It can be heart-breaking to put your life into a business – start it from scratch, nurture it, build it up, only to find when you want to retire that you have to sell it, or worse – close it down – because your children have no interest in taking it on themselves.

Although this cannot be avoided in every instance, there are steps that you can take right now to make this less likely. There are things that you can begin to do today that can encourage your family to join you in the business.

It’s important, too, that you see this as a long-term strategy. In other words, you need to focus on the end result. You need to focus on the pleasure you’ll experience when you see your kids succeed in business, and as you watch them take the business to a new level, to grow it beyond where you were able to do. And if you follow these suggestions, then you’ll increase the chances that this will actually happen.

So how do you bring your family members into the business? How do you prepare the generation below you to take over when the time is right?

The first thing you need to do is to pay them to do what they can as soon as they are able. Every job in a business has value. If it didn’t, then you wouldn’t do it. You may not be able to see the value of it, but it’s there. The value may be in avoiding the consequences of failing not to do it.

Figure out what needs to be done, and then give one or more of your kids the work they are able to do. And assume that they can do more than you imagine. Children today are much more capable in some ways than you were at their age.

One very easy job is filing. This can done be anyone who can count and who has a working knowledge of the alphabet.

When you think about what your kids can do, be sure that you also have a reasonable expectation for the hours that they can work. It doesn’t matter what you did at their age. Society has changed. So have their responsibilities. The things they face today are completely different what your circumstances were when you were growing up.

So, start small. You can always give them more hours if it looks like they can handle them.

It’s also very important that you let them enjoy at least some of their vacation time. Studying is their primary job. They need rest from it. Be sure that you afford them this opportunity. Don’t assume that they should forfeit it so that they can be working in your company instead.

The second thing is that you must pay them as much as you would a non-family member for the same work. It has nothing to do with age. The determining factor is the value of the work, the level of responsibility and skill required to do that work.

Your kids aren’t cheap labour. Instead, they are legitimate labour. Make sure that you respect them as bona fide employees. There are two very important things to note here. The first is that your kids will know if you are cheating them. The second is that if you cheat them, you’re teaching them to cheat others. Is that the lesson you really want them to learn?

It’s possible that you don’t see paying them less than you’d pay someone else as cheating them. You may think that you’re teaching them instead to delay gratification for hard work. You want them to see how hard you try to put much of what you earn back into the business.

What you have to remember is that as employees, it’s not their business. You’re teaching them about the business; but they aren’t owners . . . yet. So it would be unreasonable of you to expect them to work for nothing; at least not at the beginning.

Think about the kids that are their age. Many will be given an allowance, at least at first. While other children receive money for chores, yours, however, will earn it by working in your business.

The third thing is that you must train them so that they can make a payable contribution to the business. This may be difficult, especially if they’re quite young. Although kids today are quite computer savvy, they may lack social skills, knowledge or physical strength needed to do the easiest tasks. And that may mean that they can’t do as much as you would like them to do. But it’s no reason to give up or to assume that there’s no place for them.

Training places a lot of responsibility on you. That’s because you have to give them a clear explanation about what you want them to do. If you aren’t a very good teacher, then find someone who can do a better job of explaining what you want done.

There’s really no excuse for giving your kids a poor explanation of what you want them to do, and it’s unacceptable to fail to do so and then to be dissatisfied with the quality of their work when they fail to live up to your standards.

Even if your business requires a lot of specialized skills, make a special effort to think about what they can do in it. There will always be mundane things that nearly anyone can do.

It’s worth remembering, too, that most children admire their parents to some extent during their lives. They will want to be part of your success. When you train them in your business, you’re helping them to do that.

The fourth thing you need to do is to review their performance with them periodically. They need to know what good work looks like as much as anyone else, and regardless of who does it. In other words, they need to know what you expect from your employees.

Remember that both praise and criticism will not seem as objective to them as it does to you. It’s likely that they will take it personallybecause they are in the family. Don’t believe all that nonsense about how “it’s not personal; it’s business.” Of course it’s personal, and you’re only fooling yourself if you don’t recognize that. It’s personal because, as a family member, that person wants your approval. If you don’t handle this properly, he or she will feel personally rejected.

The fifth thing is that you must apply the same rules to the family member as you would to any other employee. This teaches your kids responsibility, but it also sets an example for any other employees you have.

You can’t have one set of rules for your kids and another for everyone else. Double standards will always backfire.

Decide what time they should come to work, what your policies are on breaks, and when they’re allowed to leave. Then let your kids take the responsibility for being ready to go when you are or, if they’re old enough, to find their own way there on time.

No matter what the age of your children, if they’re old enough to help you in your company, these five principles will encourage them to follow in your footsteps and to take over the responsibilities of your business at the right time.

Of course, there are no guarantees. It could be that in spite of your best efforts, they won’t want to; but if you don’t include them at some point, they will not only lack the experience, but also the interest.

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