This story is part of our 1,000+ Stories campaign. What’s your story?

Name: Natalie McVeigh

Business: Family Owned Business Resources

Location: Denver, Colorado, U.S.

Industry: Professional Services

Reason for starting? Our work over these last two decades has taught us a great many things about how family owned businesses can be successful, nourishing places for owners and their heirs. As family advisors we have shared the knowledge and resources we have accumulated with our clients face to face. However, as it has been estimated that over 80% of businesses are family owned in the U.S. there are still people that could benefit from our services, some of which do not have the time or financial resources to devote to engaging with a family owned business advisors. We are still service providers of advising, coaching, consulting and premium assessments. We now have a web-based platform to help clients as they need it when they need it. We have worked hard to offer information that is useful and in an interesting and easy to follow format. Visitors to our site have choices about how they want to learn new information ranging from blogs, videos, SlideShare, Prezi, quizzes, downloads and more. We present and speak!

Related: Read about another Professional Services entrepreneur here. 

How do you define success? Success for us, simply put, is contribution. Contribution as a thought-leader, practitioner and service provider. You can hire a lot of people to do a vast many things but when we enter an engagement or write a paper we wish to be additive and constructive in the ways we approach family owned businesses. As advisors many of us regard our work with families as a sacred service – we get to touch what many treasure most, and often help heal wounds. When we can help a family owned business ensure they are more successful at the business of their business while sustaining their family and legacy, we’ve been successful. We’ve also recently begun mentoring the next generation of family advisors though the Family Firm Institute’s Next GEN Virtual Study Group to contribute to the larger field of family advising.

Biggest success: All our families who complete a Family Mosaic are successes. However, we did just recently graduate a client which was wonderful. A client graduates from our Mosaic process when they have learned and practised the tools their family has been introduced to over the years. These tools and constructs include: increased cohesion, group problem solving skills, open and honest communication, ability to debate constructively, accountability, family and governance systems that work for them, and time for fun. Through our personality assessment process, family members begin to see the differences in their personalities and styles as assets and resources — instead of problems or something to be changed. During the time we work with a family, we model behaviors and help them exercise the muscles of relationship with one another to build a stronger family. For some it is the first time they have ever acted or felt like a family.

What is your top challenge and how you have addressed it? A top challenge has been creating a way to help families increase connection in a more and more virtual world. We have addressed this by utilizing technology as well as setting aside time for in person meetings that have a moratorium on tech use while in session. It is also why we created our site for families to see on a virtual platform how important connection really is.

Related: A Bootstrapping Entrepreneur Bets the Family Home

Who is your most important role model? My business partner, Renee Montoya Lado, is my most important role model. She started this work and methodology over 15 years ago. I am an entrepreneur because she is/was and wanted to pass the mantle, per say. The way she approaches how we advise, coach and consult with families is definitely a gold standard. It’s not about us. We provide a neutral space for our clients to learn, grow and come together. We facilitate the family, business and ownership processes while not invading or disturbing the system or stage of growth they may be in. We do this to ensure that the family can be successful being themselves.

She is also a paragon of maintaining her own time and connection with her family while being extremely successful which I have over the years also been learning to do. As avid learner herself I’ve had a great example of continuous development and growth.

[box_light]Website   www.fobresources.com
Twitter   https://twitter.com/FOBResources
Facebook   https://www.facebook.com/FamilyOwnedBusinessResources Pinterest   https://www.pinterest.com/fobresources/[/box_light]

Tell us your story!
Read about another entrepreneur here.

Edited by The Story Exchange