Dirty Secrets of Small Business
One of the most overlooked opportunities for growth in the small business world is that of acquiring other companies. This could mean buying out competitors or perhaps adding new products or services to your current offerings. It could also be a way of expanding your geography or finding some good new customers or team members. There are many benefits of growing through acquisition which we discuss during the show today.
Whether you’re currently contemplating starting or buying a business or if you already own a business, one question you might be asking yourself is if you’re cut out to be a business owner. Depending who you talk to you might hear things like “people are born to be entrepreneurs” or something similar. Don’t always believe the hype!
If you’ve owned your business for several years, chances are someone at some point has talked to you about a business valuation. Either someone has asked you directly what your company is worth or the idea of your company’s value has come up in conversation. The question we address in today’s show is just how valuable is a business valuation?
It’s rare that a small business owner wakes up one morning and decides it’s time to transition their business to the next generation. It’s something they usually think about for a while, likely many years before they are finally ready. But once they decide they often want it to happen yesterday. But before the current owner leaves they want to make sure the next generation knows everything they need to know about the business. So how do you figure out where to start?
If you’ve ever been involved with the buying or selling of a business, chances are you’ve heard of a term called seller’s remorse. Even if you haven’t been involved in a deal it’s likely you’ve heard about it or seen it. And it doesn’t matter how large or small a deal is, it can happen to anyone…even a billionaire.
If you’ve been around us at all then you know one of the things we specialize in with our coaching is helping people with buying and selling companies. Not only have we helped hundreds of people with various transactions, we’ve also bought and sold several businesses ourselves. So as we finish one year and head into the next we thought it might be a good topic to address for those of you who are thinking about buying a business in the new year. This could either be an add on to your current business or perhaps it’s your first business.
Over the years we have helped several clients buy companies. Some have been individuals looking to own their own business. Many more have been clients with an existing business they are looking to grow and decided to pursue acquisitions as an option. Our discussion during the show today centered more on the folks who are looking to buy their first or next business.
Today we were joined on the show by business owner and former MVP business coaching client Terry Walkerly. Terry is the owner of Filta Environmental NEO, a leading provider of cooking oil micro filtration services to restaurants and other food establishments. Over his career Terry has owned several business including ones he’s both started as well as purchased. Although he barely made it through high school, Terry describes himself as a lifelong learner who has read just about every business book out there. Combining that with the school of hard knocks and Terry has a lot of wisdom and insights to share.
Today we were joined on the show by business owner Peter Hans. Peter is the owner of Discover Map, the leading provider of curated guides to top tourist attractions in cities and towns throughout North America. During the show Peter shared his journey from a continent hopping investment banker to a business owner by purchasing a map business back in 2005. Along the way, Peter spent about 6 years at each of his respective stops until he got that “itch” to go and do something else.
A lot of folks talk about what it would be like to own their own business. Several have their own ideas for the type of company they would start. Others aren’t so sure the type of company, they just know they want to own one (or several!). So they’ll begin to search for a company to buy.