Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Being a father to my family and a husband is to me much more important than what I did in the business.
My dad's a photographer. So I suppose he named me Ansel just in case I would take over the family business. I guess I failed him.
On the rare occasions when my family talked about business, the subject was Kansas City's Boss Pendergast and his potential for muscling my dad's small gravel-and-sand operation.
My mother has always kept the entire family together - my dad, due to his business, has always been travelling, and hence, she at times had to play the role of a father and a mother as well.
I didn't have any pressure to join my dad to help with the family business. I don't think he needs any sort of support at all. That said, whenever he needs my help, I will always be there for him.
Being the way I used to be didn't really fit the family profile. I was always loved but if, say, Dad had an interesting business idea I'd be the last person he'd want to share it with in case I blew the lid on it.
We came from a family where we ran our own small business. Our dad made his own products. We made our own sausages, our own meatloafs, our own pickles. Dad had to do everything himself. He had to figure out how to finance his business.
I was the youngest of four kids, and Dad, who had a garden centre before he retired, came from a large Lancashire family. Every one of my uncles had their own business, including a post office, two fish and chip shops and a painting and decorating business.
Coming from a large immigrant family, my parents didn't encourage a lot of 'play' when I was growing up. It was hard to get my Dad to even sit down to watch television with us (he'd watch it standing up, always ready to go do something more productive). Downtime was discouraged, as was any college degree that wasn't law, medicine or business.