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UFB Newsletter Issue #066 Outsourcing
May 24, 2007

The Key To Family Business Success
ISSN 15465640


Understanding Family Business brings you articles and tips from Family Business Experts who understand family values and business systems.

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Understanding Family Business




May 24, 2007 Issue #066

Last weekend's Victoria Day in Canada and this weekend's Memorial Day in the USA mark the beginning of North America's summer season. Outdoor activities reach full pitch.

The Family eBusiness section is quiet on the web, but undergoing major re-write in the background, so new things will be popping up soon. Join our web master for a glimpse into ebusiness.

Outsourcing
A new section on our web site

Family-Owned Businesses Grow Faster by Outsourcing and By Improving Family Relationships

Atlanta-based Family Business Institute together with their on-line organization Family Business Experts and The Ahola Corporation, a national payroll processing organization headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, have announced a new strategic partnership that will be a great resource for family-owned businesses.

(PRWEB) May 21, 2007 -- Don Schwerzler, founder of Family Business Institute and Jeff Ahola, CEO of The Ahola Corporation, held a joint press conference to announce a new strategic partnership between their respective organizations.

"One of the major questions most family-owned businesses wrestle with is how to grow the family's business while at the same time maintaining healthy family relationships," said Don Schwerzler, an internationally recognized expert in family business dynamics.

The advice offered by Schwerzler -- "professionalize the management style of the business and formalize the communication system for the family".

Jeff Ahola could not agree more. The Ahola Corporation is a family-owned business that was started in 1967 by Chester and Rheta Ahola. The company is now owned by the second generation, siblings Marja, Mark, Jeff and Scott Ahola.

Today, at age 40, The Ahola Corporation is the third oldest payroll processing company in the nation. They serve over 3,300 customers in 44 states. They also provide tax payment and workers' compensation services to small and mid-size businesses -- plus a seamless link between payroll and retirement plan administration with both Principal Financial and Nationwide.

Ahola, who earned his MBA at Pepperdine University, is the CEO of The Ahola Corporation, which focuses on providing payroll services to family owned businesses. The Ahola Corporation's patent pending system, Family Pay, provides unprecedented security, compliance and simplicity. The system allows a business owner to delegate payroll responsibilities to a non-family employee -- without revealing the details of the family members' compensation. Family Pay also assists clients in monitoring the unique IRS regulations that apply to family businesses.

"We know how difficult it can be to be in business with family -- but we also know how fulfilling it can be to build a successful family legacy for future generations," said Ahola.

The new joint partnership will conduct a series of nationwide workshops dealing with Innovation and the Family Business. Schwerzler pointed out that "the Family Business Institute has the only Family Business Innovation program in the country".

Jeff Ahola said "we are pleased to be sponsoring these family business workshops and we are excited to make them available to our family business clients. Our goal is to help take the complexity out of running a family company".

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Press Contact: DON SCHWERZLER Company Name: Family Business Institute

Outsourcing.

Reminders...

It costs you nothing... zip...nada... to ASK THE EXPERT. Most of our site pages have a link to a form that lets you submit your question to one of our experts. We try our hardest to respond within 48 hours.

Our Family Business Blog [Blog is short for "web log"] mini-journal will keep you updated about site changes and other family business matters. Check it out regularly on the site from the NavBar button. Better still, subscribe to the blog using the RSS feed information on any of our pages, such as

Understanding Family Business.

And remember to Take our fr*ee assessment on the 29 Leadership Practices...



Family eBusiness

Why I Love SBI!

Our regular readers will know that several years ago when we started our quest to bring family business consulting into the online world, we made a basic choice to use a then-new product called Site Build It! to help.

Why?

We were [and are!] family business consultants - not web techies. So, we wanted something that would guide us through the hype and technical wizardry of getting online, and let us focus on building our business.

Well, it turns out we were pretty smart, too!

Site Build It! has become a phenomenal success. Not because it has been hyped, or received gazillions of dot-com money.

Because to this day, it continues to provide the same help and guidance that we have relied upon from the beginning. The technology changes, marketing techniques and tools change online frequently, but we are able to focus on basics, knowing that SBI! is there in the background.

Take video, for example. It is an incredibly powerful tool on the Internet. But we don't have the time to become video experts among all the other things we have to cope with.

But SBI! is doing some great work. Check out this 2 1/2 minute clip. Think about how much information and emotion is conveyed this way. Then think about how much writing and dhow many pages of brochures would be needed to accomplish the same thing with much less impact.

Now, consider how this might help you as and when you take your business online.

Or, when you decide that you need to start getting effective results from the dollars you have already spent to go online but which are spectacularly under-achieving!







That's it for this issue. If you have any comments, or if there are any topics you'd like to see covered, please let us know.

Comments, requested topics, blog messages...!



© 2000-2007. Family Business Institute, Inc.
904 Steffi Court, Lawrenceville GA 30044
(V)770.952.4085 (F)770.237.9818

Contact Don Schwerzler

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