The trappings of (my) family business...

Working for/with (pick whichever one) my dad has got to be one of the hardest thing I've experienced so far. Just ask Bro. He warned me to try NOT to be involved in biz matters with dad if at all possible, coz he had already been left fuming so many times, & he's not even working for him!

Well I do understand he still has the old school business mindset, and also the fact that our business entails having to deal with the crude people who are still living in their self-built cocoons and have no idea whatsoever on how the world market works.

Lemme explain a bit on our work division. Dad works in procuring the stock needed, and I'm in charge of marketing and the occassional logistics matters. It has been working fine so far as we had our own forwarder and partner who's managing all the packing (sort of like a sub-con) and container loading for us, but right now the cost is escalating too much at indo and our partner decided to call it a day.

No big deal, I thought, and I told my dad we could always get all the packing done in the suppliers' respective factories before sending it out to the ports for loading. These suppliers turn out to be the biggest a**holes and refused to do us the favour even though we've agreed to compensate them for the extra costs involved.

& we've many customers in different regions, and each place demands a certain type of packing. In the past we let the sub-con handle the work for us, so it has never been a problem. Right now I'm having difficulty convincing customers to switch, and in fact only 1 large customer agreed to the switch so far. I could understand their concerns as their own customers have been accustomed to the packing that we did for them, so it'd be a hassle convincing them to switch straight away.

I relayed the message back to dad, and he didn't understand where the problem was and told me to discuss with the customers again on the issue. I swear I have tried it for a thousand times already, and there was still no progress at all. All this while, dad only said there was no other way out other than convincing the customers to switch to the standard packing from all the suppliers. When I told him I couldn't, he'd be complaining and saying that I didn't make the proper arrangements and waited till the last moment before discussing with customers, causing the problem. No matter how much I explained to him, it hasn't been of any use because he simply didn't get the customers' point of view.

Add the fact that he's not the kind of person who can actually sit down and explore the options available, before making an good/informed decision. I've lost count of the number of times I've tried to tell him there's always a way out once we sit down and discuss it, and each time he'll just get all flared up without getting anything solved. Obviously the problem dwells on and we're having a harder time than ever.

I'm tired of having to explain what I think is so self-explanatory, and seriously contemplating of putting myself back in the job market. I might be earning substantially less, but I guess I'd be happier, no? Plus there won't be straining on the family relationship if we don't work together in a biz setting.

Yeah so I'm officially tired, and I find the need of de-stressing very very necessary right now! USA trip in less than 2 weeeks, & I'm so looking forward to it now! Will think about the future work prospect once I'm back...

& in an attempt to de-stress as well, I bought this new gadget from OSIM two weeks ago. It's called UCrown, and it's supposed to be pretty good. I haven't tried a traditional head massage yet, so I have no basis for comparison at the moment. Will try that when I go back to indo next time!

& btw, when anyone is fully geared up in UCrown, they'll look something like the chelsea goalkeeper. In case you're not a soccer fan, here's a pic: