FAQ: Working with Family

2. What is it like working with family?

This really should have been FAQ #1 because I think I get asked this question more than any other question. Let's be honest....working with you family is not always sunny days, but it's not so bad all the time either. Here's a quick list of pros and cons:

Pro: You understand the personalities and "get" where they are coming from most of the time. No need to sit at your desk wondering what the person meant after-the-fact.
Con: You understand the personalities and can't have that separation of family vs. work.

Pro: You have full trust in your co-worker and don't have to doubt or question that they always have your best interest in mind.
Con: They have your best interest in mind but it isn't always what you feel is your best interest.

Pro: You can be totally honest with your family and you don't have to beat around the bush in order not to "hurt" feelings.
Con: You can be totally honest with your family and hurt their feelings because you didn't say it the right way.

But if I had to change working with my family (which includes my dad, husband, sister, and brother-in-law), I wouldn't change it for the world. Most days are great, but it's only human nature that there are going to be some hard days in the mix too. Knowing that I can always count on my family and the life lessons that I have learned are invaluable.

Many people ask exactly what we do and what are our individual roles. To summarize, we fix medical ultrasound transducers. For you girls out there, when you get an ultrasound during pregnancy they use a little probe to scan you that is hooked to the ultrasound machine. We repair that probe (not the machine). It is a niche market and we distribute our products around the world. My dad starting doing this back in the 80's out of our garage and now we have over 80 employees in two locations, Tulsa and Denver.

Jon came on in Feb. '05 as a quality assurance technician and I followed a couple months later as an account manager with about 40 employees then. We've obviously grown and now my role is still to be defined, but I no longer manage the accounts but rather help manage the entire business. And Jon has gone from the only inspector to the lead of about 4. Allison and her husband came on late '06 and beginning of '07 respectively. Allison started out doing purchasing and then promoted to Logistics Manager. And her husband is an actual technician working on some of our most breaking-edge technologies. We all live in different worlds and thrive at different things. Even though we interact each day on some level, we still have a big degree of separation and specialize in different areas.

If we wanted to, most of us could go through the whole day without really seeing each other (and trust me there have been times we have wanted to)! I've heard stories of families who feud over business issues, but our bonds have only strengthened through the years and experiences. I look forward to continuing to grow personally and professionally with my family and I know they will push me to be the best I can be. It's a priceless experience!