The Family Business of Multifamily Investing
Thomson Multi Family Group is a family business just like so many others out there that has focused on a single fundamental goal. Our goal is to provide financial freedom for the present generations while building a foundation for financial freedom for generations into the future. Many family businesses are successful…even wildly successful and should always be considered as such. When we talk about financial freedom, however, we are describing something more than business success… something even more fundamental.
Business Success vs Financial Freedom
If you were to distill down the goal of creating a successful business we think that you would end up with “Financial Freedom”. So, really if we set our goal to obtain financial freedom them the business success should be there as well. The points below clarify this analysis even further:
Many successful businesses require 110% of your time
Especially when we are talking about multi-generational family businesses, we find that the day to day operations require the type of time investment that only entrepreneurs and business owners know is possible…110% or more. With these types of businesses your family and yourself are still tied to daily minutia of making things work and without you things would fall apart. When you’ve brought your family on board as well you will find that they are dumping their spirit and sweat into the business just as much which makes it more successful but at the same time more dependent on you and your family to stay that way.
A family business that has created financial freedom would allow you and your family to lean more into the “freedom” concept. You would be able to do more things that aren’t focused on generating income but that generate happiness instead. Financial freedom would also allow you to make your working hours either more productive or focused on business development as well. Having the financial freedom to take a few moments to step back and observe your family business from a more meta perspective allows you to identify opportunities or threats as well.
Family businesses have an expiration date
Many family businesses begin to deteriorate during the third generation as the founding members are unable to steer the business or maintain the focus and mission the business was built upon. Additionally, as new generations take greater responsibility and recommend reasonable pathways into the future the older generations may dig in and refuse to undergo needed change. When an intimate family business begins to experience these sorts of issues the writing is often on the wall that the business is headed towards decline.
A family business focused on financial freedom, by contrast, will be built in a way that is far more versatile and flexible to future changes and more resilient to market changes or technological adaptation. All good things must come to an end but financial freedom is more enduring. Just like a good investment portfolio, a family business built upon financial freedom will be more diversified and will grow more for longer.
Financial freedom starts with a strong family
In a recent podcast with our friend and respected family business owner, Gary Harper, he highlighted the importance of making sure you have a supportive and functioning family behind your business. He subscribes to the concept that all businesses are impacted by the situation and environment at the home. So, in a way, all businesses are a family business because as a business owner your home life directly affects the daily operations of the business. Remembering this lesson is much more important when you decided to involve your family as business stake holders and partners.
Family relationships require maintenance just like business operations. Mixing the two things means that you need to commit yourself to being proactive in maintaining and addressing breakdowns and problems before they impact other areas or undermine the functioning of the home or operation of the business. Communication is often the key to this which means that you should be able to have a serious conversation with your family inside and outside of the business. As issues emerge and emotions swirl your foresight into preparing yourself to identify and address problems with your family members will pay dividends down the road. It is clear here that what we are describing is a strong family bond because that is the foundation that makes effective communication and running a business possible.
Gary describes this so well in his discussion with us and talks about how putting his home life and encouraging his family to focus on each other’s needs facilitated the possibility of having his wife and children perform and control integral parts in the daily operations and success of the family business. It is certainly work to maintain family relationships but the product of that work is even greater business success and happiness for all members of the family.
Working with family to build your financial freedom
The financial freedom that we are working towards ourselves at Thomson Multi Family Group is informed by all of these insights and lessons. We have taken the advise of others to proactively build our family business with an eye towards building relationships and maintaining them so that our operations and our investment programs are the best in the businesses. We treat our apartment investments with the care that give to our family every day. Our property management goal is focused on making sure the tenants are living at a property where they can build their family bonds and find their financial freedom. We work for our investors to provide amazing returns and cash flow that allow them to build their family bonds and find their own financial freedom.
By treating multi family investments with the care and attention that we give to our family we lay the foundation and building blocks for others to find their own financial freedom. That is our mission and what inspires us to work hard every day on our own journey to financial freedom.