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Building a family business – why personal motivation is integral to business success.
As anyone who has ever run a marathon will tell you, it’s not the pain in your muscles or the hard slog of training that are front of mind when you complete the race, but the euphoria of crossing the finishing line. And even when the dust has settled, the sense of achievement often outweighs the sacrifice, driving runners forward to take on the next challenge.
The same dynamic is in play for entrepreneurs who give everything they’ve got to building a business. It’s not the struggles and stress that spring to mind when you look back on your journey from start-up to successful, scaling business; instead, it’s how fortunate you are to have rolled with the punches and dodged the curved balls in order to survive and thrive. The blood, sweat and tears along the way don’t take you out of the game – they become the battle scars that inspire you to keep pushing forward.
Embarking on that journey as a family amplifies the rewards of success and the resilience you need to achieve it. Building a business as a family can make or break the bonds that unite you, depending on how well you work together and pull in the same direction. In my case, I truly believe that Catapult would not be where it is now without my family’s support, hard work and motivation along the way.
How it started
Although Catapult began as a start-up just six years ago – growing from $0 to $60m in that time! – the path to a successful family business began a long time before that. I met my wife when I was just 14 years old, we had our first son, Lewis Cook, Catapult’s Co-founder and CEO, when I was 18, followed by our second, Ashley Cook, our Managing Partner, when I was 21.
Taking on so much personal responsibility at such a young age may not the conventional way to build a successful business career, and perhaps many might assume that the odds would be stacked against us. But the challenges we faced as a young family trying to build a bright future motivated and inspired us. They say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and the strength we’ve needed has been the foundation of our success and our catalyst for hard work.
There are two things that influence success: what happens and how you respond to it. The combination of being in a sink or swim situation and our determination to succeed meant that we could not only see what was needed to build a bright future (hard work!), but that we were also prepared to commit to making it happen.
I’ve talked previously about the hard work I’ve invested to be in a position to establish Catapult and work with my sons to get it to where it is today, but it’s important for me to acknowledge that this has always been a whole family culture – my wife busted her butt and made lots of sacrifices along the way, often going backwards to help our family go forward. The fortunes of a family business depend on the whole family, not just the those with the big job titles.
The Journey
People are often reluctant to talk about money, but money talks, and my personal motivation was always about working harder to earn more. Earning more opens up a world of possibilities to determine your own destiny.
But it’s tough. There were times when I was working a 90-hour week! Working at that intensity to invest in our future was only possible because my wife supported me and did the heavy lifting at home. When I was working nights after working all day it was hard for the whole family, but it was a hardship born out of necessity and a justifiable means to an end that we all knew would pay off in the end.
Those times taught all of us important lessons about resilience and the rewards of pushing through to achieve your goals. My wife and I invested our time and hard work into building a future for our family, and, in doing so, we have also embedded those values in our sons and equipped them with the strength and motivation to put everything they have into achieving their own aspirations.
My two sons have not only been the motivation for me to work so hard, they have also been what’s picked me up along the way, when times have been tough. There’s a point in any business leader’s journey when starting your own company tests you. Times when you question whether you’ll make it, if you might lose everything, and whether will all be worth it. It’s in those moments that your family is not only your motivation to keep your goals on track, but also the strength you need to pick yourself up and carry on, because giving up is simply not an option.
How It’s Going
With my wife and sons at my side, my motivation to build a better life for us, and a bright future for our brilliant team at Catapult is stronger than ever. Our journey to success doesn’t have an end point; we haven’t ‘made it’, we’re still very much en route.
But some of what drives me has changed. These days, it’s not about earning more; it’s about building something that’s market leading, transformative and here to stay. I am excited to see my sons succeed and build their own inspirational approaches to smashing through stereotypes and exceeding expectations. I’m also glad to witness the people who believed in us succeeding; I definitely wouldn’t be where I am now were it not for people who gave me a chance to shine along the way.
To make building a business as a family work, you have to be 100% in it together. My wife and I didn’t set out with a clear vision of where we wanted to be in 10, 20 or 30 years time. There was never an end point of what success would look like or a detailed plan of milestones to tick off. What we knew, was that we wanted to work hard and do better for our family. From the outset, we were on the same page and totally committed to embracing any and all opportunities that came our way. We had something to prove – and proving to people that you can do what you set out to achieve, no matter what obstacles lie in your way, is a massive motivator.
As we continue, as a family, to redefine what lead times, service and price look like in the world of print, I’d like to think that my personal journey to founding and building a successful business redefines a few more preconceptions too.