Taking the easy way out?
 

So I have a question for all of you. But first some background info. I'm 25, went to college for there years but never graduated. Worked for several years at various IT companies around town, living on my own. Recently I decided that I really wasn't going anywhere or working towards anything, and wanted a change. Even though I had some experience I wasn't able to find a permanent job.

Now, my dad owns his own company. It's a small firm with just him and two other people. However, he makes well over $300,000 a year. He's done well for himself building this up over the past 10 years. So I sit down with him and we discuss the potential of me coming to work for him, and over the course of the next 5 years or so eventually learning enough to take over for him so that he can retire.

My question is, would you consider this taking the easy way out? I have a few friends of mine who think I'm "selling out" if you will, and think I should get my own job and work from there. Should it be held against me that I was fortunate enough to have a successfull parent?

As you travel through life I think you realize that it is not what you know but who you know... IMO there is nothing wrong with taking over the family business. Plenty of my friends have taken that route and are very happy with their decision.

You will still have to do the work to keep it profitable. Just think of it as your 'break' if you will. Good luck!

if you can see yourself doing this work and liking where it goes, then who are your friends to say you're selling out?

biz
 

i agree with troit.

as long as you think it's something you'd like to do, and work to advance your pop's business, there is nothing wrong with a bit of nepotism.

glomming on to the family business & running it into the ground is what gives nepotism a bad name (hiya w.). happens a lot......

Yes, as long as you don't take it for granted, and upset the others who have worked there for years, I'd say it's a reasonable thing to do IFF you can do it. If it turns out you're not fit for that job, you should probably try something else.

I'm bothered by the failure to graduate from college, but I guess it depends on the reason for that. If you're unable to stick to a difficult task until it's done, you should focus on that until you can before you try to take over a business. OTOH, you father knows you and how you are...

Taking the easy way out? No...not when you work for the family. The family is much harder to work for than the hardest boss because see the boss has to follow labor laws and codes, wheareas the family needs something done and no one else will be there to do it.

It's going to be hard work. But your back into it, be honest with yourself, and allow yourself to come up short. Take all the lessons you can from him. Good luck!

Cyn and Saucy are exactly right, don't think it will be easy just because you're granted the position. Heading up your own business requires a lot of time and management. Make sure you utilize your father for the source of valuable advice he is.

How is taking over the family business "taking the easy way out"?!?!

Actually, WTF does that mean exactly?

Is there some rule somewhere that you cannot be considered complete, or a "real man" if you don't struggle all your life and bust your ass to work for someone else?!

This really annoys me.

Of course it's not the easy way out. Anyone who says that to you doesn't know what they're talking about or is jealous.

You want to work on a business your father slaved at to make a real success? I say go for it!

$300,000 a year?

Tell that to your "take the easy way out" friends. They're the losers if they think working as an office drone, paying more tax and crawling their way up the corporate ladder is the better or more valued "way".

Sheesh dude... Being your own boss is hard.

But being your own boss is... being your own boss!!!

I would jump at the chance.


Mr Mephisto

Don't be a moron. Take the job, but don't f*ck it up.

you're only selling out if you have a dream of what you'd like to do with your life and this is nowhere near it. if his company is anything remotely near what you'd like to do with your life, you're taking advantage of an opportunity open to you that others don't have, but it's not selling out or taking the easy way out. especially since in 5 years, you'll be running it on your own and be 100% responsible for it's success or failure, and, i think, that since your taking it over from your dad, failure is not an option. so it won't be easy.

what is the business by the way?

not really the easy way out if you still have the potential for failure.

Your dad has established aliances in people who really trust him, you have to gain their trust also.

It's ok, go for it.

Thanks for the responses guys. I appreciate the feedback. To start off, there were several reasons I didn't finish school. I think alot had to do with picking the wrong one, and not doing enough research on the type of school I went to. I attended a Private Liberal Arts school in north Texas that was far from fulling my needs. I think we jumped into choosing the school too quickly, and didn't look at other alternatives.

I'm actually pretty excited about working with my dad. He's an incredible guy to work for. My best friend is 100% behind me, and has always said I was a split image of my father. He's a buisness man through and through. He too didn't finish school, and instead jumped straight into the police academy. However, about 6 years later he ended up in insurance sales. He opened his own office as an independent broker about 10 years ago, and has grown the buisness ever since.

I have all the confidence in myself to run the company the way it should be run, I was just second guessing the choice after several people made comments about the job.

Thanks, will do.

Good insurance brokers are worth their weight in gold, especially independents. They really do help people, the good ones anyway. And if your dad is successful, he's probably really good, because in that business word of mouth is the only advertising that works. Good luck, it's a very honorable profession.

If you can look yourself in the mirror and honestly tell yourself that you will run this business in the way your father deserves, then do it.

There is nothing wrong at all with getting a break in life. Nothing at all. Anybody who tells you otherwise is probably jealous - I mean if they were offered a fantastic opportunity to improve their lives, they would'nt take it, because they "want to stand on their own two feet" or some such nonsense? I don't think so, they would jump at the chance, like you should! ;)

i wouldn't consider it taking the easy way out, because it's gonna be a lot of work but you can do it.

It's an opportunity, what you do with it is entirely up to you. Asking yourself later in life (when all those friends who are criticizing you are long gone) "What if?" will be far worse than "Damn that didn't go well." No matter how badly it goes you will learn a lot. If you don't do it, what exactly is it that you will learn?

Lots of people sell out to earn the income they really want. When I was in High School and trying to decide on a career I knew I would really enjoy working outdoors as a park ranger or wildlife biologist. I knew if I took that route I would end up making meager wages and live paycheck to paycheck. I had a knack for computers and decided I would take that skill and use it to earn an income. It was a trade off. I like what I do and I use the better income to support my interest in the outdoors.

Separately, I am with Mael when it comes to your decision. As long as you can look yourself in the eye and say this is something I will enjoy doing for a living you are good to go. If you make your decision based solely on the income you could end up very miserable down the road.

I second what everyone else has said, PLUS this:

Set it up so it's IMPOSSIBLE for you to be the "boss's son" wanker that everybody hates. Make sure everyone knows that if you do a bad job, you're fired.

This isn't so much about the work or the so-called "easy way out" as it is about relating to your coworkers and clients.

In this shitty economy I would take any opportunity that you get.

If u have the chance why not go for it. I would if I was in your position.

If I were you, I'd get a job on my own in the same field first.
It will give you much needed experience. Later on, go to work for your father. Doing some work in other places first will give you enough room to make mistakes without being accused of getting the job even though you don't deserve it.

Easy way out? Selling out? Sorry, but your friends are either jealous or immature. As long as your father isn't Jello Biafra, and he has asked you to become the lead singer of the Dead Kennedys.

I am in a similar situation. I went to college and got very close to earing a finance degree (about 1 semester away). I hated school and never wanted to be there. The only classes I had left were non-core classes that I didn't want to take ... i.e. science classes and such.

I got a job with a 401K firm and did well. I helped the owner grow his business for about 5 year. At that point, my father offered me a position in his business. He took a failing forklift dealership over in 1979 and made it extremely lucrative.

It defintely has not been easy.

At first, you are trying to prove yourself and your worth. You usually get treated differently, but not in a good way. You are forced to work harder while everyone sits around and judges you for being related to the head man. I have been fortunate in the fact that I worked hard and earned the respect of my co-workers. They have learned that I can be a big help to them when it comes to understanding the inner workings of the company.

I really enjoy what I do and I am glad I chose the path that I did. I am glad it was offered to me.

Take the opportunity! Take it while you have the chance, cuz you dont know if you'll come across another opportunity like this one.

If you don't want it, I'll take it. :D

Sounds like an awesome opportunity to me.

I'll mostly parrot everything that people here have said, and pay a special nod towards tj2001cobra's post. The friends you have besides your best one, if they really wanted you to be happy, would at least encourage you to think over and look at the opportunities, and not be jealous, retarded fucks trying to make you do something their way.

It will be difficult, far more than you think to help run an operation. I don't mean that in a discouraging way. I mean it in a way that will really build you, make you think constantly of how to improve worker relations, cash flow, the paper sides of the business, everything. But when you get your check in hand, you know exactly what it took to get there and that YOU were responsible for the outcome.

When you get some salaried job, all your expenses are pretty much taxeable, no one really cares how much work or how much extra work you do, or how much of your knowledge/foresight/input saved the company. Some higher up will take the credit for your work, and you get your pathetic taxed check in at the end while sucking up. But you can be mostly braindead while doing it and forget about your job after 5pm, depending on your position.

It's your choice, I'm fairly biased but I say go with the rewarding challenge rather than the "easy way out". Listen to your gut and congratulate your best friend. Then start learning the business and get ready to do some work.

Wow, everybody has had some really great things to say here. I am an actor working a day job at an office that I got through my mother, the VP. It started out as a temp job after college and has now stretched out for three years. I get judged differently all the time, usually to my benefit - people are very nice to me when they see my last name and that I'm related to one of the company heads. And I do reap certain benefits, but for the most part, I'd rather be treated like everybody else. You will have it both easier and harder in that it's only two other people. You will definitely have to earn their respect to prove to them that you are a qualified person for this job, and not just the boss's son. But you can do it. If you couldn't, your dad wouldn't talk to you about it. Trust me, he doesn't want to run his company into the ground!

Mael said it best...you're only selling out if you're doing it instead of something that you really want to be doing (and whacking off doesn't count). Best of luck to you and maybe in 5 years, I'll be a struggling actor in Texas calling you for a job. :)

Trust me when I tell you: IT'S NOT SELLING OUT!!!!

You're going to be working harder than you ever thought possible, for a more demanding boss than you've had so far.

Remember: it's HIS business - his baby, really - and you're going to have to prove to him that it's not going to wind up shot to hell if he turns things over to you. That's a tough thing to prove!

So tell your friends - if you can call anyone who labels you for making a reasonable and intelligent choice a friend - to kiss your ass, take the gig, and prove to your Dad that you're the man he needs for this job....the man he raised you to become.