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5.6.7.EIGHT


Aug 3, 2021

This week on 5.6.7.EIGHT, Aleksandra interviews Michelle Seiler Tucker, the Founder and CEO of Seiler Tucker Incorporated. She and her firm have sold over a thousand businesses in nearly every vertical. She has spent two decades in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and holds the title of Mergers and Acquisitions Master Intermediary, as well as being a Certified Mergers and Acquisitions Professional and a Certified Senior Business Analyst. She also, herself, owns multiple businesses.

Michelle is a seasoned M&A professional and, on the podcast, offers nearly an hour of free M&A consulting for anyone who owns a business, is thinking about starting a business, or who is proactively looking to sell their current business. The conversation spans many topics, including a discussion on her latest book Exit Rich, foundational tenets to consider when assessing the “sellability” of a company, the importance of knowing when to emotionally detach and sell a business, and much more.

 

Moving Quotes:

"A lot of people look at their businesses like their babies. We have to stop doing that... Treat your business like the valuable asset that it is."

"Being in a business is not easy. And trying to sell a business for millions is certainly no easy task. So you have to have a powerful why to keep you motivated and in the game."

"If you don't know where you're going, you end up nowhere... Business owners don't plan to fail; they fail to plan. Unless they have a destination in mind, they're driving around in circles — driving up and down the financial hills."

"It's not what you know that gets you in trouble; it's what you don't know. And you don't know what you don't know... Learn from other people's mistakes, rather than your own."

"To make sure a business is sellable, make sure the business is not centered around you. And make sure all of the data is on paper and not in your head."

"Seventy percent of business owners are going out of business because they stop doing A.I.M. — "'Always Innovate and Market.'"

"I never recommend someone go and start their own business when there are so many existing businesses for sale. It will probably cost you less money to buy an existing business than to start one."

 

Bullet Points (w/ timestamps) - Highlighting key topics discussed:

3:26: Michelle discusses her newest book Exit Rich, which lays out foundational concepts around when and how to sell a business.

7:10: Michelle explains how entrepreneurs should mentally prepare when building a business that is sellable and how lack of preparation will only lead to failure.

12:06: Seiler Tucker describes the five different types of business buyers.

14:48: Seiler Tucker discusses the importance of knowing the why — the rationale behind choosing to sell your company.

18:56: Michelle begins to discuss the “six P’s,” which are foundational pillars of companies that are primed to sell.

23:23: Michelle spends some time speaking on the most foundational of the six P’s — proprietary — and how this singular pillar can multiply the value of a company.

32:31: Seiler Tucker discusses the value of working with a mergers and acquisitions professional like herself versus trying to go it alone.

36:17: Michelle shares some advice for dance studio owners to make their businesses more attractive to buyers.

43:08: Seiler Tucker discusses the importance of knowing when to exit and how some owners have doomed their businesses by refusing to let go.

49:31: Michelle gives information on the benefits and perks of working alongside her company while undergoing a sale.

 

Bullet List of Resources – 

Michelle Seiler Tucker

Exit Rich book


Seiler Tucker: The Business Authorities