YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A.J. Yash offered just seal coating when he started Yashphalt 20 years ago, but later added paving, concrete work and excavating.
Diversifying services expanded the number of months Yashphalt can complete projects in the Mahoning Valley. The business has since grown from one location to two, adding trucks, equipment and employees along the way.
Yash says the work takes him out of the office a lot. He works with his crew at job sites as they provide services throughout Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties.
His sister, Amanda Yash, joined the company as a partner two years ago. Having her take on the day-to-day office operations over the last couple of years has made a big difference.
“It became easier, actually,” A.J. says, “because I was doing pretty much everything. Now I’m taking on half the responsibilities and day-to-day responsibilities, so it has freed me up quite a bit.”
Trust and sharing in the responsibilities can give family-owned businesses an advantage and can help them grow.
There are an estimated 32.4 million family-owned businesses in the U.S., according to Visual Capitalists, accounting for 54% of the GDP.
A third of workers in Ohio are employed by a family-owned business, according to OnDeck. In Pennsylvania, it’s 34.69%.
Apostolakis Dealerships
John G. Apostolakis is president of Apostolakis Honda in Cortland and Shenango Honda in Hermitage, Pa., which is celebrating 45 years this year.
The Cortland dealership was founded in 1976.
“We will be celebrating our big 50th next year, so it’s really cool to have some milestones like that,” Jess Briganti, marketing director, says. “You can say that for many places in the Valley, but then at the same time, you see a lot of places come and go.”
Apostolakis employs several members of his family. They can be found sprinkled throughout the dealership in the sales and service departments.
Briganti says Apostolakis is a Howland native who is not planning to go anywhere anytime soon. While many dealerships in the area are being bought by regional chains, he has no plans of retiring.
Briganti says trust is important when buying a car or having it serviced.
“If you’ve been taking that car to somebody for the last 10 years, you want to maintain that relationship and we take great pride in that,” Briganti says.
Working with a family-owned business means customers get to speak directly with the people making the decisions.
At Apostolakis, all employees feel like family, Briganti says. For example, the entire staff recently took part in a luncheon to celebrate a strong month of sales.
“He wants to make sure everybody’s fed well, they’re having that fellowship together as a team, if you will,” Briganti says. “And it’s special. We get to have food trucks and fun, and there’s that family-like atmosphere.”
A study in the Harvard Business Review suggests a 9% annual turnover rate in family-owned businesses compared to 11% in nonfamily firms. Family-owned businesses tend to focus not just on payroll, but also in building trust and a strong work culture, the study states.
Simon Roofing
According to the Conway Center for Family Business, more than 30% of all family-owned businesses transition into a second generation and 12% will operate into the third generation. Only 3% make it to the fourth.
James Simon III and Anthony Vross Jr. are fourth-generation business owners at Simon Roofing, along with six of their siblings and cousins.
“If there are cons to working in a family business, at least in my experience, the pros have vastly outweighed them,” Simon says, adding he feels they are very blessed.
He gets to spend time with extended family on a regular basis, which Simon says he would not get a chance to do if they worked in eight different companies. And the fourth generation was able to take the burden off their parents when the time came.
Simon Roofing was very local when it started. When the third generation took over, “they really had a vision for what they felt like it could become,” Simon says. “It’s hard to believe what they were able to accomplish, just the three of them.”
Now Simon Roofing has a national name and presence with more than 60 service centers across the country. The company manufactures and installs commercial roofing products for repairs, restorations and replacements, backing its work with a labor and material warranty.
“I think now that we’re involved with their guidance, we have a vision of where we want to take it as well and we’re trying to build upon their work,” Simon says.
Yet Simon and Vross say there was not really any expectation that they would one day take over.
“How fortunate we all are to have this,” Vross says. “We weren’t forced to work here. We could have really done anything we wanted to do with life, and we all chose to be here.”
Although they may have come to work with their dads, they got to make that decision for themselves. Each of the eight brings their own skill set and pursues different interests in the company.
“There was a high likelihood that seven of us all wanted to be in sales or something,” Simon says. “How it all worked out, we’ve really been able to divvy up the company between each of us and each of us has our own little area that we run.”
And that brings Simon peace of mind, knowing he does not have to know everything and can trust the others to make good decisions on a day-to-day basis. Everyone comes together for major decisions.
“I’ve got somebody else who cares as much about this company as me, times eight,” Simon says.
Vross is the youngest and the last to come into the business. He says he had the benefit of “putting his feet” in all the departments first to see where he fit in.
“Everyone’s in the right area,” Vross says. “Another huge positive of working with family is we’ve known each other our whole lives and it makes it easier to have the tough conversations with each other, come up with solutions and just communicate.”
Pictured at top: Yashphalt’s location on Powers Way in Youngstown.