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What can a sharpening business offer your family beyond simply making a living?

In this episode, I sit down with Doc Marlow of M&M Professional Sharpening in Kansas City to talk about bringing family into the sharpening business. Doc shares the story of taking his 12-year-old daughter through professional shear and clipper blade training, teaching his other daughter to sharpen knives, and putting his kids to work helping with customers at sharpening events.

We talk about giving kids the opportunity to earn good money while learning a valuable skill, without creating an expectation that they have to follow in their parents' footsteps. I also share some of my own thoughts about employing my kids in the sharpening shop, using earned income to begin funding Roth IRAs at a young age, and turning a small family business into a tool for long-term wealth building.

We also get into the many ways a spouse or kids can contribute without ever touching a sharpening machine—from customer service and bookkeeping to running the front of the house at markets and events.

Doc also shares what happens when a sharpening business becomes busier than you ever intended, including the value of good training, building a reputation, raising prices, and designing a business that still fits the life you actually want to live.

A great conversation about sharpening, entrepreneurship, raising kids around a small business, and creating opportunities for the people you care about.