1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,400 So, Monty Fonky, tell me about your vision. 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:11,740 Well, my vision has come about in the last couple of years and that is to help business 3 00:00:11,740 --> 00:00:18,640 owners, especially small to medium sized business owners, understand that their business needs 4 00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:25,000 to be a certain way and look a certain way in order for that business to ever sell if 5 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:29,400 they ever want to sell it for retirement or for some other purpose. 6 00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:34,120 And the reason that became my vision is because I've got over 20 years of experience in buying 7 00:00:34,120 --> 00:00:40,340 and selling businesses, but something, there's an alarming statistic and that is that 80 8 00:00:40,340 --> 00:00:45,240 to 85% of businesses will never sell. 9 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:49,400 They will literally have to just turn out their lights and walk away. 10 00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:53,760 And the problem is, is there's an almost inverse number of business owners who think they're 11 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:56,920 going to be able to sell their business when they need to, whether it's due to a health 12 00:00:56,920 --> 00:00:59,560 problem or retirement or something else. 13 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:04,320 And they find out when they go to sell it that it actually has little to no value. 14 00:01:04,320 --> 00:01:09,400 And I have had, in the last several years, I've had to have way too many conversations 15 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:13,400 and way too many bad news conversations with way too many business owners. 16 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:18,100 And so I'm on a mission to kind of share how to prepare your business properly to sell 17 00:01:18,100 --> 00:01:22,640 it, even if you never plan to sell it, why you should do that, how you should do it, 18 00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:27,160 and make sure that these business owners are protected when the time comes. 19 00:01:27,160 --> 00:01:33,040 Marty for the people in this business strategy space, this statement is very clear. 20 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:40,560 But for our audience, what do you mean about what blind spots business owners usually have 21 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:45,040 and see how they fail to see when it comes to selling their businesses? 22 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:49,560 Let me give you an example of a call I just recently had in the last few weeks. 23 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:54,200 A woman called me and said, my husband has had a very successful plumbing business for 24 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:56,120 20 years. 25 00:01:56,120 --> 00:01:57,640 He recently passed away. 26 00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:04,000 And he's always told me that if something happens, I can sell the business and I'll 27 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:05,360 have plenty of money. 28 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:10,120 And we've read somewhere that a business is worth three times its revenues. 29 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:14,920 And she said, my husband's business was doing about a half a million to three quarters of 30 00:02:14,920 --> 00:02:15,920 a million dollars a year. 31 00:02:15,920 --> 00:02:20,120 And so I think it must be worth a million and a half to $2 million. 32 00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:22,360 And I asked some questions about the business. 33 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:26,680 And it turns out the business was really just her husband in a truck going around and doing 34 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:27,680 a lot of plumbing. 35 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:30,480 He had an apprentice, but it really wasn't a business. 36 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:33,640 It was a trade, which is wonderful. 37 00:02:33,640 --> 00:02:40,080 But a trade has no value because a business like that, once the owner is gone, then there's 38 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:41,660 nobody to service the business. 39 00:02:41,660 --> 00:02:47,240 And so this man had worked for many years under the assumption that this business, when 40 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:50,200 he passed on or something happened, would have all this value that was going to take 41 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:52,240 care of his wife and his family. 42 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:55,080 And the reality is it had almost no value. 43 00:02:55,080 --> 00:02:57,500 And that was devastating news to hear. 44 00:02:57,500 --> 00:03:01,960 And so that's a very exact specific example of what I'm talking about. 45 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:06,160 Where a business owner may have a nice business that's providing a nice income and taking 46 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:07,160 care of their family. 47 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:11,280 But if they ever think that that business is going to provide for their retirement or 48 00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:17,920 provide for financial needs when there is something bad happens, they need to understand 49 00:03:17,920 --> 00:03:20,320 the realities of what will and won't work there. 50 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:24,720 Yeah, I want to add on to that. 51 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:27,240 Most business owners are not aware of this. 52 00:03:27,240 --> 00:03:30,560 And it's a sad, sad, sad reality. 53 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:34,240 About 80, I want to see you write 80% of businesses are unsellable. 54 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:35,800 No one wants to buy your job. 55 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:41,000 And investors looking at buying a business, they're looking at processes and procedures 56 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:44,960 in place where they can replace you very easily. 57 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:45,960 Exactly. 58 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:47,420 Unreplaceable in your own business. 59 00:03:47,420 --> 00:03:50,600 No one wants to buy your job and then pay you to run that business. 60 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:51,600 That's exactly right. 61 00:03:51,600 --> 00:03:53,880 That doesn't make sense from an investor perspective. 62 00:03:53,880 --> 00:03:54,880 That's exactly right. 63 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:55,880 Thank you for sharing that. 64 00:03:55,880 --> 00:03:58,800 Thank you for sharing that, Marty. 65 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:03,840 My next question for you, Marty, is what is your why? 66 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:08,560 Why do you get out of bed and then you're on this podcast now trying to get this awareness 67 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:10,040 out for people? 68 00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:14,760 Yeah, so as I mentioned, I've always been an entrepreneur. 69 00:04:14,760 --> 00:04:21,880 I've had businesses of my own from tiny little businesses when I was a kid, the quintessential 70 00:04:21,880 --> 00:04:27,320 lawn mowing and things like that, all the way through to ventures that have done really, 71 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:28,320 really well. 72 00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:31,640 But I've always also had a passion for helping other entrepreneurs. 73 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:38,000 So almost three decades ago, I started a consulting business to help entrepreneurs be successful, 74 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:41,720 through marketing strategies, et cetera. 75 00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:46,120 And as I mentioned, quite some time ago, I had a business that we built up, did really 76 00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:48,200 well with, and then it was acquired. 77 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:52,160 And I started to understand buying and selling of businesses. 78 00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:59,120 And so when I started focusing more on acquisitions and buying and selling businesses outside 79 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:05,360 of just traditional marketing, that's when I really saw a real need. 80 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:08,840 And so my why has not changed. 81 00:05:08,840 --> 00:05:11,120 In 30 years, my why has not changed. 82 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:15,660 And that is help entrepreneurs be successful in their business, whether that's they want 83 00:05:15,660 --> 00:05:18,360 to keep their business and grow it. 84 00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:21,600 Acquisitions can be a wonderful way to grow a business. 85 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:27,240 I often talk about a way to double your business without having to sell twice as much stuff. 86 00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:33,000 And then acquisitions can also be a wonderful way to enjoy the fruits of your labors when 87 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:34,280 you sell the business. 88 00:05:34,280 --> 00:05:39,520 So my why has really remained constant for almost 30 years, and that is help entrepreneurs 89 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:42,400 be successful with their business. 90 00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:48,200 Marty, something you said, it's about acquisition per se. 91 00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:55,680 It's a very, very sad reality when it comes to giving away part of your company to someone, 92 00:05:55,680 --> 00:05:57,840 to trusting them to grow it. 93 00:05:57,840 --> 00:06:02,600 A lot of, I would say most entrepreneurs can't let go. 94 00:06:02,600 --> 00:06:10,040 I don't know why or what it is, or maybe it's the scarcity mindset or lack of pundits mindset. 95 00:06:10,040 --> 00:06:17,240 And very few realize it in due time that, hey, I can do this by myself. 96 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:23,280 The best way for me to support my business is to give part of it to someone who can, 97 00:06:23,280 --> 00:06:25,680 because I can't afford them anyway. 98 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:30,200 And the only way they'll work with me for me and help me with my vision and my business 99 00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:34,240 would be me giving part of my business so it does not fail. 100 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:39,720 Or you can be the 96% according to E-Myth who failed within the first 10 years. 101 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:45,760 Or you can keep working for the rest of your life with our systems and processes and try 102 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:49,800 hard, hard, hard and get yourself a glorified job. 103 00:06:49,800 --> 00:06:53,500 So I think that's a very hard point that you just mentioned. 104 00:06:53,500 --> 00:07:00,100 Selling away, you need to be humble enough to recognize that in most people and entrepreneurs 105 00:07:00,100 --> 00:07:01,160 which they're not. 106 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:02,880 And that's something sad to see. 107 00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:06,800 It's going to be more interesting to see when the boomers are selling their businesses more 108 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:09,440 and more and see what's going to happen in that case. 109 00:07:09,440 --> 00:07:10,440 So thank you for sharing. 110 00:07:10,440 --> 00:07:11,440 Well, yeah. 111 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:16,600 And there's something coming called the Silver Tsunami, which is that over 10 million boomer 112 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:24,040 businesses that are owned by the boomer generation are all starting to hit the market and that 113 00:07:24,040 --> 00:07:27,040 generation is really starting to retire in waves. 114 00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:31,760 And it's going to be a very interesting time because a lot of boomers are wanting to retire 115 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:33,680 and sell their businesses. 116 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:39,360 And if it's not in good shape and ready to sell, there's going to be a lot of competition 117 00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:40,760 for much fewer buyers. 118 00:07:40,760 --> 00:07:43,560 And so they've got to make sure they're doing things right. 119 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:48,920 I'm actually working on a book that very much addresses that topic that will be released 120 00:07:48,920 --> 00:07:49,920 here shortly. 121 00:07:49,920 --> 00:07:55,260 It's called Boomer Sells the Business, a Step-by-Step Guide to Cashing Out and Living Large. 122 00:07:55,260 --> 00:07:58,120 And I'm writing that book with a co-author. 123 00:07:58,120 --> 00:08:02,400 And again, it's one purpose and that is to help business owners. 124 00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:08,400 Now, in that particular case, it's targeted primarily towards baby boomers in that generation, 125 00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:13,480 but any business owner will get benefit from the book that I'm about to release. 126 00:08:13,480 --> 00:08:14,480 Wow. 127 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:15,880 I'm excited. 128 00:08:15,880 --> 00:08:18,880 The topic and the title of the book is very catchy. 129 00:08:18,880 --> 00:08:20,440 Well, thank you. 130 00:08:20,440 --> 00:08:22,440 That is awesome. 131 00:08:22,440 --> 00:08:23,440 Amazing. 132 00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:33,040 So, Marty, my next question for you is, it's a, let's see what tricky one I can find or 133 00:08:33,040 --> 00:08:35,560 something good I can find. 134 00:08:35,560 --> 00:08:37,680 I think this is about something you'd love to answer. 135 00:08:37,680 --> 00:08:39,140 This has two parts to it. 136 00:08:39,140 --> 00:08:43,260 One of them is, why do you think leaders hide from funding their vision? 137 00:08:43,260 --> 00:08:47,980 And the second part to this question is, how do leaders lean into funding their vision? 138 00:08:47,980 --> 00:08:51,760 So let me know when you answer the second one so I can put up on the banner. 139 00:08:51,760 --> 00:08:58,520 So why do you think, Marty, leaders hide from funding their vision? 140 00:08:58,520 --> 00:08:59,520 That's a really interesting question. 141 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:03,580 I, you know, I've done over 50 podcasts and I've never had anybody ask this question. 142 00:09:03,580 --> 00:09:06,920 So well done on a unique question. 143 00:09:06,920 --> 00:09:09,000 From funding their vision is interesting. 144 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:15,040 So I have a very easy answer for that and that is lack of knowledge. 145 00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:24,480 Most leaders and business owners don't know that there are ways to fund their vision that 146 00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:27,360 can make big things happen with very, very small investments. 147 00:09:27,360 --> 00:09:29,840 So let me give you an example. 148 00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:35,260 Let's say that you are a, you have a business, let's say it's an auto repair shop and that 149 00:09:35,260 --> 00:09:39,640 auto repair shop is doing a million dollars a year in revenue. 150 00:09:39,640 --> 00:09:43,060 And you say, well, based on a million dollars a year in revenue and the profit, like I need 151 00:09:43,060 --> 00:09:47,800 to grow that in order to increase my profit margins so that I can support, you know, lifestyle. 152 00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:50,480 Maybe the kids are going to college, whatever. 153 00:09:50,480 --> 00:09:54,800 So the normal way a business owner looks at that and says, well, okay, now I got to figure 154 00:09:54,800 --> 00:09:56,960 out how to do twice as much revenue. 155 00:09:56,960 --> 00:09:57,960 What does that mean? 156 00:09:57,960 --> 00:09:59,160 I got to hire twice as many people. 157 00:09:59,160 --> 00:10:02,480 I got to do more advertising and promotion to get more people to bring their vehicles 158 00:10:02,480 --> 00:10:03,480 in. 159 00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:05,720 I'm going to have to buy all this extra equipment. 160 00:10:05,720 --> 00:10:08,040 I'm going to have to probably expand the building. 161 00:10:08,040 --> 00:10:10,520 I mean, huge amounts of costs, right? 162 00:10:10,520 --> 00:10:14,200 So to double your business, it's a massive investment. 163 00:10:14,200 --> 00:10:20,320 However, if you acquire another shop and acquire another business just like yours, then you 164 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:24,560 can find one that is already in business for five, seven, 10 years. 165 00:10:24,560 --> 00:10:26,840 It has consistent clientele, consistent revenue. 166 00:10:26,840 --> 00:10:29,200 The risks are mitigated from it. 167 00:10:29,200 --> 00:10:35,160 You can acquire that business and there are ways to do that for as little as 10% of the 168 00:10:35,160 --> 00:10:37,620 investment or even 0% of the investment. 169 00:10:37,620 --> 00:10:43,560 If you're in the United States, there's a great program that allows you to do an expansion 170 00:10:43,560 --> 00:10:48,560 acquisition loan and you can go and buy that other million dollar shop across the street 171 00:10:48,560 --> 00:10:53,200 from you, acquire that into yours, not one penny out of your own pocket. 172 00:10:53,200 --> 00:10:57,520 And now you've doubled your business and you've doubled your profit and you've not put out 173 00:10:57,520 --> 00:10:59,480 any of your own funds. 174 00:10:59,480 --> 00:11:03,080 There are other programs outside of that that you can do that for about 10%. 175 00:11:03,080 --> 00:11:08,720 So if you can have, let's say that business was going to sell for a million dollars, if 176 00:11:08,720 --> 00:11:12,280 you can get a hundred thousand dollars together, you can acquire that business for a million 177 00:11:12,280 --> 00:11:13,280 dollars. 178 00:11:13,280 --> 00:11:16,480 And now all of a sudden you've doubled your revenues and you've doubled your profits. 179 00:11:16,480 --> 00:11:19,520 Most business owners have no idea this is even possible. 180 00:11:19,520 --> 00:11:22,720 They think, well, okay, I'm doing a million dollars now. 181 00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:26,600 If I was going to buy a million dollar business, I'd have to have a million dollars to do that. 182 00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:28,740 And that is simply not the case. 183 00:11:28,740 --> 00:11:33,280 So I don't think that they hide from funding their vision as much as they're just unaware 184 00:11:33,280 --> 00:11:35,040 that this is even possible. 185 00:11:35,040 --> 00:11:41,160 Now there are some that hide from it and the ones that hide from it are do it from fear. 186 00:11:41,160 --> 00:11:43,600 Their fear of risk. 187 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:49,740 But the reality is when you try and grow or expand a business, it's actually generally 188 00:11:49,740 --> 00:11:53,880 more risky than acquiring a business because what happens when you have a business and 189 00:11:53,880 --> 00:11:54,880 you try and grow it? 190 00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:56,240 You got to spend more money on advertising. 191 00:11:56,240 --> 00:11:57,320 Well, guess what? 192 00:11:57,320 --> 00:11:58,320 Not all advertising works. 193 00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:01,360 There's an old saying that half my advertising dollars are wasted. 194 00:12:01,360 --> 00:12:03,360 The problem is I don't know which half. 195 00:12:03,360 --> 00:12:04,840 You might take more risks to do that. 196 00:12:04,840 --> 00:12:05,840 Again, you've got to hire more people. 197 00:12:05,840 --> 00:12:08,200 You might have to hire more salespeople. 198 00:12:08,200 --> 00:12:13,000 You're going to have to invest a lot into things that may or may not work to try and 199 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:16,680 grow your business, but they think that's less risky. 200 00:12:16,680 --> 00:12:21,520 Whereas taking a risk of acquiring a business that already has all those in place, it's 201 00:12:21,520 --> 00:12:24,560 actually less risky, but people are risk averse, right? 202 00:12:24,560 --> 00:12:26,280 So they hide from that risk. 203 00:12:26,280 --> 00:12:30,800 But the problem is, again, back to the first answer, lack of knowledge. 204 00:12:30,800 --> 00:12:34,760 They're hiding from that lack of knowledge because they go with the conventional wisdom, 205 00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:36,840 which isn't always right. 206 00:12:36,840 --> 00:12:41,400 Well, that goes to the next part of it, Marty. 207 00:12:41,400 --> 00:12:44,520 Then how do leaders lean into funding their vision? 208 00:12:44,520 --> 00:12:46,960 Well, they need to explore all their options. 209 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:51,920 So if you want your business to be strong and stable and grow and become a tangible 210 00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:57,080 asset that has large value when you're ready to sell it, then you need to be open-minded 211 00:12:57,080 --> 00:12:59,120 about what are my options? 212 00:12:59,120 --> 00:13:02,000 How can I make my business stronger? 213 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:03,280 How can I make it more profitable? 214 00:13:03,280 --> 00:13:08,080 And don't be myopic about like, well, this is the way I've always done it, right? 215 00:13:08,080 --> 00:13:12,840 If I had five cents for every time in the last 30 years, I've heard, well, this is the 216 00:13:12,840 --> 00:13:14,320 way we've always done it. 217 00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:16,240 I'd be wealthy beyond. 218 00:13:16,240 --> 00:13:18,880 I'd be Bill Gates. 219 00:13:18,880 --> 00:13:21,480 You have to look at other ways of doing things. 220 00:13:21,480 --> 00:13:24,960 You have to think outside the box a little bit and be open to ideas that maybe you hadn't 221 00:13:24,960 --> 00:13:25,960 thought about. 222 00:13:25,960 --> 00:13:31,600 And again, don't be risk averse to trying new things that could be a game changer for 223 00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:32,600 you. 224 00:13:32,600 --> 00:13:33,720 Thank you for being here today. 225 00:13:33,720 --> 00:13:36,200 I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live. 226 00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:40,960 I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes continue to move forward. 227 00:13:40,960 --> 00:13:42,680 This is going to get more and more fun. 228 00:13:42,680 --> 00:13:44,760 We'll have more and more engagement as well. 229 00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:47,040 We'll invite people to participate in the show. 230 00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:49,280 And thank you for giving us your time and attention. 231 00:13:49,280 --> 00:13:53,280 Have an excellent time building out your vision and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.