Just wondering if any of you are in or have been in a similar situation. My family owns two business - First one manufactures and distributes products - Second imports truck product line from the UK and we are the North american distributer Both are strong companies in their respective market segments. As much as i would love to get out and use my degree and find a “real job” i find myself working for Dad and enjoying the aspects that come with a family company. (good hours, great pay, company car, lots of travel) A current day in the life. Work 9-1 assembling orders, 2-6 study CFA. Every other week or so i leave for 3-4 days and make sales calls to our distributors and customers. These trips take me all over the country and getting to travel that much is rather fun. Im finding it increasingly difficult to see myself in a position outside of our company given all the perks if i stay. My family completely supports a decision to leave/stay/or leave and come back in a few years. I know i am extremely lucky to be able to debate this decision but i find it perplexing So what about you guys? Ever been in a similar position? Thanks in advance for your insight.
I’d rock the family business and try to make it as strong as possible, while really nailing down what you’d like to do or another job you’d find as or more interesting and working towards that. You’re in a good position to be able to be picky and patient, and that’s what I’d do.
I’ve seen the benefits of people who spend a couple of years at another company outside their family business. You can take lots of ideas in a variety of processes, even extrapolating among industries, and not only targeted to your core business, but also providing huge savings at the support departments. Networking opportunities are also a big advantage.
Wow grass is always greener. Doesn’t sound like you find better quality of life elsewhere. I’d certainly stay with the family business. At least you can feel good that your efforts puts $$$ towards members of your family as opposed to a nameless corporation.
It might be educational to spend some time outside the family business - maybe get an MBA at some point. I’m sure you’ll get good experience working for your family, but diversity of experience might also be useful in the long run.
So you work 4 hours a day??? I hate you. Are you currently doing anything that is investment related or has some relevance to the CFA? Sounds like you’ve got quite the cush job. I would look for other opportunities outside of the family business, eventually it would be good experience to have on the resume. Plus, from the sound of it, the family business will always be there to hire you right back on.
First- thanks all for your ideas jcole21- That is exactly how i feel. Im being really picky. I just dont want to spin my wheels as a teller (not that thats bad) when i can be learning something much more useful elsewhere and having fun at it. Im getting rejected everywhere though so who knows how useful that is. Inner Evil/ ohai- I would agree that getting as much different experience as possible and learning how to work with numerous types of people would be useful. I also think that spending time outside and than coming back might help me from getting the “spoiled kid to takes over dads business and then doesn’t grow it/runs it into the ground” syndrome. Slave- I wouldnt say that its always greener but just that i have a unique opportunity and im not sure how or if i should capitalize on it. Ya it doesn’t get much better, every sale i make eventually goes right into my pocket. Chuck- Ya well let me expand on that a bit. So on Friday i drove from MPLS to St. Louis, thats a 10 hour drive. Then i attended a open house from 9-3 on Saturday. Left and drove home, got back at 2 AM Sunday. Vikings game Sunday at Noon!!!. But today im just chillin at home trying to grind out some studying, probably walk the dog a few times. Probably put in my 4 hours tomorrow. The hours are a little odd at times… And i work days/nights/weekends/whenever when needed. If i didn’t have this CFA thing going on id probably be there from 8-3 (UPS leaves at 3, kind of the unofficial ending for my day) And traveling once a week, right now i trade off weeks with my dad, this morning he flew to Florida and will be there till Thursday and i almost got that gig… darn. SOOO you hate me, I hate myself, it gets really boring. So whats your job and do you want to switch? T.T. 
-----open invite to all actually I do absolutely nothing investment related at work. I have saved lots of money for a person my age and currently am trading a little. I am a rabid consumer of news also so i spend quite a lot of time reading. By this point you are asking yourself why i am taking the CFA. Good question, 50% to prove to myself that i can do it, 25% maybe ill get a job B/C of it, 25% it may help some point down the road so why not and i just graduated with a finance degree so it is all fresh in my mind. Side note: I am thinking strongly about applying to interesting internships just to try them on for size for a few months.
I like the intern idea. If you’re in the midwest, I’ve seen a few good ones - feel free to shoot me an email at cfahustler@gmail.com, I’d be glad to forward them.
No hate, I’m just jealous of the hours. I love to travel and its something I rarely get to do in my line of work. What do I do? Let’s see, I work for a financial advisory boutique and literally do almost everything under the sun: I do investment consulting for pension plans (DB & DC), research (Equities, Govie/Corp/HY/Foreign/Muni Debt, MFs, SMAs, etc…), my firm’s trading, attribution analysis, serve as a pm to our individual clients, write monthly/quarterly economic/market commentaries, business valuations (informal), retirement plan design, etc… Needless to say, I wear a lot of different hats. I’ve received a lot of quality experience but would like to focus only on the research aspect of my work.
jcole21- Yes im out of Minneapolis. I have seen some really interesting ones as well and im super flexible so it seem like a great idea. Ill send ya something this evening, thanks for the offer. Chuck- The travel is what draws me to the business. Im currently working my way through the midwest (so far Iowa, St. Louis, Michigan, Indianapolis, Wisconsin) but hope to hit the east coast in the coming months. And with all the credit card points im banking huge on free travel as well!!! Sounds like a exciting day at the office, your my hero! Is there a TV show like wife swap for Jobs? That is a lot of experience. Direct experience is what i lack but i hope that by doing sales it will help offset that somewhat by showing that i can have “face time” with clients.