The biggest challenges that many people in family businesses have is they're trying to figure out what actually comes first.

What actually is more important?

Is it the family strategy?

So the strategy of the family and what the family wants or is it the business strategy?

Where the business is going in the longevity of the business?

And interestingly enough, what ends up happening for most families is that they focus on the business strategy rather than the family strategy and it bites them in the butt. So naturally, what I'm going to say is that focusing on family strategy first is going to ensure that you're going to have better chances of having a successful business. And there's three reasons why. This is the first one.

If your family breaks up, chances are your business will break up. This is what happens over and over again with family businesses is when families tend to have disputes and conflicts. They typically aren't small disputes and conflicts. They escalate because relationships are involved. It is non-professional.

It was very much about you said this or you did this 20 years ago or you favor this person or whatever it may be or you promised me this. That's what happens in families. In business, there's a little bit more line drawn for professionalism and families, that line isn't there.

So what ends up happening for families when that conflict arises and there is no common resolution and families dissolve and yes, families do dissolve all the time because of conflict. Brothers don't talk to each other. Brothers and sisters don't talk to each other. Siblings don't talk to their parents and grandchildren. It is just a complete mess if you allow it to be.

So that's why it's important to focus on your family strategy first because if you can keep your family together, most likely you are going to keep your business together as well.

So if your family can't function effectively, chances are they're not going to be able to govern your business effectively, whether they are board of directors or whether they manage the company and there's dysfunction in either one of those, you can say entities, either the board of directors or the management team, your business will fall apart. People's relationships, family dysfunction will drive a business under.

Yes, this is very, very common. So that's the first reason why if your family falls apart, your business is more likely to fall apart as well. So family is very, very important and we know that and a lot of people talk about this, but they don't really adhere to this, but it is so important because what ends up happening is a stronger family will actually lead to a stronger business.

So I'm going to take the opposite approach. Number one is family falls apart, your business falls apart. Number two is if your family is stronger, your business is going to be stronger.

It is going to be more likely that you'll be able to use those relationships in a positive way to be able to enhance your business growth and solidify your sustainability and longevity because families, when they're extremely tight, actually have a competitive advantage over the competition because they get to pool resources. They're a little bit more nimble because they can make better and more effective and faster decisions when families come together.

They sit around the table and say, this is what they want to do. Decisions are made and so it becomes that much easier to move ahead in your business. So that's a second reason why you need to focus on your family strategy first. The third reason is very simple as well. Everything we do is for our families.

So if our family is falling apart and we can't get our family back together, there is no point in having that business. I'm telling you, there's men that we've worked with over and over again that have told us that and these guys have a massive amounts of wealth that it feels like they have nothing because they don't have their family to show for it.

And what's the point?

The point of working decades and accomplishing all these things if at the end of the race, when your time is called, when your number is up, you don't have any family to show for it. You don't have any of that enjoyment, that fulfillment to show for it. That's the challenge that happens when you don't keep your family strategy first.

So there's no harm in taking a look at your business strategy and focusing on your business strategy because it's very, very important. Because most families have the majority of their wealth tied up in their business. But before you do that, you absolutely need to take a look at your family strategy.

What ends up happening is a lot of family businesses or families who own businesses end up using the business strategy to dictate how the family operates. So the strategy for the business is this, therefore we need to plug ex-business members into the business this way. And these are the relationships you need to have in order to do so. Now that can work.

And yes, that is typically how business strategy works because you create the business strategy and then you plug the people in. But that doesn't always work with family because when you're working with family, there's individuals that may not want to be in that position or that role or may not want to move to a different state or move to a different country to fulfill that business strategy.

And so if that is what is happening in your family, then you need to take a look and say, is your family strategy aligned with your business strategy?

And that's ultimately where success comes is when you're able to take your family strategy and blend it and mend it with your business strategy. So if there is complete alignment within those two, you're going to significantly increase the chances of your business success. So remember, always focus on your family strategy. Do not shy away from it.

It will come back and bite you in the butt if you don't take care of it. So just my tip to you is focus on your family strategy first.