U

Popular Articles

Sweet marketing music

Tanner Montague came to town from Seattle having never owned his own music venue before. He’s a musician himself, so he has a pretty good sense of good music, but he also wandered into a crowded music scene filled with concert venues large and small.But the owner of Green Room thinks he found a void in the market. It’s lacking, he says, in places serving between 200 and 500 people, a sweet spot he thinks could be a draw for both some national acts not quite big enough yet for arena gigs and local acts looking for a launching pad.“I felt that size would do well in the city to offer more options,” he says. “My goal was to A, bring another option for national acts but then, B, have a great spot for local bands to start.”Right or wrong, something seems to be working, he says. He’s got a full calendar of concerts booked out several months. How did he, as a newcomer to the market in an industry filled with competition, get the attention of the local concertgoer?

read more
Cover Story
by Andrew Tellijohn
April 2008

Related Article

Management Styles

Read more

Upsize Stages: Deciding what&#

UPSIZE STAGES: EXIT STRATEGIES

10 :: Deciding what's next

Retirees with a plan
fare better after
business sells

Retirement used to mean spending a few years on the golf course, having nice dinners with friends, spending some time with the grandchildren, and maybe some travel. But baby boomers are living longer than ever and they?re often pushing retirement further into the future as well.

So while business owners need to take three to five years to plan and execute their business strategy they also need to make sure they know what retirement means to them.

Some recent business sellers say it?s important to take some time ? up to a year ? to decompress after a sale. It?s OK to back away for a while. But business brokers and other financial advisers also suggest that these quasi-retirees at least have a plan. Entrepreneurs should talk with their families, friends and advisers about what retirement means to them before selling their business. The retirement years can end up lasting a long time and many people, especially those who have spent years wrapping their identity around business ownership, often find that they can only play so much golf.

Some sellers are actually looking to retire. But many will stay on with the company after selling it, enjoying the opportunity to stay involved in less of a leadership role with more opportunities to spend time with their families. That can come with some downsides, however. Many times the new owners don?t bother picking the seller?s brains, feeling they can take over and do a better job. Many advisers say buy-out deals are almost always bought out early.

Some sellers do so in order to start tinkering with another business idea or to move south and take the business concept they just sold to their new residence. For some it means volunteering or becoming a community activist.

These days it?s not uncommon for business brokers and other advisers to do some coaching for their clients to make sure they think about these issues ahead of time. Regardless of whether the seller has something to transition to right away or they wait a year or more to jump back into having daily activities, studies have recently shown that business owners who head into retirement with a plan have greater self-worth and longer life expectancies than those who don?t.

That means it?s more important than ever before that business owners have an idea of what they want to do next before they unload the business they?ve spent so much time building.

Events

Andrew Tellijohn

Cover Story Articles

Conquering Cannabis

Pandemic pivots

Demanding diversity

Beehive Strategic Communication helps business owners solve complex challenges thus helping them grow. But the communications firm has been working for more than a decade to do a better job on its own of being conscious of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) as part of its business practices.