Enterprising Families Book a conversation Book at enterprisingfamilies.com Enterprising Families is a trading name of MILC Holdings Pty Ltd (ACN 163 567 048, ABN 68 163 567 048), Queensland, Australia.

From the host of The Business of Family podcast. Rather start on your own? Take the free diagnostic or see the Program.

Enterprising Families. Founded by Mike Boyd

Strategy and continuity for business families.

We help business families work out where they are going and organise themselves to get there: across the businesses, the property, the investments and the people, and from one generation to the next. Every piece of work starts with each person's own view. Only then does the family sit down together.

Business families, not family business: the whole family enterprise, from the operating companies to the property, the investments and the people. Built from your own story and values, never a template. Growth as well as continuity.

Book a first conversation Ways to work together

Most families get in touch through one person, often someone in the next generation. If that's you, this page is written so you can pass it on to your parents, your siblings, or whoever else should read it before you talk.

Business families, not family business

The family is the lasting thing, whatever it owns.

  • The whole family enterprise. We work with the family across everything it holds together: the operating companies, the property, the investments, and the people who own them, run them or simply belong to the family.
  • Your story, never a template. The values, the direction and the issues are already in the family's own story. The work starts there, so what you agree sounds like your family and nobody else's.
  • Growth as well as continuity. Holding on is half of it. The other half is deciding what the family wants to build next, and who will lead it. That's what "enterprising" means here.
The whole family enterprise: the operating businesses, the property, the investments and the people, held together by the family. A large circle labelled the family enterprise. Inside it, four overlapping washed circles: operating businesses, property, investments and people. Where all four meet sits a small circle labelled the family. OPERATINGBUSINESSESPROPERTYINVESTMENTSPEOPLEThe familyTHE FAMILY ENTERPRISE

Who it's for

Families who recognise one of these.

We work across the whole life of a business family, from the founder to the cousins and beyond.

A business family's life cycle: founder, siblings, cousins, then beyond one business, with a crossroads possible between any two stages. A line runs from one generation to the next. On it, a single circle for the founder; three circles for siblings; seven smaller circles for cousins; and for beyond one business, a row of family members with several squares above them for the businesses and holdings. Between each pair of stages sits a clay diamond marked crossroads. FounderThe founding generationSiblingsBrothers and sisters own togetherCousinsSeveral branches, many ownersBeyond one businessA portfolio, a family office, new venturesCROSSROADSCROSSROADSCROSSROADS
A business family's life cycle: founder, siblings, cousins, then beyond one business, with a crossroads possible between any two stages. A line runs from one generation to the next. On it, a single circle for the founder; three circles for siblings; seven smaller circles for cousins; and for beyond one business, a row of family members with several squares above them for the businesses and holdings. Between each pair of stages sits a clay diamond marked crossroads. FounderThe founding generationSiblingsBrothers and sisters owntogetherCousinsSeveral branches, manyownersBeyond one businessA portfolio, a familyoffice, new venturesCROSSROADSCROSSROADSCROSSROADS
A business family moves through stages: a founder, then siblings who own together, then cousins across several branches, and often a family whose enterprise has grown beyond one business, into a portfolio, a family office or new ventures. Between any two stages the family can meet a crossroads: a sale, a buyout, someone leaving, or outside capital coming in.
  • A second-generation family with a diversified group (an operating business, some property, some investments) that wants a sharper strategic focus, and a clear plan for succession, governance and continuity to go with it.
  • A founder who hasn't yet said what happens next, and children who would like to know, whether they work in the business or not.
  • Siblings or cousins who own together and have stopped talking about the hard parts: who decides, who leads, and what happens when someone wants out.
  • A next-generation leader who has been asked to take on the family side as well as the business, and wants someone independent to do it with.
  • A family that has sold a business and is still a business family, working out what it now owns together and why.

How we work

Each person's own view first. Then the family together.

How the work runs, left to right: each person's own view, a one-to-one conversation with Mike, then the family together. On the left, five separate circles, one for each family member. In the middle, the same five circles, each joined by a dotted line to a single ring, standing for a one-to-one conversation with each person. On the right, one large circle with the five people seated around a table.

  1. Each person's own view

    Every adult in the family takes the Business Family Diagnostic on their own: 79 statements, about twenty-five minutes. Spouses and family members who aren't in the business are included as a matter of course.

    Every adult takes the Business Family Diagnostic on their own, spouses included.

  2. A one-to-one conversation

    Then Mike talks with each person, one to one and in confidence, story first: how the family got here, the hard years, what each person hopes for and what they'd rather not say in front of everyone.

    Mike talks with each person, one to one and in confidence, story first.

  3. The family together

    Only then does the family meet, with a written picture in front of it, to agree its direction, its rules and the next steps, and who owns each one.

    With a written picture in front of it, the family agrees its direction, its rules and its next steps.

Remote first, from Brisbane; we travel only where being in the room adds something. We act for the whole family, not one side.

  • Remote first

    Most of the work is done remotely, from Brisbane, and for many families that's enough. We travel where being in the room adds something the video call can't.

  • For the whole family

    We act for the whole family, not one person or one branch.

  • Fixed fees

    Every fee is fixed and agreed in writing before we start. We don't charge by the hour.

Ways to work together

Start small. Go further only if it's useful.

Each step stands on its own. Plenty of families stop after the first or second, and that's a good outcome too.

Ways to work together, as steps: a free first conversation; the Family Diagnostic Session; the Family Enterprise Strategy, Part 1 remote and Part 2 in person; and an independent chair. At a crossroads, a fixed fee scoped up front. Fees are in the text below. Five blocks rising like a staircase from left to right, each a little deeper in colour, each labelled with its name. A bracket groups the two parts of the Family Enterprise Strategy. A clay diamond beside the steps marks the crossroads work. 30 minutes by videoFirst conversationFREEThree hours with the familyDiagnostic SessionRemotePart 1, the pictureIn personPart 2, strategy daysOngoingIndependent chairFAMILY ENTERPRISE STRATEGYAT A CROSSROADS: FIXED FEE, SCOPED UP FRONT
Ways to work together, as steps: a free first conversation; the Family Diagnostic Session; the Family Enterprise Strategy, Part 1 remote and Part 2 in person; and an independent chair. At a crossroads, a fixed fee scoped up front. Fees are in the text below. Five blocks rising like a staircase from left to right, each a little deeper in colour, each labelled with its name. A bracket groups the two parts of the Family Enterprise Strategy. A clay diamond beside the steps marks the crossroads work. First conversationFREE30 minutes by videoDiagnostic SessionThree hours with the familyPart 1, the pictureRemotePart 2, strategy daysIn personIndependent chairOngoingSTRATEGYAt a crossroadsFIXED FEE, SCOPED UP FRONT

Free. 30 minutes by video

First conversation

Book through a short form that asks a little about the family: who's in it and who's in the business, what prompted you to get in touch, and where you're based.

On the call Mike will listen, say plainly what we do and don't do, and suggest a next step. Sometimes that's simply the free diagnostic or the Program.

US$5,000, fixed

Family Diagnostic Session

  • Every adult in the family takes the full diagnostic. Each result belongs to that person, who chooses whether to share it.
  • Mike reads the results shared with him, and talks first with whoever got in touch.
  • Three hours with the family, with Mike, by video, or in person where travel makes sense, such as in Brisbane or alongside an existing trip (travel at cost): where you're strong, where your views differ, and the three things to work on first.
  • A written note within a week: the priorities, what's still open, and the questions for your advisers.

Includes the Program's family tier, so the family can keep working on the priorities itself. No constitution draft or earlier work needed.

From US$15,000, in two parts

Family Enterprise Strategy

For a family that wants a sharper strategic focus and a plan for succession, governance and continuity, built from what each person actually thinks.

Part 1, the picture Remote. From US$15,000

  • The full diagnostic for every adult.
  • A one-to-one interview with each person, 60 to 90 minutes, story first.
  • The owners' view on growth, liquidity, risk and control.
  • A findings report from the diagnostic and the interviews, with views shown by generation and role, never by name.

Part 1 stands on its own. Some families stop here and take it to their own advisers. The fee depends on the size of the family.

Part 2, the strategy days In person. From US$25,000 plus travel

  • The family enterprise: what the family owns and why, where it's going across the business, property and investments, and the few choices that matter.
  • The family: governance, succession, and the relationships behind them.
  • A written 12-month plan with named owners, and a check-in at three months.

Only where being together in one room is worth the trip.

From US$50,000 a year

Independent chair

An ongoing role, usually with a family we've already worked with. Mike chairs the family council (not the company board): the council meetings and the family's annual meeting, a yearly re-take of the diagnostic, keeping the plan moving, and an open door to any family member.

Travel is extra, and either side can end it with three months' notice.

Fixed fee, scoped up front

At a crossroads

A sale, a buyout, a family member or branch leaving, or outside capital coming in. We can lead the family's side alongside your lawyers and bankers, for a fixed fee.

No percentages, and we don't value the business, negotiate the price or advise on tax.

The Diagnostic Session fee counts in full towards a Family Enterprise Strategy booked within three months of it.

All fees are in US dollars, fixed, and agreed in a written engagement letter with Enterprising Families before any work starts. Travel and accommodation are charged at cost. The Business Family Diagnostic and the Program are on businessoffamily.net for any family that would rather work through it on its own.

Mike Boyd
Mike Boyd, founder of Enterprising Families

Founder

Mike Boyd

I'm a first-generation founder. I founded several technology companies and built wealth in my twenties and thirties. Today I own and manage Mudbrick Group, my family's private holding company, and we hold a portfolio of interests as a family.

I didn't grow up amid wealth, and I needed to learn how to raise my children in a way I wasn't raised myself. So I went looking for the families who had done it well: the positive outliers who kept their values, their principles and their wealth together for three, four, five generations and beyond.

I learned from mentors and from those families, many of them through my YPO network, and put that structure in place for my own family.

The Business of Family began as a way to bring those conversations into the open. Today I work with peers on the same journey, through Enterprising Families: founders like me, and families already several generations in. I enjoy the whole life cycle, from strategy and growth for the operating businesses to the governance of the family itself. I founded the firm and oversee every engagement.

  • First-generation founder; owner of Mudbrick Group, my family's private holding company.
  • Regional Chair for Australia and New Zealand at YPO.
  • Host of The Business of Family, a podcast from Enterprising Families: conversations with business families around the world.
  • Studied at the University of Queensland, with executive education at Harvard Business School, London Business School and MIT.
  • Based in Brisbane, working with families around the world.

Enterprising Families is independent. We don't sell financial products, and we take no commissions or referral fees from anyone. Where an engagement needs more hands, another adviser may join the work, always agreed with the family first.

What we're not

  • We're not lawyers, accountants, financial planners or investment advisers, and nothing we do is legal, tax or financial product advice.
  • We work alongside the family's advisers. We mark what has legal, tax or investment consequences, and they handle it.
  • We won't deliver a decision that's already been made, or take one side against another.

What happens to what you tell us

  • Each person's diagnostic result is their own. They choose whether to share it with us or with the family.
  • Interviews are confidential. Notes stay with Enterprising Families, and we won't carry one person's words to another.
  • Reports show views by generation and role, never by name. Nothing is attributed to anyone without their consent.

The full privacy notice

Next step

Book a first conversation.

Thirty minutes by video with Mike, at no charge. Tell us a little about the family in the short form below and Mike will reply himself to find a time.

Book a first conversation at enterprisingfamilies.com (thirty minutes by video, at no charge)

A first conversation is 30 minutes by video, and free. It's for business families thinking about working with us, and it isn't free advice: Mike will listen, tell you plainly what we do and don't do, and suggest a next step.

For now, please write to Mike through the contact form on The Business of Family, and tell him a little about the family: who's in it and who's in the business, what prompted you to get in touch, and where you're based. He'll reply within a few working days.

Write to Mike