webedgemedia
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Let me begin by saying that I've been thinking about posting this for a couple weeks now, and finally decided that it's time. I'll try to keep this as short and sweet as possible. I know time is valuable, so greatly appreciate you taking the time to read this post.
About 6-7 years ago I left my low-level job at a local hospital, and decided to go into business with my father. I'll avoid getting into specifics, but my father had a line of products that he built and sold primarily on Craiglist. I knew there were opportunities for growth in the niche with a website and social media, so I went to work building a simple website and helping grow the brand's exposure. Flash forward to 2019 and the business has grown significantly. Our little team of 3, with a small advertising budget and not perfect branding has managed to build a business that brings in about 200K in revenue. We saw about about a 30% jump in sales in 2018, but this year have seen about a 5-10% decline in the numbers.
Now we get to the major issue at hand: the relationship between my father and I has become worse every year. I no longer feel like the man is my father. We ONLY discuss the business. Even around the holidays he only chats with me about the biz. He's at an age where most men are retiring from their 9-5 jobs, but his life of poor financial decisions has left him operating with less than 10k in savings.
Another thing that is scary about my father is his violent, fast-changing temper, mixed with impulsive behavior. I feel for him. I see a man beaten down by his bad choices, and it's making him more and more bitter. It's his business, and my suggestions for certain changes have been met with, "This is MY business, not yours." Once in one of his angry episodes he took to our business Facebook, and made a fool of himself with an angry, rambling post that should never have seen the light of day. It was so unbelieveably unprofessional that it embarassed me to be associated with the biz. I called him and suggested that he take it down. This was met with a, "F*ck you." That day was the closest I've come to walking away from all this.
He still tries to handle some of the customer service, but his short, unhelpful, and often rude sounding responses absolutely lose us sales. But NOTHING is ever his fault. It's always, "That guy's an idiot" or "Sales are dead this month, but it's because nobody's buying anything (in our niche) right now." Not to mention, even in our best months I see that the accounts are just staying up enough to get everyone paid. It's scary. Feels like we're always 2 months of slow sales away from crashing. I sometimes take less pay than I should because my normal salary could put a strain on the operation. I'm weeks behind pay, and likely will not catch up for a long time at this rate.
I know the obvious answer to an outsider is for me is to not walk but RUN away from this situation. However, I handle all the web operations and much else. Without me to man most of the customer service, shipping operations, and website, this business would most likely fail with my father manning the ship. The way he'd run the biz alone would lead to a flood of angry customers and poor reviews. Just hire someone for my spot, right? Maybe, but my father is a difficult man to work for, and I think it would be tough to fill my spot for the long-term, especially with the risky way he handles his books and taxes.
At the end of the day this volatile man is still my father, and it would be hard for me to see him go completely broke at his age. However, I'm growing more and more unhappy, and it wouldn't take much to match my already puny annual income that I'm paid there (luckily I had two good years of affililate marketing that gave me nice capital for investing and saving). My relationship with my father is ruined, and most days (I feel bad saying this) I hate being around him. Any advice on how I should approach this situation? I want out, but this is a tricky spot for me to be in.
Thanks!
About 6-7 years ago I left my low-level job at a local hospital, and decided to go into business with my father. I'll avoid getting into specifics, but my father had a line of products that he built and sold primarily on Craiglist. I knew there were opportunities for growth in the niche with a website and social media, so I went to work building a simple website and helping grow the brand's exposure. Flash forward to 2019 and the business has grown significantly. Our little team of 3, with a small advertising budget and not perfect branding has managed to build a business that brings in about 200K in revenue. We saw about about a 30% jump in sales in 2018, but this year have seen about a 5-10% decline in the numbers.
Now we get to the major issue at hand: the relationship between my father and I has become worse every year. I no longer feel like the man is my father. We ONLY discuss the business. Even around the holidays he only chats with me about the biz. He's at an age where most men are retiring from their 9-5 jobs, but his life of poor financial decisions has left him operating with less than 10k in savings.
Another thing that is scary about my father is his violent, fast-changing temper, mixed with impulsive behavior. I feel for him. I see a man beaten down by his bad choices, and it's making him more and more bitter. It's his business, and my suggestions for certain changes have been met with, "This is MY business, not yours." Once in one of his angry episodes he took to our business Facebook, and made a fool of himself with an angry, rambling post that should never have seen the light of day. It was so unbelieveably unprofessional that it embarassed me to be associated with the biz. I called him and suggested that he take it down. This was met with a, "F*ck you." That day was the closest I've come to walking away from all this.
He still tries to handle some of the customer service, but his short, unhelpful, and often rude sounding responses absolutely lose us sales. But NOTHING is ever his fault. It's always, "That guy's an idiot" or "Sales are dead this month, but it's because nobody's buying anything (in our niche) right now." Not to mention, even in our best months I see that the accounts are just staying up enough to get everyone paid. It's scary. Feels like we're always 2 months of slow sales away from crashing. I sometimes take less pay than I should because my normal salary could put a strain on the operation. I'm weeks behind pay, and likely will not catch up for a long time at this rate.
I know the obvious answer to an outsider is for me is to not walk but RUN away from this situation. However, I handle all the web operations and much else. Without me to man most of the customer service, shipping operations, and website, this business would most likely fail with my father manning the ship. The way he'd run the biz alone would lead to a flood of angry customers and poor reviews. Just hire someone for my spot, right? Maybe, but my father is a difficult man to work for, and I think it would be tough to fill my spot for the long-term, especially with the risky way he handles his books and taxes.
At the end of the day this volatile man is still my father, and it would be hard for me to see him go completely broke at his age. However, I'm growing more and more unhappy, and it wouldn't take much to match my already puny annual income that I'm paid there (luckily I had two good years of affililate marketing that gave me nice capital for investing and saving). My relationship with my father is ruined, and most days (I feel bad saying this) I hate being around him. Any advice on how I should approach this situation? I want out, but this is a tricky spot for me to be in.
Thanks!
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