A summary of things you should know about Finish Big according to Bo Burlingham: Introduction In this episode Bo Burlingham takes a deep dive into his book, Finish Big, whereRead More
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]]>In this episode Bo Burlingham takes a deep dive into his book, Finish Big, where he discusses how great entrepreneurs exit their companies on top.
In his book Burlingham dissects dozens of interviews he made with entrepreneurs that have left their companies and pieces together actionable information that all business owners must know about creating a solid exit plan. The goal of the book is to help you find the right time to exit a business, overcome the stress of leaving a company, and leave your company in better shape.
This book is perfect for seasoned entrepreneurs who are close to meeting all their business goals and are ready to start planning an exceptional exit from their organization.
There are very little amount of books out there on exiting your business and the ones that are out there are all about the financial side of it. This book focuses on the emotional side of things after exiting your business. There are true stories of people who have sold their business and explain what they went through good and bad.
I tried to set the book up so that the reader could jump and in out where needed but you can also read straight through.
If it was only one thing that you could take out of the book I would say it is that you need to start preparing for it early. There is no point that is too early to start preparing and thinking about your exit.
What you will find throughout the book is stories of real people having real experiences in exiting their business.
The introduction is the story of how the book came to be written. I wanted to know the difference between a good exit and a bad exit and in order to do that I had to figure out what a good exit was. I came up with five qualities of a good exit and one is that at the end of the process you feel as though you’ve been fairly treated and appropriately rewarded for the work that you did in building the business. Number two is that you have a sense of accomplishment and you can look back with pride on what you did when you had the business. Number three you are at peace with what has happened to the other people who were on the journey with you. Number four is that you have a new sense of purpose outside the business. And finally it is important to some that the company is still thriving without them.
Chapter one begins with a story of a very good exit and the title of the chapter is Every Journey Ends. You must think about your experience as a business owner as a journey and it’s a journey that has a beginning, middle, and an end. Building a company is the middle of the business and the end of the business is when you decide to leave that company. The other thing I want people to understand is the exit is a phase of the business and not an event. You have the startup phase, you have the growth phase, you have the maturity phase, and you have the exit phase. There are four stages to the exit stage; the first one is what I call the exploratory phase which is when you are educating yourself about what the possibilities are. The second stage to the exit phase is the strategic phase which is when you have an idea of the kind of exit you want and you go about building into your company the qualities that are going to allow you to have that kind of an exit. The third phase is the execution phase, when you actually go out and look for a buyer. Most people start at the third phase without going through phases one and two and it’s a huge mistake. The fourth phase is the most difficult and that’s the transition phase. That’s after you’ve sold the business, what happens between the sale of the business and whatever comes next.
When I looked at the difference between the good and bad exits I came up with seven and a half factors and I really structure the book around those factors. So chapter two is titled Who Am I If Not My Business and it’s about the importance of knowing who you are, what you want, and why. This is something that I have found over and over again in all the years that I have been covering entrepreneurs. Those who do best in terms of building a business and do best in terms of exiting a business have worked very hard on trying to figure out who they are, what they want, and why. The second factor has to do with building a company that’s sellable and what I mean by that is one you can sell when you want, to whom you want, at a price you want. There is something called a forced sell and that happens when something you totally don’t foresee comes along when you have a very good company and all the sudden something happens that catches you by surprise and then you are forced to sell it. It’s very important to understand what a sellable business is and I write about the eight factors that go into it and I also give you other places to go to learn about building a sellable business. The third factor has to do with time. Most business owners do not give themselves anywhere near enough time to do the preparatory work and when I talk about time I am talking in terms of years, not months. The fact is there is no point too early to start at least the exploratory phase and you can do that even before you start the company. The next point is related to not having enough time and that’s about having a successor. And for a lot of people you need to give yourself a lot of time to have a successor.
Chapter six has to do with making sure you get the advice you need and I make a very strong case in here for making sure you have a guide who has been through himself or herself before. These guides have a perspective on it that is different from the perspective you will get from an exit professional because they know the exit doesn’t end with the deal. It’s not over for the business owner and you need somebody guiding you who will understand that. The next factor has to do with what happens to the other people who you’ve been on the journey with. Nobody builds a company alone and you need to be at peace with whatever is going to everyone else who has been with you on the journey.
The sixth factor is what I call Let the Seller Beware. If you are selling a business it’s easy to forget that the buyer is also selling themselves, they are selling themselves that they are going to be a good owner of the company. It’s very important to understand why the buyer wants your business.
The final chapter is called Over The Rainbow and after the sell itself which is sometimes the hardest part. I’ve realized in writing this chapter that there are a lot of things that people get out of their businesses that they are not aware of until they don’t have them anymore. For example a sense of purpose, an identity, a tribe, a sense of accomplishment, and structure and when you suddenly don’t have those things and you haven’t prepared yourself adequately you can feel totally lost. The people who have really good exits figure out how to get them back and usually, because they have money now, they are able to get it back and do what they did before at a higher level.
NOTE: That was just a summary. To get the full deep dive, play the audio clip at 08:20
“You should build your business as if it’s going to last forever but you could sell it tomorrow.” – Bo Burlingham
I am an editor at-large at Inc. magazine and been on staff for 32 years. I co-authored a couple books and I’ve also written Small Giants.
It began with my sometime co-author Norm Brodsky. I had been writing a column with him in Inc. magazine for almost 20 years now. Back in 2006 Norm decided to sell his company and he and I decided to write about it on a month by month basis. From those writings we got a tremendous amount of reader response and I realized that there was a huge appetite out there for understanding the experience of selling a company.
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
Buy Finish Big by Bo Burlingham on Amazon today
Visit BoBurlingham.com to learn more about Bo and his books
Visit SmallGiantsBook.com to learn more about Small Giants
Visit TheKnack.info to learn more about Street Smarts
Visit EvolveUSA.org to learn how Evolve is using Finish Big to build its organization
Follow Bo Burlingham on Facebook and Twitter
Download the full transcript here (coming soon)
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher , and SoundCloud
Related books:
The Exit Strategy Handbook by Jerry Mills
Walk Away Wealthy by Mark Tepper
Selling Your Business For More Than It’s Worth by Michelle Seiler-Tucker
Relevant advice and tips:
7 Important Things You Need To Know When Selling Your Business
What did you like and not like about this episode? Fill out this one minute survey here.
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]]>A summary of things you should know about The Exit Strategy Handbook according to Jerry Mills: Introduction In this episode Jerry Mills shares all his insights on his book, TheRead More
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]]>In this episode Jerry Mills shares all his insights on his book, The Exit Strategy Handbook, where he reveals the best way business owners can prepare themselves for selling a business.
In his book Mills walks you through a step-by-step preparation process and a host of extensive check lists that can be used as a guide for holding your financial advisor accountable when it comes to exiting your business. The goal of the book is to help you get the most value for your business and work the system when it comes to a competitive buyers market.
This book is perfect for entrepreneurs and small business owners who have little to no experience in exit strategy planning and want to be prepared when the time comes to sell.
This book is the only one of its kind that actually takes the business owner through the process. It’s also a living, breathing book, and there is software that is associated with it.
You can jump in and out based on the information you need.
Typically a company who is prepared for a transaction is going to be much better than one who is not prepared and sometimes it takes years for the preparation. So the preparation is the key component and that’s typically where business owners cut corners.
We did a proprietary survey of business owners at the Inc 500/5000 conference and award ceremony in Washington DC in 2013 and published the results in the introduction of this book.
In chapter one of the book we talk about who needs this book and that’s typically owners of private account businesses that want to someday do something with their business. This book is not driven by who might buy this book but rather by the needs of the business owners.
We talk about the future and what the next 20 years is going to look like. Is it going to be a buyers’ market or a sellers’ market? We take in to account a lot of the statistics and analysis of baby boomers.
In chapter three we talk about the importance of building a team which is the kickoff of the success of a process. Most business owners don’t know who should even be on their team and our process helps the business owner with those decisions.
Chapter four is an issue that 99% of business owners will have happen to them if they ever engaged a merger and acquisition or investment banker to help them. That is calculating the realistic value of the company. Almost every business owner has a generic feel of what their company is worth and that generic feel is not always scientific and it also doesn’t reflects the market in terms of what a potential buyer considers the company is worth. We take you through the process of how a business owner can know what a potential buyer might think about the value of their company.
Typically when the business owner knows the value of their company often they want to know how they can grow the value. In this next chapter we explain the process of how to build value in the interim period to sell a business. We also talk about the role that the business owners should or should not be doing during this period of time.
Chapter six is titled Preparing for the Last Customer and we go through the philosophy that business owners are incredible at knowing what their client wants in term of what they do on a day to day basis. We want to use that same logic to prepare for the last customer which is the buyer. So we talk about what the buyer is looking for, what they want, what are the negative spots, and some of the things that we can do to cater that to the buyer.
Chapters 8 through 25 are series of checklists that we recommend that business owners consider doing on topics such as documenting their product and service lines, documenting the competition, and key customer information. Other things we go through in the book are the dos and don’ts of contracts and leases, litigation and claims, and taxes.
The last chapter is about how to track all of this complexity and there is a very simple way that we have developed for the business owner to be in charge of the entire process at all times.
NOTE: That was just a summary. To get the full deep dive, play the audio clip at 03:53
“A well prepared business gets more offers and usually better offers than a less prepared one.” -Jerry Mills
I went to Arizona State University, spent a good deal of my career with Arthur Anderson & Co., and started to be CFO in 1987. I’m also proud to be the father of four children and almost six grandchildren.
All through my career I have been on the side of helping business owners sell their companies and through quite a few transactions. In one particular I saw the frustration business owners go through; it’s very stressful and a difficult process. I also went on Amazon and ordered and read the top 25 books on this subject and found that nobody was covering it.
As A Man Thinketh by James Allen
Buy The Exit Strategy Handbook by Jerry Mills on Amazon today
Visit B2BCFO.com to learn more about the book and Jerry’s company
Download the full transcript here (coming soon)
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher , and SoundCloud
Related books:
Sell Your Business For An Outrageous Price by Kevin Short
Final Act of Ownership by Jerry Baltus
Walk Away Wealthy by Mark Tepper
Relevant advice and tips:
7 Important Things You Need To Know When Selling Your Business
What did you like and not like about this episode? Fill out this one minute survey here.
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]]>A summary of things you should know about Make Money, Live Wealthy according to Austin Netzley Introduction In this episode Austin Netzley shares his book, Make Money Live Wealthy, whereRead More
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]]>A summary of things you should know about Make Money, Live Wealthy according to Austin Netzley
In this episode Austin Netzley shares his book, Make Money Live Wealthy, where he shows you how to invest, be an entrepreneur, and build massive wealth.
In his book, Netzley reveals the wealth secrets of 75 successful entrepreneurs that outline a path to true wealth in 10 simple steps. The goal of this book is to teach you how to step up your game in money, how to reprogram your mind, the common traits of the wealthy, and the key mistakes that are holding you back.
This book is perfect for entrepreneurs who have a passion for money, investing, and business in order to live a rich life filled with happiness, joy, and inner peace.
I talk about true wealth and what true wealth is more than money. Money is a tool to help give you a life that you want to live and I didn’t learn this until I was 24 years old. The point of the book is to teach people what true wealth is and how to obtain it. What makes it different is that I use quotes from 75 interviews to drive the conversation. It’s a little bit unique and hopefully very, very actionable for people.
It’s a progression so start from the beginning and work your way through.
It’s all about the mindset. It’s at the heart of everything and unfortunately we are not taught about that in school. The wealthy think differently.
It’s the 10 simple steps to true wealth and what I did was take the lessons of 75 successful entrepreneurs. I started to realize that each entrepreneur had the same common steps and decisions.
The first step I talk about is to take control. You have to take control of your past and your future. Everybody wants to become rich but until you make the decision in your mind and commit to that then you don’t start to see the opportunities that are in front of you. Once you make that decision you are on your way.
From there you move in to the second step which is developing the right mindset. You need to reflect and understand what is holding you back and then reverse that and start to think like the rich. The rich think differently and by doing that they have different results. Our thoughts lead to our feelings which lead to our actions which lead to our results.
The third element is creating the right environment. When I am talking about the environment it’s not only the information that’s going in your head but it’s your network. If you want to be your best self in any area of your life you need coaches to guide and direct you along the way.
The fourth element is building the financial foundation. It’s a matter of getting your priorities in line and as soon as you do that you start to build momentum.
Element number five is gaining clarity. You have to have a clear vision of where you are going and why. You need to understand what that lifestyle is that you really want and then you can create something that helps you ultimately live that lifestyle.
The sixth step is to craft your dream career and this is where you look at pursuing a passion which you often have to start with skills. We talk about finding the perfect career and different vehicles to get you there.
Chapter seven is about making money and the equations of wealth. We talk about financial freedom, different sources of income and money secrets of the rich.
Chapter eight is the entrepreneurial success chapter. In this chapter I talk about why everybody should consider entrepreneurship. The best way to build massive wealth is to be an entrepreneur.
Chapter nine is how I built my wealth through investing.
The last chapter is about the time and journey. Wealth is not necessarily a destination but more of a state of mind. It’s all about getting over fear and enjoying that process of continuing towards wealth.
“Wealth is a choice.” – David Wood
I grew up in the Midwest and had visions of becoming a CEO for a large company. I got my engineering degree and went down that path, worked in corporate America and started to read books. I learned what was possible and learned that there were other options than that which lead me to invest. Over the next couple of years I created my own algorithm and automated it and started to scale that up while working in an oil company. At the end of last year retired and now I travel around and share my passion of money and the mindset and investing with other people to help get them to where they want to go.
The big inspiration was that books changed my life. As soon as I started to read a lot I knew that someday I wanted to write a book. Since I was traveling around the world and had my own podcast I figured it was a perfect opportunity to do so and I am so excited that I did.
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Buy Make Money Live Wealthy by Austin Netzley on Amazon today
Visit MakeMoneyLiveWealthy.com to learn more about Austin and his book
Subscribe to YoPro Wealth on iTunes or Stitcher
Follow Austin Netzley on Twitter and Facebook
Download the full transcript here (coming soon)
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher , and SoundCloud
Related books: Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill | The Millionaire Master Plan by Roger Hamilton | Walk Away Wealthy by Mark Tepper
Relevant advice and tips: Who is Napoleon Hill and Everything An Entrepreneur Should Know About Him
What did you like and not like about this episode? Fill out this one minute survey here.
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]]>7 Important Things You Need To Know When Selling Your Business Selling your business may be the hardest challenge you have had to deal with as an entrepreneur. It’s lengthy,Read More
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]]>7 Important Things You Need To Know When Selling Your Business
Selling your business may be the hardest challenge you have had to deal with as an entrepreneur. It’s lengthy, and troubling, and even infuriating at times. And it gets worse if you think that the issues will be resolved once the deal is done. But this isn’t so. As an entrepreneur, you need to have a clear idea about how you will handle this phase.
Here are 7 important things you need to know when selling your business
Take your time to make the decision. Whether you are planning to sell your business to spend more time with your family or invest in a bigger venture, you need to think about your decision for a hundred times. Sometimes, the length and complications of the process disgusts the best entrepreneurs and makes them rethink their decision.
Keep your focus on the reason you want to sell in the first place; and plan ahead.
Detach from the business. Well, you have put in money, time and effort to make your business grow. But think it from the buyer’s perspective – would you buy a business where the owner needs to invest 20 hours a day to run the daily operations? Or, rather one where the owner has the freedom to take off days and go on holidays?
Make sure the business runs smoothly; even without you being part of its daily operations.
Appoint professionals for the task. If you haven’t handled a business sale before, you may have no clue about the process. And if you have, the same may yet be true. It involves legalities, figures, numbers, and an array of documents. And it’s impossible for you to handle it all without specialized knowledge and experience.
Appoint a legal professional as well as an accountant specializing in this particular field.
Learn how to deal with the stress. Appointing professionals isn’t going to help you with the stress. Your legal team will unearth problems you never knew even existed. Your accountant will ask for figures you never knew anyone required. And dealing with it all will often feel too exhausting.
Cultivate a positive attitude; always remember that the professionals are for your help.
Set a realistic value. Every entrepreneur thinks of their endeavor as the best in the market. And this reflects in the price you set when you decide to sell your business. The only problem is – the buyers may not have the same opinion about it. Well, it’s true that they want to buy your business, but they want to do it at a reasonable price.
If you think you are biased, opt for an objective opinion before you decide on it.
Be wary of debts and documents. If you have adequate time to plan before you sell your business, you have the window to get rid of any debts you have incurred. Otherwise, it will lower the amount you get after the sale. Also, pay attention to any documents you have signed in the past that adds to your liabilities.
Discuss every detail with your lawyer and accountant; and get their advice about these.
Assess your team’s capabilities. If you have put together a winning team, it will prove to be one of your assets when you sell. But if your team comprises of family members, who take their paycheck just because they are family, or of employees who will never find another opportunity, you are in trouble.
A buyer will evaluate the capabilities of your team; do it beforehand and take measures.
Selling your business is a big decision; you need to plan from the day you decide to do it.
Walk Away Wealthy by Mark Tepper – Listen to my interview with Mark here
Final Act of Ownership by Jerry Baltus – Listen to my interview with Jerry here
Sell Your Business For An Outrageous Price by Kevin Short – Listen to my interview with Kevin here
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]]>A summary of things you should know about Walk Away Wealthy according to Mark Tepper Introduction In this episode Mark Tepper with Strategic Wealth Partners shares his book Walk AwayRead More
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]]>In this episode Mark Tepper with Strategic Wealth Partners shares his book Walk Away Wealthy. This book is the perfect fit for entrepreneurs or business owners looking for an exit strategy for their business plan. This is a book that is specific to building wealth for entrepreneurs and will focus on both the liquid and the illiquid investments. As an entrepreneur this is really the only book you need to read on wealth management.
This is a book that is specific to building wealth for entrepreneurs. It will focus on both the liquid and the illiquid investments and as an entrepreneur this is really the only book you need to read on wealth management because it covers both sides of the equation.
I would recommend reading it from beginning to end. It’s broken up in to three different sections and chronologically set up to be read that way.
Planning is a process, not an event. The longer you wait to get started, the less money you’re ultimately going to get for your business. Begin your financial and exit plan as soon as possible and continue to revise it along the way.
There are three main sections in the book; building value, monetizing value and preserving value. We have twelve different secrets that you need to know if you really want to have the most financially successful life as an entrepreneur.
Secret #1 is creating your exit plan before you need it. What this chapter talks about is there is a misconception that you don’t need to focus on your exit plan until you are ready to sell and the fact is you should begin working on your exit plan the day you start your company. Even if you are a startup you need to start focusing on what you are eventually going to get out of that business. The only reason you should be going into a business is to hopefully one day sell it at a substantial profit.
Secret #2 is knowing the value of your business. One of the biggest issues that entrepreneurs have is they are emotionally attached to their businesses and because of that they over value their company. We talk about how evaluations are calculated and how to go about determining your valuation without costing an arm and leg.
Secret #3 is value is more than cash flow. Earning is important but there are two parts of the valuation equation which is earnings times a multiple. The multiple is going to be determined based on how risky a company is in the eyes of the acquirer. The most risky the company appears to be, the lower the multiple, therefore the company is not worth as much. The less risky it is, the higher the multiple. This chapter focuses on how to increase the multiple.
Secret #4 is how to make yourself expendable and it talks about how to remove yourself from the operations of the business. You need to build a business that can stand on its own and we talk about how to do that.
We then hop into the monetizing section of the book and the first secret there is selling is your best exit option. If you are looking for the best financial reward, the best way you can go about doing that is by selling to a third party. We talk about how complicated that process can be but we also try to explain it so that there’s no curve balls if and when you do decide to go through that process.
The next secret in that section is if you can’t or won’t sell, consider an internal transfer. An internal transfer would be possibly selling to your family members, your key employee or your management team. Unfortunately, if you decide to go that path, you are not going to get the same financial payday. We are going to tell you how to go about doing that in the most efficient manner possible.
The next secret is to never sell your business yourself. In our experience a good investment banker is worth their weight in gold. They are typically able to get you significantly more money than what their commission cost you. What we do in this section is we talk about how complicated the process can be, how you can screw it up if you try to do it alone and we map out exactly how investment bankers get paid. There is more to a good deal than a sale price. This chapter is all about what are the other terms of the deal that you need to pay close attention to.
The last section of the book is preserving value. The first secret there is having a financial adviser create your personal financial plan. What we focus on is to do it now, don’t wait until after the sale. The next secret is plan for the unexpected and make sure you are covered if anything happens. The secret after that is to not bet your retirement on starting another successful business. We talk about ways to protect you from starting another business, losing all your money and then having to go and find a job because that puts you in a pretty awful situation.
The last secret is to find something to fill the void after your liquidity event. Identify what it is that you’re really passionate about prior to selling your business and pursue those passions after.
There is a term that I refer to that kind of summarizes the purpose of the book and that term is irreversible financial mistake.
“Once you sell your business you can’t give the money back and start growing it again, it’s a done deal; it’s time for you to move on.”
I own a wealth management firm called Strategic Wealth Partners based out of Cleveland Ohio. Our focus is on working with entrepreneurs and taking care of their wealth management needs.
I am married and have three kids who are seven, almost five and almost three.
The majority of my clients are entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs tend to have very unique wealth management situations. Entrepreneurs need to focus on building and growing both their liquid investments but also their illiquid wealth, growing that is just as important, if not more. What we found is on average about 80% of entrepreneurs net worth is tied up in his or her illiquid business. And additionally most entrepreneurs are only going to sale that business one time and that is going to be the most significant financial event of their life. We really wanted to put together a book that looked at both sides of the wealth management equation.
The E-Myth by Michael Gerber
Buy Walk Away Wealthy by Mark Tepper on Amazon today
Visit SWPconnect.com to email, call, or learn more about Mark
Follow Mark Tepper on Twitter
Download the full transcript here
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher , and SoundCloud
Related books: Final Act of Ownership by Jerry Baltus | From Idea To Exit by Jeff Weber | Sell Your Business For An Outrageous Price by Kevin Short
Relevant advice and tips: 7 Important Things You Need To Know When Selling Your Business
What did you like and not like about this episode? Fill out this one minute survey here.
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