Blum's Blog

When Your Business Succession Solution Isn’t Your Kids
In last week’s post, I shared the story of my son Adam breaking the news to me that he didn’t want to become a lawyer and join me at The

The Day Adam Told Me: “I Don’t Want to Be a Lawyer”
I wrote last week about how to improve the odds of passing down a family business to the next generation. Understandably, when founders love their business, most want it to

How to Keep a Business in the Family: “No One Owns the Tree”
Last week’s post described how a family business like Blum’s Café can become like another member of the family. When a family is attached to their business, it’s a strong

How a Jukebox Paid for My Bar Mitzvah
This post in my Family Legacy Planning series continues to shine a light on Business Succession Planning. Most of the business succession stories covered in the media involve mega-sized family-owned

Is Someone in Your Family Hurting?
Is someone in your family hurting? That’s a provocative question. The fact is, for almost every family, the answer is yes. Furthermore, if someone in a family is hurting, generally

What’s Your Unfinished Business?
This post is coming to you on the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashonah, marking the start of the year 5783 in the Hebrew calendar. A central theme during these Holy

We’re in a “Perfect Storm” for Business Succession Planning
As part of the segment I’m doing on Business Succession Planning, I want to share planning tips I recently presented at Bank of America’s Business Owner Conference. It was easy

Follow Queen Elizabeth’s Example
As part of the Business Succession segment in our Family Legacy Planning series, I want to pay tribute to a family business matriarch who died last week, Queen Elizabeth. Yes, Queen

Don’t Be Like HBO’s “Succession’s” Logan Roy: Switch from Quarterback to Coach
In last week’s post, we shined a spotlight on the complicated relationship between the family business and the business founder. I frequently describe Business Succession Planning as “the most neglected

Business Succession Planning: Every Ending Is a New Beginning
One of the toughest challenges in estate planning is to plan for the transition of a business when the founder is gone. There are so many business and financial, as

If You Don’t Document It, It Didn’t Happen
My daughter Lizzy has become our family’s historian, taking the lead on photographing the moments of our lives. When anyone objects, she admonishes: “If you don’t document, it didn’t happen.” Lizzy

Tips to Create Your Life Story
I revealed last week that I’ve embarked on a video project to document the history of my mother Elsie, and through her, my ancestors. Today, I’ll share more about the process
