Successful business strategist and entrepreneur Cory Mosley talks about hiring family and friends at your small business. Cory works side-by-side with his wife daily. It works well for them but Cory says it can be a complete disaster for others. He suggests determining the nature of your relationship with that family member or friend beforehand and be honest with yourself before taking the plung.
ABOUT CORY MOSLEY
Cory has been an entrepreneur since the age of 14 with business interests in the salon, laundry, business consulting, automotive, and confectionary sectors. As an established business strategist, Cory counts corporations like Audi, Volvo, BBDO, and COX Enterprises amongst his portfolio. Over the past decade, Cory’s consulting work has resulted in six and seven figure growth for businesses with a specialized focus on franchisee operations.
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VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Joe Gumm:
Joining me today in our studio is a business strategist and entrepreneur, it’s Cory Mosley. He’s the founder of the Fearless Entrepreneurship Society, and it is a pleasure to welcome you, sir.
Cory Mosley:
Always good to be here with you, Joe.
Joe Gumm:
I know you love coming to Atlanta.
Cory Mosley:
Of course.
Joe Gumm:
What a great opportunity to do small business here in this city, one of the best in the US. Let’s talk about small business when it relates to hiring family and friends or relatives. I know that this hits home for you because your spouse works with you, so let’s start there. Is it a good idea to hire your spouse?
Cory Mosley:
I’ll say this. Hiring family, It’s not a matter of good idea or bad idea. Here’s the question you have to ask yourself, and that is, it usually works extremely well, or it’s a complete disaster. You have to make decisions about your relationship really at its core, to say, “Hey, am I somebody that appreciates my personal space?” So in your personal space, do you and your spouse like to do things differently, just so you can be away from each other for a while? That doesn’t mean there’s a problem in your relationship, but what is the nature of your interaction as a husband and wife? Because that will determine, once it gets magnified … My wife works right in the office across the hall, we’re together all the time, we travel together. She’s very involved in the business. But I love my wife in a way, from a relationship standpoint, where I want her around me all the time and she wants to be around me all the time. That’s not how everybody’s relationship works, good or bad. I can be days with her. I don’t need to get air out of the room or take a break, so it works very, very well for us.
The other thing is, is that my wife came into the business. We didn’t start it together, so it’s not a 50/50 decision-making, it’s not arguments over what direction we should go in. That makes a difference too. So it’s not good idea or bad idea. It’s, what’s the nature of your relationship now and the interaction, and two, what’s gonna be the setup of the business? Starting it together, or someone joining a business that’s already running?
Joe Gumm:
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Other people are watching, going now, “Wait a second, what if it’s my cousin Bob? A relative that I love from afar, but I don’t know if I want him to work for me. Or a friend of mine, we’re really close. This guy’s got a lot of great ideas. Should I hire him as well?”
Cory Mosley:
So again, are you prepared to take the actions necessary if it does not work out. My mother, who’s really retired but she does some part-time stuff, sent me an email the other day, “Are you hiring?” Because she’s the lady … you ever going into the Sam’s Club and you get the little, “Hey, try the grapes” and stuff? She does that a couple hours a week to stay busy, but she’s like, “Oh, they’re cutting my hours back. Are you hiring?” And like, no. I’m not hiring my mother. Now I know people who have their family members, but … because I would not fire my mother if she didn’t do a good job, so I’d be stuck. So I would never even open that door.
So if you’re not somebody who can make the tough decisions that are required in business, regardless of who the other person is on the other side, then no, I would not recommend you bring family into the business, because it’s not gonna work well. Because again, there’s turnover. People just don’t work out sometimes, so if it’s your cousin or your aunt or your sister’s brother, or your sibling, even worse … Imagine having to fire your brother who you grew up with, or fire your sister, because it’s not efficient. Or what if the business doesn’t work out, and you have to lay them off? So it’s all those things. It’s not just about firing, but it’s also about, what if things change? Now you’re responsible. Entrepreneurship and being the head person in charge is about responsibility. You’re taking on other people’s responsibility or responsibility for them in a way that you can’t understand unless you’re doing it every day, so having a relative and having to have some of those tough conversations, is something that you really just have to ask yourself, “Who are you as a person to be able that execute that strategy?”
Joe Gumm:
Yeah, and from that point on, how are holidays gonna be? Because if I do hire this person and have to fire them, it’s gonna be different. A family dynamic is pretty unique when it comes to that topic. Corey Mosley, again, entrepreneur and business strategist, founder of the Fearless Entrepreneurship Society. We appreciate you joining us, man. Thanks.
