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Edition 436 – The Vault

Written by Dean Robinson.

In my e-book “How to Build a Vault for your Family Business“, I make mention of the fact that a lot of what happens inside of a small or family business, is stored in the heads of the business owner. It’s not documented. Often, there’s no system in place. Invariably, whilst the owner may know what’s going on, others in the business, and inside the family, don’t.

We’re working with a great family business client at the moment on helping them build their own Vault. We cover off 15 areas in this process and the first three that we’ve dived into have certainly identified significant areas of risk, as well as opportunities not just for improvement, but also for future revenue potential.

In our Vault chapter on the Business Structure, we identified:

  1. Entities that some family members didn’t know existed.
  2. Directorships and other corporate roles that some family members didn’t know they were responsible for.
  3. Entities that were dormant, and should be wound up.

In our Vault chapter dedicated to Estate Planning, we identified:

  1. One family member, whose will was well out of date, and whose executor had passed more than a decade ago.
  2. Two family members who’d never previously had a will.
  3. The need to update the estate planning affairs of two individuals who, given the impact of relatively recent family law matters, meant that, in the event something would have happened to either of them, individuals they may not have wished to share in their estate, would have done.

In our Vault Chapter on Intellectual Property, what’s been uncovered is:

  1. The need to register a number of designs with IP Australia, so prolific are the family operating this business, at pure design and innovation.
  2. The opportunity to commercialise their design expertise, if not through the in-house production of their own ideas, then through the licensing of that intellectual property to other businesses.
  3. Just how much of their knowledge has been stolen in the past, simply because the loose ends of attending to legal registration, hadn’t been tied up.

What’s been a real eye opener in this process is the depth of the conversations that have taken place, amongst the family. A simple question, has led, invariably, to further questions, and meant we’ve drilled down on some very interesting aspects of the work this business undertakes on a daily basis.

Whilst we’re documenting a number of systems, we’re also looking at future commercial opportunities for this business, and for the family. In the process, we’re blessed to be playing a part in the transition of the business from the first to the second generation, and, ensuring an early preparedness for any future transition to the third.

This Week’s Tip

Take a look here, if you’d like to know more –
https://deanrobinson.com.au/resources/ebooks-audiobooks/