Keeping the business in-house

By Jessica Demovsky, Marketplace Magazine

 
For 35 years, being a Doneff has meant being part of the family business.

As children, siblings Anton and Sarah Doneff had no clear-cut plans to follow in the footsteps of their father, mother and uncle and become a part of the Doneff Cos., a property management firm based in Manitowoc.

Yet in their 30s, that’s where they find themselves. And it suits them just fine.

“There’s the old adage ‘Do what you love;’ in my case I learned to have a passion for what I do,” says Anton, 38. “It wasn’t what I was anticipating. It wasn’t love at first sight.”

When Anton graduated from Marquette University in 1995 with undergraduate degrees in psychology and Spanish, he assumed he’d stay in Milwaukee and find a job, but the prospects were unappealing for a recent graduate in either of those fields. Suddenly, the overtures his father had made about joining the family firm were starting to sound better. By the end of the year he was managing five properties for Hometown Apartment Communities, the apartment management division of Doneff.

From that first step, he’s learned a lot about the business: “Treat people well. Rental housing is sometimes thought of as a temporary or transitional living situation, but it never ceases to amaze me how often satisfied residents return or refer a friend or family member. In fact, we often have relatives living in different apartments at the same community.”

Although Sarah admits that working for the company was always something she considered, she gained her business savvy outside the family enterprise first. When opportunities such as working in marketing in Chicago, teaching Spanish in Ecuador and owning her own shop in Door County presented themselves, a job with Doneff was shelved.

But in 2007, that changed when Sarah, 30, took on the role of property manager of HAC along with Anton, who is also the owner of the family business founded by their father, Robert.

At one time, Robert’s brother and wife also were part of the company, which has built and manages more than 700 apartment units across Eastern and Central Wisconsin.

“The phones [from the properties] were forwarded to our house,” recalls Sarah of growing up in a family business. When remembering standing behind her mom while she was on the phone explaining the features of an apartment to a potential tenant, Sarah does a pretty good imitation of her mother’s litany: “I used to have everything memorized; it was so ingrained into our day-to-day family life.”

Although their parents have officially retired, both Doneff siblings still rely on their knowledge and advice; at a dinner or even a trip to a store, if members of the family are together, business is likely to come up.

“My mother was training me [when I first started] and I eventually took over one of the properties that she had managed at one time,” says Anton. “She knew that property so well, I still find myself asking her about it.”

“Because it’s a family business, it sort of melds into our personal lives a lot,” says Sarah. “We do talk business [at family get-togethers]. We try to keep it to a minimum, but it’s not so bad actually; we can pick up the slack for each other. We can help each other out personally as well.”

But the Doneffs are your typical siblings: “We had 18 years to practice fighting — then bugging each other at the end of the day,” Sarah jokes about growing up with her only sibling.

“We did not necessarily always get along. I definitely antagonized her growing up,” says Anton. “I still remember the nicknames we had [for each other] growing up.”

Working on a daily basis with someone who you are that familiar with has its disadvantages, they both admit.

“Part of it is having that history together,” says Anton. “With a sibling you have certain expectations — call them preconceived notions, right or wrong — of how [that person] will act or what she’s going to do. You think you know how she’s going to act, and that’s not necessarily” the way it happens.

“Knowing each other like brother and sister, there’s an inherent trust level, a different respect level — because of the level of familiarity.”

“We know we can always trust each other no matter what and that’s hard to come by,” says Sarah. “We understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses — we work well together. [I know] I can express myself with him in all honesty.

“We really complement each other well; we’re not similar personalities. [Anton] likes to think things through a lot and I’m more rash. He’s very analytical; he has the patience to analyze deeper into issues” than she does.

On a separate occasion, Anton uses the same word to describe Sarah and then laughs about it:
“We’re both patient or impatient at different times. We have a different skill set — I would describe her as more patient. And I actually would describe myself as analytical; I have to push myself to be that way because I didn’t go to business school. I have to push myself to learn those things, to do the things that didn’t come easy.”

The siblings aren’t the only ones who see that they complement each other well professionally. Mike Molepske, CEO of Bank First National, is the company’s banking advisor and a family friend and has watched Sarah and Anton grow together as business partners.

“The two of them complement each other so well,” he says. “They’re both very open and willing to learn; both admit to what don’t know and seek to garner that knowledge.

“Anton asks, ‘Take a look at the analysis, let me know what you see.’ He’s open to insights from others and continually looking to learn; he’s open to looking for flaws in his assumptions. [Sarah’s] the people person. You meet her and it takes you all of a moment to see that she’s somebody who is very articulate, very sharp and you say, ‘She is someone I want to get to know.’”

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