So my family owns a successful business and I’ve never had to want for money. Always had nice vehicle. House. College education. Now I work for the family business and I am now realizing how well I had and how much time I wasted and how I don’t have any real experience in money management. I wasn’t made to do much so I never got the chance to fail and learn. Now I’m trying to understand what I can create to produce wealth for my family. It’s not a good feeling when everything you have you didn’t earn. Now I fear I will be a liability to the company. Where should I go from here? Feel lots of anxiety with the responsibility that has been put on me.
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Y’know, I had a 500 word heartfelt (and I think useful) response put together to this.
One false keystroke and TMF deleted it. Gone. Irretrievable.
There goes thirty minutes of my life I won’t get back
Yes, I’ve learned by now I should draft it as a Word document and then cut/paste it here.
But every so often I forget that when I come here that I’m back in 1995.
–sutton
cooling down a bit first
7 Likes
Y’know, I had a 500 word heartfelt (and I think useful) response put together to this.
One false keystroke and TMF deleted it. Gone. Irretrievable.
There goes thirty minutes of my life I won’t get back
Yes, I’ve learned by now I should draft it as a Word document and then cut/paste it here.
But every so often I forget that when I come here that I’m back in 1995.
–sutton
cooling down a bit first
I know the feeling and like you I swear I will draft my next lengthy post in word.
But when that time comes, I convince myself I will be extra careful this time but then …
What is frustrating is I never can figure out what I did to erase my post. I am just flying along typing then all of a sudden poof .
Workaround to retrieve a lost post (at least in Safari): Look at the edit history at the top of your screen. It often has the complete text of what you just lost… or at least a substantially complete version.
Rob
Rule Breaker Home Fool
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
3 Likes
Sorry, mental lapse.
NOT the edit history, but the back button on the Safari browser. Duh.
Rob
Rule Breaker Home Fool
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
3 Likes
Quick reply then off to bed. (Edit gods willing…)
Lots of long replies to the many topics you raised.
Being a liability to the company.
If you’re just starting you have a once in a lifetime opportunity to observe the company, products, staff, customers without any preconceptions, use this opportunity well. Ask questions, challenge your assumptions, this is an incredible opportunity. When onboarding With all new employees, use their eyes to see what’s happening.
Assumptions: 1) You didn’t just drop into a sole ownership role. 2) This is a small to medium (under $100M) company. 3) You have a good relationship with whomever is the CEO/ owner.
Every company needs intelligent people in upper management, it’s unlikely you’re expected to be productive without training. As you learn about the company start
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observing for inefficiencies (there may be a good reason for the inefficiency, or not)
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new ways to use existing products, talk with clients to understand what needs aren’t being met, or how to better meet their needs
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opportunities to cross-fertilize between product lines & staff
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opportunities to improve productivity, new equipment, more training
4 Likes
I do everything on an iPad. Having lost a fair number of posts, I have learned to do a “Select All” and “Copy” before I do anything that requires the Fool software to interact. Then, if something disappears, it’s a simple matter to open up the posting window, “Paste”, and try again.
Sometimes, however, it’s not the Fool, it’s the iPad. If I need to go to a different window to copy some text from a newspaper or a URL and come back, I find that the iPad has disappeared my post. But I have just “copied” the text or url, so my copy of the post is gone.
Once upon a time there was an app that let you have up to 10 copy “slots”; it worked on the Mac, and I have not seen anything similar for iPad.
Oh well. Be careful out there. Pandemic, ice storm, and worst of all, disappearing posts.
1 Like
Feel lots of anxiety with the responsibility that has been put on me.
So, you feel unprepared for your position. Actually, it’s worse than that. Your co-workers probably feel you’re unprepared for your position, and that the ladder isn’t fair due to nepotism.
College education. Now I work for the family business…
So, your first “real” job. Honestly, I’d go work somewhere else for at least a few years. If and when you return to the family business, you’ll have some experience and perspective to bring to the table. Meanwhile, sounds like the company will continue to hum along just fine.
Even without the family tie-in, I’ve seen plenty of cases where staying too long with the first job out of college is limiting. The worker becomes a bit locked into how things are done at that one particular place, which might be adequate but not optimal.
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Now I fear I will be a liability to the company. Where should I go from here?
You don’t say what kind of company so this advice may or may not apply.
One poster has already mentioned working for another company.
Or you could work your way up from the bottom. Doing an “apprenticeship” in each section/level for a period of time to get an understanding of what goes on. That way when someone says it will take 5 days you will know it is unrealistic to make it happen in 3. Or it will take a crew of 10 and running a skeleton crew of 6 is dangerous.
JLC
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Sounds like you may have Imposter Syndrome
https://www.verywellmind.com/imposter-syndrome-and-social-an…
I think you should seek counseling.
- I doubt you are anywhere near as worthless as you seem to feel.
- You probably spend too much time in a spiral of negative thought.
- The most surprising thing about what other people think of us is how seldom they do.
Counseling can help with that. . . . .
V
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Get yourself a good mentor before it’s too late.
Birgit
I have no suggestions on the finance side, but I do recommend these.
A book I read when I was in college helped me form my attitude toward work and business. Up The Organization by Townsend is an easy and entertaining read. It might do for you what it did for me, put you in the right frame of mind.
Especially if you are, or will be, in charge of others, please read the Ask A Manager web site (https://www.askamanager.org/). You will be exposed to more ways than management can be bad than you ever imagined were possible. Learn from them not to be like them. There will also be plenty of examples of good management, so learn from them too. (It is also, hands down, the best place to start preparing for a job search.)
Especially if the business involved retail and difficult customers I also suggest reading the site Not Always Right (https://notalwaysright.com/right/) for a while. What I hope you get from it is the importance of having your employees’ backs.
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And one more thing.
Listen. Learn to really listen.
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And one more thing.
Listen. Learn to really listen.
RHinCT
I’ve been told that is why the Lord gave us 2 ears and 1 mouth.
He intended for us to listen twice as much as we speak.
gcr
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I’ve been told that is why the Lord gave us 2 ears and 1 mouth.
He intended for us to listen twice as much as we speak.
A variant on that my dad liked to use when I was young and worked for his company…(I’m paraphrasing)
At this point in your career, your ears are your most important asset. But when the lips are moving, the ears quit working
BruceM
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I sense a feeling of guilt. If this is a driver, get over it. Focus on the job and how you are contributing. Learn from experiences and move along. Narcissism will not help you.
You don’t give your age, but you sound like you are under 30. If so, just focus on your job. Work hard. Learn as much as possible. Listen, listen listen. Act, act, act. You will at times screw up. That’s ok and inevitable. Learn from it and move on.
We actually had this happen with my nephew who married into a family with a very successful family business of which his new wife was an officer and key player. He felt much the same. His parents (my brother and wife) were well off when he was growing up and he never had wanted as everything along the way had been paid for. The problem came when he worked with his new wife in her family business a couple of years out of college. Suffice to say, this created a huge problem for him to adjust to. Because he was young (25), with some family support, he finally worked into the inlaw’s business…but the road to get there was a rough one.
Best wishes
BruceM
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