Mindy Alperin, 54, Jamie Lazar, 28, and Lauren Alperin, 26
Venture: Zakkerz Inc.
Location: Jamie and Lauren live in New York City; Mindy lives in Atlanta
Zakkerz Inc. was born
out of frustration. Sisters Jamie Lazar and Lauren Alperin walked to work in New
York City in sneakers, then switched to heels at work. But their pants dragged
on the ground during their walks. They kept complaining about it to each other
and to their mom, Mindy Alperin.
One day, Mindy said, "I've got this idea." She bought some magnets, sat down
at a sewing machine and created the Zakkerz prototype. That was August 2006. By
November, the trio had incorporated and by July 2007, they were selling Zakkerz
online. "Sales started slow but have continued to grow every month," Lazar says.
Although Mindy lives in Atlanta, the trio stays in constant contact. Lazar and
Lauren retain their full-time jobs as CPAs, but Mindy works full-time on the
business, with some help from her husband.
They handle any conflicts in a straightforward manner. "I think we're close
enough that we all understand everybody's weaknesses and strengths," Lazar says.
"It's OK for us to get into an argument; we argue it out. Five minutes later,
we're fine."
If a decision isn't reached immediately, they come back to it after everyone
has a chance to think it through. Typically, the solution combines everyone's
ideas. "Or someone wins and someone loses, and we move on," Mindy says. "One of
us will eventually just let it go. That's the nature of how we work together."
The advantage of working with family members is that they can be honest with
one another. "These are people that I trust completely, and we all have the same
goal in mind," Mindy says.
Lazar says she learned persistence from her mother. "My mom is one of the
most determined people I know. She sets her mind on something, and she's going
to get it done." The girls are the same way. "We both did incredibly well in
school. If we're going to study for a test, we do it all the way. That's just
what our mom has taught us to do."
The danger of working with family members is the tendency to let the business
take over your life. "Sometimes," Mindy says, "you have the start the
conversation with, 'What can we talk about that doesn't start with a Z' "?
Rosemarie diSalvo, 63 and Annemarie diSalvo, 38
Venture: diSalvo Interiors
Location: New York City
Rosemarie and Annemarie diSalvo had always talked about opening a business
together. "We have a very close relationship, which is very special," Rosemarie
says. Finally, in 1996, Annemarie quit her job with an interior design firm,
Rosemarie left the legal field--where she specialized in liquidating
estates--and they opened a shop selling antiques.
Annemarie had said she'd never go back to designing again. But then customers
who bought their wares, especially antique sofas, began coming to them with
questions, such as "How do I re-upholster this?"
Soon diSalvo
Interiors morphed into an interior design and project management firm.
"Clients leave their home for six months, and we hand them the key when they
come back," Rosemarie says. Annemarie focuses on architecture and building
codes. Rosemarie prefers the "fluff stuff," such as window treatments.
Sales last year totaled $2.7 million, and the pair expects that to hold
steady in 2008. Around New York they're known as the "naked designers" because
of an ad chosen in a national contest to appear in Times Square.
"I learned more about design from Annemarie than I did in school," says
Rosemarie, who had gone back to school to earn a design degree. In turn,
Annemarie learned the ins and outs of running a business from her mother.
The biggest advantage to working together, they say, is trust. "I don't have
to think twice about anything she's doing," Rosemarie says. "And we always know
that any decision being made is not from a personal agenda.
"There's never been that tension where I know better because I'm older or
she's been doing this longer and perhaps her ideas are better. We fight more
with our husbands," Rosemarie says.
Susan Stoneburner, 57, and Kristen Stolle, 32
Venture: Pacific Design Directions Inc.
Location: Anaheim, California
Susan Stoneburner started the interior design firm Pacific Design Directions
Inc. in 1979. She soon focused on commercial design, and today owns an $18
million firm with four divisions: Pacific Interior Design, Pacific Interior
Electric, Pacific Construction and Pacific Electrical Engineering.
Daughter Kristen Stolle was working in the legal arena when she came home
seven years ago for knee surgery. Bored during her recovery, she started helping
out at Pacific Design "and learned that I really loved it."
It wasn't always easy, she says. "Because we are the boss's kids (her
brother, Reed, heads the electrical division) there is the perception that
things are handed to us. We have to work 10 times harder and prove day in and
day out that we've earned the right to be here."
Stolle says the advantage of working with her mother is that they think
alike. "We have the same ideas about how to resolve [a problem] quickly and
effectively." Adds Stoneburner, "Kristen is much more current in building codes
and what cities require, and she remembers all the details of the scope of work.
I'm more big picture. With that, we complement each other."
Stoneburner's advice to other mother-daughter teams is unequivocal: "The
elder person needs to shut up and listen to the younger people because they have
some pretty good ideas."
But Stolle adds a caveat: "Children, at the same time, need to shut up and
take a lesson from their parent. They don't know everything. My generation seems
to think we can solve the world's problems in a minute. We also need to step
back and listen."
Patty McDonald, 55; Robyn Dague, 36; and Aimee Guentert, 27
Venture: Saf-T-Co
Location: Santa Ana, California
Patty McDonald started
Saf-T-Co in 1987 after she was frustrated in her efforts to rise in the
ranks of the male-dominated underground utility industry. Saf-T-Co Supply
distributes underground utility and electrical supplies and manufactures PVC,
steel and fiberglass fittings and bends. Sales last year totaled $24 million,
and McDonald is projecting $25 million in 2008.
Informally, McDonald's daughters have been involved since Saf-T-Co's
inception as a home-based business. More formally, they started working in the
business as teenagers, and each left for a time to explore the world beyond Saf-T-Co.
Both, however, were inexorably drawn back. McDonald's husband also works at Saf-T-Co,
as does Robyn Dague's husband.
Says Aimee Guentert, who returned to Saf-T-Co a year to the day after going
to work for a lawyer, "A big advantage is that I get to work closely with my
parents. I like having somebody I'm comfortable with to talk with and figure
things out."
For McDonald, the reward of working with her daughters is clear: "What's
better than seeing your kids every day?"
They can't remember the last time they had an argument. "We listen to each
other and talk about issues and things, but we always walk away feeling
comfortable without being argumentative," McDonald says.
Guentert advises other mothers and daughters to know where to draw the line
between business and family relationships. "When we walk out the door, we try to
leave as much here as we can, and we can all go home and be a family and still
sit down for dinner Sunday night."