He wound up firing the whole team and fixing the business, mostly by getting rid of all the stuff they added.
Sands says most people who own a family business don't want to bring in outsiders either because they've heard horror stories from those who have-like himself-or they're control freaks and can't relinquish power.
"You can't have an entrepreneur without having ambition, and you can't be an entrepreneur without being a control freak," Sands says.
Then there are the unquantifiable factors that might have made a business work for the person who founded it but may not work for a smart consultant brought into management. His firm was fashion-oriented, and his family managed to pick colors that were in demand from year to year. But if you bring in someone who gets the colors and hemlines wrong one season, you're toast, he says.
But more than that, owners don't mind picking up garbage in the parking lot, or driving to some small boutique in Alabama to make a sale. Outsiders aren't as likely to do that, Sands says.
"But heck, that's the whole business. We're selling to folks like that. The owner has no ego when it comes to the customer base," Sands says.
"Fancy-pants management guys" may not feel the same, he says.
"My advice is, build it, sell it, and do it again if you want to. But don't even try to move it on to the next generation or someone else outside," Sands says.