By Hiring Mom and Dad, Young Entrepreneurs Shake Up 'Family Business'

 NEW YORK — Most businesses in the United States are small, family-owned enterprises. Typically, a son or daughter joins a parent’s company but, increasingly, young entrepreneurs are hiring their parents.

That's the case with Alexandra Ferguson's home decorating business.

The 30 year old started her company in the New York City suburb of  New Rochelle in 2009, designing pillows with phrases on them like "Think Big" and "Be nice or leave" emblazoned on them. The room is full of bolts of blue, pink and red felt, and trays of individually-cut letters waiting to be sewn onto pillows.

Ferguson's mother, Charlotte, works for the business 15-to-20 hours a week. For now she’s unpaid¹, but Ferguson says when they eventually divide up equity² in the company, her mom will receive a large chunk³. There’s no one the daughter trusts more than her mother.

“I know she’s always got my best interests at heart," Ferguson says, "and if my best interests is the company’s best interests then I know that she’s going to root for that. There’s no ulterior motive⁴ for her except what’s going to be be good for me.”

Charlotte, who finds it's "very strange" to have her daughter as her boss, says she’s the practical one when it comes to getting things done behind the scenes. She also offers moral support and, in typical mom fashion, even tells her boss when her skirt’s too short.

Charlotte says she’s glad to let her daughter shine. “She should do. She’s the front face of the company. But I’m happy to be behind and help her. Sometimes I feel like ‘Hmm I don’t really want to do that.’”

But she usually obliges.

But not every child/parent business partnership⁵ is as functional⁶ as Alexandra and Charlotte's.

Wayne Rivers, president of the Family Business Institute, a consultancy, says his company once advised a business owner who had hired her father.

“Unfortunately dad had a wandering eye and of course his daughter didn’t know this, until one day when she caught him sort of in the act with the office manager,” Rivers says.

As she would any other employee in the same compromising position, the daughter told her father he was fired. But dad refused to go, citing his parental⁷ authority, among other reasons.

Parents often think the usual rules don’t apply to them, Rivers says, and both parties tend to think the business relationship will work because they love each other.

“We don’t need a job description and we don’t need accountability policies and we don’t need this and we don’t need that because love will be enough," he says. "It’s not.”

Rivers suggests pre-hire planning is key, which is what Katie Weiford and her mother, Sheila, have tried to do.

They’re opening Kookiedoodle Krafts in Kansas City in September. Even though it was Katie’s brainchild, they’re splitting the business equally.

Katie, 35, admits to some frustration⁸ that she’s doing more work than her mother but acknowledges that there is a good reason.

“Starting a business in this day and age, a lot of what you have to do involves technology,” she says.

“I do detect some frustration in her voice at times when I seem to be a little not accepting exactly what I should be learning with, uh, in the technology,” Sheila Weiford says.

But Sheila feels she has other strengths and her daughter agrees.  While Katie can multi-task and usually does, her mother has a different approach to business.

“She takes one thing at a time and really puts all of her energy into getting one thing done correctly," Katie says, "and I think, especially with our vendors⁹, they appreciate that.”

Their relationship is going through some changes, most of which are good, according to Sheila. “She’s learning new things about me and I’m certainly learning new things about her every day.”

Still, sometimes things get emotional and when Katie feels exasperated¹⁰ she has to remind Sheila she’s irritated with her business partner, and not her mother.

1 unpaid   

adj.未付款的，无报酬的

参考例句：

• Doctors work excessive unpaid overtime.医生过度加班却无报酬。
• He's doing a month's unpaid work experience with an engineering firm.他正在一家工程公司无偿工作一个月以获得工作经验。

2 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

3 chunk   

n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量）

参考例句：

• They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
• The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。

4 motive   

n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的

参考例句：

• The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
• He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

5 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

6 functional   

adj.为实用而设计的，具备功能的，起作用的

参考例句：

• The telephone was out of order,but is functional now.电话刚才坏了，但现在可以用了。
• The furniture is not fancy,just functional.这些家具不是摆着好看的，只是为了实用。

7 parental   

adj.父母的；父的；母的

参考例句：

• He encourages parental involvement in the running of school.他鼓励学生家长参与学校的管理。
• Children always revolt against parental disciplines.孩子们总是反抗父母的管束。

8 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

9 vendors   

n.摊贩( vendor的名词复数 )；小贩；（房屋等的）卖主；卖方

参考例句：

• The vendors were gazundered at the last minute. 卖主在最后一刻被要求降低房价。
• At the same time, interface standards also benefIt'software vendors. 同时，界面标准也有利于软件开发商。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

10 exasperated   

adj.恼怒的

参考例句：

• We were exasperated at his ill behaviour. 我们对他的恶劣行为感到非常恼怒。
• Constant interruption of his work exasperated him. 对他工作不断的干扰使他恼怒。