For most business owners your business is your number one asset. Do you know how this asset is valued? Understanding this and taking some simple steps prior to exiting may increase its value 50% or more. What would this mean for your retirement? Banks look at businesses the way buyers do, by asking what the value and the ability of the business is to repay the loan.

Today’s episode of #PoisedforExit featured Lance Madson, CPA and Tax Partner with Boulay. Lance got his start in tax and stayed there. Imagine his level of expertise when working with business owners! 

This week’s guest featured Heather Parbst, Director of Owner Transition Services with CliftonLarsonAllen. Heather has worked with family businesses in transition for several years and prior to that work was an entrepreneur with her own set of ownership issues.

Today on #PoisedforExit we featured Brian Slipka, CEO, founder and acquirer of numerous companies in various industries, with a common foundational thread: “help people and success will follow”. 

In today’s #PoisedforExit episode we interviewed Stephanie Searle, industry expert in Long Term Care solutions. Stephanie has been in the financial services industry for many years, having started as a financial adviser and stockbroker for Prudential and working there for a number of years, before going into Long Term Care. 

Our #PoisedforExit show today featured Tim Olson, Business Development professional at Honour Capital. Tim’s background in equipment sales uniquely positioned him as a great fit for the typical client at Honour Capital, a firm getting its start just after the pandemic hit, but whose growth has seen quite a trajectory! 

Our guest today featured Henry DeVries, publisher and owner of Indie Books International. Henry’s firm published my book “Poised for Exit” two years ago already.

In today’s episode we interviewed Scott Plum, Founder and President of MN Sales Institute. Scott is a two-time author, podcaster and sales training expert. He shared some really great advice today.

In today’s episode of #PoisedForExit featured Alec Broadfoot, CEO of Vision Spark, a consulting firm that specializes in selecting and placing leaders for strategic growth.

Our guest for this episode featured Nike Anani, Founder of African Family Firms, which is a non-profit community of family business owners of African descent from around the globe.

Today’s episode of #PoisedForExit featured Chris Steffl and Daniel Metcalf, partners at Cyberfin, a firm who offers complete Cybersecurity protection for small to middle market companies across the globe

In our #PoisedForExit episode today, we featured Jason Early, President of BizEquity, which is a software service that advisers use for valuing a privately held company. If valuation has been on your mind, this episode is for you!

For the 100th Episode of #PoisedForExit, Lisa Meyer, advisor with Sunbelt, was invited to interview a client of hers, whose growth strategy has been to acquire other companies in his industry. He’s got a system for that, and a strategy that works.

Today’s episode of #PoisedForExit featured Bruce Werner, author, private equity investor and family business advisor. Bruce and I met through our book publisher “Indie Books International” a couple years ago. Bruce recently published “Your Ownership Journey” that highlights his expertise in scaling your business during various stages of growth, ending the book with exit planning advice.

In this #poisedforexit episode, we caught up with Aleesha Webb, President of Village Bank. Aleesha has been on the show a couple of times in the past and always has great insight to share with you, our business owner audience, and this time was no exception.

Craig Siiro, CEO and Founder of Integrated Consulting Services, got his start in the 1980’s as a CPA working for a Tax and Audit firm. He spent a lot of time with entrepreneurs and learned that he really liked the advisory side of the business. Fast forward to 2010, when Craig launched Integrated Consulting Services or ICS, who provides fractional CFO work for owners of privately held companies. In the spring of 2020, he added Cathy Sedacca as its Managing Director, and over the past few years the company has grown significantly.

This week on #PoisedforExit, we caught up with Melissa Johnston, Co-Founder and Chief Credit Officer of EntreBank, a brand-new community bank, located in the Twin Cities. When we last interviewed her, EntreBank did not have an official name yet and their founders were working through the approval process with the appropriate governing bodies, which she will tell you was quite grueling. But that was then, and this is now!

In this #PoisedforExit episode I had the distinct honor of interviewing Ben Utecht, who’s not only a Super Bowl Champion with the Indianapolis Colts, but also a winner of the Tony Dungy Award for Servant Leadership and now works as Chief Culture Officer for several mid-size firms, including my sponsor, Sunbelt Business Advisors and True North M & A.

Julie had the pleasure of talking with Dave Pederson in this #PoisedforExit episode, who is a partner with Dunlap Seeger Law Firm in Rochester, MN. Dave’s background in business finance and law brought him to a place where structuring deals was part of his job when working for a large commercial lender in Chicago. Fast forward to today, he’s been practicing in Rochester since 2006, advising on M& A deals, Estate Planning and even Commercial Real Estate. As Dave said, these three areas naturally intersect, and he spends all of his time between them for his business owner clients.

Selling a business is a multi-step process, and proper planning is necessary to maximize potential returns. Here are five things from the US Chamber of Commerce that a seller should know before getting started…