Make Your Mark webchat: it's a family affair!

Hello and welcome to today’s webchat, we’re joined by Fleur Emery co-founder of Team Grasshopper and she will be sharing her pearls of wisdom about family business

Hello everyone!

So Fleur – tell us a bit about yourself and how you got started!

My sister Abi is a surfer and about three years ago we started making pots of porridge for her to take to the beach and these were really popular with her friends so we started selling them. Then I started reading business books and it kind of grew from there.

What came first - the business idea - or the decision to work together?

The business idea definitely came first. I didn’t have a job at the time and Abi had a steady job at a yachting company, then I persuaded her to join in. There’s really no way I could have come this far without her.

Is one of you more product focussed while the other works more on the brand and marketing? Or is it more of a joint affair?

To work successfully I think you have to have a really clear split. We are lucky that Abi and I have very different talents and personalities – and they complement each other well. So I take care of the business aspect and Abi is the creative one who does all of the branding and marketing. I have tried to get involved with her work in the past and it hasn’t really panned out too well! “Back away from the graphics”!

Where did the name Team Grasshopper come from?

The name is a silly in joke. When we first started Grasshopper, Abi broke both her feet whilst kite surfing. I offered to look after her and forced her to watch some 1970s kung fu where the main character is called Grasshopper. So no branding or marketing research at all – we laugh in the face of focus groups!

hello! what are the pros and cons of setting up a business with a family member?

The pros are that when you’re up against it you can be 100% sure that the other person has your best interests at heart and will back you up. Starting a business is hard and knowing that you can really trust the other person is a great thing.

The cons are that they don’t respect you or take you seriously! So if you have a fantasy of running a business based on LA Law or Dallas, where you have an office and get to give people direct instructions – forget it! Because the likely response is “oh my God – it’s Maggie Thatcher” – that’s what my sister says! It’s more collaboration than ‘I’m the boss’.

Being siblings do you and Abi find it difficult separating work from family life - how do you maintain the balance?

I’m a workaholic and have no balance and work all the time. Abi is the person with a life and gives me set times for when I can talk about work things and when I can’t – I am on a time schedule. No work talk on weekends for example.

who has been the most influential in your family?

We’ve found that mine and Abi’s relationship mirrors our parents relationship: our Dad is ambitious and driven and our Mum is more pragmatic and considered. He’s the gas and she’s the brake. With me and Abi it’s the same. Both of them have qualities that Abi and I admire.

What are the advantages of setting up in business with a family member? would you recommend it?

Would I recommend it? It depends on who your family are! For us it’s been an amazing experience. Abi is really bright, funny and creative so she is great company and as a family we trust each other, so for us it’s been great. Not all families are so lucky, so I guess it depends on who you are related to.

My parents are entrepreneurs and we grew up discussing business issues round the kitchen table - how do you separate work from normal family life and not bore others around you!

Hi Hannah, our experience was really different from yours because our family are predominantly medical professionals so starting a business was culturally very different from what they expected and from we expected. What we have benefited from is their core values- for example Mum and Dad said that not all money is good money and demonstrated a good work ethic and honesty in all of their working relationships. All of these things have been useful.

I don’t know if it’s easier or not having entrepreneurial parents, maybe it would have been a lot to live up to. At least with us we are doing something for the first time so have nothing to compare it to.

Can you give us some tips for going into business with a family member?

You need to talk through all of those areas that could potentially cause resentment – money, workload, etc. We decided right from the beginning what each of us would do and what we would get paid.

Also, establish how you are going to communicate. Early on we made the decision that if one of us got the hump with the other we wouldn’t use emails or skype to address this, so I know that if Abi sends me an email and she seems in a bit of bad mood I know that she’s not. If we want to chat we will see each other or talk on the phone.

Finally, it doesn’t matter if there is something you can’t do or don’t have, you just need to know this about yourself. We had no money, no business education and no experience but did have a strong work ethic, ambition and ideas. So you then find the people who’ve got what you don’t have. We’ve had amazing help with Grasshopper

Tell us about some of the help you've had along the way...

We’ve been really surprised at the amount of help we’ve had from other people – for example people with businesses that have inspired us who we emailed for advice, people who we know at school who we contacted via Facebook. You can reach out to people even if you don’t feel connected by reading newspapers, looking on the internet and writing to them. Tell them who you are and what you are trying to do.

One thing about entrepreneurs – mature successful ones tend to be people who like action. So when they are settled and secure they are still interested in the riskier aspects of business and so are interested in talking to and helping start ups. We have been pleasantly surprised by how successful entrepreneurs are happy to pass on their knowledge and experience.

For example in the first 6 months of Grasshopper I met a guy who ran a publishing business and he gave us two pieces of advice: firstly “find people who can help your business and suck up to them” and the second: make a financial forecast for the coming year, then double the amount of time it will take and money it will cost you, and halve the revenue – bang on.

Wow, what a great chat! Thanks for all your questions and to Fleur for her answers!

Thank you for having me!

What are your thoughts on starting up a business with a family member? Tell us in our forum!

Forum topic is here!: http://www.makeyourmark.org.uk/forum/make_your_mark_forum/live_web_chat_...