White Eagle’s Third Generation
Troubled Workers? The State Has Help
Easy to Use Websites Earn Their Keep
Corrections or additions?
These articles by Kathleen McGinn Spring were prepared for the
March 28, 2001 edition of U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
Survivors In the Family Business Game
Fear is often the motivation for starting a family
business.
“It’s the need to survive, what we used to call `Depression
mentality,’”
says Mark Kasrel, a psychotherapist who consults to family and
other small businesses. He saw this at work in his own family. “My
father’s mother had to open a business on the boardwalk in Asbury
Park to feed her three kids,” he says. His maternal grandparents,
owners of a store that sold high end lingerie, were in business too,
as was his father, an optometrist.
While fear works wonders in getting a business off the ground, it
can strangle its growth, says Kasrel. He discusses this and other
issues common to family-owned businesses when he speaks at the Rutgers
Family Business Forum at the Cook Campus Center on “Anger and
Conflict Resolution” on Thursday, March 29, at 8 a.m. Cost: $25.
Call 732-445-7504, ext. 21.
Kasrel, who holds a bachelor’s degree from West Virginia Wesleyan
College (Class of 1970) and a master’s degree in counseling and group
process from Seton Hall University, was himself involved in a family
business for a short time. “My wife and I sold hot tubs,”
he says. “She was the boss and I was the muscle.” This
arrangement
worked well, and demonstrates an essential ingredient for success
in a family business. “Someone has to be the boss,” he says.
Roles have to be delineated, but even so, “one person shouldn’t
make all the decisions.”
Traditionally, the boss was most often the father, and the successor
the son, but this is changing, Kasrel says. Not only are daughters
being seen as valuable in important roles, but sometimes it is the
younger generation that is taking the lead. One of his clients is
a young man who had planned to be a professional skateboarder until
an injury knocked him off his board. Looking for a new direction,
he teamed with his father on a website design business. “He’s
the front man,” Kasrel says of the former skateboarder. “He
depends on his father for back office support.”
Whether the nucleus of a family business is a father and son, a
husband
and wife, or a sister and brother, the problems common to any startup
tend to be amplified. “You have to eat dinner with these
people,”
Kasrel says. “You celebrate Thanksgiving with them.” Some
of the issues include:
Letting go . The fear that accompanies the plunge intoa life without paychecks and employer-supplied health benefits hangson. A business’s founder often has to resort to extreme measures toget financing. Then, Kasrel says, “he has to sweep the floor,do the accounting, lock up at night.” The result, he says, isa person whose attitude is, “`It’s my boat, I’m going to driveit.’” Trusting anyone enough to turn over important tasks becomesdifficult. “They’re secretive,” Kasrel says. But if the familybusiness is to grow, the founder has to relinquish some control, oftento the next generation.Looking beyond loyalty . “In family businesses, loyaltyis highly valued,” Kasrel says. A person who has been a faithfulemployee for many years is often the person who gets the promotion,regardless of his skills. This can put incompetent people in positionsof authority, he says, and undermine the business’ chances forsuccess.Bringing in outsiders . Sometimes, Kasrel says, a familymember may not have the skills for a particular position. Or a familymember may not want to continue in the business. “Children cangrow up hearing `it’s such a grind. I’m working 12 to 14 hours a day.’They may not want that life, but they don’t want to disappoint theirparents.” In either case, for the good of the business, Kasrelsays, “you have to look past blood.”Keeping it on a professional level . Counseling companieson business issues, Kasrel often finds the root of the problem isthat “someone feels angry, hurt, or scared.” Children,whatevertheir ages, continue to want to please their parents. “It’s hardfor them not to hear criticism as personal,” he says. This makesit especially important for family businesses to separate family lifefrom their company. Still, family businesses are different, andpersonalconcerns do tend to pop up. “If one of the kids who is going totake over the business is getting married, dad may say he wants apre-nup,” Kasrel says. “This creates conflict. To the kid,this looks personal.”Stepping back . “Family businesses are so caught upin the day-to-day,” Kasrel says. “Everything is urgent. Verylittle is planned.” In this atmosphere, employees — familymembers and outsiders alike — become uneasy. They see the ownerworking long days, always at top speed, and “wonder what’s goingto happen if he has a heart attack.” Develop a vision, Kasrelsays. And make sure there is a succession plan in place.Kasrel, who is a senior associate at Rutgers Center forManagementand Entrepreneurship as well as the owner his Cherry Hill-basedconsultingcompany, has no desire to bring his wife, Shelly, or 16-year-olddaughter,Jaclyn, into his business. “As much as I believe in familybusiness,”he says. “I like to keep it separate.”— Kathleen McGinn SpringTop Of PageWhite Eagle’s Third GenerationSix years ago, when Eric T. Bielawski gave up thepracticeof corporate law to work with his father at White Eagle Printing,he did it on a temporary basis. “I gave him a yearcommitment,”he says. “My father was 58, and he was worried aboutsuccession.”Six years later the son has succeeded the father, Ted, as presidentof the 30-person family business, a full-service multi-color printingfirm in Hamilton Township.”My father talked about printing all his life, but it’s tough,always being in someone’s shadow,” says Bielawski, explainingwhy neither he nor his brother had wanted to go into the businessat first. After majoring in economics at the University of Richmondand earning a law degree from Widener University, he spent six yearspracticing corporate and securities law at Mylotte David & Fitzpatrickin Philadelphia. In 1990 he took a paycut for the tryout year whilehis wife, Suzanne, continued to practice family law. Now they livein Mount Laurel with three children under three years old.When the company was founded in 1927 by Ted’s father, Albin Bielawski,it published and printed Polish newspapers and other ethnic papersin Camden and Trenton. Now, at its 15,000 square foot office on KuserRoad, which it shares with Mercer Business magazine, the monthlypublicationof the county chamber of commerce, White Eagle focuses on high-endprojects such as annual reports, brochures, magazines, and directmail pieces (609-586-2032; fax, 609-586-8052). “We have a brandnew eight-up image center (with eight pages on a piece of film) andtwo through six-color presses, and a complete bindery withdistributioncapabilities,” says Bielawski.His decision pleases both parents: “It’s a family based business— my mother is happy to see the direction it is going.”But it wasn’t until the tryout year that he knew this would work.”I enjoy this business — it’s a great business,” he says.”It’s fun running your own company. It is different from beinga lawyer. You are actually manufacturing something and seeing tangibleresults. You get happy clients every day. You are actually reliedon by a lot of companies. And when you pull through for them on shortdeadlines you get a sense of satisfaction.”Top Of PageTroubled Workers? The State Has HelpIf your bookkeeper never rolls into the office beforenoon, or your vice president is having more tantrums than usual, orperhaps your mail room clerk, once an exemplary employee, ismisroutingthe mail he does not lose, you might want to call the Department ofLabor. Based in Trenton, its Employer Human Resources Support Servicesoffice stands ready to consult on troubled employee issues, and muchmore.Len Morganelli, a senior human resources analyst, says hisofficeresponds to 100 calls a month from employers of all sizes withquestionson HR subjects like interviewing job candidates, drawing up handbooks,substance abuse, and performance appraisals. On about a quarter ofthose calls an analyst goes to the job site, observing the situation,interviewing managers and employees, and recommending a course ofaction. There is no charge for any of these, and Morganelli says allinformation is kept confidential. “We’re just like outsidemanagementconsultants,” he says.Morganelli speaks on managing difficult employees on Friday, March30, at 9 a.m. at the Department of Labor in Trenton. Cost: $10. Call609-984-3518.Morganelli has been working for the Department of Labor for 26 years.A graduate of Jersey City State College, Class of 1975, where hemajoredin biology and English literature, Morganelli joined the Departmentof Labor at a friend’s urging. A native of Jersey City, he now livesin Point Pleasant Beach.After consulting on human resource issues for 13 years, Morganellihas concluded that “frequently, the employee who causes problemsat work is not doing this because it is what he wants to do. Thereis often illness, or family problems, or financial problems, oremotionalproblems.” Whatever the cause, the fallout can be significant,affecting a wide circle of employees and disrupting work. Foremployerscoping with a difficult employee Morganelli offers this advice:Figure out the problem . “Most of us take off ourpersonalproblems with our coats,” Morganelli says. There may be a problemat home, but it is left behind as the work day begins. Others,however,can’t shed the worry over a sick spouse or an overdue mortgage paymentso easily. Their absences increase, the quality of their workdeclines,and they may even become argumentative. Sitting down with the employeemay uncover the reason for the decline in his performance. It isimportantto be careful in questioning him, though. “You can say `Wouldyou like to tell me about it?’” Morganelli suggests. “Butyou can’t use a phrase that invades an individual’s private space.If you say `Are you and your wife having problems?’ you have steppedover the bounds of the employer/employee relationship.”Remember you are not a therapist . If it does appear thatthe employee’s poor performance is the result of an emotional orfamilyproblem, don’t try to treat him yourself. “You are not adiagnostician,”Morganelli says. Refer the employee to an employee assistance program.He recalls a situation where intervention restored equilibrium toa office, while helping out a possibly suicidal employee. “Anemployer was closing a plant,” he says. “They had otherfacilities,and most of the employees were transferred, but there were severallay-offs.” The lay-offs were not to take effect for eight months,and the performance of one of the individuals affected, a man whohad been a stellar employee, plummeted. His work output declined,its quality was poor. He became belligerent, upsetting otheremployees,and began to speak of suicide. A talk with the employee revealed thathis wife was ill, he had two children in college, and he wasfrightenedabout his financial future. The employer paid for therapy to helphim explore his options and for financial counseling, and hisperformanceimproved.Make it formal . In speaking with a difficult employeeit is important to clearly state the problem, demand that negativebehavior stop, set a timetable for improvement, and put forward theconsequences of failure to rectify the problem. An informal talk isnot the way to go, Morganelli says. It leaves room for vacillatingand misunderstanding. The employer’s course of action needs to beclear, and, just like a parent, he needs to stick with it.Having a policy for dealing with employee discipline in place beforeproblems occur can be a help, but Morganelli says there are twoschoolsof thought about whether small employers benefit from drawing up theseplans. “On the one hand, some people say `if you have nothingin writing no one can sue you,’” he says. But not having a policyinvites unequal treatment and resentment. One employee, Morganelligives as an example, may report not feeling well and go home at 2p.m. one day without penalty, and another employee, catching the bug,may ask to go home early the next day only to learn he has beendocked.Look past the obvious . Sometimes, the employee who isgoofing off may be too bright for his job, Morganelli says. In hisexperience, a transfer is often the best way to turn a troubledemployeeinto a star. And sometimes, the employee who has become balky maybe reacting to an inflexible, overly demanding supervisor. In thatcase, getting rid of the underling will do little more than set upthe next hire for a difficult situation.Whatever the situation, Morganelli says his office “triesto instruct employers to lead by example.” All of the employeeswill be watching as their boss grapples with a difficult co-worker,and their impression of how he handles himself will linger. Morganellisays, “Like Caesar’s wife, employers do have to be abovesuspicion.”Top Of PageFBI and Cyber DramaThomas F. Minton, a FBI high-tech crimespecialist,addresses McCarter Theater’s audience on Sunday, April 1, at about3:45 p.m., following the 2 p.m. performance of Arthur Kopit’s newcyberspace drama, “Because He Can.” The lecture is free, buttickets to the play, directed by Emily Mann, cost $29 to $52.The play repeats at 7:30 p.m. One need not attend the performanceto attend the free talk. Call 609-258-2787.Minton heads the FBI’s Regional Computer Intrusion Investigative Unitbased in Somerset. He has worked on foreign counterintelligence andinternational terrorism and been involved with the Melissa virus andother high-profile investigations. “We concentrate on computerintrusion matters that can have an effect on national security,”he says. “We are interested in the type of criminal featured in[Kopit’s] play, but we really concentrate on the one who can bringthe infrastructure to a grinding halt.”Minton has been with the FBI for 10 years, first in the Buffalooffice,working on violent crimes and major offender cases, and then at theDistrict of Columbia headquarters. Two years ago he was named to bein charge of the agency’s first regional computer intrusion crimesquad, based in Newark.In the McCarter play, a stalker goes after the cyberspace privacyof a Manhattan couple. It is billed as an “edgy, eroticallychargedinformation-age thriller that examines our relationship to thetechnologywe create, and the control it can have over our lives.”Top Of PageEasy to Use Websites Earn Their KeepFrom shopping carts to war of the galaxies intro pagescomplete with four-color meteorite showers and singing aliens, thereare just so many cool things you can do with a website. Think twice,though, before succumbing to any gee-whiz impulses. “We all wantto use this technology,” says website developer DanaHutchins.”It’s like you get a new toy. You want to play with it. You wantto see what it can do.” But be careful, Hutchins advises. Don’tlet technology — or anything else — throw up barriers thatwill keep your website’s visitors from doing what you want them todo.Hutchins, owner of a four-year-old Trenton-based website design firmcalled Inforest, speaks on “making your website earn its keep”on Wednesday, April 4, at 6:30 p.m. at Mercer County College. Cost:$25. Call 609-586-9446 for further information.A graduate of Princeton High School, Hutchins earned a bachelor’sin forestry from the University of Vermont (Class of 1991). He usedthe Internet extensively in his class work in the late-1980s beforebrowsers made the exercise easy. In forestry, he says, it’s all aboutmeasurements and forecasting “how to reap the highest gain overmultiple objectives over time.” He found the Internet the idealway to run these forecasts, and turned to the medium again after hegraduated and was putting out a forestry newsletter. The first websitehe built was for Inforest, his newsletter. After a lack of demandshut the newsletter down, he kept the name and started a websitedesigncompany.Inforest has three employees and a client roster that includes McGrawHill, the New Jersey Press Association, Princeton University’selectricalengineering department, and Columbia University, along with”smaller,but established, companies that are working on developing a webpresence.””We’re still formulating what web layout is, and what it shouldbe,” Hutchins says. “It’s close to print, to lay out on apage, but it’s really a mix between a printed page and an interfaceto a program.. It’s an evolving thing.” To get the most out ofa website, Hutchins recommends the following strategies:Don’t put anything in the way of your goal .”Fundamentally,it all comes down to what the basic function of a website should bein terms of what you want your users to do,” Hutchins says. Ifyou want them to buy, make it easy. One of his clients,TaylorsTreasures,an E-tailer of sensitive skin products, has just a handful ofproducts,but made potential customers use a shopping cart. This element added5 to 10 steps to the buying process. “We put the order form onthe same page as the catalog, and cut it down to one or two,”Hutchins says.The same principle applies to sites whose purpose is increasing acompany’s contacts. Make it easy for potential clients to get in touchwith you. Many sites direct users to fill in an E-mail form to requestinformation, but “people don’t like that,” Hutchins says.The big, blank space stops them cold. “They prefer a form,”he says. “People like to be prompted, to be told what to do.”There is a tendency for website owners to think “`I’m not reallyasking that much. Just write an E-mail,’” Hutchins says. But thisapproach can be fatal. “The easier you make it,” he says.”The more response you’ll get.”Create reasonable expectations for your website .”Expectationsfor a website tend to be too high or too low,” Hutchins says.Some new website owners put the things up just because they areembarrassedwhen clients ask for their company’s web address, and they don’t haveone. They tend to expect little or nothing from the website. Othersexpect the Internet presence to create a windfall.A better approach is to consider a website to be a part of a totalmarketing plan and to measure how well it is doing in relation toother tools. It is now possible to determine how many users visita site, where they clicked to get there, what they do on the site,how often they return, and whether they make a purchase or abandona full shopping cart.Use these tools continually to evaluate how the website is doing,and to guide adjustments. “If you have a new product, but no oneis looking at it,” he says, “move it up to where it will getattention.” And if you are paying for a banner ad on another site,but few visitors are clicking over to you from that site, considerdropping the ad.Simplify to get more traffic . The best websites are clear,concise, and streamlined. The same qualities that make these websiteseasy to navigate secures them high search engine rankings.”Writingfor search engines is the same as writing for people,” Hutchinssays. Most surfers type in a company name, perhaps Discount Realty,or the name of a service and some geographical markers, somethinglike Princeton, New Jersey, real estate. If neither of these searchqueries brings up Discount Realty’s site, the company has wasted itswebsite development dollars, says Hutchins. The best way to avoidInternet anonymity, he says, is simply to put the company name inthe website’s title line and to add a description of what the companydoes. In the case of TaylorsTreasures this meant adding the words”sensitive skin” to the title line. “Some search engines go beyond the home page in figuring out what awebsite is all about, but many more just stop there. This makes thatpage critically important. The key words used on the home page mustreinforce what the company does, and thereby earn the site a highersearch engine ranking.Link with your friends . While most visitors will arriveat your website through search engines, others can be brought fromlinks on other sites. Exchanging links with other sites is anexcellentway to build traffic, Hutchins says. Sites that sell products shouldhave links from the companies that manufacture those products. Sitesbelonging to accountants or architects can have links from theirprofessionalassociations. “I could exchange links with a networkingcompany,”Hutchins says. “We’re in the same industry, but we don’tcompete.”Breaking a “real world” taboo, Hutchins says even competitorsmay benefit from linking to each other.Again, the goal is to get results from the website. That, saysHutchins, must be the guiding principle behind every decision relatingto an Internet presence. “People don’t go on your site to seethat cute animation,” he says. “You need to keep in mind whatthey’re there for, what you want to get across. It has to be fast,and it has to be flawless.”Next StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
