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Key Takeaways

• Your family tree grows naturally, but your business doesn’t. Don’t take growth for granted. Familiarity can make you complacent if you’re not careful.
• Set concrete rules for work — then leave them at the office.
• Know when to look beyond the family tree and bring in outside expertise.
• Family can be the foundation of your business — but not the whole structure.

It’s safe to say that the family business is the backbone of America’s economy. Nearly 90% of U.S. businesses are either family-owned or family-controlled, and they represent over half the nation’s GDP. But running a business with your relatives can present unique challenges, and you’ll have to be able to compartmentalize your personal and professional relationships with them if you want to succeed.

I know this because I started my first roofing company with my brother Todd in 1988. Eventually, we evolved into what is now Roof Maxx, and it’s still a family-owned company to this day. My sister, Amy Koch, is part of the business as well. Along the way, however, we realized that expanding sometimes means looking beyond the branches of your family tree for outside talent or perspectives.

So here are my thoughts about going into business with your family, including the benefits, hurdles and limitations that come with this kind of business model. Use this to learn what you’ll need to consider if you plan to do the same.

Related: Love Doesn’t Have to be Tough — 3 Things to Do to Keep Harmony in Your Family-Owned Business

Your family tree grows naturally (but your business doesn’t)

The most important thing to understand about going into business with your family is that you can’t take growth for granted. Most family trees grow naturally over time as people get married and have children. But a business doesn’t grow unless you’re proactive.

Scaling a family business can feel deceptively natural at first, because you and the other founders probably have a lot in common: shared values, built-in trust and a similar understanding of what hustle looks like. If you didn’t, you probably wouldn’t decide to go into business with your family in the first place.

But that familiarity can also make you complacent if you’re not careful, which can cause growth to stagnate. It’s fine for your family dynamic to be relaxed (and I hope yours is), but you can’t run your business like a reunion BBQ.

Set concrete rules for work — then leave them at the office

You don’t want to argue like siblings in the boardroom. You want to collaborate like business partners. But old family patterns often run deep, and we can fall into them without realizing.

I can think of countless occasions when my brother, sister and I have caught ourselves (or each other) reverting to the kind of language we used to settle disagreements in childhood. Look out for phrases like “you always” or “you never,” which tend to precede deeply-rooted assumptions about how the other person will behave in a present situation but are often based on perceptions from years ago and may not be valid anymore.

We love each other deeply, but nearly all siblings do this to some extent. It’s hard to be objective when strong feelings are involved or you’re thinking about the order you were born in.

This makes it imperative to clearly define roles and responsibilities in any family business. Diligent process documentation is also a must — it prevents duties from overlapping and removes the risk of jealousy tainting your regular business operations. It’s easier to stay in your lane when you know exactly where the painted lines are. That way, when you all go home for the day, you can leave the office as friends.

Related: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly of Family Business

Know when to look beyond the family tree for fresh fruit

Shared passion and common values carry many family businesses a long way. But if you grow to a certain point, you’ll eventually hit a ceiling. That’s when you’ll need to bring in outside expertise.

This can be more difficult than many families realize. Family businesses that experience early growth also produce a shared sense of pride. It takes humility to admit that you can’t keep doing everything by yourselves. If you let it get to you, it can make you feel like your family isn’t “enough.”

But bringing in outsiders shouldn’t threaten the bonds of family; it should support them. After all, the talent you bring into the fold is there to protect the company, which also helps protect your relationships.

Roof Maxx now has dealers across North America and has served tens of thousands of homeowners. At that size, it’s just not possible for my siblings and me to run the business by ourselves.

So we’ve brought in new blood. Our current CTO, Matt Ferguson, isn’t one of our founders, but he’s been incredibly valuable. Matt didn’t grow up in roofing; his background is in data analytics and AI. With his expertise, we’ve been able to create a system for our dealers that helps eliminate knowledge gaps and standardize training resources, exponentially improving the service our dealers are able to provide to customers.

Related: The 4 Forces That Drive Family Business Success

Family can be the foundation of your business — but not the whole structure

The things that make you a good family can help you become a great business, but you’ll have to build on that foundation. And to keep building past a certain point, you’ll have to let others help as well.

Start by identifying your shared strengths, then create clear roles and rules to keep everyone’s unique talents and personalities organized. Finally, look for people you trust enough to challenge you without radically altering the family dynamic, and make sure they have valuable skills or ideas you don’t.

If you manage to do those things successfully, you’ll have the trifecta: diverse talent, clear processes and an unwavering commitment to each other at the heart of it all. That makes it much easier to maintain your commitment to your customers and to your future success.