Every other month, Don Raleigh III heads west from St. Paul to Sioux Falls to join a group of people who have become a priceless part of his work-life world.

“I don’t even have the words to communicate how connected I feel with my group,” Don said of his Affinity Peer Group organized through the Prairie Family Business Association.

“I truly feel like they’re part of my team. I’m beyond thankful for the partnership with my mother and father, but gaining the perspective of people who have been through the same exact situations and conversations in a family business has brought advice that’s impacted not just our bottom line but our broader family dynamics.”

Recently, Don’s peer group repaid the commute, meeting in the Twin Cities for a trip that highlighted both the professional value they find together as well as the personal friendships they’ve formed.

The next-generation leaders toured Raleigh’s family business, Evolve Systems, which was founded by his parents, Donald and Marnie, in 2002 and spent some social time lakeside.

“Marnie and Don are passionate about multigenerational family businesses,” said Stephanie Larscheid, executive director of the Prairie Family Business Association.

“They come from a family tree filled with entrepreneurs. They engage with our families and have been a willing resource for fellow family business owners and next-gen leaders.”

A multidimensional business, Evolve Systems specializes in branding, website design and development, SEO and digital marketing. Sister company Evolve Payment specializes in merchant processing, offering business owners multiple ways to accept payments, including surcharging and dual payment options, and merchant services needed for e-commerce projects.

“One of our favorite things is working with family businesses,” said Marnie Ochs-Raleigh, who serves as CEO and client champion. “We see many situations where Mom and Dad built the business with their blood, sweat and tears. And the second generation comes in and knows they need to pivot because the business climate has changed and maybe they need to embrace new or different marketing techniques as they position themselves for the future.”

Embracing evolution

It’s a narrative Marnie uniquely understands as a sixth-generation family business entrepreneur who grew up in her family business, a manufacturer rep agency for commercial construction products. Before that, her grandfather owned St. Croix Rod and Reel, a fishing equipment business in Wisconsin, and before that, the family-owned lumber mills.

Her early career years in the family business included working in the warehouse, administrative and eventually sales, where she focused on working with architects and engineers, general contractors and subcontractors – “selling everything that went on the outside of a commercial building” – until she stepped away from it to raise her four children. Husband Donald specialized in IT and web development for the finance industry and was working in a corporate role when a merger would have required the family to move to New York for an office on Wall Street.

“It was either move the kids to New York or we said, ‘It’s time to start our own company,’” she said. “He was building very large websites at the time and involved in anything requiring technical IT expertise and e-commerce.”

Initially, Evolve Systems was focused on delivering back-end development work for clients’ websites, but it quickly evolved – hence the business name – into other opportunities. That included helping businesses structure their websites for online sales, and about a decade ago, it led Evolve Systems to become a full-service digital marketing agency.

There now are 21 team members, including a recent agency acquisition in the Twin Cities, plus a handful of fractional team members.

“We’re very strong with SEO (search engine optimization) – it’s one of our benchmarks – and we manage a lot of pay-per-click campaigns and have grown to work with clients coast to coast,” Marnie said.

Donald now serves as president and chief strategy officer, while Don III originally envisioned himself working in international diplomacy before being drawn to the family business during college after taking a business class that explained various types of businesses.

“They talked about how family businesses are where crazy people work with their spouses and family within their own organization, and I said, ‘Wait a minute, I think my family has a family business,’” he said.

Growing up, he and his sisters spent weekends at the office playing in the conference room, which evolved into taking coding classes. While his sisters both used their software skills in corporate jobs, he joined Evolve Systems nine years ago first as a front-line sales team member and now as revenue operations manager, leading the sales and account management team and managing revenue growth.

“The work we do is impactful and fulfilling but also affects our clients in their daily lives by making their business operations more effective and efficient,” he said.

Family business focus

When Evolve Systems begins working with a client – especially a family business – the team enjoys creating a “brand playbook.” It’s a way “to help businesses be able to work through a brand refresh while talking about their brand voice and pillars, what sets them apart, their mission, core values and who their ideal clients are,” Marnie said.

“It helps a company clearly communicate in a consistent voice, focus, culture and their campfire story, so all the departments in the company are aligned.  From this important starting point, we move on to refreshing websites and marketing materials, with the goal of elevating their branding to add enterprise value, which helps position the company from one generation to another. Preserving Mom and Dad’s legacy and sharing the story with new clients is an important piece of history we don’t want to overlook.”

Because Evolve is committed to its own continued improvement and culture as well as assisting other family businesses, the company has been an active participant in Minnesota’s family business community for years. Through those relationships as well as Evolve’s use of EOS, the Entrepreneurial Operating System, they learned of Prairie Family Business Association, and Don attended the annual conference more than five years ago.

“The biggest thing that stood out to me was the authenticity and the conversations between families,” he said. “I’d never been challenged before about how I can be a better child in a family business and understanding what it means to be the legacy the family business needs.”

He came back from the conference saying “this was the most amazing experience, and we need to be a bigger part of it,” Marnie said. “The next year, he attended in person, and I participated virtually. After being introduced to the conference, we made the commitment to be in person.”

Shortly after, she joined the advisory board. Now, each year after the annual conference, parents and son use the car ride back to St. Paul to connect about what they’ve absorbed and where they’re at in their family business journey.

“It’s the most productive time for us,” Don said. “We’re able to be authentic with each other. Since then, I’ve joined the peer group, and we’re trying to participate with everything else offered as much as we can.”

They’ve learned to balance their own work-life roles by maintaining “very clear swim lanes,” Marnie said of working with her husband and son. “There are times we have to say, ‘I’m the wife right now,’ or Don will say, ‘You’re in charge, you need to make that decision.’ So it’s very clear who is needing to take the baton and move us forward, and Don gets to sit in the middle and watch us navigate the conversations.”

It’s a tough role, she acknowledged, and her son “does a really good job inserting when he needs to and walking away when necessary,” she said.

As they work toward an eventual transition – Donald likely will retire sooner than Marnie, though she jokes she’s also looking forward to what the next phase in life could look like – they’re drawing on resources from their Prairie Family Business Association relationships to learn how to make this transition as smart as possible.

“The first step is putting plans together and making sure as we’re making these decisions we’re setting the team up for success and preparing them to be able to lead the different management roles,” Marnie said.

They’ve also helped connect several other family business members to the association. In September, Prairie Family Business Association will hold a regional economic market outlook and family business panel in the Twin Cities. The Raleigh family said they’re looking forward to connecting with those who are in ownership and/or leadership with family members at this family business event.

To learn more and register, click here.

“The feeling of family feels much stronger the more you connect with other members,” Marnie said. “Stephanie does an amazing job staying in touch with us, her team makes us feel like we’re part of everything going on in Sioux Falls, and they do an excellent job with communication. The feeling you get when going to one of their events is like you’re coming home to family, they just get it – all of it.”