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Today, Trudy Heins sits down with Jenni Erbel and Nina Forbes, two highly experienced businesswomen whose careers have spanned financial services, leadership, business ownership and ultimately successful business exits.
What started as a conversation on Nina's driveway became a business they would build, grow and sell within five years. From the beginning, they had a number in mind and knew what they were working towards. That clarity shaped many of the decisions that followed.
Together, Trudy, Jenni and Nina explore what it takes to build a business with real value beyond its owners. They discuss exit planning, cash flow, profitability, delegation, people, processes, culture and why understanding your numbers is a responsibility that can never simply be handed to someone else.
They also unpack the importance of building for where you want the business to go, rather than only solving for what it needs today, and why knowing your own strengths may mean recognising that you don't have to be the CEO simply because you own the business.
If you've ever wondered whether you're building a valuable business or simply creating another job for yourself, this conversation is full of lessons from two women who have built, grown, sold and ultimately created the freedom to choose what came next.
Connect with Jenni Erbel and Nina Forbes
Jenni Erbel
LinkedIn
Nina Forbes
LinkedIn
Episode Highlights
03:14 Jenni's journey from teaching to financial services, business ownership and retirement
03:58 How a conversation on a driveway became their first business
05:11 Why they had an exit strategy from the beginning
07:35 Moving from technician to CEO
09:33 Building towards a number and finding the right business mentor
11:48 Why doing everything yourself limits business value
13:03 Cash flow, growth and the numbers you need to watch
15:15 Profit as the reward for taking the risk of business ownership
16:11 The mistakes and learning experiences behind the success
17:58 Knowing when an opportunity will derail your strategy
18:47 People, profit and process
20:01 Communication, culture and leading your team
21:16 Why culture can trump strategy
23:05 Building systems and structure for where the business is going
25:13 Why growth requires a longer-term view
27:00 Building the foundations for the business you ultimately want
38:17 Knowing when it was time to step away
40:15 Defining the end game and working backwards
40:52 From sharing one desk to taking over the entire floor
42:30 Backing yourself and creating options for the future
43:24 Why bigger businesses don't mean fewer mistakes
43:55 Season 4 Quickfire Questions
45:28 Why sustainable growth means stopping doing everything yourself
46:29 Knowing your numbers and measuring return on investment
47:22 What to do when you've become the bottleneck
48:32 Final thoughts and takeaways
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