Posts by: Jack Cox

The Fed Raised Rates … Again – Focus on Value The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System decided to raise interest rates another 25 bps in spite of recent concerns about bank stability. The rational for such a move is that inflation is still not under control and more work needs to be…

Perseverance Can Be an Unusual Teacher The lesson of perseverance can be taught in some unusual ways, even ways you do not want to succeed. I was eligible to caddy from the age of 14. A couple of things about caddying. As a new caddy, you were not guaranteed to get a “loop”. You had…

Economy Starting to Impact Business Sales Earlier this week, the International Business Brokers Association and M&A Source sent out a press release highlighting the results of a survey covering the 1st quarter of 2022. Not surprisingly, the impact of the many factors in the market (inflation, labor shortages and supply chain) are starting to show…

Conflict is not a Necessary Evil, but a Requirement for any Organization Earlier in the week, a group I belong to held a webinar on workplace conflict. One definition from wikipedia is as follows: Organizational conflict, or workplace conflict, is a state of discord caused by the actual or perceived opposition of needs, values and interests between people working together. Conflict takes many forms…

What is the Single Most Important Component of Your Brand? First let’s define the term “brand”: The term brand refers to a business and marketing concept that helps people identify a particular company, product, or individual. Brands are intangible. As such, they help shape people’s perceptions of companies, their products, or individuals. They provide enormous value to the…

Revenue is Not an Accurate Benchmark for Valuation I frequently hear people say that they researched their company and based on that research the company should sell as a percentage of revenue, perhaps as high as 100% or more. Let’s dissect this. Suppose two different businesses have the same revenue and for whatever reason the…

Value v Profit and What is the Difference? In speaking to owners in the $3M – $10M range about selling their business, we discuss the concept of value vs profit. The distinction is important and takes a little bit of thought to get used to. One of the first topics we discuss is profit. How…

Seller and Buyer Relationships on the Sales of a Business Sometimes people look at a business transaction as a competition where there is a winner and a loser. Let’s compare the type of competition that a buyer and seller of a home may experience to what a business owner and buyer of the business may…

You Need to Value Your Time as a Business Owner The title might be obvious but based on conversations I had this week with two main street business owners, I thought it might make sense to write this short article. I deal with main street as well as lower middle market companies. This is more of…