Seeing the Blind Spot is for family business owners and the professionals that support and advise those family businesses.
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My father started a restaurant and bar supply company as I approached my teenage years and named it after my mother. The "M" in M. Bloom Glass Company stands for Mary, my mother's name. He was retiring from 30 years as a police officer, and I sensed that he believed the pension benefits were not enough. In any event, this was a family business in every sense; my grandparents' garage was where we stored inventory, and both my brothers and I were regularly called into service, but principally I was my father's main assistant: I remember it was my job to keep the inventory organized and I also remember long summer nights spent working on ledgers and financial statements for my father.
My father was an extraordinary man, highly intelligent, but you have to remember this was a different age. I would regularly accompany him into bars and saloons, sometimes at night, when I was only a teenager. He did not shield me from any of that, or from the difficult parts of the business - unruly customers, difficult clients who often were reluctant to pay their bills, and really difficult work, such as installing large refrigeration units.
In the end, the business was successful and helped pay for a large portion of my expensive higher education and provided a nest egg for my father's retirement. Along the way, I got an early education in the family issues that arise where a family is operating a business, as differentiated from non-family members operating a business.
