to mak