BusinessReport.com

Imagine eating breakfast with your mother nearly every day. Nice, isn’t it? Now throw in working with your mother nearly every day. Still nice? Well, it is for Cathy Sherburne and daughter Anna Stevens at Acadian Frame and Art, even after 12 years of working together and almost 22 years in business.

“We’re very close,” Sherburne says. “It’s not just here."

“A lot of people think it’s gross we’re so close,” Stevens says. “We just have that relationship. We go home and talk three times on the phone after work.”

They acknowledge not every day is smooth, and there are times when they need space. For the most part, they say their working relationship as a mother-daughter team works well.

While both women wait on customers, Sherburne cuts and joins the frames. Stevens cuts mattes, oversees the sales floor work and keeps track of the books. And Maggie and Lucy, the family dachshunds, entertain staff and customers alike.

Despite having individual duties, the duo teaches one another lessons and helps grow the business. Sherburne says working with her daughter has helped to expand their market because she brings a younger perspective. “She’s taught me so much,” Sherburne says in an adoring, motherly fashion with welling eyes.

Stevens says she’s learned patience from her mother, having watched her customer service. “I’ve learned to count to 10 and keep going.”

Stevens admits it’s hard to be around her mother all the time, but says for the most part it’s a breeze.

“The difficult part is when mom feels sorry for people and doesn’t charge them enough,” she says. “Then I end up having to do all the work. Or I’ll take these big projects in. And stick it on me, and I’m the one who has to do it!”

As mother and daughter, they can also tell when they need to cover for each other and when they need to draw the line. For example, if someone walks in the door and Mom’s supposed to know a name but doesn’t, Stevens can tell. Or if a certain customer arrives that either one can’t handle, they’ll call on each other. And Stevens helps keep Mom’s workaholic nature in check, making compromises in store hours and holidays. “Getting her to change 10 to 4 on Saturdays was like pulling teeth,” Stevens says, “but we have to rest.”

The longest Sherburne’s been away for the business was nearly eight weeks, when Stevens was first left to care for the business largely on her own. What did they learn? They need each other.

“When I came back I said, ‘You know what? I might think about retiring because I liked being off,’” Sherburne says. “She said, ‘Momma, you can do a whole lot of stuff. You can take off one day a week or two days a week, but you’re not retiring and leaving me with this by myself.’”

The Genius sisters

With a family name like Genius, there are some large shoes to fill. But sisters Maggie Genius and Laurie Chapple think they made a smart decision going into business together 22 years ago with their store, Absolutely Genius.

Throughout the years, the sisters have occasionally had a third partner, but for the last decade or so they’ve found two to be the magic number.

“I think the heart of that is we were raised by the same parents with the same work ethic and expectations,” Chapple says.

“I couldn’t imagine working with someone else, to be honest,” Genius says. “Maybe it’s because I can boss her, and because I’m accepting of it.”

Accepting or not, the two have learned some invaluable lessons throughout the years. For one, they don’t fight over the little things any more.

“Like any partnership, you have your ups and downs as far as personalities,” Genius says. “We used to have one big knock-down, drag-out fight a year.”

The fights, Chapple says, typically centered on division of duties, which at first the two didn’t have in writing. Largely, Genius handles the purchasing and day-to-day operations of the store, while Chapple does the book work, payroll and advertising.

Though Genius, who is 12 years older than Chapple, may be the professed bossier of the two, Chapple has her moments when she must be the “bad cop.” She puts her foot down a bit more when the sisters go to market to see the latest merchandise. She may have to break Genius away from certain sales reps to avoid an unwanted sale and prevent any harm to the sales relationship.

“Or she’ll say, ‘We’ve got enough decanters,’” Genius says.

Their family nature also rubs off on their employees, some of whom have been with the store more than 15 years. Genius knows they’re going to lose some of their employees as they scale back on commitments. As a result, the store will likely scale back a bit as well.

But together they’ve watched the store grow immensely and appreciate how it’s made their relationship stronger.

“I think if we didn’t have the shop, we wouldn’t get together as much,” Genius says.

“There’s no way I could do something like this with someone else,” Chapple says. “It would have to be my sister.”