When I tell people I work with my two older brothers I usually get a “Are you serious?” followed by a “I could never work with my siblings.”
When you think of family businesses you think of Chapman’s Ice Cream or Carlo’s Bake Shop – companies that have been in business for generations NOT companies that only started within the last decade.
Working as siblings is one of the key ingredients that makes Offshoot work. There’s a certain level of unspoken trust and respect between us and a similar thought that together we will succeed.
Our family mindset doesn’t just work with my 2 older brothers and I but it carries over to the other Offshoot Employees and ultimately to our clients. I’m finding more and more that when clients meet us for the first time and find out we’re a family there’s an added sense of confidence and trust that they immediately feel. Something you necessarily wouldn’t find with a company composed of suits and cubicles.
Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t always “sunshine and rainbows” with the 3 of us. There are days when we just simply disagree with each other and there are times when a family dinner at our parent’s house turns into a business meeting, but that’s what makes us unique. And that’s what makes us authentic. We’re not afraid to push each other to excel or tell it like it is with each other. To me, this dynamic helps the business as our clients are consistently getting our best each and every time.
I don’t know why family businesses appear to be a dying breed. I’ve heard some people say that they could never work with a family member as they just simply would butt heads all the time. But isn’t that the point? Don’t you want to work with people who challenge you and push you to succeed not with people who just agree with everything you say? Some of our best ideas have come from disagreements.
The proof is in the pudding…or rather our products and our success stories. Together as a family (including our non-related Offshoot peeps too) we have built Offshoot into a leading web developer. We’re not ones to gloat or showboat our accomplishments but running a company as a family is definitely something that differentiates us from our competitors – and in an over saturated web world it’s our authentic family values that contributes to us developing long lasting relationships with our clients.
10 years ago, my brother James started this company with the vision of making it a leader in the web world. I don’t know if he originally included our brother and I in his plan but I’m glad Offshoot gets to expand and conquer the web world with 3 siblings and an extended family at its helm.
Many marketing professionals encourage companies to find their authentic selves and to market what makes them unique – for us, we’re a family that gets stuff done. What’s yours?