Growing up in a household with a parent that owns their own business, there are so many things that I’ve learned (most of these unintentionally).

You value the meaning of hard work and dedication.

Considering how much time you have spent watching your mom or dad working tirelessly at the computer hour after hour, day after day, you know how much it takes to be as successful. Owning your own business comes with expectations of around the clock effort. Personally, I’ve seen my dad working at just about every time of the day on separate occasions. Whether its two in the afternoon, or two in the morning, he has always been working on something. No matter if he can’t sleep because he’s thinking about making some aspect of the business better, or it’s the middle of the afternoon and he’s helping a customer- he’s always working so very hard to be successful.

You’ve been in the working world since you could before you could ride a bike.

Countless weekends were spent helping out at the company when you were little, because your mom or dad needed to get some extra stuff done. Growing up, there were definitely times when I wanted to be doing something else, but looking back now, I’m glad I could make my parent’s life a little easier by helping out. Whether it was learning how to set a display, talk to customers, or ticket product, I was always learning something new. At twenty years old, I feel like a seasoned veteran in some aspects of my dad’s company- purely because I’ve been doing some of these tasks since the age of five.

You’re versatile.

While I can most certainly admit I’m nowhere close to being a pro in my dad’s world, I definitely have a pretty diverse skillset when it comes to all of the knowledge I have gained through growing up in the business. I have definitely learned quite a bit about the monetary side of things, but I also know a lot about the importance things like customer relations. When discussing these types experiences with friends, I’ve realized that this outlook isn’t a common one. Knowing where the balance needs to be found in a small personal business is something that is pretty difficult to learn in a classroom.

You value the time you’ve spent working alongside your parent.

I’ll be the first to admit, there’s been plenty of times that I wanted to be socializing with friends rather than working with mom and dad. But, this opinion has done quite the 180 since I’ve gone away to college. I place incredible value on the time I got to spend working alongside both of my parents during my teenage years. There’s another kind of bonding that happens when you all are working towards the same goal. This is something that I realized has created a completely unique sense of belonging and love for each other within my family. Our family has a very high level of mutual respect. Now I’m not sure if this is an incredibly unique feeling, but I feel an overwhelming sense of respect and connection to my parents. As a twenty year old, I have been told more times than I can count that I should be a little more independent from my parents. This used to bother me, as didn’t realize that it wasn’t bad to feel a great sense of connection to my parents. I think working alongside them and being such a huge part of all aspects of their life for so long makes my connection to my parents a little bit different than the average kid my age. This is something that I consistently remind myself, and will continue to value for the rest of my life.

You understand the value in doing a job you love.

Watching my parents do things for the company that they both love and hate doing, I can easily tell what aspects of the business that they’re passionate about. These things they enjoy doing so much make all the little tedious things worth it. At this time in my life, I’m so often expected to be figuring out what I want to do with my life. In addition to that, I’m sure if you have a parent with their own business, you know the popular question all too well…. “So are you going to take over the family business?” This is a loaded question, but it also comes with a good amount of pressure. This pressure can especially include the feeling of guilt if you don’t really want to take over the family business. Standing firm and being excited about what you’ve decided to get a degree in can sometimes be difficult with the pressure and guilt of that question on your shoulders. You have many more people expecting you to make certain career choices. It’s so very important to never forget how great it is that you grew up in the atmosphere you did, but on the flip side, it’s also imperative to your future that you never forget to make decisions for yourself. You should make decisions to spend your time doing something you love, not just doing something you feel like you owe it to your parents to do. Your parents will always be proud of you regardless if you continue the tradition or not.

You know there’s nothing like being your own boss.

Being your own boss definitely has positives and negatives, but the way I see it, there are more positives and negatives. If I asked my dad, he would probably say the stress of owning your own business sometimes can make that viewpoint a bit hazy at times. But think about it. You choose your own hours, decide your own holidays, pick who you work with, and many other things that make it all worthwhile. Family is always a priority.

You wouldn’t want to have grown up any other way.

I’ll admit again, I wasn’t always grateful for the upbringing I had. But over the last few years, when I wasn’t involved as much in the business and spending as much time helping my parents out, I definitely can say I missed it. I can’t imagine having parents who worked nine to five, but I don’t really want to. My relationship with my parents would be very different to say the least if that was the case. Today, I’m so thankful for all the memories and friendships that being “the owner’s kid” has brought me. I am who I am today mostly due to the way my parents raised me, and I couldn’t be any prouder to be their kid.