Family Business Consulting in Grand Rapids and West Michigan

The year was 1995.  I had been in my office, “sitting in the chair” as we say, for 21 years, when I was given the opportunity to work with a wonderful company, Williams Group.  You can learn about them at www.wgsite.com.  Wg is one of those extraordinary companies that truly appreciates their people as their greatest asset.  And even more, they understand that when their people are playing to their strengths everyone is happier, work is of a higher caliber, clients are more satisfied, mistakes are reduced, and prosperity is sustained.  Most weeks since 1995 I have been on site, in one capacity or another, working with the two-dozen or so highly competent people in this remarkable marketing communications firm.

And let me tell you, I have enjoyed getting out of the chair!  Now, after having worked a little -  or a lot - with more than twenty family owned businesses, or businesses that feel like family, I can say with certainty that the skills that accompany being a Marriage and Family Therapist are directly applicable to the world of family owned business and partnerships.

“I help businesses, and their people, to get along and get ahead.”

That has been my tag-line for my work as a Family Business Consultant.

Because I am a learner who reads abundantly and integrates with an eye toward practical applications, I have been able to work broadly and deeply in areas that welcome my talents, knowledge, training, and skills.

Here is a sampling of the businesses with whom I am working currently:

• Hamp Mathews & Associates – a professional firm with two partners and eight geologists and environmental engineers.
• The Child and Family Resource Council – a non-profit organization with a mission to create a community that is free of child abuse and neglect.
• Williams Group – a professional firm with three partners and about twenty three associates, whose competencies enable them to plan, design, and implement strategic communications programs for many philanthropic and for-profit enterprises across the country.
• Request Foods – a family owned business that provides employment to about 450 people, and frozen foods to many, many companies with brand names that are known to everyone.
• Grubb & Ellis – a professional real estate firm that specializes in commercial, industrial, office, investment, retail, and property management opportunities.

In the past, I have worked with companies that have had a top-line of 350 million, and a top-line of under 1 million.  I’ve worked with husband and wife “co-preneurs,” and with partnerships that included family and non-family members.  The range has been varied and most interesting.

For 32 years I was the Executive Director of a non-profit counseling center in Grand Rapids – managing staff, budgets, marketing, maintenance, quality care, equipment, stakeholders – the whole works.  It was there that I learned about herding cats.  Since 2003 my son and I have had an on-line business providing help to couples that are struggling in their relationship. I’m the content expert, and he is the web guy. For three years I was in partnership with Dr. Greg Kuhn.  That ended two days after Thanksgiving, 2007, when Greg had a massive heart attack and died.  I officiated at his funeral; it was a hard thing to do. Today, on my own, my Administrative Assistant is my daughter, and she lives in Chicago.  I make great use of the power of the internet and cell phone!  In 2008 I formed a partnership with a friend and former colleague, Al Heystek.  Together, as Heystek & Atwood, LLC, we are bringing the “Nothin’ but Net” Free Throw Trainer™ to market in the spring of 2008.  Use the Free Throw Trainer and your basketball free throw shot percentage will increase dramatically.  Dramatically!  Al is the Imagineer, and I am the Manager.  We are working with the people at Invention Perfection in Grand Rapids, and we are enjoying success.

It is about helping businesses, and their people, to get along and get ahead.

And I seem to have a knack for bringing out the best in people and work-teams in such a way that people and businesses thrive.

My work is with the leaders in a business, be they family or not, and with the professional advisors that serve them.  Most businesses have the talent to be successful as long as their talent can be tapped and the collective genius of the team can be maximized.

Making that happen is what I love to do.

You can learn much more about my work with family owned businesses, and businesses that feel like family, by going to www.atwoodplus.com.