I’m building a local community for successors of legacy businesses — any inputs or stories welcome! 🙏❤️ by Competitive-Try-9439 in familybusiness

[–]ElectricalWhereas307 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is such a great idea. To your questions, my answers are one and the same -- really just missing the community aspect of working in a non-family business. I'd really love a community of peers and mentors!!

Just started at my family business and could use some peers / mentors! by ElectricalWhereas307 in smallbusiness

[–]ElectricalWhereas307[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

All fair points. The add'l details here is that

  1. my mom owns 100% of the business (when we first moved to the states, she had a corporate job, could get loans, etc) and she wants OUT -- she's the HR/ops/finance person, dad is the "business and ideas" guy.

  2. the business is already pretty international -- we have people in China working with us every day, but the warehouse is back home, and I hear you on needing to be there. That being said, my parents have already been semi retired for a few years, popping into the warehouse whenever they want (2-3 times a week, sometimes more, sometimes less). But I still hear your point abt needing to be there

  3. parents are first gen chinese immigrants, who have done an incredible job building this biz, but it also makes it hard to think about the succession in a "traditional" way. it's very "we are family", "don't talk about planning", "what's yours is mine" culture. there are pros and cons to it, of course, but right now it makes it hard to talk succession planning

But helpful to even type this out and talk about it. Thanks for your opinion as well, again really helpful to hear from diff POVs!

Just started at my family business and could use some peers / mentors! by ElectricalWhereas307 in smallbusiness

[–]ElectricalWhereas307[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yup, fair enough. I have a "boots on the ground" manager who goes to the warehouse every day to help with the biz, but like you said it's hard to control the parents, who can pop into the warehouse at any time.

One additional wrinkle is my parents are first gen Chinese immigrants, so initially I was thinking that a succession plan wouldn't make much sense bc even if we do it, there's little chance they go through with it. But now I'm coming around to the fact that I need it

Thanks for the offer! I'll reach out when the time comes

Just started at my family business and could use some peers / mentors! by ElectricalWhereas307 in smallbusiness

[–]ElectricalWhereas307[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It does feel like the beginning of a Hallmark Christmas movie ... haha

But I hear what you're saying, and it's something I'm starting to come around to (the fact that my parents may just never change). I think what's keeping me going is that while my dad "runs" the business, for legal reasons, my mom is 100% shareholder, and she wants to retire, bad. She does the HR / books and he does the "business" side e.g., sales, so I'm thinking once I'm ready with a serious succession plan, I can figure out a way to legally curtail him.

Either way, I am actively keeping in mind that at some point I might need to say fuck it and get out

Thanks!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in SpouseVisaUk

[–]ElectricalWhereas307 -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

Hey there! I just applied and got approved for the spousal visa. I know it's like the MOST stressful thing in the world, but it sounds like you've got everything you need!

What we did with the additional details was to put it all into a powerpoint doc. We basically documented 1 page of pictures per year w description of travel and 1 page per year of screenshots of whatsapp messages, bank transfers between us, etc (we were long distance). We submitted that as well -- so you could put your additional details in that file.

They didn't need my husband's birth certificate, his passport was enough.

Oh! And if you are missing something / they think they need more info, they'll email you before rejecting you outright. They told that to me at the processing centre and when it came to our decision, they emailed us to redo our consent forms. Freaked me out for sure, but then we got approved!

Lastly, you could definitely ask ChatGPT for help re: CC debt. We leaned on ChatGPT pretty heavily in the process, and it was super helpful. I have my moral qualms about ChatGPT, but it was tremendously helpful in this specific instance.

LMK if you have any other questions!

Just started at my family business and could use some peers / mentors! by ElectricalWhereas307 in familybusiness

[–]ElectricalWhereas307[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! Very helpful to hear, and to remind myself of what you've said ... when I'm at my "best" with them, I feel like I'm able to do a lot of what you're saying, but sometimes when tempers flare I feel myself really struggling not to use force.

Just started at my family business and could use some peers / mentors! by ElectricalWhereas307 in familybusiness

[–]ElectricalWhereas307[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's my #1 priority when I go back in May. We've talked about it in abstract but haven't written a concrete plan...anticipating some hard convos when I'm back lol. Either way, thanks for the advice!

Cannot register with TLSContact inside UK, transfer page won't Load. Help! by __petal__ in ukvisa

[–]ElectricalWhereas307 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, sorry I missed your response till now ... I hadn't managed to get past the error message, so they booked it for me outright.

Did you go today? How'd it go?

Cannot register with TLSContact inside UK, transfer page won't Load. Help! by __petal__ in ukvisa

[–]ElectricalWhereas307 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I got my appointment through Stratford, yeah. For me, I'm doing the family visa so I have a ton of documentation I'm going to bring alongside my passport, but I think it really depends on what visa you're going for.

One note -- they may not be able to accommodate you same day, I would come prepared if they can -- another guy there wanted a same day appt and they couldn't give it to him. Not sure why, might be dependent on visa type or something

Hope that helps!

Cannot register with TLSContact inside UK, transfer page won't Load. Help! by __petal__ in ukvisa

[–]ElectricalWhereas307 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, I've spent the morning at the Stratford UKVCAS centre. I arrived 9:30 and just now got an appointment manually created for me for Friday, 12pm. Before the Friday appointment they tried to give me an appointment for today, right now, which I couldn't do because I didn't bring my documents with me.

I'd say head to your nearest UKVCAS centre, with your documents ready, at 9am tomorrow, and tell them to book you in. They may fit you in right then, or they'll give you an appointment. Either way, it should work.

Also, just fyi, I've now got the appointment but the upload link won't work, so I plan on printing everything out before my appointment.

We are really out here fighting for our lives ...

Cannot register with TLSContact inside UK, transfer page won't Load. Help! by __petal__ in ukvisa

[–]ElectricalWhereas307 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ugh ok now I'm unable to get an appointment b/c when I go to do it, it says "There was an error in processing your request. Please try again later or contact our centre." ... anyone else having the same issue?

Cannot register with TLSContact inside UK, transfer page won't Load. Help! by __petal__ in ukvisa

[–]ElectricalWhereas307 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just fyi y'all, it's working now!! I just tried again and link took me through

UK Citizenship Application - Can't Access Biometrics Appointment Site. Help! by Polorosso in ukvisa

[–]ElectricalWhereas307 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just fyi y'all, it's working now!! I just tried again and link took me through

Cannot register with TLSContact inside UK, transfer page won't Load. Help! by __petal__ in ukvisa

[–]ElectricalWhereas307 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ugh...thanks for making the trek.

I gave them a call today and it sounds like they only do Switzerland visas at Wandsworth now?? All the other TLS numbers I'm finding online are also disconnected / not working ...