Jamie Kerchner and his daughter Chrishelle Gavoni

It is hard to know what we will ask of others when we are on our deathbed. For James Kerchner it was about keeping his legacy alive. It was not about his name (although his daughter Melissa did name her first born daughter “Julia James” in her dad’s honor), rather, James (known as “Jamie”) wanted assurance that the business he had spent his entire adult life building would keep going and growing. For that, he turned to his daughter Chrishelle.

Chrishelle, who lives in Plymouth, had worked for Jamie right out of high school and knew the business inside and out. The company, called Diversified Solutions, Inc., provides a psychometric profile (a personality test) on individuals applying for jobs in the insurance, hospitality, and food industries. Chrishelle had always worked in the back office processing the forms, but she knew nothing about the sales side of the business, which is what Jamie did.

At the time of Jamie’s request, Chrishelle was working for an insurance agency, a place where she was happy and comfortable, and didn’t want to leave. But Jamie’s words--- his wishes—played over and over in her head.

“I felt overwhelmed,” Chrishelle remembers. “He was a legend in the industry and I worried that I would not be able to fill his shoes.”

But a few weeks after the lung cancer took her father away Chrishelle called the lawyer and took over the business.  She was extremely scared, she admits, but her dad's other words also echoed in her head. “He said, ‘I believe in you, trust me on this.’ And I did.”

She knew it was a risk, especially since Jamie wasn’t there to answer questions about existing clients or to bounce ideas off of. She was in it alone for the most part, other than her husband, Chris, who encouraged her every step of the way. 

And, she knew if she didn’t grant her father’s wish that she would forever regret it.

“I had to do a lot of soul searching, and, with every business move, hope that I made the right decision,” Chrishelle says. “But I would get a gut feeling when I felt I made the right one, and I often thought that it was my dad guiding me in that direction.”

It took a good year to get comfortable. Now, four years later, Chrishelle is the President of Diversified Solutions and continues to build out the business by branching into new industries.

Her advice to others who are not sure whether or not to take over a family business or to pursue a dream: “Don’t be afraid to take a chance. If you fail in the end, at least you can say you gave it your best, nobody can fault you for trying.”

By Stephanie Neil

Stephanie Neil is a journalist. Her business, technology, and human interest stories have appeared in a variety of print and online newspapers and magazines including eWeek, Managing Automation, The Harvard Alumni Bulletin, Huggies Baby Network, South Shore Woman, and The Boston Globe.  She lives on the South Shore with her two kids, two cats, and a dog. Contact info: stephanieneil@comcast.net  or 781-378-1652. Follow her on Twitter @StephanieNeil