I’ve always liked that song and it’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately since my son is working towards taking over the business.
When I started my business I bought an old truck and put some ski racks on the roof and I was, “in business.” I didn’t think of retirement or the business operating without me. I thought I would sell the business or just shut it down at some point. I was 25 years old I didn’t think of retirement funds or one of my crew taking over. But life has a funny way of coming at you.
My youngest son has always been more mechanical than book smart. He is a hands-on type of kid. My oldest son is the scholar and went to college to gain a degree. He has a good job now and is rocking it with a tech company. My youngest son was set for college and about three weeks out of high school. I was working in the garage and he came up to came to me and said, “Dad, can we talk?”
We pulled up a couple of old five-gallon buckets, sat down and I said, “What do you want to talk about?”
He looked at me and said, “Dad, I’m not a college guy.” I asked him what he wanted to do and he said “I think I want to work for you and take over the business.” I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised but I was a little taken aback. And that’s when it hit me. My business was going to outlive me and continue on. At least that’s the idea right? Makes me laugh to think about it.
He was a little worried at times, afraid of stepping into the old man’s shoes; he took it pretty seriously and was worried he might screw it up. I told him, “You’ll do fine and if things don’t work out, you do something else.” He may actually be more successful than me.
I think I’ve said this before in a different article but it’s said that 60 percent of second generations fail and 90 percent of third generations fail. I told me son and he said, “So there is a good chance I will screw things up?” I said, “Nah… but your kid might not do so well.”
The idea is that the grandfather (me) works like a dog to build the business, the son comes along and says, “We can do this much better,” then the grandson comes along and says, “This is I all mine,” and kicks back. A business needs to be watched over and pushed along all the time. No business just takes care of itself.
So my son is taking his classes at night and working for the business during the day. It’s hard work. He still doesn’t work as hard as the old man did back in the day, but let’s keep that between ourselves.
When he was getting ready to start working for the company my son came to me with some questions. He asked me, “Do you like what you do or do you love what you do?” Good question, I thought. I told him most times I like what I do, sometimes I love what I do, and sometimes I hate what I do.
He then asked me a great question. One that really made me think. “Why do you like what you do?”
Wow, I thought. I never thought of that, and I had to think of an answer. The answer was as interesting to him as it was to me. Why do I like what I do? I help people! I help people when they have an emergency, I help people when they want to renovate their house, I help people with new heating systems, I help people maintain and improve the biggest investment most people will ever make.
That’s what we do as plumbers: we help people—and that can be pretty rewarding, and it will be rewarding for my son (if all goes well). He is moving along, and I am trying to give him tips and keep him involved in the operations of the business. When I make a change or or a business decision I try to keep him informed and let him know why I am doing it.
My son came to me a few months ago and told me he wanted to do something with the business that was his to do. I told him I would think about it and the next day I brought him onto the office. “You want something to do? Okay, you’re in charge of the stock room. Keep the bins full of stock, find out what we buy a lot of and find out what we don’t need as much of. Find out how much we need to purchase so we can get a better price.
He was a little a little shocked and overwhelmed at first, but you know what? He’s doing a good job and the guys are going to him to let him know what we need.
He’s got a long row to hoe but he’s getting there. I know I probably won’t just stop and walk away and I’ll be involved in the business. It will still be a family affair for a long time… but that’ still pretty cool.
Scott Milne is the owner of Milne Plumbing and Heating. He and his company have been serving the greater Boston area for nearly 30 years. He specializes in high-efficiency heating systems for custom homes.