What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

* Things to consider when you think about retiring or transitioning your business
* The advantage of continuous learning or reading
* How important is knowing the economic and business conditions

Related Links and Resources:

I got a page on my website from www.financialmanagementresources.biz, that offers up 3 different assessments; tradition readiness assessments.

Summary:
Arnie Hendricks of Financial Management Resources has been coaching and advising business owners as a part time CFO for 29 years and has served over 350 companies.  Prior to establishing his consulting practice, he had two five-year stints as a CFO for $30M to $50M manufacturing companies.
The Certified Management Accountant (CMA) designation Arnie earned early in his career has been supplemented by becoming a Certified Family Business Coach (CFBC) and a Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA).  He is also a Certified Mergers and Acquisition Advisor (CM&AA).  These credentials enhance his practical finance and operations experience to help a business owner through their once in a lifetime process.
Here are the highlights of this episode:
2:31 Arnie’s ideal Client: The ideal client would be a business owner that's thinking about transitioning in the next 5 to 10 years. Typically, that's somebody that perhaps reached the age of 60 to 65 and thinking about retirement and changes. And they realized that they got to do something with the business that they built over their career. Sometimes, it's somebody in their 40's or 50's that has been in the business for 20+ years and is ready for another challenge or is ready for an early retirement and looking on towards the next project might be.
3:18 Problem Arnie helps solve: The real problem is, they really don't know how to reach that objective of transitioning their business, because as you mentioned earlier, they only do it one time. And anything that we do for the first time, we usually don't do it as well. So, then don't typically perhaps get the value that they could maximize if they took an earlier start. Potential owners, sometimes if they let their kids or the management team take over the business, it's a process of getting them ready. Because they need a leader not just managers. There's a variety of complex things that needs to be address which is unique in every business.
4:17 Typical symptoms that clients do before reaching out to Arnie: It might be just a matter of losing enthusiasm for the business. Might be a concern that typically a business is 75% of a business owner's net worth. They started to worry as they get closer to retirement, are they going to be able to get the value out of the business, and just a lot of uncertainty that they need some answers to.
5:00What are some of the common mistakes that folks make before finding Arnie and his solution: A lot of times the wait is way too long; they're action-oriented people and they've able to solve lots of problems with their businesses. And so, they think they can fairly do this at a very short time. In reality, it can take 3 to 5 years to really meet their objectives and maximize the value. In proper expectations, they've talked to people about the value of the businesses that they've solved, may or may not be right, maybe a totally different business.. software business versus manufacturing business. A lot of times they don't have their personal financial house in order. Because if they're going to sell their business, they need to make sure it's another personal financial plan. And then just making sure they reach out to the right team of advisors; their CPA, someone like myself that's in the business. Just continue to learn and surround themselves with people that can help them be successful.