Ep 66. Bringing Your Own Experience to the Family Business

Listen in as Steve Davis* of Tapecon talks about the machine that his great-grandfather invented that put the stage girl of yesteryear out of business, the entrepreneurial pivots that the company made over its long history & the "BYOE" (bring your own experience) family charter that drives the family business.

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If you're a family business or a family business consultant and want to be on the show, share your story and help other family businesses, send us an email to [email protected] or visit us at The Family Biz Show | Family Business Podcast With Michael Palumbos (familywealthandlegacy.com) to fill out our web form!

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CRN-4949114-091422

You can build a successful business and still lose the family connection that makes the legacy worth continuing.

And that is why the real work of legacy starts long before succession papers are signed.

"Why does it feel so hard to talk about the future?"

"Why won't the next generation step up?"

"Why won't the founder let go?"

"Why do we keep avoiding the conversations that matter most?"

"This conversation gives you the answer."

In this episode, Michael Palumbos sits down with Nikè Anani, author of Lifetime to Legacy, to explore why family businesses must work on the family, not just the business. Nikè explains that many families focus on the technical side of transition — tax planning, estate planning, governance, and succession — without building the relational foundation that allows those plans to succeed.

Nikè brings a rare inside perspective. She is a second-generation family business owner, founder of her family office, family enterprise advisor, and global speaker who has lived and worked across three continents. Her experience in tax, family office leadership, governance, succession planning, and next-generation development gives her a practical and deeply personal understanding of what family enterprises really need.

At the heart of this conversation is a powerful idea: legacy is not only what you leave for people. It is what you leave in people.

Nikè explains why founders often struggle to let go, why rising generation leaders often struggle to step forward, and how families can move from co-existing to co-creating. She also shares why families need to pursue evolution, not revolution, when navigating change across generations.

This episode gives you practical ways to think about family communication, shared values, emotional intelligence, succession, and the family office mindset — even if your family business does not have a formal family office.

In This Episode, You'll Learn:

• Why family businesses must work on the family, not just the business
• How relational trust supports succession, governance, and continuity
• Why founders often experience anxiety when it is time to let go
• How next-generation leaders can influence change without forcing a revolution
• Why shared values matter more than uniform opinions
• How clarity, communication, and collaboration strengthen family enterprises
• Why legacy includes human capital, knowledge capital, and emotional connection
• How families can begin building a future-ready enterprise one conversation at a time

Legacy is not built overnight. It is built through small, intentional choices, honest conversations, and the willingness to strengthen the family behind the business.

This episode will help you see that the future of your family enterprise depends not only on what you build, but on how well your family learns to build it together.

What if the strongest growth strategy for your family business is not chasing every opportunity—but knowing exactly which opportunities fit?

You want to grow.

You want to diversify.

You want to protect the business from one customer, one industry, or one market cycle having too much control.

But how do you expand without drifting away from what your company does best?

This conversation gives you the answer.

In this episode of The Family Biz Show, you'll hear from Larry and Michael Wetzel of Air Innovations, a second-generation family business in Syracuse, New York. Their story shows how a company can grow across very different industries while staying grounded in one clear core competency: highly specialized temperature, humidity, and air quality control.

Air Innovations has applied that expertise in clean rooms, semiconductor manufacturing, wine cellars, aerospace projects, medical environments, and even climate systems for the world's largest Ferris wheel in Las Vegas. But the real lesson is not just what they built—it is how they decided what to pursue, what to avoid, and how to keep the business resilient.

Larry and Michael also share why outside advisors and a strong board mattered from the beginning. Instead of relying only on family instincts, they built a structure that brought in experienced entrepreneurs, challenged their thinking, and helped Michael grow into leadership.

At the heart of this episode is a powerful idea: diversification only works when it is connected to your core strength.

When a family business knows what it does best, it can say yes with confidence—and say no before an opportunity pulls the company too far off course.

You'll also hear how Air Innovations navigated customer concentration, supply chain pressure, father-son leadership, management team development, and long-term succession planning.

In This Episode, You'll Learn:

• Why diversification can protect a family business from industry cycles and customer concentration
• How Air Innovations expanded into new markets without abandoning its core competency
• Why outside advisors and board members can strengthen family business decision-making
• How a father-son leadership team approached ownership transition and succession
• Why building a strong management team makes a business more valuable and less dependent on one person
• How family businesses can balance opportunity, discipline, and long-term resilience

This episode is a practical reminder that growth does not have to mean losing focus. With the right strategy, advisors, and leadership structure, you can build a family business that is more stable, more adaptable, and better prepared for the future.

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Growth is exciting until you realize your biggest obstacle is not opportunity. It is finding the right people to help you deliver on it.

"Where do I find skilled people who actually want to do the work?"

"How do I keep growing when labor is already stretched thin?"

"What happens when the next generation does things differently?"

"How do I protect the legacy without getting stuck in the past?"

This conversation gives you the answer.

In this episode, Michael Palumbos talks with Bill Boulter of Boulter Industrial Contractors, a fifth-generation Rochester family business with roots dating back to 1892. What began as ice and coal delivery has evolved into a 130-year industrial contracting company known for rigging, warehousing, fabrication, crating, and solving complex jobsite challenges.

Bill shares what it really feels like to carry a family business legacy forward, especially when growth opportunities are available but skilled labor is harder to find. He explains why people are the foundation of the company's success, why being "the best" matters more than being the cheapest, and how each generation has helped the business adapt to a changing market.

Bill Boulter is the leader of Boulter Industrial Contractors, a long-standing family-owned company based in the Rochester, New York area. As a fifth-generation leader, he has helped guide the business through expansion, diversification, technology adoption, and growth beyond its traditional local market.

The core insight is simple: a family business does not survive for 130 years by doing everything the same way forever. It survives when each generation respects what came before while having the courage to solve today's problems in today's way.

For Bill, that means investing in people, trusting the next generation, diversifying the business, using better tools, and building a reputation strong enough that customers choose Boulter for quality, not price alone.

This episode gives you a practical look at what it takes to lead through labor challenges, succession pressure, and the constant need to adapt. You will hear how one family business moved from ice and coal to industrial contracting, how it reduced dependence on a single major customer, and why the right team can become your strongest competitive advantage.

A powerful takeaway: growth is not just about getting more work. It is about having the people, systems, and trust to handle that work well.

In This Episode, You'll Learn:

• Why finding skilled labor has become one of the biggest growth challenges for family businesses
• How Boulter Industrial Contractors evolved from ice and coal delivery into a 130-year industrial contracting company
• Why Bill Boulter believes reputation matters more than being the cheapest option
• How each generation can add something new without abandoning the family legacy
• Why diversification helped protect the business from depending too heavily on one customer
• How succession pressure feels when you are responsible for carrying a fifth-generation business forward
• Why people, trust, and problem-solving remain at the center of long-term family business success

If you are leading a family-owned company, preparing the next generation, or trying to grow while struggling to find the right people, this episode will help you feel less alone and more equipped to move forward.

What keeps a family business alive when everything around it keeps changing?

You are about to hear how one fourth-generation brewery stayed standing through Prohibition, market disruption, COVID, shifting consumer tastes, and more than 130 years of pressure.

"Are we honoring the past without getting stuck in it?"

"How do we protect the business when the market changes overnight?"

"What does it really take to keep employees, customers, and family aligned?"

"How do we build something strong enough for the next generation?"

This conversation gives you the answer.

In this episode, Fred Matt of F.X. Matt Brewing Company and Saranac Brewery shares what has kept his family business standing for four generations. His story is not just about beer. It is about resilience, stewardship, customer trust, employee loyalty, and the discipline required to keep a legacy company relevant when the world keeps changing.

Fred reminds you that long-term success is not built on one big decision. It is built through daily choices: overdelivering for customers, protecting the financial strength of the company, treating employees like family, and being willing to innovate before it is too late.

Fred Matt is the fourth generation of the Matt family to lead F.X. Matt Brewing Company, the Utica-based brewery behind Saranac, Utica Club, and other beverage brands. Under his leadership, the company has continued to evolve through craft beer, contract production, cider, spirits, joint ventures, and new beverage categories.

The core insight is simple but powerful: legacy survives when it keeps moving.

A family business cannot rely only on history. It has to earn trust again and again with customers, employees, and future generations. Fred shows how resilience comes from balancing tradition with change, pride with humility, and family values with smart business decisions.

This episode gives you practical lessons you can apply right away, especially if you are leading a family-owned company, preparing the next generation, navigating disruption, or trying to protect a business that means more than numbers on a balance sheet.

One takeaway you will hear clearly: delight the customer, and everything else has a better chance of falling into place.

In This Episode, You'll Learn:

• Why family business resilience is built long before a crisis arrives
• How Saranac Brewery survived Prohibition, COVID, and market disruption
• Why customer loyalty starts with overdelivering
• How innovation can protect, not weaken, a family business legacy
• Why employee trust becomes a competitive advantage during hard times
• How family employment policies can protect both the business and the family
• Why outside experience can help next-generation leaders earn credibility
• How Fred Matt thinks about stewardship, legacy, and long-term continuity

By the end of this conversation, you will see that keeping a family business standing for four generations takes more than history. It takes trust, discipline, adaptability, and a deep commitment to doing right by customers, employees, and family.

A must-listen for family business owners, next-generation leaders, CEOs of family-owned companies, and advisors helping legacy businesses navigate change.

You want the next generation to step up.

But you also want to protect the business, the family, and the legacy you've worked so hard to build.

That tension is real.

"Am I giving them enough room to lead?"

"What if they make the wrong decision?"

"How do I stop micromanaging without losing control?"

"Why don't they seem more motivated?"

"What kind of leader am I really creating?"

This conversation gives you the answer.

In this episode, Michael Palumbos sits down with Rachel Llanes, founder of Advanced Leadership Concepts, to explore how family business leaders can create the conditions for people to flourish. Rachel explains that motivation is not something leaders force into people. Instead, leaders build environments where people feel trusted, capable, and connected enough to motivate themselves.

Rachel brings a unique perspective to this conversation. With a master's degree in marriage and family therapy, experience working with the U.S. Armed Forces, and years spent coaching leadership teams, she has seen the same leadership principles apply in the family room, the war room, and the boardroom.

At the center of the episode is a powerful framework from self-determination theory: autonomy, competence, and relatedness.

Autonomy means people need room to make decisions.

Competence means they need the right level of challenge to grow.

Relatedness means they need to feel cared for, valued, and safe enough to speak honestly.

For family businesses, this is where next-generation leadership begins. Not with control. Not with pressure. Not with assuming the senior generation always has the answer. It begins with trust, clear guardrails, better listening, specific feedback, and psychological safety.

Rachel shares practical ways leaders can stop micromanaging and start developing stronger family business leaders. She explains why "leaders speak last," how effective praise builds confidence, why people must first feel heard in order to hear, and how families can create enough trust to disagree, admit mistakes, ask for help, and grow together.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why autonomy is essential for next-generation family business leaders
• How micromanaging can weaken trust, motivation, and ownership
• Why clear goals and guardrails help rising leaders grow with confidence
• How to use specific feedback to build competence and momentum
• Why psychological safety matters in family business conversations
• How family business leaders can create more leaders, not just followers
• Why people need to feel heard before they can truly listen
• How autonomy, competence, and relatedness help families and teams flourish

This episode is a practical and hopeful reminder that building the next generation of family business leaders does not require you to control every decision.

It requires you to create the kind of environment where people feel trusted enough to lead, supported enough to grow, and connected enough to carry the legacy forward.

What if the hardest chapter of your life became the beginning of the business you were meant to build?

In this episode, you'll hear how resilience, creativity, and the courage to do things differently can turn survival into something much bigger.

"Can I really keep this business alive?"

"How do I honor what came before me without staying stuck in the past?"

"What happens when my family is part of the business—and part of the pressure?"

"How do I build something people love when I'm still figuring it out myself?"

This conversation gives you the answer.

Danielle Mercuri's journey did not begin with a perfect business plan. It began with hard seasons, motherhood, restaurant work, and an unexpected opportunity to take over Rise and Shine Diner in Syracuse, New York. What followed was not just a restaurant turnaround. It was a reinvention.

In this episode, Danielle shares how she moved from server to owner after founder Peter Hennessey entrusted the diner to her. She talks about the pressure of carrying someone else's legacy, the struggle of keeping the business going, and the moment she realized she had to rebuild it her own way.

Danielle Mercuri is the owner behind Rise and Shine Diner and Loaded in Syracuse, and the founder of a growing restaurant and hospitality group. With deep family roots in the restaurant industry, she has built a brand known for bold food, creative concepts, memorable guest experiences, and a strong sense of family involvement.

The core insight of this conversation is simple: legacy does not mean copying the past.

Sometimes the best way to honor a business is to evolve it. Danielle transformed a small local diner into a restaurant experience by reimagining the menu, the atmosphere, the customer experience, and the culture behind the scenes.

You'll also hear how she works with family inside the business, why clear roles matter, and how trust can be both the greatest gift and one of the biggest challenges in a family-run company.

This episode gives you practical, real-life perspective on resilience, leadership, hospitality, team culture, and growth. Danielle's story is especially valuable if you are building a family business, leading through change, or trying to create something that reflects who you really are.

One powerful takeaway: family members need to know their role, "stay in your lane," and support the business without turning every decision into a family conflict.

In This Episode, You'll Learn:

• Why resilience is often the starting point for reinvention
• How Danielle went from server to owner of Rise and Shine Diner
• Why honoring a legacy does not mean doing things the same way forever
• How creativity helped turn a small diner into a memorable restaurant brand
• Why family roles, boundaries, and trust matter inside a growing business
• How Danielle is building a stronger team culture in the restaurant industry
• Why treating team members well directly shapes the customer experience
• How a difficult beginning can become the foundation for long-term growth

Danielle's story is a reminder that you do not need a perfect starting point to build something meaningful. With resilience, creativity, and the willingness to lead in your own way, you can turn pressure into purpose—and build a business that carries both legacy and fresh life forward.

A sudden transition can reveal what a family business is really built on.

And sometimes, the future changes because one person is brave enough to ask the question everyone else has avoided.

"Are we ready for what happens next?"

"How do we protect the business without damaging the family?"

"What if there is no formal succession plan?"

"How do we honor the past without getting stuck in it?"

"What does stewardship really require from the next generation?"

This conversation gives you the answer.

In this episode, Michael Palumbos sits down with Jonathan Spacher of Fee Brothers, a fifth-generation Rochester family business with roots dating back to 1864. Jonathan shares how he and his brother Ben entered the business after the passing of their uncle, how a single question opened the door to succession, and why trust became the foundation for the transition.

This is not just a story about bitters, cocktail mixes, or a historic brand. It is a story about family communication, legacy, reinvention, and the delicate work of stepping into leadership when the future was not fully planned.

Jonathan brings the perspective of someone who did not expect to join the family business. After building a 24-year career in insurance, he stepped in to help his aunt navigate the business after a loss in the family. That decision eventually led him and his brother to become fifth-generation stewards of Fee Brothers.

At the heart of this episode is a powerful lesson: succession is not only about ownership. It is about trust, timing, expectations, and the willingness to ask difficult questions before they become painful problems.

You will hear how Fee Brothers survived Prohibition, lost recipes, sudden leadership transitions, rapid growth, supply chain pressure, and changing customer demand — all while staying grounded in family relationships and long-term responsibility.

Jonathan also shares one of the most important questions he asked before entering the business: what would happen to the family relationship if the business was eventually sold? That honest conversation helped protect what mattered most.

In This Episode, You'll Learn:

• Why trust has to come before any successful family business transition
• How one honest question changed the future of Fee Brothers
• Why stewardship means honoring history without being trapped by it
• How open communication can protect family relationships during succession
• Why growth is not always the most important goal for a multi-generational business
• How Fee Brothers reinvented itself from Prohibition-era survival to global demand
• Why employees and customers remain central to long-term family business success

This episode is a reminder that the future of a family business is not secured by avoiding hard conversations. It is secured by having them with honesty, respect, and care.

For family business owners, next-generation leaders, CEOs, advisors, and consultants, Jonathan's story shows how legacy can survive change when trust leads the way.

What does it really take to build a family business that lasts over 130 years—and keeps growing?

"I don't know how to scale without losing control…"

"What happens when family and business collide?"

"How do we stay relevant in a changing industry?"

"Can this business survive the next generation?"

This conversation gives you the answer.

Scaling a family business isn't just about growth—it's about navigating complexity, change, and tough decisions over time. In this episode, you'll hear how Eastman Machine evolved from a small manufacturing operation into a global leader by embracing innovation and making bold strategic moves. You'll also learn how they handled real family challenges, from succession planning to internal conflict, without losing sight of the business.

Robert Stevenson is the CEO and fourth-generation leader of Eastman Machine, a company with roots dating back to the late 1800s. Trevor Stevenson, the fifth-generation president, has led the company through major growth in automation, engineering, and global expansion. Together, they bring decades of hands-on experience in scaling a multi-generational manufacturing business.

The difference between surviving and scaling often comes down to one thing: the ability to evolve. Eastman didn't stay tied to its original products—they reinvented their business model, invested in automation, and built a leadership structure that could support long-term growth.

This episode gives you practical insight into how to navigate succession, build a strong leadership team, and make strategic decisions that position your business for the future—without losing your core identity.

Including the mindset shift that helped them turn a $600K acquisition into a $40M growth engine.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How to scale a family manufacturing business across generations
• Why separating family and business decisions is critical
• How to lead through crises like recessions and supply chain disruptions
• Why innovation—not tradition—drives long-term survival
• How to build a management team that supports generational transition

If you're navigating growth, succession, or change in your family business, this episode will give you clarity, direction, and confidence to move forward with purpose.

The CADLIFE of Family Business

Listen in as we talk with the DiLaura family of CADimensions about their long history of "pivoting" well before COVID-19, the risks of trying to reinvent the wheel when difficulty strikes and their unique company (and family) mission statement they affectionately named CADLIFE.

If you're a family business or a family business consultant and want to be on the show, share your story and help other family businesses, send us an email to [email protected] or visit us at The Family Biz Show | Family Business Podcast With Michael Palumbos (familywealthandlegacy.com) to fill out our web form!

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CRN-4718557-042922