The difficulty of trying to manage a dual relationship is something common with those who work in family businesses. It’s easy to allow the personal to seep into the business and to allow business issues to creep into what should be private time.

But there also are advantages.

Having a father-son relationship in the business is extremely powerful when working with clients. They get a feel for who we are and they want to know why we teamed up. It’s important to share that story because I think it creates a closer bond between us and the clients.

There are ways to address the thorny issues that may arise when family and business mix:

• Separate personal from professional. In any business, challenges and disagreements will happen. It’s important that each person understand that these are business feelings, not personal ones.

• Keep communication open. In any venture, communication is critical even without family issues. Adding the family dynamic emphasizes the need for communication even more.

• Talk honestly about frustrations. Not everything is going to go smoothly and there will be frustrations. Talk it out. But make sure you do it behind closed doors and not in front of other members of the staff.

• Celebrate successes together. It’s easy to become bogged down in what each person in the relationship isn’t doing or could do better. They say it’s important to stay focused on the big picture and to celebrate the accomplishments. Remember that it’s a privilege to work and build a business with a family member. Approach it that way.

One major issue family businesses face is preparing to pass leadership duties to a successor, which is not something they all do well. A PricewaterhouseCoopers survey revealed that 40% of family business leaders are reluctant to pass the baton to the next generation, and 73% of family businesses have no succession plan.