Any business owner who has children will know the challenges that arise. To be honest, working from my home office, even though it is separate it still presents huge issues when the kids are home and want to play with Dad. As a parent business owner you are faced with two decisions: Do you want your kids to inherit your business? Do you want your kids to learn about business from you? Each ‘Yes’ answer will require a huge amount of time investment in exposing them to the various aspects of business. Often family owned businesses are never passed down successfully because the children have see their parents struggle and moan all their lives and then are expected the arrive at work with a smile on their face and do the same thing. Secondly if you allow your children to participate in your business, are they going to learn good practises or will they see how badly you run things and how your cheat your customers and never pay suppliers. What message are you sending out to your family? Take a moment to consider how your kids see you in the parent business owner hat. Ouch!

This concludes the posts on the 9 Hat of an entrepreneur.