Homesteaders Blog

3 Tips for Smoother Funeral Home Family Business Succession Planning

Last year, I was running a discussion group of funeral directors, and they shared some common frustrations. Jessica*, a third-generation, 40-something funeral director, said something that stopped the group in its tracks:

“My father just won’t give up the reins. He won’t even let me meet with families by myself.”

4 Productivity Tips for Starting Your “New Year” in September

Did you know that the “real” new year starts in September? Let me explain. I spent 37 years of my life either attending a school or teaching at one. My father was a high school principal for my entire childhood, which meant that our family life and vacations revolved around the academic calendar. Whether I was a student or a professor, the phrase “starting a new year” usually meant returning to school at the end of the summer.

Lessons for Funeral Service Professionals from the Appalachian Trail

The Appalachian Trail runs through the mountains of Tennessee about 20 miles from my home. Known to the hikers as the “A.T.”, it spans nearly 2,200 miles from northern Georgia to Maine and touches 14 states. Because each hiker has their own pace, it takes an average of four to six months to complete the entire hike. Every year, more than 3,000 hikers attempt this feat, which is referred to as a "thru-hike" of the A.T. Only about 25% of them are successful.

How to Turn Funeral Home Employees into Leaders

“No one is stepping up and showing any leadership. I still have to do most of it myself.” As John* inched closer to his retirement date, he had hoped that his children (who are funeral professionals) would start taking on more responsibility to help families, work with vendors and volunteer for countless other tasks. But when you talked to John’s children, they would frequently complain that their father would not allow them to take on these new responsibilities.

Then John contracted COVID-19, forcing him to miss work for three weeks. In hindsight, he wishes he had let his children take on more responsibilities earlier. Instead, he had less than a day to prepare them to run the business without him and found out the hard way that they were not ready to take over day-to-day operations.

5 Things Funeral Professionals Wish the Public Knew About Them

Funeral professionals do much of their work in the background. Consequently, the public often has misconceptions about who they are and what they do. As someone who has worked closely with funeral professionals for almost 10 years, I feel compelled to share the real story of funeral professionals. So, on their behalf, here are five things that funeral professionals wish the public knew about them.

Helping Family Members Find Balance in Funeral Service

“I’m worried about my dad. He’s been pushing himself too hard and he won’t take a break,” said Tom.*

Tom was concerned about his father, Frank. I learned that Frank was 74 years old, a second-generation funeral director and owned the family firm. Despite having three younger family members working for the funeral home, Frank continued to work long hours and go for weeks without a day off.

5 Pieces of Advice for Overwhelmed Funeral Professionals

Let’s get the bad news out of the way: People all over the world have faced unimaginable loss this year – lost jobs, lost opportunities and, yes, lost loved ones. All of these losses can lead to additional stress on relationships, extra challenges for parents of school-age children, limited contact with our family and friends, financial hardship and acute anxiety. Funeral professionals specifically have faced increased danger in your job duties, added career stress and frustration as you improvise ways to best serve families.

What I Wish Everyone Knew About Funeral Professionals

Funeral professionals work hard to be emotionally supportive for the bereaved, use their professional training to care for the deceased and create events that will begin healing. The people they serve are likely going through some of the toughest days of their lives. The last thing a funeral professional will do is complain about how difficult their job is.

What Funeral Professionals Should Know About Loss and Family Dynamics

I remember my counseling professor’s unique introduction to family systems theory. He argued that families are like duck ponds. A pond with a group of ducks is an ecosystem with multiple reciprocal relationships. If there is plenty of food for the ducks and they have a safe habitat, they will thrive. But cut the food supply, introduce new predators or drain the pond and you will see the duck population drop. Everything in the ecosystem is connected and any changes affect all the parts of the system. Furthermore, ecosystems like stability; sudden change is the most disruptive kind of change.

Great Business Books for Funeral Professionals

Ralph Waldo Emerson once noted, “If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads.” His words ring just as true today as they did when he penned them. Despite our easy access to search engines, apps and Wikipedia, reading good books remains one of the easiest, cheapest and fastest ways to absorb information. Reading has been linked with increased empathy and (of course) intelligence, and a well-stocked library provides a vehicle for us to experience new things, increase awareness and develop new skills.