Go Beyond What The World Expects
This blog is dedicated to the exploration, discussion and teaching of leadership, management, and business concepts that enable the owners of small and midsize businesses to craft and execute a three-pronged Exit Plan that focuses on increasing the market value of their business, personal financial planning, and planning for life after business ownership. Here we explore the ways that owners can identify, protect, grow, harvest, and ultimately manage the value of their business through application of the Value Acceleration Methodology.
More Better Mojo: Social Capital that Generates Greater Value
Mojo: Something indefinable and immeasurable that goes beyond the standard definition of success in business, something that can easily be lost if not protected from homogenizing influences. It comes from establishing and maintaining intimate emotional connections...
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Structure that Empowers Employees and Enhances Value
“In order for any business to succeed, it must first become a system so that the business functions exactly the same way every time down to the last detail.” Rick Harshaw, Monopolize Your Marketplace “Everything affects everything else in one way or another. Whether...
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Maximizing the Value of Customer Relationships
An old saying goes, “People don’t care about how much you know until they know how much you care.” No matter whether your business is B2G, B2B, or B2C, its people with whom you are doing business. And all people have an inborn need to experience love and respect in...
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Optimize Human Capital To Maximize Business Value
A quick survey of the literature concerning Exit Planning reveals almost universal agreement that what accounting systems can measure constitutes only a fraction of the enterprise value of a business. As Chris Snider wrote in Walking to Destiny, “Today, wealth is...
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The Go Beyond Exit, Part II
In Part I of The Go Beyond Exit, we introduced our blend of the Go Beyond Way and the Exit Planning Institute’s (EPI) Value Acceleration MethodologyTM. We explored three of six guiding principles: embrace the truth, empty your cup, and a chart a course. This post...
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The Go Beyond Exit, Part I
Blending the Go Beyond Way with the Value Acceleration Methodology created by Chris Snider of the Exit Planning Institute (EPI), this article introduces The Go Beyond Exit, which is embodied in the following six principles: embrace the truth, empty your cup, chart a course, do the work, eat your cake, and share the blessings. Presented as a logical sequence of steps, each principle also stands alone as a best practice. Taken together they are a recipe for improved business leadership, successful business transition, personal growth, and a happier life.
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Collaborative Management Buyout
In the spirit of the Go Beyond Way, this article introduces to the idea of the Collaborative Management Buyout, in which the Management Team and the Business Owner(s) acknowledge the contributions of the other party to the past, present, and future success of the...
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Every Day Counts In Exit Planning
“What you need to understand is that every day, you make decisions that impact your exit.” Christopher M. Snider, CEO, Exit Planning Institute A few weeks ago, a business owner I’ve known for well over ten years told me that he and his team were completely focused on...
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Value Friendly Behavior
Owners of privately-held small and midsize businesses — realizing that every journey comes to an end — must cultivate value-friendly behavior in themselves and their teams in order to maximize the market value of their companies. The Hedgehog Concept, 20 Mile March, and relentless execution must all become part of the company’s culture. Your Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA) will provide you with a prioritized action plan based on assessments of your company’s attractiveness and readiness. That plan will highlight value drivers to focus on to protect and build your company’s value. These would be excellent candidates for leading indicators to use in designing a 20 Mile March that is tailored for your company and its operating environment.
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Lifelong Learning for Value Growth
This article is written with the specific intent of encouraging our readers, many of whom are business owners, to engage in lifelong learning about growing the value of their most important financial asset — their business. As a young US Army officer, I was encouraged...
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V is for Value
The subject of value arises constantly as Go Beyond LLC works to help the owners of privately-held small and midsize businesses prepare themselves and their companies for what will be the biggest exchange of value in most of their lives. Most owners have not had any education related to transitioning their business.
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Addicted To Small Business Programs?
Has your business become addicted to the small business programs that helped it get started in federal contracting? Has that dependence made your business unsalable?
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Fighting Loneliness and Isolation During the Exit Planning Process
“It’s lonely at the top” isn’t just a saying, it’s a truth. One of the toughest things about running your own business is the feeling of loneliness and isolation. You are on your own and nobody supports you because it’s hard for them to see what you see and feel the...
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Reinvent Your Business
One of the first things business owners ask me after learning that Go Beyond LLC specializes in Business Exit Planning is: “What do I need to do in order to sell my business?” There are so many ways to answer that question! Christopher Snider, CEO of the Exit...
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Fund Your Retirement and Secure Your Legacy
The company you built is your greatest financial asset. Shouldn’t you take action to eventually convert that asset from potential to actual wealth to 1) fund the “third act” of your life so your kids won’t have to (don’t count of Social Security) and 2) secure your legacy? It won’t be as easy as you might think. The sad truth is that only 20% of small and midsize businesses that go to market actually sell, even in good times. That’s because most of these companies are not ready to withstand the scrutiny of due diligence. You will be in competition against many other Boomer business owners, so it will be even more difficult to become part of that successful 20%. There is a way to beat the odds, fund a comfortable retirement, and establish a lasting legacy.
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What Does Love Look Like In Business?
“The willingness to die for another person is a form of love that even religions fail to inspire, and the experience of it changes a person profoundly.” ― Sebastian Junger, War If you are familiar with Go Beyond LLC, what we teach and how we work, the word Love...
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Meet Your Value Advisor
This article explores the role of the Value Advisor™, a term created by Christopher Snider and the Exit Planning Institute (EPI) referring to the lead advisor on an Exit Planning or Value Enhancement project. Other terms for this role include lead advisor, most...
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Money, Money Everywhere
As an advisor who helps business owners prepare to sell their companies, the world of Private Equity reminds me of a line from Rime of the Ancient Mariner a poem by Samuel Taylor: “Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink.” This oft quoted line refers to drifting on a becalmed sea, surrounded by salt water, but having no fresh water to drink. It reminds me of a business owner looking at massive amounts of money available for buying companies, but he is left high and dry because he and his company are not ready. Private equity groups (PEGs) are struggling to invest about $1 trillion in “dry powder” (funds not yet invested). Too many small and midsize companies go on the market without being ready. As a business owner, you have two choices. You can accept this dire situation as fate, or you can do everything in your power to ensure that your company is one of the most attractive and ready businesses. Find out how to get your company ready.
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