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I used to have 50 employees, now I have 5 – small business

  |   entrepreneurship, investment banking, selling a business, small business

uncertainty“I used to have 50 employees, now I have 5”, is what he told me.

I was crushed. I had met this man 5 years ago, when he was glowing about his small business. How it had grown well and was profitable in his niches.

Then it wasn’t.

It did not happen overnight. Until it did.

You see, he got hammered by larger, well-funded competitors who had the capital to lose money for years, while they slowly stole his customers.

I see this too often.

It hurts, because I have owned three businesses, and made my share of mistakes. But I got lucky – I sold when I saw a market opening. Not enough to retire on, but to walk away with a profit and debt-free (whoopee!).

It hurts because this man could have changed, if he had listened to others trying to help him.

He could have worked with a fractional VP of sales to get his sales engine running.

Or website pro for a new website

Or a growth coach to get his leadership team and strategy together.

Or exit planner to put an exit strategy front and center.

Or expense reduction specialist to save on expenses, to free up capital to drive growth

The list of people he could have hired is endless.

But now he is stuck with an unsalable business.

And 5 years older than when I met him.

Don’t be him.

Choose change. Choose experts to guide you toward a business a larger competitor would love to buy.

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