Ralph (not his real name) is ready to sell the business he started in 1989. He told me he had planned to retire in 2025, but he then said the kind of thing I have heard from others recently, “I want out now, the Covid slowdown has taken the wind out of my sails.” Ralph gave me a ten-year financial summary. The financial results would support a valuation of $8 million if you looked at results for 2012 through 2018. Read More
Second Generation Complacence
“Oh I just love this house,” Emily (her real name) said as she was checking out. “It’s a shame it's fallen into such disrepair. We have so many memories over the years, but we can’t stay here next time we’re at the beach.” Emily loves going to Seaside, a wonderful community on 30A in the Florida panhandle. Her family has been going there since her children were young. For the past few years, she and her husband Jim Read More
The Value, Yet Discomfort, of Selling to a Competitor
Robert (not his real name) is ready to sell his business. During our recent call to discuss the process, he described himself as “done, done being a business owner.” Robert took over the business from his father 20 years ago. Though he didn’t say it, I got the impression that being a business owner wasn’t Robert’s preferred career choice. I’ve seen this phenomenon before, when someone is essentially forced to take Read More
The Gift With Strings (not the good kind)
“I have decided it’s time I step away from my business, and I want to sell it to my employees.” Linda (not her real name) invited me to her plush office to discuss her retirement plan and to show me the awards her professional services company had won over the years. It was impressive, but I was more impressed when she started telling me about her side business, real estate investment. In 2004, Linda and her husband Read More
How to Handle the Surprise Offer
“Four million dollars is a lot of money, but I'm not sure if that's a reasonable offer. What do I do now?” Jolene (not her real name) had come a long way from a very humble beginning. Five years ago, she was summarily dismissed from the company where she had worked for 16 years. Jolene didn’t see the termination coming so imagine her surprise upon being walked out the door by security immediately after being told her Read More
When Your Vision is Just a Blur
“If a buyer has just a bit of vision for this business, they could hit it out of the park.” Paul (not his real name) was asking for my help to sell the business. At the age of 75, you’d assumed he was ready to sell, but he wasn’t the decision-maker. His 92-year-old uncle still owned the business that had been in the family since 1972. Paul had finally convinced his uncle it was time to sell. You think? Running a Read More
The Delicious, Yet Dangerous Valuation
Everybody has a friend like Mickey (not his real name), the lovable extrovert who is always working on his next big idea. “My new company has a $5 million valuation now,” Mickey excitedly told me at a recent social event. That valuation surprised me because I knew enough about Mickey’s latest idea to know it wasn’t yet worth anything near $5 million. “How did you get to that valuation?” I asked, to which he Read More
Can You Be Making Too Much Money?
Adam (not his real name) is an easy-going hard charger. Yes, that sounds like an oxymoron, but Adam is the kind of business owner who looks like a duck floating smoothly, but he’s paddling like crazy below the waterline. He is a second-generation owner, he took over a business his dad started and made it much better. But, the pandemic of 2020 hit Adam very hard. His business was not considered “essential,” so he was Read More
The Strategic Value of Overpaying ….Say What?
Morgan (not his real name) is going to have a nice exit from his business in about five years. Over the past four years, he has grown his company from annual revenue of $12 million to annual revenue of $35 million. About half of that growth has been organic, the other half has come through the acquisition of supporting businesses. What’s particularly cool about Morgan’s story is how thoughtful and intentional he has Read More
Success with No Marketing is a Sign of Weakness
“I’ve owned this business for almost twenty years, and I’ve grown annual revenue to $15 million doing no marketing. Imagine what a buyer could do if they just put focus on customer development.” Winston (not his real name) is 58 years old. He launched his company in the late ‘90s after getting laid off from one of Nashville’s largest hospital companies. Winston is a master relationship builder, I could tell that Read More
