I have enjoyed working with small/medium ($5MM to $300MM in annual sales) business owners for the past 20 years, initially as a commercial lender (“Larry the Lender”) and for the past 6 years as an intermediary….it is terrific to represent and advise the business owner, obtain as many viable options as possible so at the end of the day the owner is in a good place to make a decision.
Selling all or part of a company or acquiring other companies are major decisions for small/medium sized business owners…..prior to being engaged by a company I spend time up-front with the owner flushing out realistic value ranges. Time is the one thing you don’t get back, so my objective is to be realistic on the front end regarding likely outcomes…….if anything, the owner will obtain a realistic view of likely value ranges for their particular situation.
When clients engage my company, it is always exciting to see the level of activity we generate for their company, domestically and abroad; weather it is on the sell or buy-side, we always obtain multiple options for them and they obtain a real sense of the market.
My father just had an 8th. grade education and eventually ended up as 50% owner of a small/medium sized manufacturing company. Among the important business lessons I learned from him were: 1) Do what you enjoy……life’s too short, so don’t waste your time doing something you don’t enjoy. 2) Always be direct and honest. 3) Don’t do things blindly. In 1984 my father passed away at 53 years of age and at the time happened to be in the middle of a contentious buyout with his 50% partner……it would be quite something to turn back the clock and see if I could have helped him figure out that buyout and then move on with his life.
Business owners are terrific to work with; they know how to make decisions, are goal oriented and don’t have time for minutia. My objective is to always add value for them and not waste their time. My feeling is that the only thing anyone truly owns is their reputation so I try to bring that consciousness to every encounter. A terrific quote by Andrew Carnegie: “As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.”
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