Sales & Cigars | Navigating Business Transitions with Laurie Barkman | Episode 188

[00:00:00] Hey everybody, Walter Crosby with Healing Sales Development, your host of Sales and Cigars.

[00:00:04] Today's episode is for anybody that owns a business.

[00:00:08] Anybody that owns a business, my guest is Laurie Barkman.

[00:00:12] She got a great line early in the conversation.

[00:00:15] You are going to exit your business one way or the other.

[00:00:20] So let's listen to Laurie and the ideas that you have to help you transition your business.

[00:00:27] And there are tons and tons of ways that you can do this.

[00:00:31] And she has so many opportunities for you to learn about your business.

[00:00:37] She's got a great book, her website is full of content, courses, one-on-ones group sessions.

[00:00:44] So go grab a cigar, grab a cocktail, strap in for another fun episode of Sales and Cigars.

[00:00:51] Thanks.

[00:01:05] So Laurie welcome to Sales and Cigars.

[00:01:07] I appreciate you taking some time out of your schedule to have a chat.

[00:01:11] Hey Walter, thanks so much for having me.

[00:01:13] It's great to be with you.

[00:01:15] We met through mutual friend Nick Couchens and I appreciate him recommending you to be a guest on the program.

[00:01:25] Yeah, he's a great guy.

[00:01:27] He's connected to a lot of authors and he knows who would make a great podcast guest.

[00:01:32] So there you go.

[00:01:32] He's recommended a couple of people and everybody has been fun and entertaining.

[00:01:38] And I think we've added value to the audience.

[00:01:40] So, and your topic is something that's sort of a hot button with a lot of conversations I have with business owners.

[00:01:48] So let's jump in.

[00:01:50] I love to ask this question at the beginning.

[00:01:54] Is there a book that you gift a lot or that you reread yourself?

[00:02:00] Aside from your own, right?

[00:02:01] We'll talk about that.

[00:02:02] Is there one that kind of stands out for you?

[00:02:05] There's a book that I read in college that I reread over the years.

[00:02:08] It might surprise you.

[00:02:10] It's called The DOW of Poo and Poo is Winnie the Pooh, P-O-O-H Winnie the Pooh.

[00:02:16] So the DOW of Poo, so it's the DOW is a religion, so T-A-O.

[00:02:21] And Winnie the Pooh is such a great character.

[00:02:25] He's so innocent and how they these characters look at the world.

[00:02:28] And one of the characters in this particular story was the busy Baxon.

[00:02:34] The busy Baxon was never home.

[00:02:36] They were never home, they were never around and Piglet and the characters always wanted to meet and talk with the busy Baxon.

[00:02:44] But the sign ultimately for readers like you and me, when we read it, what it really says is busy back soon.

[00:02:53] And what struck me and what has stuck with me all these years is that I know I've been a busy Baxon.

[00:03:00] I haven't been as present as I could be.

[00:03:02] Someone's talking to me, my mind is going a million miles an hour.

[00:03:06] That's a sign of a busy Baxon and I have worked really hard, especially over the last 5-10 years to unwind some of those bad habits.

[00:03:15] And reading this book just reminds me that that's something we probably all have tendencies to do is not really be present.

[00:03:24] And it's hard, but I'm trying to be better at that.

[00:03:27] I don't want to be a busy Baxon.

[00:03:30] That's a great analogy to pull out of that.

[00:03:35] I mean, I watched Winnie the Pooh when I was a kid.

[00:03:37] And those stories we can relate to children, teenagers, adults.

[00:03:45] But that being present or slowing down, whatever cliché, take time to smell the roses.

[00:03:54] I think that's something that we all struggle with at some point because everything is so fast-paced.

[00:04:04] I'm old.

[00:04:05] I remember the speed of business was FedEx.

[00:04:12] They could get you a package of contract the next day.

[00:04:16] That was pretty cool.

[00:04:18] And then the fax machine came along.

[00:04:20] And now somebody sends you an email and they walk across the building and they read you.

[00:04:25] Did you read my email?

[00:04:27] It's crazy.

[00:04:29] We all need to chill out a little bit, I guess.

[00:04:32] Yeah, I mean, I would pride myself on being the ultimate multitasker.

[00:04:36] And then I look at my husband and he's like the opposite, right?

[00:04:39] He does one thing at a time.

[00:04:41] Now you could argue maybe that's a male-female thing.

[00:04:43] I don't know.

[00:04:44] I just know that's how I am and how he is.

[00:04:46] But I realized over time it's not good for me.

[00:04:50] You know, I used to think, oh, this is amazing.

[00:04:51] I can have all these things swirling in my head and all these checklists.

[00:04:55] But it creates a lot of anxiety, creates stress.

[00:04:57] And why?

[00:04:58] You know, let's just focus.

[00:04:59] Let's get things done that need to get done.

[00:05:01] Focus on the most important things.

[00:05:03] And this is going to lead into our conversation today is how do we make

[00:05:07] time for these important things and identifying what they are and making

[00:05:10] time for them?

[00:05:12] Absolutely.

[00:05:13] I love it.

[00:05:16] So I want to go back to the book though just for one last question.

[00:05:19] Like what made you pick that up in college?

[00:05:22] Right?

[00:05:22] Because if I remember the book, it has like Winnie the Pooh on cover, right?

[00:05:27] It does.

[00:05:29] Yeah, I think there was a book one and this was book two.

[00:05:33] And book one I read and just it really inspired me and I think this was

[00:05:37] book two.

[00:05:38] I can't remember the origin story of how I found it.

[00:05:41] We had back in the day, you know, you'd go to your college book

[00:05:43] store and everybody would read in paper.

[00:05:46] You know, there was no digital copies of anything.

[00:05:48] And I have a huge book collection.

[00:05:50] I've been collecting and, you know, now they're all color coded.

[00:05:53] But having that little red book and then having the little blue

[00:05:56] book, I don't know.

[00:05:58] I think it's just been a small little quick read.

[00:06:00] I remember sitting in the botanical garden.

[00:06:03] It was a moment as my senior year.

[00:06:05] I was reflective, appreciative and it just has come with me wherever

[00:06:10] I've been.

[00:06:12] Cool.

[00:06:13] So talk a little bit about your journey.

[00:06:17] Like how did you go from the botanical gardens to writing a

[00:06:22] book and helping people think about what they should be doing to

[00:06:25] that for business?

[00:06:26] There's about 25 years in between.

[00:06:28] My undergraduate focus was industrial labor relations.

[00:06:32] And so translation, I went into human resource management with a

[00:06:35] global manufacturing company and was in a management training

[00:06:39] program for four years.

[00:06:41] It was great experience.

[00:06:42] And I realized that HR is a good role as a wonderful foundation

[00:06:46] to understand management of people and processes.

[00:06:49] I worked in a manufacturing facility, non-union, three

[00:06:52] shifts, and my customers were everybody from the welder painter

[00:06:57] up to the corner office.

[00:06:59] It was an excellent first experience.

[00:07:01] And I realized, well, HR is kind of on the sideline.

[00:07:03] I wanted to be more on the front line.

[00:07:05] I wanted to be in general management.

[00:07:07] Decided to get my MBA and that was a really big pivot.

[00:07:10] And my pivot went from HR in manufacturing to marketing and

[00:07:15] technology.

[00:07:17] And getting my MBA was a mechanism to do that.

[00:07:19] And ever since then, I've been on a trajectory of, on the growth

[00:07:24] side of business creation, whether it's startups, whether

[00:07:28] it's large entities and being involved in corporate startups.

[00:07:31] And I've been in different industries from tech and logistics,

[00:07:36] transportation, software, education services, professional

[00:07:41] services.

[00:07:42] And I've really enjoyed that.

[00:07:43] And one of the key things that's tied all my experiences

[00:07:46] together is leaning in on growth and opportunity.

[00:07:51] I took a call from a recruiter back several years, almost 10 years

[00:07:56] ago now.

[00:07:57] And he said, I have a CEO position available for someone with an

[00:08:01] e-commerce background.

[00:08:02] It's literally in your backyard.

[00:08:04] I thought of you and I think you should go for it.

[00:08:07] And that little voice inside my head was like, why is he

[00:08:09] calling me?

[00:08:10] I'm not qualified.

[00:08:10] All the negative talk.

[00:08:12] And then lo and behold, as he told me after six months of

[00:08:15] this process, I got the green jacket.

[00:08:18] So I got the job.

[00:08:19] It was a CEO position running about $100, $150 million revenue

[00:08:24] business.

[00:08:24] It was a subsidiary of a privately held company.

[00:08:27] Company is a third generation, 120 plus year old business.

[00:08:32] My boss was the chair of the company.

[00:08:36] He was third generation.

[00:08:37] And they said in the interview process, like this is a long

[00:08:41] term type of succession.

[00:08:43] We're looking for somebody for the next 20 years, not the next

[00:08:46] two, which was music to my ears.

[00:08:48] It was fantastic.

[00:08:49] So excited.

[00:08:52] And what ended up happening was I was there for three years.

[00:08:55] And the reason why we went through an acquisition process is a

[00:08:58] pretty big acquisition, a global transportation company.

[00:09:03] And so being one of the key executives with the others,

[00:09:06] going through this process, understanding everything to

[00:09:08] keep the lights on and run the business at the same time,

[00:09:12] go through this very, very confidential,

[00:09:15] because this is a publicly traded company.

[00:09:16] So everything had to be highly, highly confidential and

[00:09:20] learning the insides of that from our experience,

[00:09:25] going through the integration, post closing and what that

[00:09:28] felt like and looked like.

[00:09:30] And it just really got me excited about this idea of

[00:09:34] mergers and acquisitions for privately held companies.

[00:09:37] I worked in private equity for a bit and was on the other

[00:09:40] side of the table and realized I'm a deal junkie.

[00:09:43] I really liked finding buyers and sellers,

[00:09:45] bringing them together.

[00:09:47] And lo and behold, my marketing skills are applied in a big

[00:09:51] way.

[00:09:51] They're supplied in a different way.

[00:09:53] Instead of marketing a product or service,

[00:09:55] we are marketing your company.

[00:09:57] And it's a very strategic, very C-suite kind of a thing to do.

[00:10:01] And I just found that my skills were very well positioned

[00:10:04] for that since I had been orbiting the C-suite for

[00:10:07] years.

[00:10:07] I serve on boards and again,

[00:10:10] very comfortable in the boardroom environment.

[00:10:13] And I think the other thing about it was I recognized,

[00:10:16] wait, you know, I would love to get a little more education.

[00:10:18] I got certified.

[00:10:20] Didn't have to, but I chose to get certified and got

[00:10:23] the designation as a certified mergers and acquisitions

[00:10:25] advisor, which has really honed my skills and kind of

[00:10:29] put it all together for me to add a ton of value

[00:10:32] for my clients.

[00:10:34] Hey everyone, Walter Crosby, your host of sales and

[00:10:37] cigars.

[00:10:37] Just want to let you heads up that next month we're going

[00:10:40] to do a series of episodes on prospecting.

[00:10:44] We're going to cover all of the basics, all the

[00:10:46] fundamentals, the things that are going to help make

[00:10:49] your sales team be consistent hunters.

[00:10:53] What are the prospecting tactics?

[00:10:55] What are the things that we know that work?

[00:10:58] Right?

[00:10:58] So how do we get prepared to do this?

[00:11:00] I'm going to go through all of this in four episodes.

[00:11:02] They're going to be just me.

[00:11:04] I'm going to be talking fast.

[00:11:05] I'm going to be talking about what we know works,

[00:11:08] what we know has worked for a long time and probably

[00:11:11] what your sales team isn't doing.

[00:11:14] So if you're a sales manager, if you're a sales person,

[00:11:16] if you're a sales leader or a business owner who

[00:11:18] wants to help your sales team, these episodes will

[00:11:22] be shortened to the point and they will be helpful.

[00:11:25] We'll grab a cocktail, grab a cigar and tune in

[00:11:28] for those upcoming episodes.

[00:11:30] Thank you.

[00:11:31] That's a very robust story with lots of moving parts.

[00:11:37] As you navigated all of that and you worked your way

[00:11:42] to a C-suite, how much did you encounter sales

[00:11:49] and sales organization?

[00:11:52] And what was that when you're managing a whole

[00:11:55] organization?

[00:11:57] How does that position as a CEO of a $150 million

[00:12:04] organization?

[00:12:05] How do you view the sales organization?

[00:12:08] Is it trouble?

[00:12:08] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:12:10] It was a really important part of the business.

[00:12:12] We had a very comprehensive sales process

[00:12:16] because we had multiple lines of the business model.

[00:12:20] We had an inside sales team and then we had

[00:12:24] an outside sales team.

[00:12:26] The inside sales team was more like pick up the

[00:12:29] phone, follow up with leads, email list, a lot of

[00:12:34] volume and they all had their own desk and

[00:12:38] sales targets.

[00:12:40] There was a supervisor who oversaw that team

[00:12:43] and then that rolled up to someone else.

[00:12:47] Ultimately there was a chief sales officer

[00:12:51] who was responsible for the direct sales team

[00:12:54] and the indirect team and the strategy for that

[00:12:58] as well as some other functions.

[00:13:00] So it was a pretty comprehensive group.

[00:13:03] It by head count absolutely was the largest

[00:13:05] group in the team and probably the most

[00:13:08] complicated too.

[00:13:10] But yeah, it was a big part of the organization.

[00:13:15] And besides reporting numbers at that point,

[00:13:19] is there another metric that you looked at to

[00:13:24] make a connection between marketing inside

[00:13:26] and outside sales?

[00:13:28] Was there a metric that tied those three together?

[00:13:31] Well, I guess just to keep it simple,

[00:13:33] this business was about acquiring inventory

[00:13:36] and then selling inventory.

[00:13:38] So we had a team that would do multi-year

[00:13:42] contract deals that involved operations.

[00:13:45] And so it was under the sales umbrella,

[00:13:47] but it was really a strategic sale,

[00:13:50] not necessarily a transactional type of thing.

[00:13:53] Whereas the sales desk, those were only transactional

[00:13:56] to sell inventory.

[00:13:58] So we were market maker.

[00:14:00] Okay.

[00:14:01] All right.

[00:14:02] That makes sense.

[00:14:03] So I mean a diverse background and you,

[00:14:07] where that landed was like you're a deal junkie.

[00:14:12] You liked that the action so to speak,

[00:14:15] but you like putting the pieces together and making sure

[00:14:18] there's a nice fit and everybody walks away

[00:14:21] winning and happy.

[00:14:22] Is that how it works?

[00:14:24] That's ideal.

[00:14:24] Absolutely.

[00:14:25] I mean, every time I do one of these personality tests,

[00:14:28] the comes back, I'm a connector,

[00:14:30] I'm a builder, right?

[00:14:31] So my role at desk is my clients

[00:14:35] or all the contacts I have

[00:14:36] and all the connections we can build together.

[00:14:38] Let's make it a win-win.

[00:14:40] And what I mean by that is that we're looking to

[00:14:43] get the right fit buyer.

[00:14:45] So there's tools at our disposal to try to do that research

[00:14:48] and have those connections to say,

[00:14:50] hey, let's bring some of these buyers to the table.

[00:14:52] But ahead of that is the strategy.

[00:14:55] Why do we think that this,

[00:14:56] these characteristics would be best fit buyer

[00:14:59] and then we can go from there.

[00:15:01] Is it a strategic?

[00:15:02] Well, what aspect of strategic buyer?

[00:15:04] Is it a financial buyer?

[00:15:05] Well, there's different kinds of financial buyers

[00:15:07] or are we talking about a related buyer?

[00:15:09] Which again,

[00:15:10] there's different characteristics of a related buyer.

[00:15:12] So it starts at this high level.

[00:15:14] We got to narrow it down.

[00:15:15] It takes a conversation.

[00:15:17] It's not a five minute conversation with the seller

[00:15:20] to understand, well, what is important to them?

[00:15:23] People time money, right?

[00:15:24] And so a lot of times we think,

[00:15:27] oh, it's the highest bidder that wins.

[00:15:29] On my podcast, I hear over and over and over

[00:15:31] that it isn't always the highest bidder that wins.

[00:15:33] It's the best fit.

[00:15:35] So we have to figure out strategy-wise

[00:15:38] what do we think is the best fit?

[00:15:39] Now as we go along,

[00:15:40] we might change, you know,

[00:15:41] the seller might change how they feel.

[00:15:43] They might think this is a non-negotiable

[00:15:45] and eventually it is negotiable and that's okay.

[00:15:48] But we have to have a starting point to work from.

[00:15:51] And so that's the strategic lens.

[00:15:53] It's super important.

[00:15:54] I think for me in my executive experience,

[00:15:57] I've seen enough, right?

[00:15:58] Been around the block and look around corners.

[00:16:00] That's part of my job is to help the seller

[00:16:03] because this is probably the only time

[00:16:05] that they're going to go through something like this.

[00:16:07] You know, whereas I've been through,

[00:16:08] you know, so many of these now.

[00:16:10] And there's a lot of advisors out there

[00:16:12] who have sold their business

[00:16:14] and then they turn it into a practice, which is great.

[00:16:16] But again, they still only have one data point.

[00:16:19] For me, I not only do the mergers and acquisitions work,

[00:16:24] I also do business transition advisory.

[00:16:26] So I understand the emotional side of this

[00:16:30] as well as the practical trans- transactional side.

[00:16:33] And I really emphasize in this conversation

[00:16:36] and every conversation I have,

[00:16:38] I do a lot of podcasts.

[00:16:39] I enjoy it so much to talk about the personal

[00:16:43] and emotional side because it's so easy

[00:16:45] to kick the can on all of this.

[00:16:47] And believe me, the personal side can gets kicked

[00:16:52] all the time, you know, with something that's tangible

[00:16:55] that we can understand numbers and calculations.

[00:16:58] You know, I like to say it's the head,

[00:17:00] the heart and the wallet, right?

[00:17:01] And we got to get all of these things aligned.

[00:17:03] And that's a big message for people listening

[00:17:07] who may find themselves in this space one day,

[00:17:11] which if you're a business owner is 100% of you, by the way.

[00:17:16] Everybody is going to leave their company one day.

[00:17:18] Let's just pause on that.

[00:17:20] It's a true statement.

[00:17:21] Everyone will.

[00:17:22] But the other fact is that so few business owners prepare.

[00:17:27] And the other thing that I've heard time and time again

[00:17:29] is that owners wish that they had started the process sooner.

[00:17:34] And when you're on your side, you can create more options.

[00:17:38] Yeah, the time always gives you options,

[00:17:40] I guess from that perspective.

[00:17:43] But so is there, is there a niche?

[00:17:47] I want to try to help the people that the listeners

[00:17:50] of the program to sort of self-identify as to

[00:17:55] that they might be a good fit for your transition services

[00:18:01] or consulting and M&A work.

[00:18:04] So is there a niche that you like to work in?

[00:18:09] Is there a type of personality that you like to work with?

[00:18:14] Because I really want to explore that too.

[00:18:18] Absolutely, yeah.

[00:18:19] Well, we can take the personality side first,

[00:18:22] and then we can talk about some of the other characteristics.

[00:18:24] The number one thing, if someone's going to work with me one on one,

[00:18:28] is that they need to be coachable.

[00:18:31] They have to acknowledge that they are coachable and they're open-minded.

[00:18:34] If they have all the answers already, then why do they need me?

[00:18:38] So someone who is a self-reflective coachable person is curious.

[00:18:46] They are going to ask good questions.

[00:18:49] They are appreciative of new ideas.

[00:18:52] They want to see what they're not seeing,

[00:18:56] and they want help and accountability.

[00:18:59] They want guidance and accountability.

[00:19:01] So those are some of the characteristics from a personality standpoint.

[00:19:06] Well, when you say accountability, the lawyer,

[00:19:10] somebody that's run a business for a while,

[00:19:13] how do you help them?

[00:19:15] What does that accountability look like?

[00:19:17] Oh yeah, that's a good question.

[00:19:19] I should clarify.

[00:19:19] Yeah, they want to do this work.

[00:19:23] They know they're kicking the can.

[00:19:25] They want to do it.

[00:19:26] And so me working with them creates space to do it.

[00:19:30] And so what I mean by accountability is they want to hold themselves accountable

[00:19:35] to do this work.

[00:19:37] And what I do is I bring a process to the table,

[00:19:41] set the stage.

[00:19:42] We have the meeting cadence.

[00:19:44] We have the agenda.

[00:19:45] And here's what we're going to work through in an over a period of time.

[00:19:48] And they really like that.

[00:19:50] They want to be told, hey, here's the stuff we need to work on.

[00:19:53] And I do it with them.

[00:19:54] I do it with you because I'll give you a homework assignment.

[00:19:57] Don't get me wrong.

[00:19:58] But for example, like today I spent an almost an hour going through

[00:20:03] an exercise that I call the skill fun box.

[00:20:06] And I could have assigned it to him to do on his own.

[00:20:09] But you know what?

[00:20:09] I wanted to do it with him.

[00:20:11] Builds trust and credibility in a new relationship.

[00:20:13] But also sometimes these things aren't obvious.

[00:20:16] And I have to pull, you know, I'm a good listener.

[00:20:18] I've done 160 probably at this point 200 podcasts.

[00:20:22] And, you know, you learn to listen for things.

[00:20:25] That's the other thing that I really enjoyed about podcasting is

[00:20:28] I'm a better listener by being on being on your show and being

[00:20:32] on other shows too.

[00:20:34] And then having my show.

[00:20:35] And I use that skill in a new way with these clients because

[00:20:39] I'm looking for clues and cues and things that I can feed

[00:20:44] back to them.

[00:20:45] And they're like, oh, you know, you've put that together in a

[00:20:47] way I hadn't really thought of.

[00:20:49] But all, you know, it's like puzzle pieces.

[00:20:51] And I really, I really enjoy that.

[00:20:55] It's there's an element of sales where we should be listening

[00:21:00] more than we talk.

[00:21:02] I mean that if we're talking, we're not in control.

[00:21:06] We should be listening.

[00:21:07] And it's and it's really if we're listening actively or we're

[00:21:12] listening well, then we are picking up the pieces and being

[00:21:17] able to connect those dots to help them see something that may

[00:21:21] have been right in front of them.

[00:21:23] But they have so many other perspectives.

[00:21:27] We can help them see something that is obvious to us but not

[00:21:32] obvious to them and connecting those dots.

[00:21:35] So that's a it's a great skill.

[00:21:39] And talking to people and interviewing people is a great

[00:21:43] way to listen.

[00:21:44] You learn to listen because you need to pull that pull some

[00:21:48] thread out throughout a conversation to, you know,

[00:21:52] Johnny Carson used to do that years ago because he listened

[00:21:56] and allowed the guests the space to talk.

[00:22:00] Not that I'm Johnny Carson.

[00:22:01] I'm Johnny Carson.

[00:22:03] I'm Johnny Carson.

[00:22:03] I'm Johnny Carson.

[00:22:04] So you work out the emotional part of this and they're

[00:22:11] committed and they know that they're kind of kicking the can

[00:22:14] around and they need somebody to help grab them by the arm and

[00:22:18] walk them down the path and point things out to them.

[00:22:22] That's right.

[00:22:23] And then the nuts and bolts, they're probably familiar with

[00:22:26] the nuts and bolts, but they're not familiar with what the way

[00:22:30] it needs to look to be able to position the company for a

[00:22:35] transition to sale or.

[00:22:36] I would say they're not familiar with the nuts and bolts.

[00:22:40] If they've never gone through an M&A process, they've never

[00:22:43] sold a company, you know, they're or they're, you know,

[00:22:46] to those people who are let's say, you know, one to three

[00:22:50] years out.

[00:22:51] If you're one, if you say you're one to three years out

[00:22:53] from selling your company, what that translates to for me is you

[00:22:57] really need to be starting the process now.

[00:23:01] Like right now if you say I'm five to seven years out, we've

[00:23:05] got a little bit of time, but not a ton, right?

[00:23:08] Because things always take longer than you think in certain

[00:23:11] industries it can take a year, maybe two depending on, you

[00:23:15] know, the complexity and finding best fit.

[00:23:18] You can get an offer doesn't mean it's an offer you're

[00:23:21] going to accept.

[00:23:22] So if a seller decides not to accept an offer, you got to

[00:23:25] keep going, right?

[00:23:27] And then folks who say 10 years out or longer, you know, they

[00:23:31] definitely don't feel the time pressure.

[00:23:34] I think that there's a, oh, the data supports it, that

[00:23:38] there are thousands and thousands and thousands of

[00:23:41] business owners who say they want to sell their

[00:23:43] business within the next five years.

[00:23:45] There's lots of surveys on this.

[00:23:46] And so five years is kind of a number that I'm using,

[00:23:49] you know, for that reason it just resonates too.

[00:23:52] It sounds far enough out but not too far out.

[00:23:56] But oh yeah, I mean I get plenty of calls.

[00:23:58] I want to sell my business now.

[00:24:00] Can you sell it for me?

[00:24:01] And I said well tell me about it.

[00:24:02] And I just got a call yesterday and the guy said, he

[00:24:06] said, well I'm a little small.

[00:24:08] I don't know if you represent small companies and I

[00:24:10] figured well let me hear him out.

[00:24:11] So he was under a million in revenue, well under

[00:24:13] a million in revenue.

[00:24:14] And I said well tell me a little more.

[00:24:15] Well I'm in this industry.

[00:24:17] Okay.

[00:24:17] How many employees do you have?

[00:24:19] Well just me.

[00:24:20] How old are you?

[00:24:21] I'm 62.

[00:24:22] I'm 65.

[00:24:24] Do you want to work with a new owner or do you

[00:24:26] want to retire?

[00:24:27] I want to retire.

[00:24:28] I want to sell in two months and I want to retire.

[00:24:30] And I said, you know what, good luck to you.

[00:24:32] You know this is probably, this is a great example

[00:24:35] of a company that's probably just going to close

[00:24:37] their doors because the buyer is going to look

[00:24:39] at that and say what am I buying?

[00:24:42] What am I buying?

[00:24:43] What is transferable?

[00:24:44] What is the value?

[00:24:45] There's price and there's value, right?

[00:24:47] Price is what you pay, value is what you get.

[00:24:49] That's what Warren Buffett says.

[00:24:52] So I respectfully said we're not a fit for you.

[00:24:57] I don't think, I didn't want to tell him but

[00:24:59] ultimately that is not a sellable business.

[00:25:02] And in the whole middle market you might see

[00:25:04] be surprised to know that of the companies

[00:25:07] that have an intention to sell, a lot of them

[00:25:09] don't and there's lots of reasons for that

[00:25:11] but this is one good example of one that

[00:25:12] won't most likely.

[00:25:14] Do you work with family businesses where

[00:25:18] a second generation needs to transition

[00:25:22] into a leadership role or ownership role

[00:25:25] and the first generation is a little skeptical

[00:25:29] or there's multiple children involved.

[00:25:33] Like, is that something you get involved in

[00:25:36] from transitioning from first to second?

[00:25:39] Maybe, you know maybe.

[00:25:40] I think many of the opportunities that I've,

[00:25:44] where I've talked to folks kind of have a mix

[00:25:46] of some or all of those characteristics.

[00:25:48] It can be first gen transitioning to second gen.

[00:25:51] In one case it was second gen coming to me

[00:25:53] saying hey I really need help with my father.

[00:25:56] He will not leave the office.

[00:25:58] It's really becoming an issue with morale

[00:26:00] and I put together a proposal to help with this

[00:26:03] and he said I'd love to do it.

[00:26:06] We just, we just can't you know for whatever reason.

[00:26:08] In another case it was a husband and wife

[00:26:12] and they have three sons and they wanted me

[00:26:15] to kind of help, you know help them come up

[00:26:17] with a strategy of evaluating the sons

[00:26:20] and there's the dynamic when you have to make choices

[00:26:23] or should they sell it with third party.

[00:26:25] So we had some diagnostic tools that we used

[00:26:29] and so it wasn't just opinion right

[00:26:31] and it was qualifying the process

[00:26:34] so that ultimately you know almost thinking about it

[00:26:37] being defensible within the family.

[00:26:39] And yeah I mean another you know prospect

[00:26:42] I haven't spoken with yet similar situation husband wife

[00:26:45] three sons and they're interested in coming up

[00:26:48] with a transition plan.

[00:26:50] So yes those are what I kind of say are in the advisory.

[00:26:55] Most of my clients say I have an intention

[00:27:00] to transition in the future you know maybe

[00:27:03] within five years I would like to understand

[00:27:07] how I can continue to build value

[00:27:09] or what measure what my value is today

[00:27:11] understand what my value could be

[00:27:14] and talk about options to get there

[00:27:16] and then also thinking strategically about the end game.

[00:27:20] You know what's the end game

[00:27:20] and how do we get there.

[00:27:22] So the book that I wrote is all about that process

[00:27:26] I call it strategic transition planning

[00:27:27] and it's essentially strategic planning

[00:27:29] but for a very different lens right

[00:27:31] this is not for the operational side of the business.

[00:27:34] This is typically me with the owner one on one

[00:27:37] when there's other partners involved

[00:27:40] and there's family involved obviously it gets more complex

[00:27:42] and I do get involved in those situations

[00:27:45] and I also have other strategic partners

[00:27:47] that I might bring into the engagement

[00:27:49] because there could be tax complexities

[00:27:52] and legal complexities and all these things

[00:27:55] where I'll create and collaborate

[00:27:57] and pull together the right team

[00:27:58] what I call the boat the business owner advisory team

[00:28:01] to make sure that we're all you know

[00:28:04] doing what we need to be doing

[00:28:05] every business and every family is a snowflake

[00:28:09] there are some common themes and pieces

[00:28:11] but largely each one of these engagements

[00:28:14] we have to figure out what is most important

[00:28:16] to work on and then go from there.

[00:28:33] So I mean you from a business perspective

[00:28:37] there's a lot of service companies

[00:28:41] that I've worked with over the years

[00:28:44] and the visionary right

[00:28:47] once they get a business up and rolling

[00:28:49] and it's starting to scale

[00:28:50] a visionary I see them get bored

[00:28:55] they have stuff that they want to give

[00:28:58] but their role in the company has been sort of

[00:29:01] compacted a bit

[00:29:02] and the team is handling things

[00:29:05] and they're all looking for ideas

[00:29:06] and trying to find acquisitions and things like that

[00:29:09] and I think those people

[00:29:12] they make a great

[00:29:15] podcaster right

[00:29:15] they have to have the commitment

[00:29:18] to go do the go do the episodes

[00:29:20] and be consistent about it

[00:29:22] but I think those folks like that

[00:29:24] that I think there's more there

[00:29:26] they have more to say than they think

[00:29:28] they don't need to do two and a half hours

[00:29:31] they can do a 20 minute podcast

[00:29:33] and add value to somebody and you know

[00:29:36] be on your way. So the mechanics of doing a podcast

[00:29:41] once a month once a week

[00:29:44] what's what do you recommend?

[00:29:46] I recommend weekly. I think we're just

[00:29:50] programmed when it comes to entertainment

[00:29:51] to have I mean Netflix and Hoolaer screwing that up

[00:29:54] but older guys like me and you

[00:29:55] that our shows came out on a weekly basis

[00:29:57] we had you got daily weekly

[00:30:00] and monthly what is a lifetime movie

[00:30:03] so it's more that I think

[00:30:05] a weekly thing gets you out there

[00:30:09] now every other week will work it's just going to take twice as long to build your audience

[00:30:12] you got to think every podcaster putting out everything

[00:30:15] you're doing is a chance to gain you subscribers

[00:30:17] is to build things is to have new content

[00:30:19] so when you have those chances by doing them every two weeks

[00:30:22] you're going to double the time it takes you to get to where you want to be

[00:30:26] kind of with the new thing

[00:30:28] with short form marketing stuff like that

[00:30:31] you can kind of expedite that a little bit better

[00:30:33] but if it's a weekly you just bang it out

[00:30:36] you get it done you get it produced you stay on schedule

[00:30:39] you stay consistent and that goes towards your brand too

[00:30:42] it shows that you're doing a product you're towards brand

[00:30:45] you're committed to it so I think that speaks a lot to your volume

[00:30:48] to your product as well of having that serialized commitment

[00:30:53] well yeah it does show a commitment

[00:30:55] and at the beginning

[00:30:59] my goal was to have fun

[00:31:02] talk to interesting people

[00:31:03] and add value to whoever was crazy enough to pick up the episode

[00:31:08] and listen to them

[00:31:09] and that's pretty much the same objective right

[00:31:13] I want to have a good time I want to learn something

[00:31:15] and I want to give some value to people

[00:31:17] whether that's coming from me or a guest

[00:31:20] or both ideally

[00:31:22] we're sharing thoughts that they can go put into action

[00:31:26] so that I think that

[00:31:29] it's a lot easier to get guests than people think

[00:31:32] am I wrong there?

[00:31:35] no it's kind of the deal what type of guest do you want

[00:31:38] now I'm going to talk about a negative and then we'll talk about a positive

[00:31:42] the negative is everybody wants everybody wants to either

[00:31:46] have a podcast or be on a podcast like you said

[00:31:48] so the pool of guests is massive

[00:31:51] in 20 minutes I could have a podcast this afternoon

[00:31:54] and have seven guests lined up for it

[00:31:55] are they quality guests are they the guests that you want

[00:31:58] are they the guests that further what your podcast is

[00:32:02] I think that's the bigger question there

[00:32:05] to when you're looking at podcast guest

[00:32:07] guesting being a guest all of those things

[00:32:09] make sure you just matched up with the right show

[00:32:11] and you're adding value to that show

[00:32:14] and you're adding value to the host and to each other

[00:32:16] I've seen a lot of mismatched podcasts that people go on

[00:32:19] and it's not their gig or their thing

[00:32:21] and I think that kind of hurts the host or the guest

[00:32:23] but just make sure that they are competent

[00:32:25] to do what you want them to do

[00:32:27] and make sure that they match your vibe

[00:32:32] they match the thing that you're trying to do

[00:32:33] and most of all pro tip out there

[00:32:35] is make sure they're willing to share your stuff

[00:32:37] a big thing to get your podcast to grow

[00:32:39] is I hate it when a guest comes on

[00:32:41] we have a great podcast I put them on

[00:32:43] and they don't share it

[00:32:44] we're trying to share those audiences

[00:32:45] so those are all things to look for in guests

[00:32:49] those are really good points

[00:32:51] and I have

[00:32:54] I look at it as a compromise

[00:32:57] maybe do it a relationship, a week moment

[00:32:59] somebody I've had

[00:33:01] I probably had four or five guests that like

[00:33:03] eh, that was I think

[00:33:06] right

[00:33:07] and sometimes it comes before the conversation

[00:33:09] sometimes it comes during the conversation

[00:33:13] I've had one where I

[00:33:14] there's only been one where I just said

[00:33:16] alright we're done

[00:33:18] because you're just not cooperating

[00:33:21] and it just doesn't make any sense

[00:33:23] and I literally didn't finish the recording

[00:33:27] and I deleted everything

[00:33:29] it didn't come back and haunt me

[00:33:33] but most of the time

[00:33:35] I can muscle through it

[00:33:37] damn sometimes it's hard

[00:33:38] and it's my fault because I didn't match it up

[00:33:40] like I said

[00:33:40] now my company and everything involved

[00:33:43] we've probably done a thousand episodes

[00:33:45] so we've had a lot of things we could talk about

[00:33:48] guests and stuff like that

[00:33:49] we do a lot of hey that was great

[00:33:51] we had a video problem, we put it on audio only

[00:33:53] like we've done that before

[00:33:55] because we want to release it

[00:33:56] no, dead serious, I'm giving a secret here

[00:33:59] if we want to do it

[00:34:00] and what's funny is that doesn't always happen

[00:34:02] sometimes we do have video problems

[00:34:03] it's a tech issue

[00:34:04] and we do have to do audio only

[00:34:06] when we try to reschedule those

[00:34:07] but if we just have a really bad guest

[00:34:09] we want to honor that

[00:34:10] we want to do whatever

[00:34:11] it's like hey there was a video issue

[00:34:13] we're going to release this in audio only

[00:34:14] and then we just quietly scored it out

[00:34:16] to one of the Spotify channels

[00:34:17] and be done

[00:34:19] the other thing is like

[00:34:21] dead serious

[00:34:22] one of the other things that

[00:34:24] like you said I used to have a show

[00:34:26] called small business chronicles

[00:34:27] and I started going through a PR

[00:34:29] firm getting authors on

[00:34:31] because I thought man I just want to talk to authors

[00:34:33] I like books or whatever

[00:34:34] I had to stop that because like

[00:34:35] 95% of authors would not

[00:34:37] talk about their books

[00:34:38] I would ask them something and they'd go

[00:34:40] blah blah blah it's in the book

[00:34:41] blah blah blah you know

[00:34:42] because they're just on there

[00:34:43] trying to sell books or whatever

[00:34:44] so if you're an author

[00:34:46] and you're going on there

[00:34:47] be willing to give away some of your book

[00:34:49] be willing to talk about it

[00:34:50] but that was one of the things

[00:34:52] like when you say yes

[00:34:53] that was the only interview I ended

[00:34:55] because I told them it could be a two to three hour interview

[00:34:57] because we were doing it in parts

[00:34:58] 20 minutes in I went alright

[00:35:00] I got enough

[00:35:00] and he's like I thought it was

[00:35:02] you know and I'm like no

[00:35:02] no if you're not going to talk about the product

[00:35:04] if you're not going to talk about your book

[00:35:07] there's no point in doing that

[00:35:08] that's another really good pro tip

[00:35:10] for people in the audience is that

[00:35:14] professionals

[00:35:15] you know like you know I'd like to talk

[00:35:17] about this aspect of my book

[00:35:19] because I have an offer that I can give people

[00:35:21] that's free for your audience right

[00:35:23] and that's awesome

[00:35:24] and I don't want them to give me

[00:35:27] the whole thing of the book right

[00:35:28] but you know if they've got 13 points

[00:35:31] they're trying to make let's talk

[00:35:32] about one of them and give them

[00:35:35] give the audience a reason to go

[00:35:37] they picked the one out of the 13

[00:35:40] that thinks it is comfortable

[00:35:41] I mean I have seven

[00:35:43] I have a book with seven mistakes

[00:35:45] that CEOs make and I'm like hey

[00:35:47] you know usually these two

[00:35:49] resonate with an audience

[00:35:51] so you pick

[00:35:54] and we and we

[00:35:55] and I give whatever I can give

[00:35:57] I give away all the pieces of it

[00:35:59] because then you want them to dive in a little bit

[00:36:01] so absolutely

[00:36:04] also if you have

[00:36:06] if you can give away all

[00:36:08] the value in your book in 30 minutes

[00:36:10] be a better writer

[00:36:15] there is that

[00:36:16] there is that

[00:36:18] there is that

[00:36:20] talk a little bit about

[00:36:22] like you know

[00:36:23] I want to have you on because

[00:36:27] you know

[00:36:28] we're changing the format a little bit

[00:36:30] we're changing the look and the feel of it

[00:36:31] but they also the

[00:36:34] I want to give you a chance to explain to people

[00:36:36] how you work and who's a real

[00:36:38] ideal customer for you

[00:36:43] the ideal customer for me

[00:36:45] 100% is somebody that's ready to do it

[00:36:48] is somebody that is ready

[00:36:50] to invest the time and energy

[00:36:51] as much as my podcast company does

[00:36:53] there is still a lot of time and energy on the host side

[00:36:55] my company does the thing

[00:36:57] to where we try to

[00:36:59] you find your guest, you collaborate

[00:37:01] you write your show

[00:37:01] you find your vibe

[00:37:03] and then we make that come alive

[00:37:05] so people that are ready to work

[00:37:07] the clients that I like the least

[00:37:09] or the people that I it's like pulling

[00:37:11] teeth to get things out of

[00:37:12] or to do those things

[00:37:14] so if you want a successful podcast

[00:37:16] number one be ready to have a successful podcast

[00:37:19] because that's what we're here to do

[00:37:20] outside of that

[00:37:21] a little backstory where I come from

[00:37:24] I started podcasting in 2010

[00:37:26] when I was a stand up comedian and I got into marketing

[00:37:29] I traveled down that marketing path

[00:37:31] for a long time became director

[00:37:33] of marketing of an Inc. 5000 company

[00:37:35] and decided that I

[00:37:36] I kept podcasting just

[00:37:38] hobbyist you know but I decided

[00:37:40] that I wanted to get out of the digital marketing

[00:37:42] space and do something more like

[00:37:44] this so I got a couple partners

[00:37:46] and we started the podcast company

[00:37:48] now we look at podcasting

[00:37:50] as a marketing tool

[00:37:52] so when we are looking at people

[00:37:54] we're wanting people that want to expand their business

[00:37:56] sell books that they want a clear

[00:37:58] benefit from their podcast

[00:37:59] that we look at it as a marketing

[00:38:03] think about content

[00:38:04] we all know with the birth of social media and youtube

[00:38:06] and tiktok content is king

[00:38:08] and if you record

[00:38:10] we're going back to that question

[00:38:11] if you record 30 minutes of content every week

[00:38:14] you now have 2 hours of content

[00:38:16] right for an entire month

[00:38:18] that you can split up and send in the newsletters

[00:38:20] you can do into emails, you can sponsor your own show

[00:38:23] if you're so inclined

[00:38:25] 120 minutes of content

[00:38:27] are 120 tiktoks

[00:38:28] if you want to break it down that way

[00:38:30] so people that are wanting

[00:38:32] to

[00:38:34] take their business

[00:38:35] have a marketing tool that puts them face to face

[00:38:38] like I said, thought leader CEO

[00:38:40] authors all of those people

[00:38:42] because we want that professionalism in the podcast

[00:38:44] no offense to hobby podcasters out there

[00:38:47] right

[00:38:47] if you want to grab and you want to hop on zoom

[00:38:49] and you want to do some podcasts

[00:38:51] and you want to do some things

[00:38:52] that's great, that's perfect

[00:38:54] what our company does is

[00:38:56] we try to elevate that above those

[00:39:00] we want to make sure that you have

[00:39:02] professional notes that is at CEO

[00:39:04] that you have

[00:39:06] the background stuff done as you can see

[00:39:08] it's visually pleasant

[00:39:10] it's edited well

[00:39:11] and not only that since I've been podcasting for years

[00:39:14] we do a lot of coaching

[00:39:16] equipment recommendations

[00:39:17] it's really like a podcast production

[00:39:20] editing, coaching

[00:39:22] marketing company rolled into one

[00:39:24] and we really strive

[00:39:26] to work with our clients to make sure

[00:39:28] that they have value out of it because who the hell has money

[00:39:30] to throw away on podcast

[00:39:32] unless it has some return

[00:39:33] whether it be emotional or whether it be physical

[00:39:36] or whether it be financial

[00:39:37] so we really strive to make sure we hit all of those

[00:39:40] markers as well

[00:39:41] and I think that's true

[00:39:43] you know

[00:39:46] we try to have a regular cadence

[00:39:48] you and I to have conversations

[00:39:52] I think there's a couple of things that came up today

[00:39:54] that we can talk about because I have a guest

[00:39:56] that we probably need to

[00:39:58] work that some editing magic on

[00:40:04] I think if you're thinking about it

[00:40:07] Ryan's a guy you can call up

[00:40:08] and run your ideas past

[00:40:11] have a conversation

[00:40:12] it's kind of a no bullshit

[00:40:14] he's going to help you

[00:40:15] he wants to create podcasts

[00:40:17] but he wants to create podcasts that are going to

[00:40:20] represent what

[00:40:22] represent him well

[00:40:23] represent yourself well

[00:40:24] as well as elevate

[00:40:26] the industry

[00:40:42] that's going to be a rewarding piece

[00:40:44] when somebody comes to you

[00:40:46] and I have a window that's reasonable

[00:40:48] and I want to figure out

[00:40:50] where I am today

[00:40:52] and then they can almost back into

[00:40:54] what they want to get out of the business

[00:40:57] if they do the right things

[00:40:58] along the way

[00:41:00] I mean that's

[00:41:02] that's the ideal scenario

[00:41:03] where they can position themselves

[00:41:06] to be acquired by somebody

[00:41:07] or position themselves to have a greater

[00:41:09] value to a buyer

[00:41:11] absolutely if we can measure your business

[00:41:14] today and baseline you

[00:41:15] let's say the value of your business

[00:41:17] is $500,000

[00:41:19] and we can determine

[00:41:21] a roadmap

[00:41:23] if we are able to move the needle

[00:41:25] on some intangible

[00:41:28] assets in the business

[00:41:30] some financial performance

[00:41:32] and some other things

[00:41:33] and what if we could literally

[00:41:35] double the enterprise value to

[00:41:37] $1,000,000 that's probably the biggest ROI

[00:41:40] from a consultant or advisor you'll ever see

[00:41:42] right I mean it's

[00:41:44] a huge huge opportunity when you

[00:41:46] are measuring enterprise value

[00:41:48] we're not talking about cost savings on

[00:41:49] shipping right we get excited

[00:41:51] about reducing shipping costs by 50%

[00:41:54] think about how many companies

[00:41:56] celebrate expense reduction

[00:41:58] and that's a good thing to do don't get me wrong

[00:42:00] but when you look at the impact

[00:42:02] of that expense reduction

[00:42:03] plus impact of all these other things

[00:42:06] and we recognize and I do the math

[00:42:08] with people so they understand the math

[00:42:09] hey you know dollar for dollar

[00:42:13] what is it

[00:42:14] that will move the needle on enterprise value

[00:42:16] and if

[00:42:17] they're a client of mine and we're doing valuation work

[00:42:20] then we also

[00:42:22] get a head start at looking at

[00:42:23] the market from a buyer's perspective

[00:42:26] because we are looking at comp deals

[00:42:28] you know competitive deals

[00:42:30] in their industry

[00:42:32] and it informs us in a really really

[00:42:34] you know analytical

[00:42:36] as well as strategic way

[00:42:39] so

[00:42:40] I mean

[00:42:42] a lot of moving parts

[00:42:44] for somebody to really think about

[00:42:46] and if they could double

[00:42:48] or you know just

[00:42:50] 50% increase of their valuation

[00:42:53] you know on today's

[00:42:55] today's

[00:42:57] today's valuation to get it

[00:42:59] to where they want it to be

[00:43:00] you know because you got other factors there right

[00:43:02] inflation

[00:43:04] the value of the dollar

[00:43:06] just all of those components are all going to be

[00:43:08] part of this but they might realize

[00:43:10] that they

[00:43:11] they're not able to get to that

[00:43:13] level that they really want

[00:43:16] so there might be some other strategy

[00:43:17] that they can work with

[00:43:19] so if somebody

[00:43:22] has a business

[00:43:23] that is

[00:43:25] you know 5 to 10 years out

[00:43:27] they should be looking at your book

[00:43:29] and reading through it

[00:43:31] and trying to understand

[00:43:33] the process

[00:43:35] because as you said

[00:43:37] you could you're going to exit your business

[00:43:39] it might just be you don't

[00:43:41] show up one day because you're

[00:43:43] done it might be

[00:43:45] you

[00:43:46] you tell it to your kids or an ESOP

[00:43:49] or that you try to position it

[00:43:51] so that you get the greatest dollar out of it

[00:43:53] so

[00:43:54] all of those things take time

[00:43:57] to evaluate your book is going to be

[00:43:59] a great place for them to start

[00:44:02] they can get

[00:44:02] your book they can start listening to your podcast

[00:44:06] all of this is available

[00:44:07] on your website

[00:44:09] correct that's the best place

[00:44:11] yeah my website is the business

[00:44:13] transition Sherpa.com

[00:44:15] the book is there

[00:44:17] and I have the podcast called

[00:44:19] succession stories

[00:44:20] and a course that I've developed

[00:44:23] to serve

[00:44:24] entrepreneurs who

[00:44:27] maybe are more budget conscious

[00:44:28] and really want to work on their

[00:44:30] self-guided time

[00:44:31] but I've also coupled that with group advisory

[00:44:35] so I'll still be with you on the way

[00:44:37] just in a group setting as opposed

[00:44:39] to 101 so from a

[00:44:41] meeting my clients where they are

[00:44:43] I'm really proud about this because

[00:44:45] that was a lot of the feedback

[00:44:46] not everybody has the budget

[00:44:48] right and so I appreciate that

[00:44:49] especially women-owned businesses

[00:44:51] many many of them are under 2 million

[00:44:53] in revenue just statistically

[00:44:55] in the United States

[00:44:56] and that's a segment that I care a lot about

[00:44:59] and I want to be able to have

[00:45:01] democratized access to my content

[00:45:03] so I created the book obviously

[00:45:05] is affordable but the course takes it

[00:45:07] to the next level

[00:45:08] I am with you all the way on your journey

[00:45:10] there's tools and video

[00:45:11] I mean it's so much to learn

[00:45:13] but you know what

[00:45:15] they got to put the work in and so the group advisory

[00:45:17] is intended to help answer

[00:45:19] questions and keep holding

[00:45:21] us accountable to the process

[00:45:23] and yeah absolutely if people want to work

[00:45:25] with me one on one I'd be so honored

[00:45:27] typically working with companies

[00:45:29] that are 5 million

[00:45:32] million in revenue and up

[00:45:33] but happy to talk to folks

[00:45:35] in the technical industry professional technical

[00:45:37] services is an industry

[00:45:39] that I serve quite often

[00:45:41] the um

[00:45:43] you also have a readiness

[00:45:45] assessments on your

[00:45:47] website can you talk briefly

[00:45:49] about what that

[00:45:51] what that deliverable is or just

[00:45:53] help somebody really realize

[00:45:55] I'm way I'm screwed

[00:45:57] I need a lot of help

[00:45:58] well for those of you out there

[00:46:01] who like the quantitative just to kind of know

[00:46:03] where you stand you'll really appreciate these

[00:46:05] and there's no charge

[00:46:07] if you want to take them they're on my site

[00:46:09] there there's

[00:46:10] one that will help you understand

[00:46:12] the value of your business

[00:46:14] and kind of a back of the envelope

[00:46:16] out of the box estimate of value

[00:46:18] you can get a good baseline

[00:46:20] the data is really pretty good I've tested

[00:46:23] it over and over so

[00:46:25] you if you put in accurate

[00:46:26] financials for the last three years

[00:46:28] you will all included in your custom report

[00:46:31] will be a list of the value

[00:46:33] drivers where you score

[00:46:34] versus your competition and aggregate

[00:46:36] on eight value drivers

[00:46:38] a total score and also

[00:46:40] an estimate of value and then

[00:46:42] if you want to meet with me and I'll talk about

[00:46:44] scenario planning of how can we move the needle

[00:46:46] um the other assessment

[00:46:48] is what's called a pre-score

[00:46:50] which is personal readiness exit

[00:46:52] again very very useful very eye opening

[00:46:54] I use it with clients

[00:46:56] you can get it right out of the gates you'll get your report emailed to you but

[00:46:59] I use it with clients

[00:47:00] we do a lot of planning

[00:47:02] with this tool because

[00:47:04] it asks us questions

[00:47:06] we haven't really thought about it gets us thinking about things

[00:47:08] about the personal readiness side

[00:47:10] and what can make an exit that we don't

[00:47:12] you know doing an exit that we don't have

[00:47:14] regrets on later

[00:47:16] those are really

[00:47:18] I love the idea of

[00:47:19] a course that provides

[00:47:21] in a group setting

[00:47:24] that's led with you

[00:47:25] led by you so that it's like done with

[00:47:28] you model

[00:47:29] I do some of that with my business

[00:47:31] and it's a great

[00:47:33] sort of intermediary

[00:47:34] step to get people moving

[00:47:37] and get comfortable

[00:47:38] and what's really cool is to

[00:47:40] watch people

[00:47:42] help each other

[00:47:45] you know sort of in that

[00:47:46] assault way of like you know I went through that

[00:47:48] piece and here's how we approached it

[00:47:50] we had this kind of an outcome

[00:47:53] but having it led by somebody

[00:47:55] who

[00:47:57] knows what that looks like

[00:47:58] and where they're going

[00:48:00] really that adds a lot of value

[00:48:02] for somebody

[00:48:04] maybe a smaller business

[00:48:06] absolutely

[00:48:08] I'm most excited about

[00:48:10] people getting access to the content

[00:48:12] earlier than they think they need it

[00:48:14] and so if anyone's listening thinking

[00:48:16] oh this isn't for me

[00:48:17] I challenge you on that

[00:48:19] even if you're a startup or you're a new company

[00:48:22] or you're a new pre-nourished just bought a company

[00:48:24] and you're new at this

[00:48:26] you think you're perfect

[00:48:27] you are perfect to read the book

[00:48:29] and learn from it now all times on your side

[00:48:33] one of the reasons you

[00:48:36] start a business

[00:48:38] is to figure out how to

[00:48:40] sell it after you made some money

[00:48:42] so I don't think

[00:48:44] it's too early to start thinking about that

[00:48:46] because it makes you think about

[00:48:48] your business differently

[00:48:50] it makes you think about like

[00:48:51] you're running a business so there needs to be

[00:48:53] processes in place

[00:48:55] and what if scenarios are there

[00:48:57] so I love it

[00:48:59] is your business a job or is it an asset

[00:49:02] a lot of times it's a

[00:49:03] job for people

[00:49:04] right and that's okay

[00:49:07] but if you want your business to be an asset

[00:49:09] there's things that you need to do

[00:49:11] absolutely

[00:49:13] we'll have the website

[00:49:15] in there, we'll have all your social media in there

[00:49:17] but I really encourage folks

[00:49:18] to go look at

[00:49:20] the website and the bottom

[00:49:23] of the fold there's a bunch of information

[00:49:25] that's available to help

[00:49:27] and don't think you're too early

[00:49:30] so last question

[00:49:31] Laurie, pastor, president

[00:49:33] any relationship with cigars?

[00:49:35] there is a

[00:49:37] very interesting tradition

[00:49:38] in my two kids

[00:49:40] they went to a private high school

[00:49:42] and for whatever reason

[00:49:44] when they graduate on the football field

[00:49:47] or wherever their graduation is that particular day

[00:49:49] which is usually hopefully

[00:49:51] outside on the football field

[00:49:53] after all the ceremonies

[00:49:54] and the students are hugging each other

[00:49:56] and the families are taking photos

[00:49:58] someone is passing around cigars

[00:50:01] I don't know where this started

[00:50:03] it's hilarious you literally see

[00:50:05] the kids you would never think

[00:50:07] to have a cigar in their mouth and they do

[00:50:08] and the pictures are great

[00:50:10] it's a wonderful fun tradition

[00:50:13] and of course parents end up taking them too

[00:50:15] so that's the one I think of

[00:50:17] that's kind of cool

[00:50:18] it is a

[00:50:21] celebratory thing

[00:50:22] in a lot of folks minds

[00:50:25] but that's cool that

[00:50:26] the school allows that to happen

[00:50:28] yeah

[00:50:32] like I said it's

[00:50:32] outside I think if it's

[00:50:34] raining I don't know if there is

[00:50:36] appreciative of it but

[00:50:39] I was walking through a college campus

[00:50:41] at

[00:50:43] I was out

[00:50:44] business meetings and I

[00:50:45] got up early to go for a walk

[00:50:47] and I was walking through

[00:50:50] the

[00:50:52] road

[00:50:54] through campus

[00:50:55] nobody's there school is not going on

[00:50:58] and

[00:51:00] it's 6 o'clock in the morning

[00:51:01] and one of the

[00:51:04] little security guys

[00:51:06] came by and he was like you're not supposed to be smoking

[00:51:08] on property

[00:51:10] they're like okay

[00:51:12] good to know I'm

[00:51:13] trying to get off property here

[00:51:15] he just kind of sat there

[00:51:17] and watched me to make sure I wasn't going to

[00:51:19] hang out in an empty

[00:51:21] parking lot of a university

[00:51:24] so

[00:51:25] that's a little sensitive to schools

[00:51:27] but that's a great story, great tradition

[00:51:29] appreciate you sharing that

[00:51:31] really folks

[00:51:32] if you own a business and there's most

[00:51:35] of the people that are listening to this

[00:51:37] podcast, own a business

[00:51:39] go grab the book

[00:51:40] you can get the book on the website as well

[00:51:43] it's just a plethora of resources

[00:51:45] so thank you

[00:51:46] I really appreciate a lot of value for the audience

[00:51:49] thank you

[00:51:50] oh thanks for having me it was a lot of fun