Being Too Trusting

By Andrea Tintrup, President, Tintrup Dental Lab, Inc., Mount Vernon, NY

When my husband, Frank Tintrup Jr., passed away 18 years ago, I found myself in the position of having to run a dental lab with no previous experience. My husband’s minority partner—I’ll call him John—did not expect me to succeed my husband and when he found out I was staying on as the majority partner, he was not happy about it to say the least. 

However, with three young children, I really didn’t have a choice, so I began my career at the lab reassuring all employees that we would stay open and they would continue to receive their salaries. I had a lot to learn and asked them to be patient and have faith in me. 

I had a background in finance and, while going...