The Simple Art of the Business of Family
I swear, once you hone in your algorithm on TikTok, you can manage to get some brilliant snippets. Don’t get me wrong, it can be as much of a time suck as it can be useful, but I’ve managed a handful of life changing gems out of it.
My previous post talked about our administrative hour each week and what a game changer that’s been. And while that too was born from an idea on TikTok, it came in combination with this one.
A gentleman posted about the fact that he owns a business, and he changed the name of the game in his home by incorporating his family. And then gave each family member an “equal share,” of the business, and had weekly or monthly board meetings.
At first, I rolled my eyes. My thought was, “are you serious? You can’t figure out how to family without running it like a business? C’mon man.”
But, between that and a few other posts, we started making some changes around here. It culminated in our weekly admin hour. And all I’ve been able to think of since then is, why on earth wouldn’t you run your family like a business? Not a military school, a business.
Think about it. Your family has income and expenses. It has partners. There are goals. There’s a building to pay off, improvements to be made, future expenses to save for. There are decisions to be made that effect everyone. There are things that need to be accomplished each day, each week, each month, etc. And, if you talk to any set of parents in today’s age, most will say the same thing. “I’m so busy, and yet I feel like I never get everything done.”
What do business have that family’s don’t inherently? A task oriented environment, self imposed deadlines, a team mentality. So, maybe this guy was on to something with running his family like a business.
If one of the leading causes for divorce is finances, then what do you have to lose by running your finances as if you’re business partners who need to communicate fully and meet your goals?
If one of the leading causes for unhappiness in marriage is ineffective communication, what do you have to lose by having, “board meeting,” style conversation where you each talk about your current family goals and figure out what is attainable or not, and get on the same page?
If one of the leading causes for marital unhappiness is inequity in the division of labor or child care, what do you have to lose by sitting down and discussing expectations for the home and family?
If you don’t want to work until you die and want to retire and have plans for retirement, what do you have to lose by sitting down and having some goal accountability with your partner? Accountability in your home, your finances, your investing?
You have nothing to lose by doing this, other than an hour a week, or a month, whatever the frequency is you choose. So, give it a whirl!
