As a successful business owner, you're wearing many hats - perhaps too many. From managing your team to handling finances and marketing, nearly every task seems to demand your attention. What if there was a way to lighten your load without sacrificing quality or productivity? The answer lies in automation.

Do you ever feel like a hamster frantically running around a cage? You're doing all kinds of tasks from sunup to sundown, but at the end of the day, you feel like you’ve made absolutely zero progress. Are you Bill Murray living in Groundhog Day? Is it a new day, but the same old problems? If this sounds like your daily reality, this article is for you. While it may sound counterintuitive, I’ve found that the best way to speed up in life is to first slow down.

Whether we believe it or not, we are all creative at heart. We are all capable of creating things that are unique to who we are and what we love to do.

What does a book about the battles of the creative process have to do with my company?

If you’re frustrated about scaling beyond what you can personally do or wanting to take a vacation without worrying about the plant burning down while you’re gone, or simply want to leave at 3 to coach your child’s sports team? How do you build a team that shoulders the load with the same discipline and accountability that you bring to the table?

You run a business. You’re self-made. You’ve made tough decisions, you’ve taken risks. It hurts to consider the idea of allowing some investor off the street to step into your shoes as owner; someone with no previous history with your customers, your employees, your vendors, your products & services. It just feels wrong.

Creating a thriving company culture is not done overnight, in a week, or even in a single month. It’s created over time, with intentional investment from company leadership, and a commitment to keeping it top of mind each and every day.

Jon Coleman writes, “Workplaces that have a deep sense of mission and values with which we can align are more engaging and joyful to work for.”

As you read that quote, do you have a solidified mission and values that come to mind for your company? Are your company values clear, concise and communicated through the entire organization?

If not, it's time to roll up those sleeves. When everyone's on the same page, decisions become easier, hires become more aligned, and the whole company moves forward with purpose.

“What gets celebrated gets reproduced.”

These words given to me early in my career by a mentor have stuck with me. At first, it just seemed like a good thing to say. However, once I had an opportunity to watch it put into practice for a few years, I saw the positive impact it had on leaders, employees and his business. 

Your employees have been with you through thick and thin. Building your company alongside you. But as you prepare to exit, your attention turns to one question again and again: What’s going to happen to my employees now that I’m selling? Here are 4 Ways You Can Look Out for Your Key Employees During the Sale of Your Company.

Where you sit today, exiting your business may be a far off thought, but it’s important to see that one day it will be a reality. Even if your exit is 20 or 30 years away, there are things you can do today that will radically increase the value of your business in the here and now, and when it’s time to exit.

It’s true, the inflation nightmare of the 80’s is back. The official US government reported Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) is increasing at a shocking rate of 7.0%. After decades of being lulled to sleep by stable prices, you are being bombarded with price increases across the board. In many cases, these price increases are being paired with longer lead times than you’ve ever experienced.

If this inflation storm is the final stressor pushing you to exit your business, you’re not alone. It truly is a tumultuous time across several industries. But it doesn’t mean you can’t get the most for your business.

Goodwill is an accounting concept that arises in business sales. You would only know about it if you ever took an accounting course or bought/sold a business. While the technical accounting for goodwill is not important for our purposes, the concept is critical for your understanding as a business owner planning to exit.

Do you continue to feel aligned in your mission? Or has life intervened and little-by-little (or all at once), as it inevitably does, have you become increasingly aware that your shared vision diverged somewhere along the way?

This common occurrence, which can be painfully obvious to observers, often goes unaddressed for months or even years amongst business partners. While ignorance may seem like bliss, it can often do real damage to your bottom line, limiting your exit options, one avoided conversation at a time.

There are other options. Let’s discuss some healthier ways to handle such a situation.

Net Working Capital (“NWC”) is the metaphorical grease that keeps the machinery of your enterprise churning out sales and profits. Yet it is often misunderstood and/or underestimated, especially in growing businesses.

People often joke about how “you have to spend money to make money”. This phrase is often used in the context of capital investments in land, property, plant, and equipment necessary to bring a project from concept to reality. While it’s true that every business requires capital expenditures, the attention afforded to big ticket items like machinery and equipment can result in losing sight of NWC which is necessary to assure the machinery can be run.

For the past year or more, you’ve realized that your organization has no effective expense control. You simply cannot approve every expenditure anymore without suffocating your business. On the other hand without written policies it seems that every month you get hit with an unexpected spending surprise. There must be a happy medium, right?

You’ve got your anxiety about the inevitable: your exit from your company. You’ve heard a few stories and you know that selling your company is just as competitive as making a buck in your industry.

In your day-to-day business, you know the market and you’ve played the game for decades. But in the market for the buying and selling of businesses, you know it’s an unfair fight. You know that someday soon you’re going to need to step into the ring.

As an entrepreneur, you can see the future. Where others see an open field, you see a beautiful state-of-the-art facility churning out new products. Where others see an empty shell building, you envision an automated line that will cut operating costs in half. Where others see an abandoned storefront, you see a new retail concept.

You speak the language of a business operator.

But as you know, sometimes you need a financial partner in order to bring your future vision into reality.