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Making Entrepreneurship Work When It's a Family Affair Franks and beans, Laurel and Hardy, yin and yang-some things just go together naturally. But television post-production and high-end kitchen design? Surely, that's got to be one of the most unlikely pairings in the annals of entrepreneurship. That the partnership works is all the more amazing considering the bona fides of the two individuals behind the respective ventures. Laura Douglas, president and owner of RedEye Professional Post, a boutique television post-production company located in Old Town Alexandria, Va., is a native New Englander who admits to a fondness for simplicity, an aversion to risk and a propensity toward careful planning. Chris Donaghy, managing owner of Kitchen Brokers LLC, a custom-kitchen design and remodeling consulting firm based in Mason Neck, Va., hails from the Heartland, favors flashy over simple, never met a risk he didnÕt like and thinks spontaneity trumps careful planning every time. Oh, one more thing: These hard-driving business owners are also married to each other, have a daughter, Cassidy, who just started middle school and share a life philosophy that puts family emphatically first. To be sure, there is nothing uncommon about family relationships playing a role in entrepreneurial ventures. In the majority of cases, however, the family members in question are involved in the same business, not separate ventures. According to the University of Southern Maine's Institute for Family-Owned Business, about half of the U.S. domestic gross product is generated by family businesses. In addition, they account for 60% of total employment and almost 80% of new job creation. Douglas and Donaghy could be poster children for that old saying about opposites attracting, but they make it all work by harnessing their creativity and applying it to everything they do in both their personal and professional lives. Even a cursory glance at those lives suggests that nothing but such a richly creative approach would stand a chance of success.
Despite the late hour, she'll be back in her office at 9 a.m. for a conference call with a documentary producer in Romania, to discuss a trailer which aptly named RedEye is creating for the documentarian's entry in the Sundance Film Festival. That is by no means an unusual schedule for Douglas, and it's made possible at least in part by Donaghy's strategy for Kitchen Brokers. A newly minted MBA facing a dismal job market in the early 1990s, Donaghy today describes himself as "a kitchen designer by fluke." He took a job at a home center to keep the wolf from the door some 15 years ago, just about the time CAD kitchen design systems were being introduced. He learned the technology, worked his way up through the ranks for eight years and got to know the kitchen design and remodeling business from the inside out.
FAMILY FIRST "At the end of my eighth year, I took a buyout from my general manager's job to start my own company, Kitchen Brokers," he relates. "I wrote a business plan that has withstood the test of time. In short, the plan said family comes first. That meant I would work from home, keep my overhead low and never over-work."Oh, so he's a stay-at-home dad, something that's not so unusual these days. That's how they make it work, right? Not quite. There's much more to it, and the foundation is a sharing of life philosophies that mesh in a unique way. Donaghy and Douglas both wear multiple hats nearly all the time. "To many people, I am a stay-at-home dad," Donaghy, who despises being categorized, acknowledges. "But I also run a successful company full-time, as does my wife. We trade off our roles several times a day." "I may stay home in the morning taking care of Cassidy while returning emails and modifying designs. I'll take Cassidy with me to a job site at 11 a.m., then drop her off at Laura's office at noon so they can have lunch while I visit another job site. Then I pick up Cassidy, run errands and go home for another hour or two of paperwork," he says.
Such a partnership approach to child-rearing and family matters might seem almost a necessity, given their respective professional lives, but Donaghy and Douglas extend the same philosophy into their glaringly disparate business worlds. "One of the most important aspects of our two-career family is the constant support of my husband," Douglas says. "Even when I don't like to hear what he has to say, he always has my back." Having each other's backs means tapping each other's respective strengths in matters related to business as well as family for Douglas and Donaghy. "We are very tough on each other, but we need it," Douglas says. "Truth is, I would not have taken the chance on starting my own company without his constant support, dreaming and pushing to make it happen. He is the one who made me see it was possible, and he is always there to support and encourage." What makes it work is that it's a two-way street, of course. While Donaghy may help Douglas with marketing, press releases or simply by acting as a sounding board for new ideas, she reciprocates in ways such as applying her diplomatic nature to help him find solutions to dealing with difficult customers. NO JEALOUSIES "We are lucky because we are working in two completely different industries, so there are no jealousies or arguments about how we work or run our companies," Donaghy says.Both agree that constant communication-about even the most mundane aspects of their lives, private and professional bothÑand unselfish cooperation are the linchpins to making their creative approach to partnership work. "Call if you're working late, pick up milk on the way home, take out the trash without being asked, schedule appointments around family requirements, show pride in each other's accomplishments," says Donaghy. "Include the family in business decisions, share all financial news, include each other in planning, network for each other, and always celebrate each other's achievements," adds Douglas. In Chinese philosophy, yin-yang, symbolized by a circle divided by an S-shaped line into light and dark segments, represents the harmonious interaction of the female and male forces of the universe. The life partnership between Douglas and Donaghy appears to be a fruitfully creative example of yin-yang in action, but each partner is also a truly creative individual in his or her own right. For example, Douglas got RedEye Post off the ground with the purchase of her own editing suite and related gear from her former employers, unbeknownst to them. She launched the venture at the nadir of the post-9/11 business downturn, and she convinced a banker sheÕd never met before to finance most of it.
"We have so much more flexibility than the conventional two-career couple," Douglas agrees. "My business tends to soar when his is slow, and vice versa. The way we live our lives is dependent on creativity. It may not be simple, but it's well worth it, and we wouldn't have it any other way." |
