What Nobody Tells You About Taking Over Dad’s Business
What happens when you take over your parents’ 50 year old electrical business, buy a second branch, and put strain on the family in the process? Damian and Michelle Silvester grew a trades business from $2.7M to $6.3M and from 13 staff to 30+. Then they took three weeks off and nothing broke. For 50 years, Damian’s dad ran the business with a bell on the outside of the house so he’d never miss a call. Damian grew up hearing that bell. By the time he took over, it was in his pocket: five missed calls every time he hung up, and 20 electricians reporting to one person. In this episode of the Profitable Tradie Podcast, Tony Fraser-Jones sits down with Damian and Michelle to talk about the real side of succession in a family business. Damian’s dad called buying a second branch “a stupid idea.” There were arguments between generations, in the office and at the kitchen table. They had to tell Dad he couldn’t yell at staff anymore. And they had to learn to lead a team instead of doing every job themselves. If you’re an electrician, plumber, builder, HVAC tech or any blue collar business owner who’s still answering every call, working every weekend and can’t take a holiday without the phone ringing, this one’s for you. In this episode you’ll learn: How to take over a family business without breaking the family Why your best tradesman might be your worst manager How to get off the tools and still keep your standards on every job The org structure that took 20 direct reports off one owner’s plate Why weekly one on ones changed the culture more than any pay rise How to get family arguments out of the office and into a structured meeting Why leadership is “the weather” and your team feels every bad day What it really feels like to grow your business and feel judged for it The advice for family business successors most people don’t want to hear WHAT YOU’LL GAIN FROM LISTENING TO TODAY’S PODCAST: How to change the way the business runs without losing what made it work (and honoring who helped get it there in the first place) How to put the right person in a new role, and why your best electrician might not make your best ops manager How to build a structure that keeps your values alive in the business without you touching everything LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: Claim a Free Planning Session to learn what coaching could do for your business Subscribe to our YouTube Channel New Book 'Built to Run' is now live, order your copy here Follow Profitable Tradie so you don't miss the next episode. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
