Breaking Through Biz

In today’s podcast we spoke with Neal Albritton. Neal is the owner and lead advisor for Albritton Financial Services that specializes in wealth planning for ultra-high net worth business owners and their families. They operate as a virtual family office so they can cater to a very select group of businesses all over the country in their exit planning and beyond. At Albritton the VFO Model that they follow brings all the advisors into the meeting at once to brainstorm in front of the client. Other times they will meet without the client and then present their ideas that come from their meeting to save their client time. They are all about creating an experience that is both comforting and professional.

Albritton Financial Services typically works with business owners that have a revenue of one to fifty million dollars. And often times because they deal so much with the leadership team during the transition, they find themselves also advising members of that team and key professionals within the business.

Key Takeaways:

“I was not always a process person. I’ve always been more of an experience person, and I want to make sure there’s a great experience for whether it’s the client or the professional that I am working with.”- Neal Albritton

“It is the best experience I’ve ever had, seriously.”-Tabetha Sheaver

Contact Information: · Website: www.albrittonfs.com/why-us/ · Email: [email protected] · Scheduling: https://calendly.com/albrittonfsneal/learnmorecall

In today’s podcast we spoke to Keith Haddrill. He is the owner of ThoughtWorks where he is a consultant, a speaker and an entertainer whose been helping people with NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) which is all things on a subconscious level. He’s been doing this for over 32 years. His interest in this field started at a very young age when he felt like an outsider in his world and spent a lot of time observing others. In college he became interested in hypnosis while trying to find his own answers. That interest turned into a lifelong career of traveling all over speaking to all age levels in schools and eventually transitioning into corporate speaking. He uses all kinds of techniques to present such as ventriloquism, hypnosis, consulting, and comedy routines. Any way he can make learning fun is important to him.

According to Keith, one of the biggest problems businesses are facing these days is the lack of connecting. We’re contacting one another constantly through a variety of avenues, but we’re not connecting with one another. This problem has caused division.

Keith’s book called, Diametrically Connected – The Foundational Secrets You Can Use to Bridge Divides Across Race, Age, Gender, and Politics addresses the importance of communicating better with one another at a more personal level. One of his favorite quotes sums it up perfectly. “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”-Theodore Roosevelt

Key Takeaways:

“Everything I do when coaching individuals is to go down to the very root level of their humanness. And I realized that is where we are all the same.”- Keith Haddrill

“We tend to argue logically, but we tend to only accept emotionally.”-Keith Haddrill

Contact Info

Keithhaddrill.com [email protected]

314-322-6055

In today’s podcast we spoke to JoyLynn Waganer. JoyLynn is a mom, investor, entrepreneur, and CEO of C.M. Products which specializes in the conveyor material industry. C. M. Products is a family-owned business that was started by her mom and dad which she purchased it from her dad in 2016. Another interesting endeavor she created was Drop It Baby. An invention that was created out of necessity. It’s a clever way to keep toys, bottles, or anything a baby might toss from touching the ground. Plus, it alleviates the task of having to pick things up constantly.

Her experiences and background have been in product and manufacturing as well as behavioral health. She is a licensed social worker and behavioral analyst, but her true passion has been autism. She saw that some people who are on the spectrum are sometimes deemed as unemployable and she wanted to change that. After much thought it occurred to her that some of the jobs at her company are very repetitive. With that she hired Jordan, who is on the spectrum. He’s one of the most loyal and hardest working employees she has, and by interacting with him the rest of her staff is learning valuable transferrable skills. Small businesses should strive in finding hard workers like Jordan, who might be on the spectrum.

In addition to being a busy parent and business owner about a year ago JoyLynn implemented EOS in her business and according to her it has been a wonderful experience for her and her staff. With each step they were able to focus on structure, look at their holes, and work on their culture. They even solidified their mission through their weekly L10 meetings. One of the many positives that came from using EOS was talking to her staff about her volunteer efforts which is a big part of who she is. From that she gave each employee time to do their own volunteer work which had a very positive response. EOS has helped in so many ways and because of that it is invaluable.

Key Takeaways:

“Small business is a perfect area for these individuals to be placed.”-JoyLynn Waganer

“You get what Patrick Lencioni teaches us when he says most teams are working on being smarter and not being healthier and it sounds like you’ve really put a focus on the healthy and on the culture so kudos to you for doing that.”-Tabetha Sheaver

Contact Information:

[email protected]

In today’s podcast we spoke to Roger Bielicke. He is the founder and partner of Unleash Insights where he helps business leaders take the guess work out of decision making by using data to help owners make more informed decisions to help solve issues. According to Roger, first, looking at year to year comparison of your information is a good starting place. Also, comparing to the different markets your business is in important.

Contact Information for Roger:

Today we spoke with Peter Racen. He’s now a partner at Moneta, but about 24 years ago he was involved in selling a family run business that he had been a part of for 21 years. During that time, he realized that all of them, himself included, had to deal with a lot of issues both as a family and as a company. In 1999 when he sold the company, he wanted to help other business owners in financial planning. He continues to do just that, but a few months ago he merged his practice with Moneta so he could share his own succession plan.

In today’s podcast we spoke to Alison Niermann. She is the CEO of Tilly Workforce Solutions and a fellow Rooted Sister. Her background in corporate HR and recruitment began over twenty-five years ago. When she couldn’t help people in businesses standout in marketing and help with the hiring due to her companies’ obligations Alison decided to start her own and Tilly was created. Her company specializes on hiring HR and marketing as well as creating workforce planning for businesses.

Business owners are facing the challenge of having a workforce plan and seeing a lot of movement. There has been a huge shift in employment and talent moving. Small to mid-size businesses need to have a good strong workforce plan to get the right people in the right jobs to keep the business running in the right direction. Alison’s company creates a workforce guide to help businesses do just that.

Businesses are getting stuck these days in understanding the talent force. Many are still trying to do things the way they always have and that doesn’t necessarily work with the newer generations. The way people connect now is very different mainly because of technology. Both companies and possible candidates are using technology to educate themselves about one another before the actual interview takes place. “Organic hiring is still one of the strongest things,” according to Alison. And having a workforce plan in place is key in doing so.

Contact information: tillyworkforcesolutions.com

Today’s guest is Steve Denny. He started his business back in 2018 called Innovative Business Advisors where he helps businesses buy and sell other businesses. He specializes in working with private companies that are in the lower to middle market, those in the one-to-fifty-million-dollar range. According to Steve, one of the most difficult things business owners face is how to retire from their business. Steve’s company helps business owners through this process first, by helping them understand the value of their company as well as helping them through the emotional and technical side of retirement. Most of the time the technical side is focused on first and as the process continues the emotional side comes into play.

After Covid a lot of business owners started to really think about how to retire. It was something that no one was prepared for and it changed their whole mindset about the stability of their business. Steve does represent more sellers than buyers but sees both sides in the process. 2021 was an all time high in the number of transactions for Steve’s business. A good solid business is one that has a good net worth and no liabilities. Those businesses that don’t have any dependencies are the ones that will be valued higher. Business owners should start the process of selling their business ideally within a three-to-five-year window. This gives them time to actively work on the business aspects that might need fixing in order to make it more profitable

Key Takeaways:

“When business is good nobody wants to exit”. -Steve Denny

“The timing thing is an important point.”- Tabetha Sheaver

In today’s podcast we spoke to Katheryn Hunt who is the owner of Grow Marketing Agency. It has been a nine-year journey of growing her business to what it is today. However, when Katheryn first started her business, it was not a marketing agency. With her background in business, she worked with corporate organizations all over the country and developed a passion of wanting to help businesses grow. In doing this she also wanted to do it in a way that she could be with her family and be present. So, when she started it was a lot of consulting with one-on-one attention. Her business was built on best practices which applied to all the industries she was working with. Once the market began to shift, however, she worried that her customers could use all the things she had been teaching them, but only if they themselves had customers. This gave Katheryn the idea of digital marketing, which became even more relevant during the pandemic.

As she began heading in this direction, she realized it was going to take a team to help her business grow. And being a people person, she wanted it to be a “people business.” Having a connection with her customers is what motivates her so finding the right team required a lot of trust. She doesn’t just hire people that are talented in their field. She hires people with core values such as integrity and character.

She believes that even in the digital realm we are connected. And as a business owner she never wanted to ever get disconnected by being in a leadership role as owner. Creating experiences and a team who is excited about sharing those experiences is most important in helping both her team and business grow successfully.

Key Takeaways:

“Effective marketing is really about connecting the most current form of communication to a customer.”-Katheryn Hunt

“Slow is fast and fast is smooth.”-Tabetha Sheaver

In today’s podcast we discussed using acquisitions as a growth strategy for your business with Terry Lammers. Terry is the Co-Founder and Managing Member of Innovative Business Advisors and the acting CFO of Banner Fire Equipment. Over the course of 18 years he acquired 11 businesses and took his family’s fuel business from a $700,000 annual sales to a $45,000,000 annual sales by the time it sold in 2010.

People have a lot of questions when it comes to acquiring other businesses. First, a realistic time frame to purchase a business is approximately one year. You can do it through a contract for deed, purchase it outright, or owner financing. According to Terry it’s very important to understand the financial aspect of the business you are interested in acquiring and put a true value on the company. Then you need to look at what the strategic advantages are of purchasing this company. The best way in even finding businesses who are available to be acquired is to get the word out. Terry says to talk to your banker or insurance agents about your interest in acquiring businesses. They are in touch with people of businesses and can be a great resource for that information.

Terry wrote the book, You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know which is not only about mergers and acquisitions, but also about making your company sellable. It is part of a series, and currently he is working on the 5th book of the installment. In addition to this he plans to continue his work at Banner and Innovative, but would also like to do more public speaking and podcast engagements to educate business owners about the opportunities out there.

Key Takeaways:

. “The number one reason I would tell you that a company doesn’t sell is because the owner does everything, and if you’re going to grow your company, if you’re really going to grow it, you cannot be involved.”-Terry Lammers

“You have to let go of the vine.” “You have to be able to delegate and elevate.”-Tabetha Sheaver

Contact information for Terry

Innovativeba.com

(618) 530-8922

In today’s podcast, Paul Larson explains how he uses EOS not just with one business, but with several. Paul is the CEO of Larson Financial Holdings which he launched in 2006. With multiple affiliate businesses beneath it, he is also the founder of Larson Financial Foundation which is a charitable organization who helps international businesses. He now has over 300 employees among all these businesses.

Paul started the business with just three: himself, an intern, and an administrative assistant. His business began to scale very quickly as did his hiring of staff. With this growth came a lot of challenges along the way. He references the Peter Principle which is promoting people prematurely or putting them in positions that are beyond their skill set. He realized that as a leader of an organization he needed to help the business grow by understanding that, and that people can be the most rewarding and yet the most challenging area of running a business.

Paul was given the book called Rocket Fuel which talks about matching up a visionary with someone who could implement that vision in an effective way. Knowing himself to be an extreme visionary this book sat true with him and guided him in the direction of EOS. Once he became more involved in EOS, he realized that some of the components associated with it he had already been using in his business practices in the prior years. This strengthened his belief in EOS even more.

One of Paul’s favorite things about EOS are the weekly L10 meetings. He finds that it forces you to stay in a rhythm to reach goals or to see why you are doing this in the first place.

Key Takeaways:

“I’d say the biggest challenge for me was being somebody who could guide and lead people and sometimes that was discussing the hard truth and that was really a challenge for me.”-Paul Larson

“We call that being the buffalo, so running into the storm, having the hard conversation cause then the storm will pass a lot faster versus like if you’re the cow and your running with the storm.”-Tabetha Sheaver