The Truth About Working With Your Sibling: How to Be in Business with Family
Working with your sibling may sound glamorous – and it certainly has its moments – but it’s important to remember that mixing business with your personal life needs to come with an understanding of balancing your personal and professional relationships.
Start by asking some hard-hitting questions.
Before you even think about working with your sibling – or any family member for that matter – understand it’s not going to be all sunshine and rainbows. You’re going to have difficult conversations at the get-go and many more along the way.
If you think going into business with your brother or sister is going to be a good idea, think with your business mind first. Have a conversation and ask some tough, realistic questions. Will you both be responsible enough? Will you both work as hard as if you were working with someone who wasn’t your sibling? Will you be able to trust the other one enough? The list goes on and on.
Know that there will be great days…
Should you decide to go into business with your sibling, know that it has the ability to be a fantastic situation for the both of you. You’ll have moments where you love working with the other person, just like any other coworker.
…and also not-so-great days.
But don’t kid yourself when you think you won’t have difficult times, too. Working with family, unlike just a coworker, can cause you to have much more candid conversations, lose your cool more quickly, and also spill into your personal life.
Develop rules that work for both of you.
Being prepared to work with your sibling or family member can make or break your business…and your relationship. Here are just a few of the things I’ve learned working with my brother over the past year and a half.
- Spell everything out at the beginning: As I mentioned above, it’s key to get difficult conversations out of the way at the very beginning. Who’s handling the finances? How are you going to problem solve if there’s an issue? No matter what your business relationship, these conversations need to be ironed out before you take any more steps.
- Keep barriers between your personal and professional relationships: As an example, at a certain point, I found myself calling my brother to catch up and only talking about business the whole time. For a time, that strained our relationship. So, I made it a point to have calls where we would not discuss anything about business.
- Don’t go to bed angry: Just like working with a spouse or other family member, it’s important to talk through issues as they come. And again and most importantly: don’t ever let business spill into your personal relationship.
Do you work with a family member? What are your tips and tricks for success?