As a lifelong small business owner I’ve had the opportunity to work in many different business structures, but the one I’m most impressed with, that I never considered is the family farm. It solves all the problems you are struggling with and gives you the ability to leverage time without sacrificing family.

Btw, family is the most important thing, above all else and you should never sacrifice family time for work. I wish someone had told me that 20 years ago. I’m 51 and mostly retired and I wish I spent more time teaching my kids life skills and lessons.

Here’s the quick story. Last year I decided I wanted to add butchering to my skill set. I found a local processor and volunteered to work for free for a few days a week in exchange for learning the trade. A true apprenticeship. After several months of learning the trade and networking with other processors I was offered a part time paid position at a shop that would allow me to build my skills even further. This new shop is run like a family farm.

The owner has five children and everyone has a job. The kids don’t work all day or even every day. But they all know some aspect of the work and he lets them slide into responsibilities that they are interested in. Everyone knows how to clean. The older kids (10-14) know how to work the POS and suggestive sell to customers. The younger kids vacuum seal product and stick on labels. A seven year old cleans the bandsaw I use at the end of the day so I can stay focused on high value production activities.

Chicken processing day is all hands on deck and it’s amazing to watch. It warmed my heart when a nine year old told me “there are no breaks on chicken processing day.” The had a task, a plan and a defined goal. We started with 144 live chickens and 5 hours later everything was cut, packed, in the freezer and cleaned up. Then we went to Dairy Queen.

Dad spends more time playing with his kids every day than most parents do in a week. He spends more time parenting in a week than most do in a month. He lets the kids come up with ideas and implement them into the business. The guy truly is brilliant at running a harmonious family and a pretty good small business owner.

For example: Let’s say you want to build a tasting room. Instead of talking on investors and having it built for you, increase the time preference and make it a family project. Spread the cost out over years, spend more time with family and maintain ownership of what you have already built. Plus, what a cool story it would be to tell customers how your family literally built the place.

Of course, I don’t know your exact situation and it would be up to you to make it work, but I’m really impressed with this business model and plan on implementing it in my next business venture.