Are You Made For Your Family Business? You have to assess your inner call, analyze the relationship equation with your kin and justify the best growth of the business as well as your own grooming and development

As soon you graduate, you are in a dilemma- apply for a job and go for the uncertain or simply join in the hereditary family business and continue the legacy. You have seen your parents and siblings working towards the growth of the business. You are wondering whether to slide in their shoe or follow an untrodden path and venture into a new horizon.

"Joining the family business was the sole option as I was allured by my dad's working style and have been fascinated by the trade started by my grandfather and carried on by my dad. I knew the tactics and principles from day one without having been taught," says Sakun Aggarwal, CEO at Praveen Brickworks.

However there are certain factors which will help you take a better decision with respect to your growth as well as growth of the business. Take the decision with utmost care as it is nearly an irreversible and lifelong decision.

1. Analyze your goals

What are your goals for yourself? Are those goals in connivance with the ulterior motives of the family business? Do your ideologies match with the founders of the business? How do you see yourself in a few years from now? Do you feel comfortable joining the family hands or you want create a new line altogether?

A thorough analysis of these questions will open your eye as to what would be right both for you and the business.

2. Is your contribution valuable?

Have a quick glance to check if your contribution is going to add value and worth to the family business. It has been seen that family business rarely gets passed on beyond the third generations, it could be due to changing mindset of young generation or antiquated business models.

You have to assure yourself and others that you will not be a couch potato and an idle salary seeker, joining just for the sake of continuing the hierarchical business. If you feel you have ideas and strategies to fill the lacuna of the present management and you can diversify the line, hands down go and join the family business.

Mr. Anuj Gupta, Director at NIFCO International, joined his dad and added immense value by beginning a captive unit of production. "We were manufacturers of sewing machines and adding the unit of raw materials has given us an edge in cost cutting," admits this young MBA enthusiast. He definitely proved his mettle on joining the family business.

3. Assess the relationship and faith levels

How is your relationship with family members? Do you think your opinion is valued? Do you feel that joining the family business would make you uncomfortable as you are likely to be scrutinized in general all the time? There are likely to be clash of opinions and ideas and the family feuds can sometimes be detrimental to the business and the relationships can go for a toss. You have to make sure that you have cordial relations with everyone involved for the smooth running of the enterprise. Sometimes there will be no clear demarcation between personal life and professional life and you will have to work 24*7. Are you ready to face these inherent challenges?

"My dad would always compare me with my elder brother and his own experiences of the past. This continued hampering my growth and peace of mind, when I decided family business is not what I want," laments Mr. Ashish Gupta, founder of Reva Enterprises.

4. Outweigh the merits and demerits

A SWOT analysis of whether family traditions and bond and the ease of climbing the ladder without much hard work is powerful or not than the scope of personal growth working elsewhere, is much needed. You need to demarcate if you want fixed working hours under an outside boss or flexible (yet not defined) working hours under the family heads. "I wanted to carry on the family legacy further. So I ventured into commerce as education and joined my dad as a trainee," says Mr. Puneet Jain, Director of K.Jain Hosiery.

Ramneet kaur, COO at Rapid Skillz elaborates, "You should work as an employee first at an outside company to understand what is expected of you. Then you can give your best at your own family business."

Last words- There aren't any strict formulae or answers to the question if you should join family business. You have to assess your inner call, analyze the relationship equation with your kin and justify the best growth of the business as well as your own grooming and development.