Episode 13
In this episode, Grace is joined by co-host, Steve Leaman, Senior Vice President for Business Banking at Horicon Bank. They talk to Brad Saunders, Director of Strategy and Coaching at Huberty in Fond Du Lac, about owner exit strategy. Brad's role entails bringing forward some of the advice and understanding in the advisory section of what they can do for business owners. Brad is one of those guys who grew up in a small business family and started working with a meat producer out of his college job. Through several different opportunities, he grew that business and sold that business before buying and selling a couple other businesses.
Brad advises business owners should take the time to set an appointment with an advisor to discuss their exit strategy options, which can include selling the business to family, recapitalizing, partnering, or liquidating. The first step is actually to take inventory of what you have in place and where you are at because this will help determine if you are ready and what your next steps should be. Listen to the show and discover what you can do to improve your business readiness.
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Highlights
03:27 - The referral partnership that we have with the bank is great, but having clients that have used our services that are able to at least give a broad stroke understanding of how we work and how we operate, at least I get the better chance of dragging them into it a little bit deeper right off the bat.
07:08 - I found that we're probably most effective with businesses with revenue over $2 million, but under $10 million. I have several customers that are well over $20 million, right? But I have also have a few that are under a million. It's the affordability, right? It's still an investment. You have to get to a certain stage in your business, too.
17:09 - I think the key to using good advisors like Steve and myself, for example, is that you should be able to look at all the options to sell your business, whether it's a recapitalization, whether it's a partnership or it's a direct sale. Sometimes it's liquidation. That it's the best solution to it. But all of those are options to business owners. And I think too many business owners without advice get narrow-minded in regards to how this thing is going to work.
The Banking on Business podcast is aimed at helping entrepreneurs grow their businesses with practical strategies they can start using today. Hosted by Grace Bruins, Marketing Officer at Horicon Bank, each episode features an expert guest and explores ways to innovate the way you do business.