FFA FOMB Institute

                                          My Business

       Business Ownership and succession planning or "My Business is my retirement!" Or better yet..."Don't put all your eggs in one basket!"

"If I had to select one quality, one personal characteristic that I regard as being highly correlated with success, whatever the field, I would pick the trait of persistence. Determination! The will to endure to the end, to get knocked down seventy times and get up off the floor saying, " Here goes number seventy - one!"

                                        - Richard M. DeVos -

       The FFA FOMB Institute is devoted to those that own a family enterprise. I am not referring to those that are shareholders of a large public company where there is an identifiable market value and easy liquidity features.

       What I am addressing are those usually smaller companies that are private and are owner managed. These companies are managed by owners with their own capital at risk, usually have some family members employed or as partners and who may rely upon a family member, who may not be associated with the business other than by marriage, for very important and sometimes critical decisions.

       What I have described is what most businesses are in the world. These are referred to as Family Owned Managed Businesses. Unlike very large companies these enterprises often do not have the benefit of delegating responsibilities to the advertising, accounting, marketing, legal, sales or any other departments. They basically handle all of it themselves. The buck stops with the owner. He, she, or they are the deciding factor every day. They are in charge of resolving every problem as well as family disputes that can and usually do occur.

       This certainly sounds like a lot of responsibility. Most of us who own and or manage family businesses are a unique bunch. We generally have the collective traits of entrepreneurs, risk takers: we are prideful and value our client and customer relationships. To us our clients are our friends, not buying units or target markets, but instead real people that we look to maintain our relationship with. If we are good at what we do, they may become our apostle and refer us to additional people like themselves who value special services.

      Surprisingly, there are many family businesses that have gross sales in the hundreds of millions that experience the issues mentioned above. Why? It's all about human nature and behavior. So, if this sounds like your business then you can gain the most from our institute. We would like to encourage you to consider speaking with us about our Succession Planning Assessment™. This unique measuring tool will identify the ten most important interdependent factors that require alignment, where your firm presently ranks and what steps you need to take for your business to have the best chance of securing value and a successful transition.

       You will find on our website as well as in this section educational writings that are in the form of white papers written by our FFA Succession Directors, FFA family business research guides, articles, videos, books and other materials for your education.

                                          " An investment in knowledge pays the best interest" 

                                                                - Benjamin Franklin -