Tag: Exit Strategy

Posted on

Episode 62 – Fee Quality: Transform Income into Wealth – Member Case with Tony Mirchandani

All revenue is not good revenue. Some types of revenue create more wealth for owners than others. On this episode, we interview Tony Mirchandani, CEO at RTM Engineering Consultants to discuss his approach to consultation fee quality.

Transcript

Sean Magennis [00:00:15] Welcome to the Boutique with Collective 54, a podcast for founders and leaders of boutique professional services firms. Our goal with this show is to help you grow, scale and exit your firm bigger and faster. I’m Sean Magennis Collective 54 Advisory Board member and your host. On this episode, I will make the case that all revenue is not good revenue. Some types of revenue create more wealth for owners than others. I’ll try to prove this theory by interviewing Tony Mirchandani, CEO at RTM Engineering Consultants. RTM serves architects, developers and owners to produce sustainability, construction quality and streamline schedules on each project. An extensive set of capabilities has allowed RTM to deliver superior work on industrial, commercial and retail builds, as well as well as other complex building types such as health care and laboratory facilities. You can find Tony rtmec.com. Tony, great to see you and welcome. 

Tony Mirchandani [00:01:34] Thank you. It’s great to be here. 

Sean Magennis [00:01:36] And it sounds like you’ve had an extraordinary busy four days with your in-person team meeting, so we’ll run through this. So Tony, let’s start with an overview. Can you briefly share with the audience an example of how all revenue is not good revenue? 

Tony Mirchandani [00:01:53] Absolutely. Earlier in my career, I would have thought a $100000 cell would be equal to another $100000 cell and think the real differentiator between the two is what’s the profit margin on that going to be? But the reality of it is being in professional services. We have to have a continuous backlog of projects and want to have the opportunity to be able to improve the actual product that we’re pushing out. Mm-Hmm. So having revenue that is driven by surfaced, in our case, sophisticated buyers, buyers that are willing to start at the $100000 mark and then continuously increase that amount as time’s going on. If we’re able to produce have the desire and the need based on the product that we’re pushing out. Actually allows them to continue to build their business if their business does not require the services we have on a multitude of years, that revenue that we’re driving really becomes it becomes a one trick pony ride and we have to go out and sell again. 

Sean Magennis [00:03:03] Right. So that becomes bad revenue. 

Tony Mirchandani [00:03:06] Exactly, exactly. And then the cost to go out and win that next hundred thousand dollar job takes away from that first one versus one, that’s going to be basically having a recurring revenue stream as best we can. 

Sean Magennis [00:03:20] That is such a great example to kick us off. And what I’d like to do is get your thoughts on some of the best practices we recommend in this area. Now there are many I’ve selected for specific things that I’ll walk you through and then get your thoughts on each. So the first one is high fee quality comes from a proper balance of fees from new and existing clients. A rough rule of thumb that we use as a 60:40 split. So 60 per cent of fees hopefully sourced from existing clients and 40 per cent fees source from new clients. What is your experience and thoughts in this area, Tony? 

Tony Mirchandani [00:03:59] I completely agree with that. I think every year we should be turning over some of our clients and being able to rank those and whatever that internal ranking is, as long as it’s tied to whatever your end game is. Yeah. So internally, we see it more around an 80 20 rule. But our clients take a six to 12 month onboarding period before we actually receive true revenue from them. And it takes about 24 months to unwind a client that we don’t want to work for anymore. So that slow cycle, we have to be very selective in who we want to have as our next client. 

Sean Magennis [00:04:33] That’s an that’s an outstanding example. And you know, again, each firm is going to have slightly differences. So your 80:20 works in your scenario and with your 24 hour, you know, move off cycle that requires that requires some careful management, I would imagine. 

Tony Mirchandani [00:04:54] Yeah, absolutely. Because we’re in the construction business, right? And anything that we design, it’s going to it’s going to take another 12 to 24 months to unwind and that can actually drag us down during that time period. But also as we’re as we’re building the internal team and we’re evolving in the marketplaces that we operate in, we’re becoming more and more sophisticated in the kind of clients that we can drive true value from. I see it is there’s there’s two kinds of real revenue out there. There’s revenue that we add value to and then there’s revenue that is just the client is required. It’s like being attacked, things permit documents. They have to hire someone to do it. Yeah, we try to avoid that type. We try to find clients that need to partner with us. 

Sean Magennis [00:05:41] And that’s the key driver is finding those partners that you can truly add value to. And it’s not commoditized stuff that anybody could do what they could do internally, right? Exactly, exactly. So the next question is potential buyers want to see long term contracts with clients. For instance, the management consulting firm that performs 30 day strategy assessments. Arguably has poor fee quality. However, the boutique that performs assessments, solution development and implementation and can do 12 24 months 36 months contracts. These firms have high fee quality. What do you what are your thoughts on that? 

Tony Mirchandani [00:06:22] I absolutely agree with that, and I just think in certain industries such as ours and a lot of our colleagues, it’s hard to get a consistent 36 month type contract. But by identifying the right client with the right revenue cycle, you’re able to get a project that might take 12 months, but the next project is going to start in six months. So suddenly you get these overlapping projects and the better job we do, the more dependent our client actually becomes on us, the more dependent we can become on our client. And one of the great things that Greg Alexander’s talked about is how do you reduce your internal cost as you become more of an expert with a particular client? We’re able to do that on the third, fourth, fifth engagement, especially if they have overlapping cycles. 

Sean Magennis [00:07:10] That that is a brilliant point. And I’m presuming that you can train lower cost experts in order to take on that work because you’ve actually you’ve gotten yourself an expertize and then have your higher order. You know, start with clients fresh that need that additional expertize. Is that the right way to look at it? 

Tony Mirchandani [00:07:29] That absolutely is the right way to look at it. And there’s another side benefit to that is we’re always looking to bring on new staff and our senior staff may get bored on the third or fourth projects. That becomes a new opportunity to train and retain new great talent, while giving the senior talent some new opportunities to pursue new challenges. 

Sean Magennis [00:07:49] Yeah. Outstanding. Again, you’ve hit the nail on the head. Number three is after analyzing new versus existing clients, as well as length of contracts. Typically, when a person values a firm, they’ll look at fee predictability and a boutique who services build on one another is very attractive. And you’ve just said that in your in your previous remarks. So these boutiques often produce high fee quality due to better predictability. Is that something you’d agree with as well? 

Tony Mirchandani [00:08:20] Yeah, I would I would definitely agree with that. And another piece of that is the predictability and the the avenues that you were able to actually receive that revenue. So it’s there’s the normal linear cycle. Yes. And as we’re adding a new services, we’re able to go downstream. So we’re getting engaged earlier, for instance, with civil engineering and then commissioning services, we’re on the job another six months. And that longevity with the client not only is tying into the same sales cycle, but it’s creating more opportunities for overlap and without needing to go out and have another cold sale. 

Sean Magennis [00:08:59] It’s brilliant. It’s almost like going back to go forward, to go long. Right? I mean, that’s the way that exactly. Yeah, it’s it’s really smart. So number four, buyers often examine fee quality based on cash collections. So boutiques that have aging accounts receivables and they’re not collecting quickly enough. Typically, you would say that that’s pure fee quality. In contrast, boutiques that are paid up front or have really good cash collection, they have high fee quality. So free cash flow is a big positive. What do you think on this subject? I know that you have an opinion here. 

Tony Mirchandani [00:09:36] Unfortunately, I do, and this is where we have really struggle and we’ve definitely not excelled as well as we have a very large collection cycle. Yeah. So as a buyer of companies also, we’ve found that anyone that we’re looking to buy that has a shorter collection cycle than us will pay a higher premium than we will if they’ve got the same or a longer cycle. And we’ve spent a lot of effort internally looking for ways to be able to shorten that collection cycle. And it’s a very hard thing to do just because of the space that we happen to be in. So I would advise anyone out there if you have the opportunity to look at revenue and pick revenue based on how long it’s going to take for the collection space or an upfront retainer, that revenue is definitely worth more. And sometimes it’s worth a slightly smaller margin. If you’re highly assured of the collection piece or you get paid part of it upfront because that’s that’s really your fuel for growth. Otherwise, you have to go out and borrow and 

Sean Magennis [00:10:35] borrow and take on equity expense of capital. 

Tony Mirchandani [00:10:38] Exactly. 

Sean Magennis [00:10:38] Yeah. So and really a brilliant point, and I hope our listeners are taking this as a fine point because Tony also buys companies. And so, you know, please listeners, cash flow and your ability to prove your cash flow. You know, when presenting yourself to a potential buyer is critical because Tony’s just said, you know, he’ll seek out shorter collection cycle businesses and pay a premium to get those business because they’ve got their cash flow acts together. So, Tony, thank you that for our listeners, is really important to hear. So we’ve done these four things one balance four years from new and existing clients to develop long term contracts. Three Build fee predictability with add on services. And I liked your point. But going back to go forward, start, you know, and then and build it through the cycle and four critically manage your air to create key free cash flow. This will increase feed quality and as a result, convert income into wealth. Anything else, Tony, that we missed out that you’d like to bring to the attention of our listeners? 

Tony Mirchandani [00:11:52] There’s one new thing that I’ve discovered lately that actually came through Collective 54, which is pricing strategy. Yes, and about 10 years ago, pricing in most industries, law, accounting, engineering, architecture was really based on your cost of goods sold and what the marketplace would bear. And that seemed like normal MBA approach to pricing. But currently we have started to see a much deeper level of sophistication and actual experts in the end in industries consulting to us on pricing strategy and different ways to approach different market verticals with the exact same service. And suddenly that that is opened up a number of new opportunities for us and a different perspective of thinking about pricing strategy. I really see that as the next true frontier for professional services. And I would say it’s it’s probably one of the most inefficient components of our business and most service businesses. 

Sean Magennis [00:12:55] You know, I couldn’t agree with you more and thank you for for saying that and for bringing that to the listener’s attention. I was on a on a podcast recently where one of our members has actually adopted a pricing console within their business that they have that an internal team that gets together on a very regular basis, and then they invite a client into the council to talk to them about, you know, the ROI that they’re receiving and and they do that on a consistent basis because every client relationship is nuanced, it’s different. And then they do the cross comparison, but because they doing it and they formalized this pricing counsel, I thought that was a genius move. And it and it and it literally aligns well to your comment about this new learning. So thank you. That’s that’s really great additional input. 

Tony Mirchandani [00:13:43] It’s great to hear about that other client, too. 

Sean Magennis [00:13:44] Isn’t it good? 

Tony Mirchandani [00:13:46] Yeah, that’s awesome. 

Sean Magennis [00:13:47] So listen and I’d be happy to put you in touch with him because he’s developed it and it sounds like it’s working really well for them. So, Tony, this takes us to the end of the episode. Let’s try to help our listeners apply this. We end each show with a tool. We do so because this allows the listener to apply the lessons to his or her firm, and our preferred tool is a checklist style of checklist is a yes, no question. We aim to keep it simple by asking only 10 questions, so listeners ask yourself these 10 questions. If you answer yes to eight or more, you have high fee quality. Tony has graciously agreed to be our peer example today. And Tony, I’ll simply ask you these questions and say yes or no. If you feel like you need to add to a question, go ahead and do it. So let’s kick it off. 

Sean Magennis [00:14:40] Number one, do you generate about 60 percent of your fees from existing clients? 

Tony Mirchandani [00:14:48] Yes. 

Sean Magennis [00:14:49] Number two, do you generate approximately 40 per cent of your fees from new clients? 

Tony Mirchandani [00:14:56] No. Slightly less. 

Sean Magennis [00:14:58] Yours is the 8-20 right now. 

Tony Mirchandani [00:15:00] Exactly, exactly. I think the important thing is you set an amount. 

Sean Magennis [00:15:04] Exactly. Number three, is the average client contract longer than 12 months? 

Tony Mirchandani [00:15:12] Yes. Absolutely. 

Sean Magennis [00:15:14] Number four, do your projects naturally build on one another? 

Tony Mirchandani [00:15:21] Yes, they do. 

Sean Magennis [00:15:23] Number five, is your service built to pull through upsell? 

Tony Mirchandani [00:15:30] It is and that I’d like to put some color around. He started as a single discipline engineering firm. And as we grew both organically and through acquisition, we found that instead of adding to that single discipline, adding other disciplines that we can pull up or we can put in after our contracts are in place have become exceptionally advantageous and increase the stickiness and the repetition of client interaction. 

Sean Magennis [00:15:58] Excellent, Tony. And this dovetails into the next question is your service designed to pull through cross-sell? 

Tony Mirchandani [00:16:06] Yes. 

Sean Magennis [00:16:08] You’ve got your upsell and you’ve got your cross-sell. Great number seven. Are your fees predictable? 

Tony Mirchandani [00:16:16] No bathroom far from. 

Sean Magennis [00:16:17] Hmm. OK. Number eight. Do you collect your fee in advance of performing the work? 

Tony Mirchandani [00:16:25] No, this is our biggest challenge. We it’s traditional and our competitors always bill after the fact. Yeah, and that’s that’s one of the biggest downsides to the business. I mean we need to break that mold. 

Sean Magennis [00:16:37] Well, we’re here to help you break that mold because that would change the game for you, right? 

Tony Mirchandani [00:16:42] Oh, 100 percent, our business would be scaling three times faster if we were paid up front instead of on the back end. 

Sean Magennis [00:16:49] Excellent. Number nine, can you fund your growth from free cash flow? 

Tony Mirchandani [00:16:57] We have historically funded our growth, so yes, we can, but we could. Our growth is limited because of cash flow nonetheless. 

Sean Magennis [00:17:05] Right. And this historical problem you have on the payment side of your business. 

Tony Mirchandani [00:17:10] Absolutely. OK. 

Sean Magennis [00:17:12] Number ten, can you pay the bills without using debt? 

Tony Mirchandani [00:17:18] Yes. Yes, we do. We have a healthy margins where we can do that. 

Sean Magennis [00:17:22] Brilliant. Tony, thank you. I mean, this is exactly it, just extraordinary. So in summary, all revenue is not good revenue. There are good fees and there are bad fees. Good fees attract buyers. When you go to sell your business, they increase the value of your firm and they improve your odds of exiting should you decide to do that. Bad fees could push buyers away. They do decrease the value of your firm, and they’ll likely prevent you from selling at a price that you would like. Tony, a huge thank you. And I know that you’ve been extraordinarily busy for sharing your wisdom and experiences today.

If you enjoyed the show and want to learn more, pick up a copy of the book The Boutique How to Start, Scale and Sell the professional services firm written by Collective 54 founder Greg Alexander.

And for more expert support, check out Collective 54 the first mastermind community for founders and leaders of boutique professional services firms. Collective 54 will help you grow, scale and exit your firm bigger and faster.

Go to Collective54.com to learn more.

Thank you for listening. 

Posted on

Episode 55: Mistakes: 7 Mistakes to Avoid When Selling Your Business – Member Case with TK Herman

There are 7 common mistakes made when trying to sell a professional services firm. On this episode, we interview TK Herman, President and Co-Founder of Aptera, a focused IT consultancy and managed services provider.

Transcript

Sean Magennis [00:00:15] Welcome to the boutique with Collective 54, a podcast for founders and leaders of boutique professional services firms. Our goal with this show is to help you grow, scale and exit your firm bigger and faster. I’m Sean Magennis, Collective 54 Advisory Board Member, and your host. On this episode, I will make the case that there are seven common mistakes made when trying to sell a professional services firm. I’ll try to prove this theory by interviewing T.K. Herrman, president and co-founder of Aptera.  Aptera is a focused IT consultancy and managed service provider.  Aptera transforms your ability to deliver custom software with high performing development teams, coaches and consultants. They are a trusted partner of Fortune 500 companies with a track record of tackling complex global development projects. TK, great to be with you and welcome. 

TK Herman [00:01:21] Yeah, thanks so much for having me, Sean, I really appreciate the invite onto the show. 

Sean Magennis [00:01:25] It’s such a pleasure. Let’s start with an overview. Can you briefly share with the audience an example of a mistake to avoid when selling your firm? 

TK Herman [00:01:35] Yeah, I think, you know. So we recently went through an acquisition, so I’ve got experience in this realm and you know, one of the things that I would say that there are three areas of knowledge in the world. There’s the what you know, there’s the what you don’t know. And then there’s the what you don’t know that you don’t know.  And and through the whole process, there were a lot of things in the realm of what you don’t know. You don’t know that I came across. And so I’m I’m a much smarter person today than I was, you know, four or five months ago. And one of those things would just be, you know, kind of asking the question and really trying to spend more time aligning some of the changes that are going to be happening with the integration of the two companies. Because, you know, I think that everyone is focused on getting to the same endpoint, but how to get there in the timeframe and in how to go about that, I’d be a slight difference. That’s just one example of of something that you might consider thinking about. 

Sean Magennis [00:02:35] That, you know, that’s a wonderful example. And I share that with you because in a in an example that we’ve helped with recently. Soon, as the acquirer was identified, they advocated for starting integration conversations early on because it is often left to the end. And it really does make a difference when the rubber hits the road that you’ve thought through all the nuances so. So thank you for that example. It’s a critical one. And you know, if I think about selling a boutique, we know it’s a high risk, high reward initiative. We also know that every situation is different. So I’d like to spend some time getting your thoughts on the common mistakes made when selling. I’ve selected seven to walk you through, and I’ll ask to get your thoughts on each and feel free to share whatever comes up for you as we go through these. So the first mistake is that boutique owners are unclear as to what they want from a sale. So if you’re unsure of who you are, you’ll be unhappy with the sale. If you don’t know where you’re headed, you’ll be unhappy with the sale. What are your thoughts on this concept? 

TK Herman [00:03:47] I would completely agree with that, I think that before you. The more time that you can spend sort of self reflecting and look in the mirror to really understand what is the goal and why you’re heading down this path, the more likely likely you’ll be to be happy on the other end of the transaction. You know, and again, I think you hit on those points, whether it’s, you know, what am I looking for for my company? Because, you know, more often than not, acquisitions are done to move the company forward. Right? And then also, from a personal perspective, you know, what is life look like after that? And what does that mean to you? And and if you’ve had the business for quite some time and you have somebody else coming in and kind of running the business, you know, is that going to affect you emotionally? Some people will say yes, some people will say no, but I think, I think really sitting down and reflecting on those points and having a very clear understanding of where things sit for you personally on the side. And I think to the last thing I’d say is is the more conversations that you can have with people that have gone through this process to just try to learn from them along the way, I think that that that would be extremely helpful. 

Sean Magennis [00:04:55] Those are those are great points of advice. And that brings up mistake number two, which is sometimes boutique owners try to sell an unsellable business. And so your boutique needs to be attractive to a buyer. It almost requires you to look at your business through the lens of an investor. What do you think of that TK? 

TK Herman [00:05:17] I would 100 percent agree with that. You know, when when you’re selling a professional services company, there’s no, you know, machines to buy or inventory to buy. The person that’s acquiring your business is really acquiring the team that you’ve built and the client relationships that you’ve cultivated over the years. And so you need to be really need to become really clear on that. And then also look at and say, how reliant is this business upon you or you and a few people? Because the the the more you can get the business to the point where it’s not really reliant upon you to drive the day to day pieces forward, the more value there is in the business. 

Sean Magennis [00:05:58] You know, again, I can’t agree with you more because that’s what we see so often. Getting in the way of a successful sale is that the owner founder hasn’t thought of it in the way that you’ve just expressed.  You know, mistake number three. It can take years to sell a boutique. Yet some owners try to sell a boutique in a matter of months, and a good exit is an exit on your terms. It does take time to stack the deck in your favor. What are your opinions on this? 

TK Herman [00:06:29] You know, it’s so interesting because we did not anticipate going through the acquisition even at the beginning of this year. And so this is we obviously knew an acquisition would happen at some point in time. That was always the end game. But did not expect that this year, even really in the next couple of years. And and the right opportunity came along and we decided to move forward with it now. We were fortunate that we had sort of positioned the company and set things up in a way that it made that process easier. But I’ve spoken with a handful of people since the acquisition that just reached out for some advice. And you know, I can’t stress enough the importance of again, making sure you have the right leadership team in place, making sure you have, you know, processes and procedures and those kind of things that are easy for an acquire to come in and kind of take charge of and move forward. But then also there is just a tremendous amount of back back office work that needs to be done. So making sure that you’re accounting, you know, is all in order making sure our files are all in order. Because the more that know, the more time you spend there, the the easier it’s going to be through the diligence process. You know, that’s one of the things that that, you know, our comptroller had mentioned to me during the process. Gosh, if I had known we were going to do this, I could have spent the last year actually even preparing that much better. And I couldn’t argue with that. That’s a very valid 

Sean Magennis [00:07:52] No, it’s a very valid point. No. And but that’s a great point for our listeners, too, is that, you know, you’re a practical example of somebody that was fortunate because you were prepared and you had a lot of things in place. But if you had had to do it over again, potentially, you know, in the example of the accountant having that time to prepare is so much better and could potentially impact, you know what you get out at the end of the day from the from the sales price. So let’s talk about you. You alluded to this several times. Let’s talk about succession planning and often owners under invest in succession planning. And after you sell, you’ll want to see that your boutique does well without you. So what are your thoughts on the importance of succession planning? 

TK Herman [00:08:42] I think it’s I think it’s highly important again, even if a sale is is. You know, a decade down the road. Yes, I think from day one, when you start a business, you should start setting the business up for it to run without being there day in and day out. And it’s the old adage, you know, you have a choice. You can either work in the business or you can work on the business side. And it’s it’s very difficult. You know, I’ve certainly empathize with companies that are small that have, you know, just five or 10 people because the owner has a really difficult time sort of balancing those two things. But if you can, if you can from the beginning focus and say, I’m going to spend, you know, even if it’s 51 percent of my time on the on the business things. And over the course of time, you’ll get to the point where where that becomes kind of your main role in the business. And I think there’s there’s to me, there’s three key ingredients to setting up a leadership team or setting up a team to be able to carry the business forward. And they’re very simple. The first one is just hire outstanding human beings. Yes, just just great people. Obviously, they need the skill set that they they you just want great human beings to represent you to to work with you every single day and to help deliver that great experience to your clients. And then the second piece is is point them in the direction that you want them to go. And the more narrow that direction can be, the better, obviously. So yes, we we were for a long time kind of a shotgun approach, and we started trying to narrow that down to more of a rifle, but point them in the direction you want to go. And then the third piece is, in my opinion, it’s the hardest piece and that is get out of their way. So in other words, you know, you’ve hired great people, you’ve pointed them in the right direction and then now it’s your job to get out of their way and let them move forward and let them make mistakes, you know, and let them learn from those mistakes. A phrase that I always use is Don’t let perfect ruin good. If there’s one thing that I can say that my business partner and I have did a good job of over the years was creating an environment where we let people try things and make those mistakes. And there were times where I, I would look at something that somebody wanted to do, and I would think in my head, that’s never going to work. But I also looked at and said, OK, if it doesn’t work, is this going to be a detrimental thing to our business? Is it going to hurt the client hurt and hurt an employee? And if the answer was no and there really wasn’t a significant risk and let them go down that road because A, I could be wrong, I’m not. I don’t have all the answers, right? But B also, if if it if it didn’t work, there’s a whole lot of lessons to be learned there. And the more that you empower people like that, the more you’ll find yourself having time to work on the business as opposed to in 

Sean Magennis [00:11:25] Outstanding and I loved you three key ingredients, and I’ll refer back to them at the end of the of the podcast because I think they they certainly resonated for me. So let’s talk about mistake number five. This mistake is where entrepreneurs think that they can sell their business on their own. It can result in tactical execution errors that can cost millions of dollars, and our recommendation is to hire the best advisors that money can buy. What is your opinion on this best practice? 

TK Herman [00:11:55] So actually, it is actually kind of a funny story that reflects back to Greg Alexander, who obviously has been on your podcast numerous times. Yeah. And so we were fairly deep into diligence and deep into the process, and I was having a conversation with Greg and and he said, Hey, do you have counsel? And I’m like, You know, of course we have a lawyer, and he goes, No, but do you have somebody with experience in this? And I’m like, Oh, I think they are. And and he goes, OK, hang on. Let’s pause a second. And he said, You have to you’ve got to go out and find somebody that really not only not only in an attorney, but also your accountant, and make sure that they’re experienced in this. And so I did that. I took that advice and and asked around, found somebody and holy mackerel. My eyes were open because we again we were we were fairly deep into diligence. I was very fortunate that that that this law firm was able to to take us on. But there were so many things, so many things that I had. I would have had no idea of the level of questions that needed to be asked. And so I can’t stress that point enough. That’s 100 percent true. 

Sean Magennis [00:13:01] Absolutely fantastic. And then mistake number six is boutique owners often get attacked after the sale. This is more personal. You know, they can take it personally, and this causes seller’s regret. So our recommendation there is give yourself the permission to not take it seriously and really guide yourself. What are your thoughts about this? 

TK Herman [00:13:24] Yeah, I would agree with that. I think that you have, you know, a wide variety of reaction, you know, everything from from people that are very upset that you sold the business to people that are excited about the opportunity and it’s easy to find yourself like anything else. For example, if I was a new YouTuber and I started a new YouTube. You know, I’m going to get some heat and some shade thrown at me on on the comments and I have a choice to make. Do I focus on those? Yes, or do I focus on the positive things that are coming out of it? And so like anything else in life, whether it’s whether it’s selling your business or anything you do. You know, the more that you can like align your your, your mindset and and your heart under the positive things, the better off you’ll be, for sure. 

Sean Magennis [00:14:10] Yeah, wonderfully answered. And then finally, mistake number seven is to be sure to understand who the business is being sold to and what their motives are. It’s particularly important if you’re on an Earnhardt or rolling in some equity. This prevents unwanted surprises from cropping up. The buyers ultimately own the asset once you’ve sold it. What are your thoughts about this? And I know it’s early in for you, but what are your thoughts? 

TK Herman [00:14:36] Yeah, I would totally agree with that. And even if there’s not an earnout or there’s not equity, I’m very much I’m very much invested in the people. You know, we had our business for 18 years and I care deeply. I care to actually care more about the people that work for us than I care about the work product that they delivered. And I always believed that if we if we operated that way as a company that will come back and give us good karma sort of in return. And so, yeah, I would totally agree with that. The more that you can align yourself and ensure that the things are aligned, the better the whole process will be. And you know, some of those things, that’s where it goes to, I think, going out and asking a lot of questions of people who have been through the process before because you as somebody new coming into this won’t have any idea of what questions to ask. And and that’s that’s certainly an area where there are things that that could probably be easily missed 

Sean Magennis [00:15:33] A great point. And again, thank you. I mean, these are all very vital mistakes to avoid, and there are many others, too. To your point, I mean, going through and having great advisors, having them give you the benefit of the wisdom of what they recommend asking is also very key and every situation is different. However, we’ve given you seven of the most common mistakes for you to avoid as a boutique owner of a professional services firm. TK thank you. This brings us to the end of this episode. I prepared a 10 question Yes/No checklist, listeners. Please ask yourself these 10 questions. If you answered yes to eight or more of these, you will avoid making these mistakes when selling your firm. T.K. has graciously agreed to be our pure example today. Thank you, TK. So I’ll ask you the essential question so we can all learn from this example. So question number one, do you know what you want from the sale? 

TK Herman [00:16:38] I would say yes, when we went into this, I would say yes. 

Sean Magennis [00:16:41] Excellent question number two. Do you know what you were going to do after the sale? 

TK Herman [00:16:48] Yes, that was a yes for for me personally as well.

Sean Magennis [00:16:52] Great. Number three, is your business attractive to a buyer? 

TK Herman [00:16:57] Yes, it was. You know, and again, we we worked hard over the years to to to be very deliberate about creating an attractive company. 

Sean Magennis [00:17:07] Great. Number five, do you have a handpicked successor? 

TK Herman [00:17:12] We did have a leadership team that was able to basically roll the business forward, even if we hadn’t sold the business they were, they were making the majority of the decisions along the way. So we we were in a good spot for sure. 

Sean Magennis [00:17:24] And I did skip number four because you had a sellable boutique and you’d kind of illustrated that before. Number six is the successor ready to take over? 

TK Herman [00:17:36] Yeah, I would say yes. But again, we we were purchased by a large company, so that’s a little more complex. But but as far as that, the people we had, yes, I would say without a doubt, they’re just top notch people. 

Sean Magennis [00:17:49] Excellent. Number seven, have you lined up an all star team of advisers to help you? 

TK Herman [00:17:56] I didn’t, but I have them now. So if I was ever going to do this again now, I would know who to call. Excellent. 

Sean Magennis [00:18:05] Eight. Are you prepared for the post-sale criticism headed your way? 

TK Herman [00:18:10] You know, I don’t think that I was I know that there would be a lot of emotion around it, but some of that I did not expect. But I understand it for sure. And so that’s probably one area that I didn’t prepare mentally for, like I like, I probably should have. 

Sean Magennis [00:18:25] Yes. And then number nine, do you understand who you were selling your boutique to? 

TK Herman [00:18:30] Yes. Yes.

Sean Magennis [00:18:32] And No. 10. Do you understand their motives for buying? 

TK Herman [00:18:37] Yes, we’ve we’ve we felt pretty confident in in their motives and why they wanted to acquire us. We actually had the good fortune of having a very, another company that was acquired by them that we were very friendly with their owner. And so we were able to get some behind the scenes look into things prior to the acquisition. 

Sean Magennis [00:18:57] T.K. Fantastic. I’m just going to remind the audience again about the three key ingredients that you alluded to during the course of our time together. The first was hire outstanding human beings. I thought that was profound. And then point them in the direction that you want them to go and keep it narrow. And then the third, which I think is a vital lesson. Certainly, it has been for me and I think it will be for our listeners. In fact, I know it will be for our listeners is get out of their way, which is the hardest thing to do. So again, thank you all of our listeners. You’re building a business that you could likely run forever. You’re also building a business you could sell tomorrow if you do decide to sell. You want to do so on your terms. Give yourself plenty of time to avoid the mistakes that T.K. and I have shared with you today.

And if you enjoyed the show and want to learn more, pick up a copy of the book The Boutique How to Start, Scale and Sell the professional services firm written by Collective 54 founder Greg Alexander.

And for more expert support, check out Collective 54, the first mastermind community for founders and leaders of boutique professional services firms.

Collective 54 will help you grow, scale and exit your firm bigger and faster.

Go to Collective 54.com to learn more.

Thank you for listening. 

Posted on

Episode 52: Sell Your Business: The Difference Between a Happy and an Unhappy Exit – Member Case with Renzi Stone

Renzi Stone, Founder, and CEO of Saxum discusses the essential questions to consider when selling a professional services firm, including the importance of knowing your why when developing a business exit strategy..

Transcript

Sean Magennis [00:00:15] Welcome to the Boutique with Collective 54, a podcast for founders and leaders of boutique professional services firms. The goal of  this show is to help you grow, scale, and exit your firm bigger and faster. I’m Sean Magennis, Collective 54 Advisory Board member, and your host.

In this episode, I will make the case that step number one in developing a business exit strategy and selling a professional services firm is knowing why you were selling before you sell. I’ll try to prove this theory by interviewing my friend Renzi Stone. Renzi is the Chief Executive Officer,  and Founder of Saxum, an award-winning 50-person integrated digital marketing agency and consultancy headquartered in Oklahoma City with a distributed workforce across the United States. You can find Saxum at www.saxum.com. We’re going to learn a lot from Renzi. Renzi, great to be with you, and welcome. 

Renzi Stone [00:01:24] Sean, excited to be with Capital 54 and Collective 54. And looking forward to talking about business exit strategies. 

Developing a Business Exit Strategy: Know Your ‘Why’

Sean Magennis [00:01:32] Fantastic Renzi. So let’s start with an overview. Can you briefly share with the audience an example of why knowing the reason to sell your professional services firm is so vitally important? 

Renzi Stone [00:01:45] I think if you’re going to start off thinking about selling your firm, you really need to think first about why you’re in it, to begin with. Is there something else you have to offer your clients and your team members? And so it’s a good question. But I think the first thing that I would have to say is that every firm should make a critical decision. Am I in a lifestyle firm, or am I a scale firm? 

And so, to answer that question for me, Sean, I would say I am in a scale firm. This means that I am required, as a condition of my employment as the CEO of this company, to be thinking about what the outcome over many years looks like. And the only way to have an outcome that is achievable on a scale firm is you have to build it to sell. 

Sean Magennis [00:02:43] I love that. And that is so crystal clear the way that you distinguished that. And for the listeners’ sake, clearly articulating for yourself in a very deliberate way, whether you’re a lifestyle firm or a scale firm. Outstanding, Renzi, this is such a personal topic. I’m glad you’re here with me today because I know, you know, you’re a deep thinker. You have a strong set of core values. 

So I’d like to get your thoughts on some important, you know, considerations and questions when thinking of selling your professional services firm. It’s a long list. I’ve only selected five things, and I know that you’ve probably got several more. But I’d like to get your thoughts on each. 

So the first one is the reason to sell your boutique is very personal, and it should be. You’ve poured your life into building the firm; leaving it, handing it to somebody else takes much thought. How have you approached this? 

Renzi Stone [00:03:40] Well, I think the thing that I think about about the decision to sell my firm, and it’s really important to note, Sean, I haven’t exited my firm. 

Sean Magennis [00:03:51] Correct. 

Renzi Stone [00:03:52] I aspire to have a firm that has enough value that an exit is possible. 

Sean Magennis [00:04:00] Got it. 

Renzi Stone [00:04:01] So to answer the question, the things that I’m thinking about as it relates to a business exit strategy are systems, talent, processes, and the why for me is: Have I brought the firm as far as it can go under my leadership? And when I think about our clients. 

So one of the things I say all the time, Sean, is no clients, no Saxum – the only people that send money to Saxum. Unfortunately, our clients’ are the ones that send money to us, not vendors, not my friend, and certainly not my mom and dad. So if clients are the ones that send money to Saxum, my job as the Chief Executive Officer  is how do I create more value for those clients? And if I create value, they’ll refer me to other people. They’ll increase their scopes of work. 

And so the decision to sell for anybody is based on the idea of: Can you create more value for your clients by making that move? Any amount of money that I put in my pocket, any amount of lifestyle change that creates is only secondary to the first objective, which is how do you create more value for clients? And I think, Sean, I think if you get that backward , you are really at risk of having a failed acquisition, even if it gets closed. It may not perform. 

Selling a Business: Various Reasons Why Boutique Owners Sell

Sean Magennis [00:05:29] I so appreciate you sharing that and that perspective because I agree with it 100 percent, and you touched on the money aspect. Some owners of boutiques sell exclusively for the money. And in your view, how important is the money aspect of selling? 

Renzi Stone [00:05:49] Well, look, anybody who takes the risk, who puts capital and time at risk. And by the way, that’s in reverse order. Yes, time and capital at risk. Got it over 18 years. It’s 2021 right now. For 18 years, I have put my time and my capital at risk. Yes, I have put it at risk at the expense of doing other things with my time and my capital. 

So money is absolutely a consideration for any boutique owner who’s thinking about selling. What I would argue is if all you can think about is the money, you’ve missed the whole point of creating something of value. 

Sean Magennis [00:06:34] Well, well, well said. I’ve also heard that some owners sell because they’re bored. Some are exhausted. Some say that they that their work became a job. It’s not fun anymore. What are your thoughts on this aspect? 

Renzi Stone [00:06:50] Well, I am also a believer that yesterday is gone and tomorrow has yet to come. And so we all have to live in the present. And if in the present we are not challenged, we don’t have vision. So the job of a CEO, Sean, as you know, is to have vision. You must have vision, and the vision must be compelling. It must be. It must be something that can be translated. It must be something that can be owned by others. 

But if you fail to create a vision, you have failed to create something that is growing. And so I think to answer your question, people that leave boutiques because they’re tired or because they’re worn out, what they’re really saying is I don’t have a vision for the future. And so, the vision for the future is required. And I think anybody who continues to have a vision for the future should really ask themselves if it’s the right time to sell. 

Sean Magennis [00:07:50] Beautifully said again. And you know, that’s a lot. There’s a lot of psychology and psychological challenge behind that, and I loved you saying live in the present. It’s challenging to do so, but that’s where the reward is. And I love your comment about vision. It has to be compelling, and it has to be lived 24-7. So many boutiques are partnerships. At times, partners start fighting. One needs to be bought out. You know there are complications with that. What are your thoughts on this? 

Renzi Stone [00:08:22] Well, you’re talking to somebody who doesn’t have partners. And so…. 

Sean Magennis [00:08:25] For a reason, I presume. 

Renzi Stone [00:08:28] Well, I had a partner at the very outset of the business, and I did all the work, and the partner received all the benefit. And so I said, “Hey, partner, either you buy me, or I buy you.” And the partner said to me, “Well, I don’t want to own it because I don’t want to run it.” And I said, “Well, I don’t want to run it because I’m working for you 50 percent of the time.” And so it caused quite a conflict, as you might imagine. 

And so we resolved the situation. I bought his shares for a premium price, and then I own the rest of the business, so I own 100 percent of the business today. I would say for any professional services firm  owner who is at odds with the value creation with their partner, I would say that today is the best day to resolve it. 

And if you don’t resolve it today, then  tomorrow, and if not tomorrow, then the day after. I’ll tell you this, what most people do, Sean, is they don’t resolve it correctly. They just allow it to fester, which creates resentment which creates unequal value creation. And it’s a disaster waiting to happen. 

And we hear this in Collective 54 all the time. And it’s complicated, and it’s distracting to fight with a partner. But I would argue I addressed my problem. It was a problem. And as a result, I’ve created millions of dollars of value outside of that partnership, and it would not have been a good deal for me if I had stayed in that relationship. 

Sean Magennis [00:10:06] Wow, that is practical. It’s vulnerable, and it’s real. Thank you, Renzi. That’s outstanding. Another reason to sell is that some professional services firm owners are afraid, and you’ve touched on this a little bit, that tomorrow might not be as profitable as today. So what do you think about that? 

Renzi Stone [00:10:26] So I have a series of advice that I present to our team annually. There are 28 of them, but number one, Sean, is do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. And my counsel for anybody who thinks tomorrow might not be as good as today is, we have no idea. We just don’t know. And I’ll tell you; I have to tell myself the reasons. Number one on my list is because I have to tell it to myself regularly. 

Sean Magennis [00:11:02] Yeah, that’s that’s excellent. So, um, I’ve met owners who’ve had happy exits, and I’ve met owners who have had unhappy exits. And you know, what’s the difference? Those who had happy exits knew why they were selling. Those who had unhappy exits did not. 

10 Questions to Ask When Selling a Professional Services Firm

So, Renzi, this has been extraordinary, and we’re going to dive into our 10-question format. It brings us to the end of the episode. Our preferred tool is a checklist, and our style of checklist is a yes-no questionnaire. We aim to keep it simple by asking only these ten questions. If you answer yes to eight or more of these, you know why you are selling and will likely have a happy exit. 

Renzi graciously agreed to be our peer example today, and I’m going to switch it up slightly. I’m going to remove one. I’m going to add this because Renzi has really done his homework, and we’re going to go through his list of questions which are very similar but with one or two subtractions. So I’ll start out by asking the first question: Do you have a clear vision of your future? 

Renzi Stone [00:12:17] Sean, I’m a goal setter. You and I know each other a little bit. I’ve written down my goals since I was 10 years old. I have tracked my goals for most of the last 20 years. I write them down, and I work at them. I have a vision for where I’m taking my business, and I’m executing against it. 

And so the answer is today, I have a clear vision for the future, which is probably the reason I haven’t exited a couple of years ago. Sean, I would tell you that I did not have a clear vision, but then I got one. Yes, and so it’s made a huge difference. 

Sean Magennis [00:12:55] Excellent. So does selling your boutique help you get there? 

Renzi Stone [00:13:01] The option to sell my boutique helps me get there, so yes. But it’s an option. Not an imperative. 

Sean Magennis [00:13:09] Fantastic. Number three, do you know why you do what you do? 

Renzi Stone [00:13:15] Saxum, we have a mantra called obsessed for good. Obsessed for good means that you want your professional service consultant to be obsessed with your work. We want to be obsessed with the issues and the challenges facing our world. For means we’re serving others. We are serving others and good means that the expectation is excellence. And so obsessed for good is how we define our why. That’s why we do what we do. 

Sean Magennis [00:13:57] Incredible. I, you know, listeners, if you could articulate the way Renzi did those specific items, that would get you way ahead of the game. Number four, would selling the firm bring you closer to your ultimate purpose? 

Renzi Stone [00:14:13] Well, I think anybody who’s the owner and CEO of a professional service firm or any firm, the values are reflected in who they are as individuals. So being obsessed for good carries into my personal life, and I would expect it to only increase as I get older, and I move on to new challenges if I ever do. 

Sean Magennis [00:14:39] Again, well said. Number five, I know you have a set of values, so do you have a set of values that define how you want to behave? 

Renzi Stone [00:14:48] Yes, and there are four of them. They make up the acronym BOLD, which is brave, original, lively, and driven. Those are the values of the firm. Those are the values that we operate by. That’s how we create value for our clients. 

Sean Magennis [00:15:04] Outstanding. I’m going to skip now, and I’m going to ask you a question. Do you know the type of community you want to be part of? 

Renzi Stone [00:15:14] One of the things I’ve noticed about boutique owners is that a lot of them are alone, and they don’t have anybody to talk to. And so, if you are somebody who is running a firm or a Managing Director or a partner, you have to surround yourself with a community of like-minded  thinkers, like minded values, not necessarily thinkers, not necessarily people who just think like you. 

Diversity is obviously a huge benefit to people that take advantage of that. And so personally, I value authentic relationships, people that tell me the truth. Yes, and I value feedback. We should all be seeking feedback all the time. Feedback is a gift when we get it. We can take it or leave it, but it helps us. 

Sean Magennis [00:16:03] Yeah. So this is an allied question, and you answer it in the way that you want to answer. So would selling a firm allow you to spend time with these people? Or how would you respond to that? 

Renzi Stone [00:16:19] I’ve made a decision to spend time with people who are positive and life-giving, not people that suck energy and take. So I’m a giver. I believe that when you give, you get. There’s all sorts. There’s two thousand years of human truth in that. And so I spend my time with those types of people, and I try not to spend time with people that take life away. 

Sean Magennis [00:16:47] I could not agree with you more. The next question will the proceeds of the sale fund something more than material possessions? 

Renzi Stone [00:16:57] No, I think just material possessions, Sean. No, just joking.

Sean Magennis [00:17:02] I just want a boat and a few toys. No, I get that. It’s a trick question. 

Renzi Stone [00:17:07] Yeah. So, my family we have a family foundation. Isaiah Stone Foundation, which has raised almost a million dollars for research in epilepsy and helping families who have children with epilepsy. We lost a child. And so, I would definitely see spending more time on epilepsy research and supporting families who are dealing with the devastating effects of epilepsy. 

Sean Magennis [00:17:32] That’s a noble cause, and I commend you for doing it. And then the final question is are you personally prepared for the next chapter? Whatever that will be of your life. 

Renzi Stone [00:17:45] I think so. I think so. The big question is: Does anybody really enter a chapter fully prepared? I’m the guy that did not know what I wanted to do when I grew up, but I’m going to bring it back here at the very end to something you said a few minutes ago about happiness. People, are they happy when they exit? 

And I’ll just tell a quick story I had. I had dinner with my family in a restaurant last year, and we went to the restaurant. Our waiter was such a great guy, and he made us feel so special, and we just had a great time. We laughed, and we told stories, and I don’t remember what exactly it was, but it was just a great family dinner. At the end of the meal, he came up and he said, “Are you happy with how dinner went?” We all kind of looked at each other, and we said, “Yeah, we’re very happy about how dinner went.” And he said, “Of course, you walked in here happy.” 

Sean Magennis [00:18:42] Wow. I mean, I got a little cold shiver there. I mean, that’s powerful. 

Renzi Stone [00:18:47] You walked in here happy, and so I have a friend who just exited the business for nine figures. He was unhappy before he sold the company. And guess what? He’s still unhappy now. Yes, so unhappy. But if we can all, if you’re happy already, chances are you’ll be happy at the end of a business exit strategy. And chances are, you’ll be happy if you lose everything. It’s not tied together quite that tightly. Yeah. 

Sean Magennis [00:19:17] Renzi, I knew this would be a remarkable episode, and you’ve encapsulated all these thoughts so well. You know, every entrepreneur exits. We all have our final resting place, which is the great consistency in life. We all die. You cannot run your boutique from the grave, and most of us sell our firms before that event happens. 

There are good exits. Some professional service firm owners are happy after they sell, and we would wish for everybody to be happy after they sell. And there are bad exits where some owners on unhappy good exits and I would take your thoughts, Renzi. Good exits start with a heartfelt, well-thought-out reason to sell to continue living in the present. 

A huge thank you for sharing your wisdom today and for our listeners. If you enjoyed the show and want to learn more, pick up a copy of the book “The Boutique How to Start, Scale and Sell a Professional Services Firm”, written by Collector 54 founder, Greg Alexander.

For more expert support, check out Collective 54, the first mastermind community for founders and leaders of boutique professional services firms. Collective 54 will help you grow, scale, and exit your firm bigger and faster.

Go to Collective54.com to learn more.

Thank you for listening.

Posted on

Episode 1: The Difference Between a Happy and an Unhappy Exit

Step 1 in selling a professional services firm is knowing why you are selling, before you sell. Learn from an owner who figured this out and executed a massively successful exit.

In the breakout episode of The Boutique Sean and Greg talk step 1 in selling a professional services firm: knowing why you are selling, before you sell. Learn from an owner who figured this out and executed a massively successful exit.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Various Speakers [00:00:01] You can avoid these landmines. It’s a buy versus build conversation. What’s the root cause of that mistake? Very moved by your story. Dive all-in on the next chapter, life.

Sean Magennis [00:00:15] Welcome to the boutique with Capital 54, a podcast for owners of professional services firms. My goal with this show is to help you grow scale and sell your firm at the right time for the right price and on the right terms. I’m Sean Magennis, CEO of Capital 54, and your host. On this episode, I will make the case that step number one in selling a professional services firm is knowing why you are selling before you sell. I’ll try to prove this by interviewing Greg Alexander, Capital 54’s chief investment officer. We can learn a lot from why Greg sold his firm. The reason to sell your boutique is very personal, and it should be. You poured your life into building the firm. Leaving it, handing it to someone else takes much thought. Some owners sell for the money. Others say they are bored. Some are exhausted and some say that the work became a job. It was not fun anymore. Some are afraid that tomorrow might not be as profitable as today. At times, partners start fighting and one needs to be bought out. Maybe it’s time to retire. Or maybe you’re getting divorced and your assets are being divided. A health scare causes some to consider selling. The list is long. I’ve met owners who have had happy exits and I’ve met owners who have had unhappy exits. What’s the difference? Those who had happy exits knew why they were selling and those who had unhappy exits did not. Greg, over to you, did you have a happy exit? 

Greg Alexander [00:02:08] I did. I’m very fortunate to be one of those who did have a happy exit. You know, I’ve got wisdom to share with the audience now, because it’s been a few years since I sold my firm. 

Sean Magennis [00:02:22] Yes. 

Greg Alexander [00:02:22] And I can look back on that and give some advice. And I agree with what you said, that key to a happy as it is, knowing why you’re selling. So I knew exactly why I was selling. So let me let me share my story with you, as I think it might be a good example. 

Greg Alexander [00:02:39] So I first became financially independent in my 20s. I got lucky and went to work for a hot tech firm before it took off. I performed well and therefore was rewarded with stock options. And then the stock shot up and so did my personal net worth. However, what I learned from that experience was is that, that success was not fulfilling to me, and fulfillment will be a key theme that will come out in my story and will directly tie back to why you’re selling being a key to a happy exit. So the success I have with the high tech firm in my 20s wasn’t fulfilling and the reason why that was, is that, although I was financially independent as a young man, I was very unsure if my success was due to luck or if it was due to my ability. 

Sean Magennis [00:03:33] Yes. 

Greg Alexander [00:03:34] And that that drove me crazy. That was the proverbial… What keeps you up at night? So I started my firm to answer a question, which was, how good am I? And it’s very important. I understand, when you’re selling your firm to think back to why you started in the first place. It gives you great context to make the decision to sell and not to sell and really when to sell. So my thinking back then when I was trying to answer the question, how good am I? Was that starting a firm from scratch was the purest way to find out. I started with no customers, no product, no employees. I put all my money into the firm and rolled the dice. If I blew it all, I was prepared to start over. I was young. I had a lot of years in front of me. If I was successful, I could look in the mirror and know what I was made of. And to me very personally, you know, living a life with not knowing when I was made of was just not worth living. And then time went on, as it does. And as I moved into my thirties and early for 40s, I matured. I developed a personal mission statement. So I had a purpose. I outlined a vision of my future that I wanted to pursue that got me to jump out of bed every day. I determined how I wanted to behave and this was done by developing the set of eight core values that I challenged myself to live by every day. Although not deeply religious, I became more spiritually aware. My political leanings and philosophical beliefs revealed themselves, and I became a skilled decision-maker and the result of that was that I made good decisions, which created new opportunities. And these new opportunities allowed me to think through what I was doing with my life, with my firm, in contrast to the new opportunities. In addition, I met many different types of people through my work at my boutique and this taught me which tribe I wanted to belong to. 

Sean Magennis [00:05:54] Yes. 

Greg Alexander [00:05:55] And I discovered how best to spend my time. I knew what made me special and probably more importantly, I knew what my limitations were. 

Sean Magennis [00:06:06] So profound personal insights here, Greg. 

Greg Alexander [00:06:09] Yeah, it was. And I think all of us go through that as we mature. 

Sean Magennis [00:06:15] Yes, indeed. 

Greg Alexander [00:06:17] And while this was happening to me, I was deliberate in doing it, but not so much in pursuit of selling my firm. I was just doing it as I was growing up. But it became incredibly valuable to me as I was faced with a decision. 

Sean Magennis [00:06:31] Yes. 

Greg Alexander [00:06:32] So this personal journey journey led me to goal setting ultimately and I settled on a single goal, which was self-actualization and many of the readers have probably heard that term, it’s part of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and it can be most simply understood by saying it’s the highest level of psychological development where the actualization of one’s full personal potential is achieved and this occurs only after all the other needs have been fulfilled. And you can see why this concept of full personal potential was meaningful to me, because I started with my my firm, with the burning question, how good am I? And the firm was like an experiment or an explanation or exploration, I should say, to try to answer that. So this full, personable, tangible goal was really important to me. So with this goal kind of crystallize in my head and I should point out, this took many years. It didn’t happen. 

Sean Magennis [00:07:31] Didn’t happen overnight. 

Greg Alexander [00:07:34] Yeah. But with this goal, I kind of firmly planted in my head a bit. I began to evaluate my boutique against the goal. So, for example, was being the owner and CEO of this firm helping me self actualize. Ultimately, I reached the conclusion that the answer was no and that was really hard to come to grips with. 

Sean Magennis [00:07:54] I can see that. 

Greg Alexander [00:07:55] But it was true. The firm was providing things to me that were no longer important or were much less important than they once were. So, for example, all of my basic needs, you know, a house to live in, clothes to wear, food to eat, etc., you know, all those things were secured for a lifetime. You know, my family and I, we’re we’re stable for a lifetime. I had also done something that I think many professional service owners don’t do, and that is I had established an identity outside of work. Many firm owners, their personal identity is completely wrapped up in their firm. So the idea of selling their firm really means selling themselves or losing their identity, which can be very frightening for many but I had I had a very clear identity outside of work and my need to belong to belong to a community, to belong to, you know, something bigger than myself was being fulfilled elsewhere that wasn’t wrapped up in my firm. 

Sean Magennis [00:09:01] Got it. 

Greg Alexander [00:09:02] So, you know, I had I had answered the question at this point, you know, I started the firm to answer the question, how good am I? Because I was unfulfilled with my previous life and I had been tested. I was certain of what I was made made of. You know, the firm was very successful, more successful than I had ever dreamed. I had become very wealthy. I had received plenty of recognition. I was validated internally first and then externally. So if you think about it, I had reached the point of diminishing returns. There was really nothing left for me inside of the boutique. So right at that time, I got another injection of luck. I had a very good friend of mine, quasi mentor, who knew that I loved to read a kind of sense that I was at, you know, maybe a transition point in my life and handed me a book that had a big impact on me and that book was titled Halftime: Moving from Success to Significance and its author was Bob Buford and I highly recommend it to the readers listeners. The big idea of this book is how to live the second half of your life. Repeating the first half of your life was discouraged. First half success. According to the author, is no longer enough things like homes, cars, vacations, private schools, and so on eventually lose their appeal. You know I mean, how many steaks can eat? 

Sean Magennis [00:10:37] Absolutely right, Greg. This is hard-hitting. These are the things to dive into. 

Greg Alexander [00:10:43] So the second half is about significance, not about success. So making an impact on others, mentoring the next generation, contributing to society becomes the second half scorecard and this intrigued me because I had just turned forty-seven years old. My own mortality came into my purview. And what made this book really useful is that in the appendix there were all kinds of exercises and being the the diligent student than I am, I put myself through them and I drove my wife crazy because I forced her to do it as well. And then, you know. 

Sean Magennis [00:11:28] Smart man alignment Greg. 

Greg Alexander [00:11:31] And over many bottles of wine, we kind of compared our answers and these exercises were designed to serve as a personal definition of second half significance. So what came out of this was a new plan and it was very clear to me how I wanted to live my 50s in my 60s and 70s and then throughout the rest of my life and that path that I wanted to live was not the path that I was on and it became obvious to me that this second half plan was bold. I had been accused of dreaming big and it needed to be funded and the only way I could generate the funding, to fund the plan was to sell the boutique, to sell my firm. 

Sean Magennis [00:12:26] Just incredible sharing and I’m very moved by, by your story and also the concept that Bob Buford has in his book Moving from Success to Significance, which is what you’ve done. That’s been my experience of you and thank you for sharing that, Greg, you know, as president of YPO for seven years and as a very long term board member of EO for over 16 years, I’ve seen this journey play out many times, not quite like yours. You know, some sometimes it doesn’t go as well as your exit, and sometimes it does, obviously. 

Sean Magennis [00:13:04] We will be right back after a word from our sponsor. Now let’s turn the spotlight on collective 54 members who are making an impact in the professional services field. Collective 54 is the only national peer advisory network for owners of professional services firms who are focused exclusively on growing, scaling and maximizing business valuation. Today, we have the pleasure of introducing you to Sam Bretzfield, who’s founder and chief executive officer of bGlobal, one of Bangladesh’s leading outsourcing companies providing cost-effective programming and interactive production services. 

Sam Bretzfield [00:13:48] My name is Sam Bretzfield and I’m a technology-driven entrepreneur, investor, and advocate helping to build great companies such as EarthLink, Big Global, Direct Fresh, Six Beyond, and several others. I bring over twenty-five years of leadership experience working with global Fortune 500 enterprises as well as early-stage startups and have extensive international experience building high performing companies and project teams in emerging markets from concept to customer delivery. As the founder and CEO of bGlobal, we are passionate about offering exceptional and tailored fit programming and development services that are cost-effective and offset your operating costs using the latest technologies. These services form the backbone of the company and satisfied clients come back month after month to bGlobal, to benefit from our extensive experience, creativity, and innovation. bGlobal has operations in the United States, the Middle East, Europe, and South Asia. Please visit www.bglobal.com to learn more. 

Sean Magennis [00:14:54] Please get to know Sam and other business owners who are leading innovation in the professional services industry by visiting Collective54.com. Learn more about how Collective 54 can help you accelerate your success. 

Sean Magennis [00:15:16] In these podcasts, we’re going to go through the value contribution to our audience and so in an effort to provide immediate take home value, I prepared 10 questions on a yes no checklist and I’m going to ask each of our listeners to really answer these questions for yourself. So if you answer yes to eight or more of these, you know why you are selling your business and why you’ll have a happy exit. 

Sean Magennis [00:15:47] Number one, do you have a clear vision of your future?

Greg Alexander [00:15:52] So let me put a little color on that. The word vision is often thrown around. In the context of this show and thinking about why you might want to sell your firm. What the vision means is what is your aspiration? You know, what do you want to be doing five, 10, 15 years from now? And your vision may be continuing to work in the firm, and if that’s the case, don’t sell. 

Sean Magennis [00:16:17] Exactly. 

Greg Alexander [00:16:18] But your vision may be, I don’t know, travel around on my yacht in the Mediterranean from June through September. Well, if that’s the case, you’ve got to sell your firm. So that’s what the vision means is what’s your aspiration? 

Sean Magennis [00:16:29] Good distinction, Greg. Number two, does selling your boutique help get you to the vision that you’ve just created? Number three. Do you know why you do what you do? Greg, unpack this one. 

Greg Alexander [00:16:46] Yeah, so I can tell you what a bad answer is. Right. Do you know why you do what you do if you say, cause I need to make money. That’s a bad answer. There’s a lot of ways to make money and I would imagine anybody who owns a professional services firm is a highly skilled person. They can make money a million different ways. Right. So the why you do what you do is your purpose, right? It’s why do you exist? You know, what do you do? What drives you? What gets you out of bed? And when determining whether or not to sell your firm, which is what the show is about. If why you do what you do, is consistent with the reason for the firm’s existence, then you shouldn’t sell. If why you do what you do is inconsistent with the firm… In other words, you’ve grown or outgrown your firm, then maybe you should consider so. Yeah. 

Sean Magennis [00:17:37] Excellent. Number four, would selling the firm bring you closer to that purpose? 

Greg Alexander [00:17:44] Right. Which says you’ve got to define the purpose in the first place. 

Sean Magennis [00:17:48] Question number five. Do you have a set of values that define how you want to behave? 

Greg Alexander [00:17:54] Yes. I’ll tell you a story there. So as firms mature, their culture morphs. So when I started my firm, we were a sales consultancy and as the founder of that firm, co-founder of that firm, the culture of the firm was very representative of a sales culture. You know, we were aggressive, we competed hard, etc. with very high expectations. Bringing in new business was highly rewarded. Well, you wake up 10 years later and here’s what you realize. You started firm to go to work for yourself, then you wake up one day and you realize you’re working for your employees. It changes. Mm-hmm. So, your values either have to change to reflect the new reality or your values remain the same and you realize that you’re out of place that that you no longer fit with the firm, and when that happens, it’s very important to hand the firm over to somebody who’s appropriate for its next wave. It doesn’t mean that that person’s better or worse than you. 

Sean Magennis [00:19:08] Got it. 

Greg Alexander [00:19:08] It just means that they’re the right person for that time, and you’re no longer the right person for that time so it’s time to move on and that happened to me. When I was the perfect person for the first 10 years of that firm, but for that firm to become who it needed to become and I’m glad to say it has it required a new style of leader. So that’s what that question is meant to surface. 

Sean Magennis [00:19:29] And and it required your self-introspection and loved the setup to this odd guest because, you know, in terms of the hierarchy of needs and your authentic focus on your purpose and vision allowed you to get to that point. 

Greg Alexander [00:19:45] For sure, it wasn’t easy. You know, there was a lot of pride swallowing, ego-bruising… 

Sean Magennis [00:19:50] I’m sure. 

Greg Alexander [00:19:51] That happened there. But, you know, I can say, looking back on it now, that it was definitely the right move. 

Sean Magennis [00:19:56] Outstanding, question number six. Would the sale of your boutique, allow you to behave the way you want. 

Greg Alexander [00:20:04] Yes. So for me, that was a case. I mean, what I’ve realized is I’m a habitual entrepreneur. 

Sean Magennis [00:20:08] Yep. 

Greg Alexander [00:20:09] So, you know, the founding of Capital 54 allows me to be around other entrepreneurs and be part of their journey and so it’s allowing me to behave the way that I want to behave. Whereas being in a larger firm that’s no longer a start up, we know [inaudidble].

Sean Magennis [00:20:26] Yeah, it restricted you.

Greg Alexander [00:20:30] Yep. 

Sean Magennis [00:20:30] Number seven, do you know the type of community you want to be a part of? That’s an entrepreneur. 

Greg Alexander [00:20:33] Exactly. 

Sean Magennis [00:20:35]  Number eight. Would selling your firm allow you to spend time with these people? 

Greg Alexander [00:20:40] Yeah, that’s the other thing. You know, in order to have a successful firm, you can mail it in. 

Sean Magennis [00:20:46] No question about that. 

Greg Alexander [00:20:47] It’s all-consuming. All right. So sometimes owners think they they can do both. You know, they can maybe pull back the reins and what they’re doing today and start the new journey. The minute they do that, they’re shooting themselves in the foot because the firm itself starts to deteriorate. 

Sean Magennis [00:21:07] Yes. Good point number nine, will the proceeds of the sale fund something more than your material possessions? So what you’re doing. 

Greg Alexander [00:21:18] Yeah, for sure. And, you know, again, I learned that the highway, you know. You sell your firm, you get a pile of money and you start buying things, and then you realize that the wow factor wears off in about three hours. 

Sean Magennis [00:21:32] I love that Greg. And then finally, number 10. Are you personally prepared for the next chapter of your life? 

Greg Alexander [00:21:40] Yeah. You know, this actually should be number one, and the reason why that is, is that I would recommend those that are listening that when you do this, close the chapter and move on. Keeping one foot in the first half and one foot in the second half is not good. Just make the break. Reinvent yourself. Start over. Dive all in on the next chapter of your life, so you got to know what that next chapter is and you got to spend the time to think about what that next chapter is before you go after it. 

Sean Magennis [00:22:16] Outstanding. Greg, thank you for sharing, sir. 

Greg Alexander [00:22:19] My pleasure. 

Sean Magennis [00:22:19] Honestly with us. As we all know, every entrepreneur exits. We all die. 

Greg Alexander [00:22:26] I love it. 

Sean Magennis [00:22:26] I don’t want to be depressing but we do. 

Greg Alexander [00:22:28] I love this. Sometimes I speak to entreprenuers and I say, where would you like to exit? And they say, well, I’m not going to exit. I’m like, Oh, yeah. 

Sean Magennis [00:22:35] Oh, yeah. 

Greg Alexander [00:22:35] Show me how you’re going to run your business from the grave. 

Sean Magennis [00:22:38] And that’s it. You cannot run your boutique from the grave. Most of us sell our firms before we die. There are good exits. Some owners are happy after they sell. And then there are bad exits. Some owners are unhappy after they sell. Good exits start with a heartfelt, well thought out reason to sell. 

Sean Magennis [00:22:59] If you enjoyed the show and want to learn more, pick up a copy of Greg Alexander’s book titled The Boutique How to Start, Scale, and Dare I say, successfully sell a professional services firm. I’m Sean Magennis. Thank you, Greg, and thank you to our listeners for being with us. 

The first mastermind community for

boutique professional services firms.

Linkedin Youtube Facebook Twitter

© 2024 – Collective 54 LLC   All Rights Reserved.