| Opening your own business is not without risk, but | | | | everyone eats and everyone dies. However, neither |
| there are businesses out there that have managed | | | | of these types of business counts as the oldest |
| to weather whatever storms life, politics, economics, | | | | American company. |
| war, social change and, yes, the weather, could | | | | That honor belongs to a music company. In fact, it |
| throw at them. These companies, many still owned | | | | belongs to a company that traces its origins back to |
| and operated by the descendants of the people who | | | | 1618, 158 years before there was an America and a |
| started them, have some very valuable lessons to | | | | world away in the Ottoman capital of Constantinople. |
| teach today's entrepreneurs. | | | | The story begins with an Armenian alchemist named |
| Seven Lessons of Survival | | | | Avedis I who, while searching for a formula that |
| Family Business magazine keeps a list of the 100 | | | | would turn base metals into gold, hit upon an alloy of |
| Oldest Family-owned Businesses in the United States. | | | | copper, tin and silver that had amazing sound qualities |
| They identified 7 rules that, if followed, will foster | | | | and was remarkably durable. He used this discovery |
| sustainability for a small, family-owned business. | | | | to create cymbals of amazing power and quality. The |
| These rules are: | | | | sultan rewarded him with gold and a new name, |
| - Stay small. | | | | Zildjian, which means "Cymbalsmith." |
| - Don't go public. | | | | Today, 390 years after Avedis I discovered his |
| - Avoid big cities. | | | | secret formula, that family business has a worldwide |
| - Keep it in the family. | | | | following in the music industry. They have remained |
| - Choose a business that won't go out of style. | | | | true to their market but have developed new cymbal |
| - Be creative. | | | | products and manufacturing techniques as times have |
| - Persist. | | | | changed and technology advanced. There is, |
| Stay Small, Stay Private | | | | however, one thing that has not changed: The secret |
| Small companies offer their owners a level of | | | | formula, that goes all the way back to that Armenian |
| flexibility that large companies just can't match. They | | | | alchemist, is still a closely-guarded family secret and |
| are also much easier to keep in the family than large | | | | the core of their success. |
| corporations and by keeping the business privately | | | | Be Creative |
| owned, control over the business' activities and | | | | Creativity often means seeing an opportunity and |
| future remains in the hands of those who know it | | | | taking advantage of it. Take, for example, the |
| best, its founders. Of course, this can conflict with | | | | Seaside Inn and Cottages in Kennebunkport, Maine, |
| the financial needs of the company, especially once it | | | | which has been in continual operation since 1667. The |
| begins to grow, but if the founders intend to keep it | | | | roots of this family-owned small business, however, |
| small and keep it local, then keeping the company in | | | | go back to the 1640s when an agent for King |
| the family is a good way to go. | | | | Charles II, named Fernando Gorges, asked John |
| Avoid Big Cities | | | | Gooch to live on the peninsula at the mouth of the |
| While the dominance of farms on the list may skew | | | | Kennebunkport River in order to ferry travelers |
| things toward the rural, this little piece of advice does | | | | across the river in his boat. |
| have something to it. Small towns and suburbs are | | | | It didn't take long, however, for Gooch to notice that |
| places where small businesses can thrive. Such places | | | | people wanted to stay on the peninsula for a day or |
| usually have favorable tax structures to go along | | | | two before continuing their journeys. Seeing the |
| with an appreciation of the personal service and | | | | opportunity, Gooch expanded his house to include |
| multigenerational aspect of the family business. | | | | guest rooms and built a tavern. He saw the |
| Smaller cities and towns also tend to offer a more | | | | opportunity and was flexible and creative enough to |
| stable local workforce that appreciates having a local | | | | seize it and make it play. Today, the Seaside Inn and |
| employer to work for. | | | | Cottages is a resort covering 20 acres of beautiful |
| Keep it in the Family | | | | beach and riverfront property and is run by |
| This rule certainly applied to the record holder for the | | | | 12th-generation owners Patricia and Ken Mason. |
| world's oldest continuously operated company, the | | | | Of course, creativity can just as easily be applied to |
| former Kongo Gumi Construction Company of Japan. | | | | marketing. Consider Houshi, the oldest hotel in the |
| At the time of its acquisition by the Takamatsu | | | | world, which was founded in the year 717 in Awazu, |
| Company in 2006, Kongo Gumi-which specialized in | | | | a town in the Ishikawa Prefecture of Japan and |
| the construction of Buddhist temples-had been in | | | | consider the way they, by taking advantage of local |
| continuous operation as a family-owned business for | | | | history, custom and belief, have marketed both the |
| 1,428 years! | | | | hotel and the local hot springs. Here is the Houshi |
| According to the company's last president, Masakazu | | | | family story: |
| Kongo, the 40th member of the family to lead the | | | | Guided by a logger named Gengoro Sasakiri, a noted |
| company, flexibility in selecting leaders was a key | | | | priest named Taicho Daishi hiked high up sacred and |
| factor in Kongo Gumi's longevity. Instead of always | | | | isolated Mt. Hakusan in 717. While Taicho was asleep |
| giving the company leadership to the oldest son, the | | | | one night after beginning his rigorous training |
| family chose the son or daughter who could best | | | | exercises, the deity of Hakusan appeared in his |
| demonstrate the health, responsibility, and talent for | | | | dream, saying: |
| the job. Another factor in Kongo Gumi's long | | | | "Near the base of the mountain is the village of |
| existence was the practice of having sons-in-law take | | | | Awazu. There, you'll find an underground hot spring |
| the family name when they joined the company. A | | | | with wondrous restorative powers that Yakushi |
| common practice in Japan, it allowed the company to | | | | Nyorai (the Physician of Souls) has bestowed upon it. |
| continue under the same name, regardless of | | | | The people of the village, however, do not know of |
| whether there were sons in a given generation or | | | | this good fortune. Descend the mountain and head to |
| not. | | | | Awazu. With the people of the village unearth the |
| Choose a Business that Won't Go Out of Style | | | | hot spring-it will serve them forever." |
| There is very little in life as certain as death and | | | | Taicho did as the god told him and made his way |
| taxes, but the fact that people will-in addition to | | | | down to the village, where he sought the help of its |
| dying and paying taxes-always eat, drink, sleep, sit, | | | | people in uncovering the treasure that lay beneath |
| wear clothing, worship, learn and do the thousand | | | | the earth's surface. He had the sick immerse |
| other things that we take for granted each day is a | | | | themselves in its waters, and their health was |
| given. Again, Kongo Gumi offers an enlightening | | | | immediately restored. Taicho then ordered Garyo |
| example. | | | | Houshi, his disciple, to build and run a spa at the site. |
| Getting in on the ground floor of Buddhism-a little | | | | Creativity is important wherever you need to stand |
| more than a century after it was first introduced to | | | | out or change direction. You need to see beyond |
| Japan in 467 CE-worked very well for Kongo Gumi. | | | | your immediate surroundings and limitations to find |
| Once conflict with the native Shinto religion was | | | | the next step for your business and that takes |
| ended, the new religion, which had moved from India | | | | creativity. |
| to China and then on to Korea and finally Japan over | | | | Persist |
| the course of about 2 centuries, really took off. This | | | | Taking that next step, no matter what is going on in |
| put Kongo Gumi in an ideal position to grow as the | | | | the world around you, is a sign of persistence. You |
| demand for new temples grew. The company did | | | | have to take what you have, regardless of |
| not, however, escape hard times. World War II, for | | | | surrounding circumstances, and keep going. "To each |
| example, was especially challenging but pragmatic | | | | generation come challenges," said Paul Hayward, the |
| management, understanding the changing needs | | | | seventh-generation owner of The Homestead, a |
| brought on by the war kept the firm going. They | | | | Sugar Hill, N.H., inn established in 1802, to Family |
| went from building temples to making coffins. | | | | Business. "The inn has survived for over 200 years |
| The truth behind this rule can also be found in the | | | | through the Civil War, Great Depression, World War I |
| make up of the Family Business list. Even a quick | | | | and World War II," Hayward says. "I am confident |
| read of the entries will show that the list is made up | | | | my family will see the Inn through present difficulties. |
| primarily of family farms and funeral homes, after all, | | | | |