\n<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been in business with my dad, Gary,\u00a0 for 19 years as soon as we enter November. I\u2019m 46. Before that, I worked in his business, probably starting at 6 or 7, consistently through high school, then again for a year or so after a short-lived college attempt. I\u2019ve been working for, or with, my dad for over half my life. In many cases it seems our primary relationship is business partners, not father-son. In fact, I don\u2019t think either of us really know what a father-son relationship is without work. This is how I know life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve heard family businesses are hard. Sure can be. Maybe you know from direct experience. I\u2019ve floated between appreciation, resentment, joy, anger and everything in between.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I recently shifted to mostly appreciation. As I stopped believing what I thought my dad \u2018should\u2019 be and started accepting him exactly how he is, I began to see his genius. He\u2019s like a fuckin\u2019 Mr. Miyagi from the appreciative perspective. I think I\u2019m waxing on and waxing off and he\u2019s tricked me into training for business success. He says things that the defiant son in me brushes off as a stupid comment from a man too old to get it. Then, months later, I see the genius. Damn it, all this wisdom I\u2019ve been forsaking. And, he has some pretty zany ideas, so taking them at face value is at least as dangerous as dismissing his insights. Mr. Miyagi, damn you.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Beyond all the guidance and wisdom, he has a particular way to see the best possible outcome when that is just what\u2019s needed. Walk him into a room full of horse shit, he\u2019ll say, there is a horse in here for me somewhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Recently, I got our business into a partnership with another organization that looked really good. It fit our needs and our capacities really well. Fast forward 6 months, all is well except that the cash is not flowing. I did a poor job of including Gary and my team in the process and conversation of this cash backslide. We have sunk hundreds of thousands of dollars into this partnership with few, if any, guarantees.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOh god, what have I done?! \u00a0 When I told my dad,\u00a0<\/p>\n
he said \u201ccool, now you\u2019ve got a stake in their business!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWait, wtf did you just say?\u201d I thought to myself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then it dawned on me. I\u2019ve been losing sleep for weeks worried I may lose my business, our business and he steps in to point out I may have just got another one. Mr. Miyagi. And wait a damn second, I\u2019m not sure I wanted another business and that bastard Gary always does. Mr. Miyagi.\u00a0
I\u2019m here expressing my gratitude to my dad, business partner and the one who mentored me in making a business that has heart. I am done ignoring his decades of business wisdom. Well, I\u2019m done ignoring his wisdom most of the time, when I can keep that rebellious little rascal of me making sense of the world rather than rejecting how it is.<\/p>\n
Go thank your dad. He\u2019s got genius you may not see yet and he\u2019s done the best he can for you. Probably.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n