Pros and Cons of Doing Business with Family

My siblings and I have been kicking around the idea of starting a business together for a few years now. We’ve talked about it. We’ve mentioned it in passing. Every now and then we’ll actually start to make some plans to do it. However we’ve never really committed to it before because we weren’t all in the right stage of life at the right time to make that kind of commitment. I think we might be there now.

I’m excited about the possibility of doing something crafty and entrepreneurial with my siblings. Smart people love to work for themselves and I’m not sure if I could imagine ever working any other way again. Being able to do that with my smart siblings would be even better.

However I do know that there are pros and cons to working with your family members. On the positive side you have a built-in support system within your small business, a willingness to stick things out together because you know you’ll still be family when it’s all over and a lot of different potentially-compatible traits that can be assets in a group endeavor. On the other hand you have various conflicts, issues because of sibling birth order and a desire to do your own individual things away from the family.

I think what is going to make this business work for us is that none of us are overly invested in it. We’re launching slowly, starting to plan and aiming to make this a side project to the other things that we’re each doing on our own. This approach feels like it will maximize the benefits of working together while minimizing the problems that can come up as a result of working with your family.

Does anyone here have experience working in a family business? What were the most outstanding pros and cons for you?