Annual CityScope® Business Issue
Photography by Hacker Medias
Handing over the reins to the next generation is a defining moment for any family business. Here, we chat with five locals carrying on their family legacy to find out what motivated them to join, the biggest challenges and advantages, and how they preserve the company’s legacy while bringing fresh ideas to the table.
President, Beaty Fabricating, Inc.
I was working a job that I hated and going to college at night trying to earn a degree in engineering. Not sure which one I hated more – where I was working at the time or school. My dad said, “Look, if you’ll take a welding course, then you can start helping me full time.” I took a welding course at Cleveland State Community College, and in six months, I began working with my dad. When I started building rails and gates and got comfortable, I started studying how long it took to build each item, how much material, etc. I made handwritten notes so that I could start bidding projects based on time and materials.
We have never tried to outgrow the demand of our customers. We have only grown as needed. This is how a lot of companies go out of business: trying to grow when the demand is not there. I have never wanted to outgrow the personalization that we have between us and our customers.
Always, always be a man of integrity and do what you say you are going to do. Always live a clean life inside and outside of work so that people respect you. Your name is all you have. My approach is to underpromise and overdeliver. We respond to customers faster than anyone else in our trade.
I have created a business and workmanship that speaks for itself. When you create that, you don’t have to sell your product. It sells itself. We have developed certain techniques for efficiency in how we quote to how we fabricate and install.
Owner, Mammoth Endurance
Growing up around the family business was a formative experience for me. I was 15 years old when my parents started the events business, and I quickly became involved. From the start, I felt a sense of pride and accomplishment being part of “the crew,” knowing I helped set up and execute a well-run event. As I grew older and was entrusted with more responsibility, it began to feel less like a fun activity with my parents and more like a serious job. The pressure of race weekends became more intense, but with it came invaluable life lessons and growth.
The biggest advantage of leading a family business is getting to work alongside your family. And, honestly, the biggest challenge is also getting to work alongside your family – ha! Balancing the dynamics of working together, respecting each other’s thoughts and ideas, and maintaining strong relationships outside of work can be tricky. But when navigated thoughtfully, it’s incredibly rewarding. At its core, it’s an opportunity to build a stronger bond between family members if handled with care and respect.
Our faith in Jesus is the cornerstone of my family, my life, and my business. Every decision I make begins with bringing it to God. Leading a business with God in my corner has been an incredible experience, as I believe so much more can be achieved through Him than I could ever accomplish on my own.
My first priority was modernizing our online presence. We revamped our logo and launched a dynamic, mobile-friendly website. We also made significant investments in the athlete experience. We worked with a designer to create visually appealing finisher medals and shirts for each participant and partnered with top local photographers to offer free professional race photos that were delivered to the athletes within minutes after they crossed the finish line.
Vice President, Chattanooga Tractor & Equipment
The motivation and leadership transition came easy. I literally grew up in the dealership. I mean, what kid wouldn’t want to work around tractors and construction equipment every day? The products and services that we provide are helping other business owners conduct their business and feed their families. So, growing up and seeing the results of what we do and how it affects the community were always impactful.
I was in my early 30s when I began the role of vice president. Not many, if any, dealership executives are that young. In order to not be looked at as “some kid” who inherits the family business, I made sure to lead with conviction and make sure everyone knew that I had the sweat equity to back it up.
Most of our competitors are franchises or large multi-store corporations, not locally and family owned as we are. This is an advantage and a challenge. While we may not have the capital and buying power of some of these competitors, being locally owned allows us to be extremely receptive to our customers’ needs. We don’t have to go through a bunch of red tape and corporate nonsense to make a change in our process to enhance our business and customer experience. We also get told by most of our customers that they appreciate not feeling like a number when they do business with us. We’re able to provide a personal touch that most others cannot do.
That hard work, honesty, and integrity are at the forefront of everything we do. Never do anything to jeopardize your ability to look yourself in the mirror or lay your head down at night.
President, Webb Financial Consultants
My father started our wealth management firm in 1982. While interested in our family business then, the defining moment in terms of my career path came in the fall of 1987 when I was a business major at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Over fall break, I was asked to come into the office to help my father. That week coincided with the stock market crash on October 19, 1987. For a few days, I witnessed my father conversing with clients, helping to answer questions, and attempting to make the best decisions given the frenzy of a stock market dropping by 20% in one day. Seeing my father utilize his wisdom and experience to impact his clients at a challenging moment in their lives motivated me to pursue wealth management as a career and possibly one day work in my family business.
I cannot overstate how important the people you hire are, whether or not they are family members. The growth and success of my second-generation company is based directly upon the outstanding people that I hire and partner with to serve my clients. Look for the best people who have amazing, diverse talents and who value the same mission and culture you promote. Once these employees are a member of the team, my goal is to serve these employees in the same way I want them to serve my clients. My employees and those who I partner with are a part of my extended family!
Our family and our faith are very important to us. From my personal faith, I learned the importance of serving others and helping each client create a lasting legacy for their family, whether it be financially, relationally, civically, or spiritually. The importance of family also led me to consider each client
I work with as part of my extended family, treating them with the respect and care that I experienced from my parents, as well as how I saw them treat others.
Owner/President, Ben Parker Company
There is nothing more educational for a future business owner than witnessing firsthand a business truly built from nothing into something substantial. As a teenager, I would work in the summers for my father and see both the excitement and inevitable frustration of day-to-day small business reality. At the time, seeing such effort and struggle from loved ones made me question whether it was worth it. As time goes on, you grow in your appreciation for the process and just how important it is for an organization to have a clear figurehead and leader. Frankly, it took a while to gain the necessary comfort level and confidence to actually want to play that role.
When dad retired in the late 2000s, the global economy was in shambles. We had to regroup and rethink what we wanted to do in many ways moving forward. We were so young at that stage that we were just trying to figure out what we were doing. To fill the void left by my dad and the force that he was from a sales perspective was not possible in the short term. We just had to figure it out as we went and gained confidence by fighting through those hard times.
I would say remember to focus on the values that got the organization to whatever positive point it is currently and what the identity of it truly is. Try to protect those core values as you inject your vision and direction of the future.
Every time we discuss substantial revenue growth we make sure we can keep our small business identity and values. We have a unique business model that revolves around smaller business principles of service, quality, dependability, and versatility. It is at the core of who we are, and we make sure it is not compromised as we grow.
