Like many Baby Boomers my age, my kids aren't really kids any more. Last week I was traveling on a grand college tour, (Paul and Molly's Excellent Adventure). She is my youngest so these are the last tours we will likely go on. It occurred to me, that we will have few times like this in the future.
I learned that at 17, she has a lot figured out (or thinks she does at least). I also learned that she will have no interest in following in my footsteps in business. That made me little sad, since I cannot coach her in her future career as I coached her in sports. I imagine a lot of Boomers are facing the same issue, especially those who own businesses. It's one thing to miss coaching, but if your succession plan includes your kids liking your business and buying it from you, and they don't, you need a Plan B.
The long trip was not as physically wearing as I first imagined. I used to travel in business 3-4 days per week, 45 weeks per year (a sales guy). In those days, travel wore me out each week. But with this new trip, I began to think about travelling in retirement with my wife. Before the kids came along, we liked long drives. I thought that I might not like long drives in the future, but after a week with my daughter (puntuated with a few days with my wife and oldest daughter), traveling was kind of fun again. I still got some work done (the wonders of free WiFi), in between the college tours (will someone come up with a less boring way to tour a school?), and saw an amazing sight: the Space Shuttle riding piggyback on a 747 over Washington DC, on its way to a museum.
All of this led me to believe that I can balance work and travel in the future. I don't need to "just travel" or "just work". I can make each a component of my future. Maybe mix in a little volunteering on the travel itinerary too.
Of course, with two college tuitions to pay for, my wife and I are more than a few years away from leaving full time work, but this long drive truly gave me hope.
You can learn more about transitions in our book, FindingYour New Owner. For a free download of Chapter One, click the button below:
About the Author:
Paul Cronin is partner and Director of Business Development at STPI, the Successful Transition Planning Institute of Cambridge, MA. STPI provides tools and training to advisors so they may help successful business owners, executives and professionals learn how to "Think", "Live" and "Decide" what to do with their companies and careers, in order to plan for a dynamic, new life. Paul can be reached at 978-749-9546, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, or at Contact Us
TO POST COMMENTS, CLICK HERE: scroll to bottom of the blog post and click on "Comments"
For more information, visit STPI, or see this video.
The Successful Transition Planning Institute of Cambridge, MA teaches Baby Boomers and their advisors how to avoid boring, meaningless retirements. STPI's books, tools, training and seminars empower Baby Boomers to "Think", "Live" and "Decide" what to do with their companies and careers. By doing so, Baby Boomers create plans for dynamic new lives, full of meaning and purpose. (see video).
Owner's Block, What it is and How to Break it
by Paul Cronin, partner STPI
(note Paul Cronin is on vacation this week, here is a blog post from 2011 that recevied good feedback - hope you like it).
Ask yourself this question: "Is dying at your desk the best that you can do with the rest of your life?"
If you answer "no", then congratulations, you just started to break your version of Owner's Block.
An estimated seven million baby-boomer business owners will exit their companies over the next 20 years. If you are a business advisor, your clients are included. If you are such an owner, and you don't feel like thinking about it, or only have a vague idea of what you might do after you leave, then you are blocked.
Similar to what writers suffer, owners also get blocked, even though they realize that they
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are not living forever
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have much of their wealth tied up in the company (illiquid)
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may have key managers or younger family members anxious about their own future at the company
There are three emotional factors creating owner's block:
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Loss of Identity: Owners often think of owning the business as who they are; when they leave the business, they lose connections and purpose.
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Fear of the Unknown: By not acknowledging their fear of the unknown, an owner without a personal plan will sabotage a transaction for no good reason.
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Equating Leaving with Dying: Some owners view leaving a business with a sort of death; they cannot envision a life without it. Sadly, if they don't plan to leave, dying at their desk is where they inadvertently end up.
Finding Your New Owner:
When you are ready think about leaving your company, what you are really starting is the process of "finding your new owner". Obviously, that means asking “Who is the right person to take over?” and “How can I ensure that they will be successful?” CPAs, business advisors and attorneys can all help with finding the new owner and preparing the business for him/her, but that does not answer the bigger, personal question, "What will I become when I am no longer an owner?”
(to Read More get PDF of rest of this article click here)
You can learn more about business and personal transition planning in a free Report "The Four Steps to Leaving Your Business Successfully". click this button:
About the author:
Paul Cronin is partner and Director of Business Development at STPI, the Successful Transition Planning Institute of Cambridge, MA. STPI provides tools and training to advisors so they may help successful business owners, executives and professionals learn how to "Think", "Live" and "Decide" what to do with their companies and careers, in order to plan for a dynamic, new life. Paul can be reached at 978-749-9546, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, or at Contact Us
The Successful Transition Planning Institute of Cambridge, MA teaches Baby Boomers and their advisors how to avoid boring, meaningless retirements. STPI's books, tools, training and seminars empower Baby Boomers to "Think", "Live" and "Decide" what to do with their companies and careers. By doing so, Baby Boomers create plans for dynamic new lives, full of meaning and purpose. (see video).
Groom or Hire Your Successor
by Dave Kauppi - The Exit Strategist
One of the exciting aspects of being involved in Mergers and Acquisitions is that we are constantly learning. One of our most productive classrooms is the buyer visit. In those visits the buyer's motivations, priorities, concerns, and value drivers and value detractors are often revealed.
This was the case in one recent buyer visit with our client. Her Firm is representative of many early baby boomer led firms that "started the business in their garage" (actually it was started in her living room) 25 years ago and built a successful business with an excellent brand and customer loyalty. She is now looking to exit her business and reap the rewards from her hard work in the form of a generous buy out offer.
The potential buyer is a business owner that started a similar firm at about the same time, but has morphed into part business owner and part private equity investor. He brings a unique perspective of analyzing this acquisition wearing two hats - one as a strategic industry buyer and the second as a disciplined financial buyer. It was quite instructive to watch the dual motivations at play during the visit.
While wearing his industry buyer hat, he was quite excited about the synergies of the two companies, the growth potential, and the new vertical market that the combined firm could capture. While wearing his private equity investor hat, however, that excitement was dampened by the risk that our owner had created with her company. The owner and her top producer directly touch 70% of the company's revenues. They are the face of the company. They are the "brand". They are also in retirement mind set and have not groomed a capable successor internally.
Even though we have coached our clients with the "We will stay on for a period of time to transition our relationships and transfer the intellectual capital" speech, the buyer perceives huge risk. Quite frankly, I completely agree with his thinking. As this issue was explored, it became evident that this factor would negatively impact both the transaction value and the deal structure. Translation - a discounted purchase price and much of that price deferred in the form of a multi-year earn out payment.
The good news was the buyer's strategic side recognized the value of the new vertical market our client's company would allow him to...
download rest of article in our Learning Center>>
You can read more stories in our book, "Finding Your New Owner" by Jack Beaurgard. Download Chapter One free here:
About the Author:
Dave Kauppi is a Merger and Acquisition Advisor with Mid Market Capital, Inc. MMC is a private investment banking and business broker firm specializing in providing corporate finance and business intermediary services to entrepreneurs and middle market corporate clients in a variety of industries. Email at davekauppi@midmarkcap.com
This was originally published under "The Exit Strategist" by Dave Kauppi. Used with permission.
The Successful Transition Planning Institute of Cambridge, MA teaches Baby Boomers and their advisors how to avoid boring, meaningless retirements. STPI's books, tools, training and seminars empower Baby Boomers to "Think", "Live" and "Decide" what to do with their companies and careers. By doing so, Baby Boomers create plans for dynamic new lives, full of meaning and purpose. (see video).
This is the third in a series of blogs about books on Baby Boomers. Tom Osenton at University of New Hampshire released "Boomer Destiny: Leading the US through the worst crisis since the Great Depression" in 2009.
Osenton was prescient in that he wrote the book, prior to the Wall Street banking collapse and the overall crash of the economy. Yet his words are as true now as then, although I can't say that fully I agree with his prescription.
The writer's point that the US goes through a crisis every 80 years or so, and while each generation has a role to play, one is often defined by it. FDR's generation was in power during the Great Depression, and The Baby Bomers are in power today. Our present crisis (financial wobbliness stemming from enormous government and personal debt), is a time for Boomers to define our generation as more than what some refer to as 'the most self-centered generation in history'.
I must say I have mixed emotions on our generation's ability to solve these issues. On the one hand, I meet incredibly talented people through this blog, our website and our LinkedIn group. The clients and advisors we work with are often truly amazing. But when I look at our so-called leaders in Washington and other governments around the world, I get a little depressed.
Osenton's point is that Boomers are in the "Winter" of our existence. We have a choice of what form of legacy we will leave. He states these fittingly in "Obits".
Boomer Obit: Ending #1 - A Legacy of Selfish Concern for Themselves. Essentially by not fixing the debts issue (not adusting entitlements and taxes), Boomers pass on a bankrupt nation to the next generation, who must watch the US slide into oblivion. (God, I hope not)
Boomer Obit: Ending #2 - A Legacy of Selfless Concern for Others. Boomers start giving more than they take, by adjusting to the realities of entitlements and taxes, fixing our infrastructure, setting us on a path to dramatically strengthen our country. (I kind of like the sound of that one).
So, what is your vision of the Baby Boomer's Destiny?
We have a series of articles, links, videos and podcasts on these kinds of issues on our Learning Center. Click this button to see them:
Paul Cronin is partner and Director of Business Development at STPI, the Successful Transition Planning Institute of Cambridge, MA. STPI provides tools and training to advisors so they may help successful business owners, executives and professionals learn how to "Think", "Live" and "Decide" what to do with their companies and careers, in order to plan for a dynamic, new life. Paul can be reached at 978-749-9546, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, or at Contact Us
TO POST COMMENTS, CLICK HERE: scroll to bottom of the blog post and click on "Comments"
For more information, visit STPI, or see this video.
The Successful Transition Planning Institute of Cambridge, MA teaches Baby Boomers and their advisors how to avoid boring, meaningless retirements. STPI's books, tools, training and seminars empower Baby Boomers to "Think", "Live" and "Decide" what to do with their companies and careers. By doing so, Baby Boomers create plans for dynamic new lives, full of meaning and purpose. (see video).
This is the second in a series of books I am reading about Baby Boomers. This is about the book, "The Price of Civilization" by Jeffrey Sachs. In the book, Sachs relates some research on the subject of Happiness, by three researchers at Harvard, under the title: "If money doesn't make you happy, then you probably aren't spending it right".
While I could see how all people could use the advice, we Baby Boomers especially should pay heed, because A - we have money, and B - we have time (to read more books, hopefully). For those of us who someday may be selling a business, or leaving a partnership with a tidy sum, this might really be worth pondering (before we go out and buy that shiny new whachacallit).
The researchers made these eight findings to yield more happiness from our spending:
1. Buy experiences, instead of things, because they offer long memories to savor.
2. Use our incomes to help others instead of ourselves, because anything we do to improve our connections to others tends to improve our happiness as well.
3. Buy many small pleasures instead of a few big ones, slow down to smell the roses.
4. Buy less overpriced insurance, because we adjust much better to shocks than we suppose.
5. Pay now, consume later. Anticipating a future purchase will give us anticipatory joy, which is a sort of "free happiness". Impatient purchases give us fleeting benefits and long term debt.
6. Be attentive to the details of a purchase, since they may disproportionately affect the happiness of the experience.
7. Beware of too much comparison shopping, since it can focus our attention on unimportant distinctions.
8. Listen to others about what can bring happiness. They can add new and useful perspectives.
So, how do you find happiness, and do you spend money to do so?
If you are a business owner counting on the proceeds of a sale to fund your retirement, please download our free report, "The Four Steps to Leaving Your Business, Successfully" at this button:
Paul Cronin is partner and Director of Business Development at STPI, the Successful Transition Planning Institute of Cambridge, MA. STPI provides tools and training to advisors so they may help successful business owners, executives and professionals learn how to "Think", "Live" and "Decide" what to do with their companies and careers, in order to plan for a dynamic, new life. Paul can be reached at 978-749-9546, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, or at Contact Us
TO POST COMMENTS, CLICK HERE: scroll to bottom of the blog post and click on "Comments"
For more information, visit STPI, or see this video.
The Successful Transition Planning Institute of Cambridge, MA teaches Baby Boomers and their advisors how to avoid boring, meaningless retirements. STPI's books, tools, training and seminars empower Baby Boomers to "Think", "Live" and "Decide" what to do with their companies and careers. By doing so, Baby Boomers create plans for dynamic new lives, full of meaning and purpose. (see video).