The 11-Year Family Business Transition

In our latest podcast episode, special guest Karla Trotman takes us through some of the joys and trials of taking over the manufacturing business built by her father.

Good Morning!

Here are today’s highlights:

• The IRS is again delaying a small business tax requirement.

• The EPA wants to ban two cancer-causing chemicals—but will the ban stick?

• California’s agriculture industry is expecting dramatic losses.

• A new platform wants to be the Amazon of secondhand.

THE 21 HATS PODCAST

It’s Not a Circuit-Board Business. It’s an Asset: This week, special guest Karla Trotman explains, step by step, how she has managed to navigate the challenges and opportunities that only a family business can offer. Karla grew up around a manufacturing business, Electro Soft, that her father started, but she never intended to make a career of it. Instead, she found success in corporate America, but over time, she also came to realize the true wealth-building power of owning a business, any business. “It's not a beauty salon,” she says. “It's an asset. It's not a shoe-shine store. It’s an asset.” That realization sent her back to Electro Soft, which thrilled her father.

• They agreed to work together for three years after which he would retire and she would buy the business. And that’s pretty much what happened—although, as Karla tells us, thanks to some family dynamics that had to be negotiated, the transition didn’t take three years. It took 11 years.

• You can subscribe to the 21 Hats Podcast wherever you get podcasts.