How to Find The Perfect Business to Buy

Well, you've heard me talk about scaling, scaling up. Well, one of the ways to scale is to buy another company.

Wow.

How do you do that? We'll find out right here, right now on the Scale or Fail show. Welcome to the Scale or Fail show. I am your host, Alyson Maslin. And what excites me is helping you, the business owner, get your mission and vision out into the world and be so successful at the same time, really have that ripple effect in making a difference. And so today, we're going to give you some amazing tips and strategies to really scale up a lot faster than you thought it could even be possible. So I have one of the most amazing business success stories and business experts here. Marshall Doyle. He serves as the current CEO of California CalCert Company, the largest independent provider of calibration services serving the construction materials industry in the country. So impressive. Under Marshall's leadership, he has grown this worldwide company nearly 2000% since he took control in 1999. I mean, a lot of business owners are trying to grow 20%. Isn't that incredible? But Marshall is most known for his creative approach to acquiring small businesses, and we're going to talk about that today, which he now teaches and mentors for small businesses throughout the U.S. with his proprietary process, Small Business Coaching, LLC. Marshall specializes in helping business owners with estimated values of 500,000 and under to develop a plan to sell their companies and coaching them through the entire process. So, so fascinating. And this is what he has done personally over and over again with a mission to help small business owners access the training and resources of larger businesses. He believes that everyone should be able to experience joy and wealth throughout their business ownership. Absolutely. And in fact, his love for the business of business is one of the many reasons he was awarded, get this 2019 SBA Small Business Person of the Year award for Oregon. So, Marshall, I am so excited you're here.

So glad to be here. Been excited about this moment since we talked about it.

I know, I know. So I have been just so honored to be on this journey with Marshall. He has been a member in Pinnacle Global Network, our private mentoring and mastermind. And just, you know, you are so brilliant, watching you scale up your company and make such an impact and now helping others do the same. So congratulations.

Thank you. Thank you. I'm just excited to be here. And, you know, I wouldn't have been able to do some of the things that we've been able to accomplish without you, so.

Yeah.

Well, I want to make sure you get some credit for that.

Well, thank you, but it's just. It's great. And hey, it's just the beginning. There's so much more to come. So you have had quite the entrepreneurial journey, Right? So you from calibration equipment, and some of you are going calibration. You know, I mean, there's so many unique industries, but to real estate, to hotel operations. Right. All over the board. What brought you to get into the business world in the first place?

Well, interestingly enough, I never really even thought about being in my own business. I grew up a very modest army brat. We traveled all around. I never went to the same school more than one year until I was in high school. And so we moved around a lot, so not a lot of opportunities. So I joined the Air Force straight out of high school as my way out. And shortly after I got out of the Air Force, I went to work for a property management company, Power washing sidewalks while I was waiting for a civil service job as an aircraft mechanic. So I did that job for a while, actually became their operations manager. I was there for eight years, saw that company grow from about 40 employees to close to 100 employees. And I ended up being the third person in line at that company, working directly for the vice president. I think it was then that I started getting the bug and wanted some ownership. And those owners were kind of hanging that carrot out there a little bit. At least in my thoughts they were. But it became clear that wasn't going to happen. And so just kind of a fleeting thought, it didn't happen. And then one day, a friend of a friend contacted me through my brother, one of my five brothers, and said, hey, we know this guy that's got this calibration company, and we know Marshall did something like that in the Air Force. You think you'd be interested in buying the business? And of course, I was on this pressure cooker. I had, I don't know, 50 or 60 employees under me. And it was fun, but it was, you know, it was time to do something different. And so. And so I met with the owner, and long story short, he laid out a deal that I needed to do and a path for me to buy it. So I borrowed $25,000 against my house. I paid him a down payment, he carried a note for 10 years, and I bought the business.

Wow.

And so it was very small. It was the owner and his wife worked part time, and they had a guy named Sergey that was kind of shipping and receiving working there. And then that's hemp answering the phones. And so it was very small. Been in business for 20 years, since 1970 or 22 years. 1976.

Wow.

And so after some investigation and meeting with CPA doing all the things you're supposed to do.

Right.

My wife and I decided to jump off.

So that was unique. You know, I mean, so many people could have been in your situation, but they say, I'm not going to take that risk. You know, it sounds like you have that entrepreneurial mindset when, you know, starting out as the power washer as your first business, you've got to put that down as the power washer on your resume as your first.

Well, I don't know. I was getting paid a little over minimum wage. It wasn't really a business, but.

But, you know, the fact that you went to them and they were willing to finance that over, you know, the 10 year period, you know, a lot of people are afraid to do that because they're afraid, what if they don't pay over the 10 years. Right.

Let's be really clear. I was afraid. Yeah, it was quite a jump. I was 30 years old and two kids and, you know, a mortgage. And my wife's. My wife's an accountant, so she knew the numbers. We actually worked at the same company. And so I left and she stayed. And so it was definitely scary. But it was exciting. It was exciting. And I think for all the employees that I had, including high school jobs, I worked Kentucky Fried Chicken in high school. I was like a big achiever. I was just crazy about it. I opened stores, I did stuff for $4 an hour. And so I've always given way more than what was asked of me. And I mean, I guess it works out when you become a business owner.

Yeah, you know, giving over value. We talk about being a go giver. It always comes back to you when you look at that first leap that you took and you know, there's people watching this show going, oh, I want to take that leap. Whether it's the next leap in their business or they're like, hey, I want to buy a business. But they're afraid. What would you say to them?

Well, I think at the time I was in such a pressure cooker where I was at and the opportunity that I never thought would ever show up did. And so, you know, we did a little preparation to get ready for it. You know, my wife, you know, we decided to sell her car that we had a car payment on to get rid of the car payment. I had an old truck, it was made off, so we were okay and we bought her a note beater from a friend. And so we knew that as a business owner, getting credit was hard. And so while I had this good job, we kind of propped that up. I got two mortgages, so I had actually three mortgages on my house just in case.

Yeah, and that's so smart. I think a lot of business owners are so afraid to do that, and understandably so. But hey, this is an asset that you have, so, you know, that's an offer, that's a door open. So now you. You have scaled calcert fairly quickly and you've been running that business for a while, but especially in the last few years. And then I've been so. It's been wonderful working with you the last couple years and seeing this happen. What do you think has been, you know, when you look at running this company, what has been your best scale method?

You know, it's interesting because I never really thought about scale so much until I met you.

Yeah, now it's like coming out of your ears.

Yeah, now it's crazy. And so I would say the way that I grew the business was acquisition. We acquired more than 10 companies, and that's the way I grew it. But since I met you, I wouldn't call that scale. Where I've scaled it is in the last two years. That's when I had that aha moment where I realized through coaching with some of the mentors that work with you, they said, look, you're thinking too small here. This is not about you anymore. The business is getting bigger. You've got. I think we had 36 employees at the time. It can't be about you. You gotta build this team and you gotta let go of some things. And so we started down this path of, of building the leadership team. And I already had some leaders in place, but there was pieces missing. And so we filled in all those pieces. And I know we'll probably talk about that more later, but to me, that's scaling. That's what I think was the thing that scaled us. And so, you know, we went. We were like 35, 36 employees, something like that. We're at like 55 employees now.

Yeah.

And that was just two years ago. Two and a half, maybe.

Yeah. Incredible.

And we just hired another one today, so.

Yeah, and you weren't even looking for another one. You weren't even there.

It's been quite a ride. But I think there's a definite difference between growth and scaling. And you've helped me scale and you've helped me know what scale means.

Yeah, yeah. And now you're helping other people. So that's how it all goes around. And so I like what you know, because I talk about in my book, scale or fail, building a team managed company. And I know remember you and I having those conversations and you know, where even though you had all those employees, and this is where so many business owners get in this rut. They have the team, but they're still working in the business. Right. And they're, you know, overseeing everything, which is exhausting. And I know the last time we talked, you said that you now only really need to work in your company two days a week, which is a dream for a lot of business owners. Can you walk us through, through how you've been able to free yourself up?

Well, first and foremost, it was mindset. And that began the first day that I met you because, you know, you have a way of making people think big.

Oh, well, good.

And so it made me realize that, you know, my business, we're a calibration business. So we're an ISO accredited calibration business. And what that means is we have really strict quality requirements. And so I was the quality manager because I was going to control that. Right. Because it's a big deal. And I was doing sales and marketing. I had a sales guy that was doing that, but he was mostly in the structure of customer service, but also doing sales. And so really just understanding the path to build that team at the leadership level was the logical step. Right. The emotional step was me letting them do it.

Yeah.

I'm still struggling with that. You should know I'm doing much better. Part of the reason that I'm only going to the office actually less than twice a week now since we talked last, is because I know myself really well and I trust my team. They're doing a great job. And so since we last talked, I no longer have an office at Calcer.

Oh, my goodness.

I still have some stuff in there.

Okay.

But Theresa. So Theresa, our vice president, is. She's moved back from her California office back to Oregon. And I'm like, I'm giving you my office. She's like, where are you gonna go? I said, I'm gonna not have an office. She said, great idea.

Yeah.

And so she left for Italy today. She's taking three week vacation in Italy. She comes back, the office will be ready for her.

Wow. I mean, so you're watching this and imagine for those of you, you have a company, you've got employees that you replace yourself. And the vision continues. To grow and grow bigger, much better beyond you. I mean, this is really the ideal trajectory for a company. And, you know, your employees feel. Feel so well taken care of. I mean, you really have done an incredible job. But the. The smart thing about that is, and I know I'm the same way, when I step into my business with my team, I usually mess. I'm like, in the way.

Right. That's how I am.

You know, they're like, you tell them to do something, they've already been doing it a different way, and now everybody's confused. So it gets to a point as you grow, and I talk about those five phases of scaling, and you're really, you know, you're up at that 4, 5, 5 level. Really?

Yeah. That was really impactful when we went through that, because recognizing where you're at and what you needed to do to get to that next level is really part of what helped get my mindset building in that direction. And I mean, it really helps when you have a great team. And I think, you know, I think good business owners, you know, can attract really good people. And if you treat them right and you trust them and you let them have the reins a little bit, they're going to be great. And I've always known that. But it's that control freak in you as an entrepreneur. You hang on. And so in the relatively short time that I've let go of some key things that I was hanging on to, I was fortunate enough. Our vice president, Teresa, joined me about 13 years ago. And so she took a lot of the administrative side of everything, and she just handled that.

Yeah.

And quite honestly, that's the side of the company that runs the best.

Right.

And then the technical side and the sales side, I was really involved in. And so now that I've let those go, they're really starting to evolve really well. And not that they weren't under my leadership, but I think, honestly, I think I've just turned into a really good leader, and I'm always trying to continue to improve that. And. And my staff isn't afraid to come to me and say, no, we should do this instead.

And you listen most of the time.

Most of the time.

And I think that it really is an art, and I've seen you step up into leadership, but I do think that we can become such the bottleneck. Tell me if you can relate to this, because you don't realize that you have all these incredible creative people around you, but you don't get to benefit from all of their wisdom. Because you're always either telling them what to do or they're coming to you with ideas, and you're saying, yeah, but. Yeah, but.

Well, one of the things that happened may still happen a little bit with me, but I've gotten better, is we have this term called Marshall's going rogue. And I'm going off on some tangent somewhere, and sometimes that involves just buying a company and coming back and saying, hey, I bought this company.

Yeah. They're like, oh, great.

And so in those cases, new friends, right? Exactly. And so when I came to the first event, which was the CEO event, you know, I was in turmoil. I mean, we were in a really bad bottleneck situation. We had just bought a $1.2 million company in Southern California and had come with 12 employees. It was the biggest acquisition we had done. And quite honestly, I'm an Expert on the 1, 2 person company ones. But when it comes to that kind of a culture influx, there's a lot of things I didn't see. And so we got through that.

What were some of the things you didn't see? Because this is something you need to pay attention to. Right. If you want to buy growth through leverage.

I think there was a lot. I think mostly it was about the culture. Right. Because when you're buying something, anything, you focus on the finances. Right. You're gonna buy a new car, you're like, hey, it's leather. I like this, and I'm gonna buy this, and it's in my price range and the payments are right or whatever. That's not so much different with a business, really. But you're looking at an ROI on a business, and so. And that's where most people look.

Yes.

But if you don't look at the culture, if you don't look how those people are gonna fit with your group and how they operate, what their mentality is, you know, and what they've lived under. The other ownership, you know, it was different. Great guys, great staff. We got all guys, pretty much. We got one gal, she's awesome. Two gals, they're both awesome. The guys were the challenge, but they were the challenge because they'd lived this life under a different style of leadership. And I'm. I'm an open book kind of leader, and it completely overwhelmed them.

Yeah. Because they were.

Because I was so different from what they had, and I did not realize that. I did not see it.

Yeah. It's just. It's like if you get married and there's the step, you know, their children and your children and you're bringing these families together. And if that part's not in the buy sell agreement, you know, it's kind of like when you get a partnership, you know, there's a lot of the emotional stuff that's not in the agreement that are the reason that the businesses don't make it. So I think this is such a great point that you make, because how you meld those two families together is really what's going to keep that longevity. Otherwise, people, you know, they jump ship. And then you're. I mean, I had a woman that she had started working with me, and she bought a business, another hair salon, prior to us working together. And everything looked good, like the numbers, but it was a disaster because the leadership was so bad from the company that she bought that these people were just negative. They were angry, you know, and here, the one she was running, everyone was happy and great, and it was just. Oh, it was not good.

Well, it gets to be quite a disaster. And, you know, you use the term good and bad, but what I found is that just difference.

Yeah.

You know, whether it's good or bad, you know, because you think the way you run your business is good, right?

Yep.

And I think everybody feels that way. Right. And when they were running their business, they think they were. And so. And so it's just a different mentality. And so understanding the huge transition that has to happen. And it took us. It was three years ago. It took us a lot of work to get that there and to quite honestly get them to understand that they're now part of our team. So much so that even though we didn't plan to do this, we ended up merging that company into Calcer, which we didn't plan to do that initially.

Wow.

We wanted to keep it separate because it's in California, and you know how crazy California can be.

Yeah. But now they're adopted.

Now they're adopted, and now they feel love. They feel more like the family, even though we were trying. And so. And that's one of the things that I'm really passionate about, as you can probably tell, is, I mean, the numbers are fun, but, I mean, I know that's crazy, right? But the numbers are fun.

Are the numbers fun?

What's really cool about it is working through the psychological part of that and the emotional part of that and the transition that not only like the seller, if they're gonna sell a business goes through, or the employees when they go through it, or the buyer or just all the different directions, the emotional part of that is it's just crazy.

Yeah, well, it's change, right? It's scary. Am I going to lose my job, you know, or am I gonna lose some of my freedom, my autonomy, whatever that is. But I think people, at the end of the day, they want to feel appreciated, they want to feel important. And, you know, you've been able to. You've hung in there and you've been able to do this successfully over and over again. All right, well, let's talk about scaling through acquisition, because you've done it over and over again, buying other companies. You know, what are some of the do's, some of the don'ts that you recommend, some wisdom that you've learned along the way?

Well, I learned a lot of things to do. Of course, most of the lessons were in the don'ts. But let's talk about the do's first. So what you should do, obviously, is make sure you understand that there's opportunities out there. And I was in a situation in 1998 when I was actually working for the founder of Calcer before I bought it. We went to a factory training, and I met like the 35 companies in the United States that did collaboration for our industry. And I remember a friend of mine that was about the same age as me, and we sat there in the bar after the training, looking at all these guys and going, these guys are all old. They're my age now. But I'm like, you know, the next 10 years are going to be transitional for them. And I remember he. And I joked, and he's from Pennsylvania, and I said, well, hey, let's start taking over the world, and I'll start heading east, you start heading west. And so understanding that there's an opportunity to do that was really a big part of it. And so I remember after being at that event or that training meeting, at least one guy that had talked about wanting to retire, a guy named Don out of Colorado. And that was in 1998. I bought his company in 2008.

Wow.

And part of the way that relationship started is when I got back home after that training, I sent him a letter telling him how much I appreciated meeting him, how much I appreciated his stories and his wisdom as a calendar year over the years. And I told him that if he ever needs any help, because we had a territory, we were in Wyoming and he was in Colorado. And so we crossed paths a little bit. I said, you know, just reach out to me and I'll help you. And you talked about retiring a little bit. When you get a Little closer to that. Let me know because maybe we can work something out. I've already bought out another guy. Maybe I could help you through transitioning for retirement. And then. And so that was in 1998.

Oh, my gosh.

And 2008, I bought his company.

And so did you stay connected or did he just.

We stayed connected. He fed me work all the time. At the time, there was a huge project going on In Colorado, the i25 project, they called it T Rex and they replaced like 17 bridges and all this stuff. And so it was overwhelming work. And so he would call me and say, come help. And so I would fly in Denver and help with him. That was when we were small. I was still the technician, but yeah, we stayed in touch and I'm still in touch with them.

So the do here is relationship. Have your eyes open, listen to some of the messages that are out there and someone may not be ready now, but just you can have your eye on it and stay connected.

Well, not only just have your eye on it, but make sure they know.

Yeah.

Make sure they know there's a possibility for this relationship.

Yeah. So put it out there now and say, hey, when you're ready, let's.

Yeah. And if you, if you stay friendly competitors, then that relationship can continue to build. And quite honestly, that's how almost every single acquisition went.

Wow.

Not all of them, but almost. Almost all of them went that way.

Yeah. Fantastic. And so what else? What's another do?

So another do? When you're looking at buying a business, one of the things that I did is I stayed in my business. I stayed what I knew, you know, I stayed in that process. Not all the way to the end because I did buy a couple other ones outside of the business after a while, like the hotel. But, you know, just stay with what you know because just because you're good at this business doesn't mean you can be good at a different business. And that certainly I think is true. So really just stay where you know, in your lane. In your lane. Use the expertise and the experience that you have in your existing business and just do it as a bolt on to grow your business. Some people refer to it as a roll up. So that's what I've been doing. I've been doing a roll up. In fact, at one point I had two guys that I bought out that both worked together at a company that rolled out back in the 70s.

Oh, wow. Yeah, wow. That's so fascinating. So if you think about it, it's like, like, yeah, it's like taking two houses like that are next door to each other and instead of building and then just connecting them and all the. I know I'm just making this up, but this is the visual that I got right.

It's interesting that you say that because my childhood was like that.

Oh really?

My dad was married four times. I have five brothers and three sisters, but I'm an only child.

Wow.

Not technically because I have a half brother, but. And it was through my. My dad passed away before I was born. My mom passed away when I was 7. And so my stepdad, who became my stepdad when I was 2, married and divorced a few times. And so we had this blended family and I always knew it had something to do with me, but I didn't really relate it like that when it came to the culture of companies. Yeah, that makes sense.

Yeah. And it's. Well, all of a sudden you have all these siblings instead of like the old fashioned way. And what are some. Let's talk about some don'ts. What are some things that if someone else is listening to this and they want to buy a company, what is something they really need to make sure that they do not do or at least be aware of so they can do it correctly?

Well, the biggest don't that I use as a rule and hasn't always been a rule and my team has helped me stay out of trouble is don't force it. You know, don't force it. It's going to feel right, it's going to flow right, it's going to be timed right. Just don't force it. I mean.

Okay, that's such great advice. So do you think that if you keep coming against a roadblock and things are falling apart, you would say really follow your gut there, that there might be a reason that this is a sign not to move forward?

I think there's signs for sure and I think it's easy to ignore some of them until they start to accumulate. So in the 10 that I bought, there was about 16 that I negotiated and so I didn't buy them all. And I remember one in particular that is a one person business. And. And it was more of an acquisition to get him out of my way than it was to acquire his business because he was a low price guy that I just wanted out of my.

Way as a competitor.

As a competitor.

Right.

So buying him out was just a way of opening the market share in that territory. We got all the way. We got like halfway through the major due diligence, like after the letter of intent, after we had agreed on a price and terms and everything, you know, in a letter of intent, which is a non binding agreement, then there's a due diligence process.

Right.

So we were going through the due diligence process and at this point I still hadn't met him. My team had met with him because it was out in the Midwest and we're comparing notes and things didn't add up. And so it became clear to me that there was some, something going on there. Something wasn't adding up.

A little cover up that, you know.

Two plus two is not seven.

Yes. Yeah. And that's, you know, there's usually signs and I think in any relationship, Right. That, that's really painful when you don't look at the sign.

But if you force it, that goes with anything, you can really get yourself in trouble.

Right. Because you just want it so badly. So what about, what about negotiating for sell? So on the other side, okay, what are some tips for negotiating?

Well, honestly, I think would be really important for everybody to know is that the negotiation starts long before you decide to sell your business. You know, the way you position yourself to sell is how you negotiate. So when you're running your business, you should be running your business like you're going to sell it tomorrow. Every decision you make, you should be looking through the eyes of a potential buyer and understanding whether that decision is going to help that value or hurt that value. Now there's things like that I look for when I was buying, I look for very clean financial statements, things that tell a really good story and a consistent story. Things that show me that they were organized and careful about how they ran their financials. Because, you know, that's a good sign of how they may have run their business too.

Yeah. And so, so like two boxes of receipts.

But keep in mind that, you know, from a seller's perspective, bad idea. From a buyer's perspective, it's like money in the bank almost. Because sometimes you see that stuff and if you're just acquiring it into your existing operation, you don't need all that infrastructure. You just need the customer base. You just need their equipment, maybe them. And so there's value in that when they don't know. And so the best way to sell your company is to make sure that your company is ready to sell tomorrow. Every day from day one.

Yeah. Grow it as if you are selling it tomorrow and somebody could just step in. And I think people wait, it's, oh, I'm going to do that someday, someday I'm going to get to that. Right. And then there was a statistic that I saw that 80% of businesses will not be able to sell their businesses. And most of them do not get anywhere near what they hope, that there's a lot of disappointment. And you can actually get a lot for your business. You can get a good multiplier if you plan ahead, even 10 years ahead.

Well, the sooner you plan ahead and the more you operate it, the better. My philosophy with CalCert right now is I'm on this role to just be an investor in that company, more or less. And so I could either just keep it and let it run and still have that responsibility a little bit, or I could sell it. But no matter what scenario, looking at it through the eyes of a buyer, good for the business.

Yes. Well, because this what's also freed you up because you've systemized it so much, which is a big part of preparing it, that you can step away and come visit me and come on the.

Show, you know, makes it makes a big difference. You know, when we bought the hotel, I have a partner in that business. The only business I have a partner in besides my daughter and our coaching business. Now, I told him from the very beginning he was a hotel operator, very good hotel operator, but never had owned a business business. And the partnerships worked really well. But what I told them is I said every single day, don't look like you're the manager, don't look like you're the owner, look like you're the buyer. Look as if you're the buyer. And so looking at the housekeeping room, if it's a disaster, a buyer's going to be thinking, no, it's not organized here. So we've taken that approach with the hotel and we systemized, you know, everything. And you know, it's, it's, it's run well, it's done well.

Yeah.

And it's another business that I really don't spend much time on.

Yeah, that's so fantastic. Now, what are in talking to business owners and you're out in the business world now, you're helping business owners. What's the number one business killer? You see.

I would say lack of systems, you know, because people want to process whether you're a small entrepreneur and maybe you're going to sell your business to someone who's just going to step in and be the owner and run it, or you're trying to do what I'm doing where it's an absentee business. The systems create consistency. They Create a predictable outcome. That's why Michael Gruber talks about it in his book the E Myth about systemizing. Build it like you're going to build 5,000 more when you're done with this one. I made my managers read that book 18 years ago.

Yeah.

Like if they came to work for me, like you have to read this book. This is how I run the company. And of course it's way evolved past that now. But. But I think systems is the number one key.

Yeah.

And not only just don't just write them and stick in the drawer.

Yeah. People have to actually use them.

And so, and as a, as a calibration company, we were required to have systems. And so I was very fortunate because we have an international standard that was really a roadmap for us. So it was kind of like a franchise model that cost me like 195 to buy online.

Wow.

You know, I could download it and it was how you had to do it.

That's amazing.

And so systems is definitely the answer.

Yeah. You know what we started doing not long ago is I implemented a systems meeting. I wanted to do it every week. My team goes, nah, we're going to do it every month. But just to hold them accountable because there's always going to be evolvement of the systems. Like you could create it a few years ago, but things have changed and you have to keep the systems updated and then you have to keep them top of mind so that people are actually using them.

Absolutely. We do a process called a management review and it's actually part of the quality system I mentioned earlier. And every year we have this agenda. It's the same agenda. And you look at every system, you look at every process, everything you do in the company, you basically say, are we still going to do this? Do we still need this or do we not need it? Do we need something different here? And when you go through those processes and you get that done, if you stay up on it. Because we didn't always stay up on it, but if you stay up on it, you're ahead of the curve and it's systemized. Not only that, I think some of the hardest times we had as a business were the times where people didn't understand their roles, they didn't understand what they were responsible for. And not only does that mean things don't get done in the way they're supposed to, but they're not satisfied. You know, they're not as excited to work there because they don't have anything to measure their success. On, Right. And so we ran into that trap too, and we're still trying to make that better.

Those KPIs and.

Oh, there's so much.

Yeah, well, it can be anything, right? You need to know, and we talk about that a lot. In pain. Pinnacle, what's your vision? Where are you going? Does your team know what that vision is? Right.

Oh, yeah.

So.

And by the way, they have to hear it at least seven times before they're going to remember it.

Yes, I know, I know. Well, you know, it's one thing to know it, it's another to do it.

That's right.

You know, that's a whole different thing. And so what is with CalCert? So this is interesting because you didn't actually start this company. You came in as the CEO from the outside in. And because some of you, I mean, that's a whole other way. Well, we're talking about buying a business. What was that like for you in the beginning?

Well, I think the advantage to buying it was that, you know, I had two kids. I mean, I needed a paycheck. And so buying a business as opposed to starting one, because oftentimes you don't get paid until you get customers, that was a big advantage. But what I saw going in with CalSRT is that Fred, who was the founder of the company, he had systems in place for certain things. They were pretty outdated. And there were things because he was on the wind down that he just was neglecting on purpose and he didn't hide the fact that. And so when I was learning those things, I kept saying to myself, I mean, to be really honest, I kept saying to myself, I can't wait till the 12 months are up so I can tackle this. And it turned out to be eight months and he left and I bought it. But understanding that they have processes and give those processes a chance to, to give you the value that you bought.

Right.

You know, I'm saying because. Because you're not starting from scratch. So use some of that advantage. And you know what? He had it for 22 years. Yeah, it worked.

Yeah, it, you know, and this kind of just popped in my head because you knew this industry when you bought the business a little bit, right?

A new calibration. A little bit.

Yeah. Yeah. But I think there are a lot of people that, oh, I'm gonna buy and XYZ company, they've not had any business experience. They think it's established company and they're going to just, you know, it's just going to run and it Ends up being a lot harder than they anticipated. Even franchise. You know, you think that a franchise is going to be like, ready, set, go. And it's just a tremendous amount of work until you really understand how to run a business. That's why having a mentor is so vital, you know. So I think. What would you say to that? I mean, buying. You have to really, like, do your homework. You need to understand what you're stepping into.

Well, yeah, and I think, you know, for someone who wants to get into a business, it almost always, you know, starts with a passion for the. For the technician portion of that business, whatever it is, you know, whether it's doing hair or whatever the situation is. And quite honestly, not enough. In fact, I think as a business owner, if you understand business, you might be able to run any kind of business, but you have this huge advantage if you understand the technical side of it. And so when I work with the folks that I've helped coach through this business transition stuff, I have a gentleman I'm working with right now who's trying to buy out his partner, and they're trying to figure out all the pieces. And he knows all the technical on this side, and he knows all the technical on this side, but between the two of them, they make a good business owner one at a time. I don't know. And so it's been a struggle for him. And what I learned in that process with him is that understanding at least a little bit about everything really gives you an advantage. And so. And, you know, you probably know this about me, but I'm kind of a handy guy, right. I can do anything. I can remodel bathrooms, I can do. That's kind of who I've been. And. And so I look at business as. You kind of have to be the handyman. Right. As an owner, you got to know enough about every single area, but not dig in so much. Like, you can change the faucet, but if the plumbing breaks, you better call a plumber. And so I look at that sometimes in a real simplistic way, but that creates a big advantage for you as an owner. So if you're going to buy a business, I don't think it's impossible to be successful and buy a business that you didn't know about until you started researching it, but you should just bury yourself in research on it.

Yeah.

And you should learn from as many sources as possible.

And the industry.

Learn the industry. Get as much coaching help as you can. When I bought Calcert, honestly, I just followed the path in fact, it was a really poor example of how to go about buying business when I bought the one in Minnesota, which was the second one I acquired in 2005. So, again, that's six years later. I was much more prepared for that, and I really knew what I was doing. I was working with coaches. So it made a big difference. Made a big difference.

Well, so much wisdom here, Marshall, really. And you have a gift for our viewers or listeners, whether you're listening to the audio or watching us here live. Can you share that with everybody?

Sure. It's just a real simple. We're calling it an ebook. It's called Ready to Sell, and it talks about how to prepare your small business to sell before it's too late. Now, the reason it says before it's too late is because you shared a couple stats earlier. I'd like to share a little more. Did you know there's someone turning 65 every eight minutes right now? And of those people that turn at 65, 72% of them own small businesses. And of that group of owners, somewhere around 75% of them want to exit in the next 10 years? And baby boomers are big generation, right?

Yeah.

Of that group of people, which is in the millions, 14% of them are ready.

Wow. So there's someone out there waiting for you right now.

There's opportunities like crazy now. There's some good opportunities, but there's also some bad opportunities. And so what I've tried to do in this, it's just a simple. It's just a simple guide. And it's kind of a, I guess, a summary of some of the other products that we offer and services we offer at SB Coaching. It's just an outline that makes you think. And if you're thinking or you're in that demographic where you want to exit your business, whether it's because of wanting to retire or whatever your situation is. If you think I'm going to do this next year, better stop thinking that. If you're not at least five years ahead, you are behind. And I know everybody says that, and it's nothing new, right?

Yeah.

But I'm here to tell you, as small businesses transition from the baby boomers, this economy will have major struggles if we don't get some of these businesses sold to help them through retirement. And at the same time, believe it or not, and you're gonna laugh, but I actually believe in the millennial direction, the millennial generation. They are the future of this country. And they're hungry. They want a shortcut. They're starting everything way later in life than we did. But they want, they want a direction. And I think if you have a small business, you start preparing it right now. Yeah, right now.

I love it because, you know, you're, oh, five years. Five. Well, guess what? Five years will be here like that. Right? So what are you going to do today? So you're definitely going to want to get your hands on this. Ready to sell. How to prepare your small business to sell before it's too late.

So that's a PDF ebook. You can go to sbcoachingllc.com ali and.

A l l I E A L.

L I E. Click on the link. You'll get the download link. And if you do that, you'll get a consultation call with me. I'll help you work through whatever questions you might have and help you figure out maybe where you should start.

All right, let's give that URL one more time.

It's SB as in Small Business Coaching LLC, as in a legal corporation.comsbcoachingllc.com Ali Awesome.

Well, this is truly, truly a gift. And I'm telling you, Marshall's done this over and over and over again. Purchase companies, acquisition to scale. And, you know, if anything, just take this because there's so much wisdom. I can't wait to dig into it myself. And this has just been awesome.

Well, thank you for helping me evolve as a business owner and continue to evolve as a business owner. I'll see you in a week or so. We can have. And I look forward to that. And I always enjoy coming to San Diego, so.

Yeah, well, it's just, it's really cool. We love having you in Pinnacle and I love seeing all of the amazing things you're doing and all the people that you're helping. It is a beautiful thing. So that's what makes. Makes the world go round. And if you have not gotten your hands on my new book, definitely grab it. Scale or Fail. And we would love you to continue to watch or listen to the show, the Scale or fail show where we have amazing experts just like Marshall and you. I just want to also do you know, I said it earlier, but the small business award for the entire state of Oregon, like, how impressive is that? I just had to like, highlight that again.

Thank you.

Anyway, so listen to Scale or fail show. Wherever podcasts are played, we're on Spotify, we're on iTunes, we're on iHeartRadio. All the above. You can listen to the audio version or you can watch us Just like this. So until next time, get out there and elevate yourself because you are worth it. Bye, everybody.

People always talk about they want to be part of seven figure companies. I'm now part of seven, eight and nine figure companies. I've been introduced to some of the largest corporations, Fortune 500 companies, and it's with Alison's help, she's kind of expanded my horizons and my capabilities. And I think that's the most important thing. Where she expands, she makes, you know, what you can do and be successful at that.

Being with Alison and being able to learn who to hire and why to hire and how to develop a passionate, creative, inspired team was really, really important for me because I needed to shift some energy in my business. And I feel like with her help, I've really done that. Pinnacle helped me grow my company to where at this point a year ago, I made a million more than I did at this point last year. So I really wanted to break that ceiling. I've hit that ceiling for several years in a row and Pinnacle has helped me do that by implementing the thought. It's actually just a thought process and how you view your company and how you view what you're doing. I think a lot of us entrepreneurs are hard on ourselves and are hard on our companies when it's not that we shouldn't be that way. So I think it's just looking at things a little bit differently, putting into practice the systems that she teaches us. For example, if you want an example, putting people in place to where I want my business to be at in two, three years. So I've got people right now in place and it's wild. It's just like it's all the work is coming in and we're in place.

And we're not stressed out.

And it's just amazing. It's just an amazing place to be. What I love most about being in the Pinnacle is constant access to support. So whether it be my mastermind group or the recorded resources that Alison has produced for us, or the constantly cutting edge information that's coming to us on social media, Facebook ads, how to conduct webinars, you name it, we have a resource for it.

So since joining Pinnacle, we added 12 new positions to the company. We've increased revenue about 43%. We've increased profit by 111% this year. More importantly, I've gotten out of some roles that I was in, like QA manager, and some of the marketing things that I was doing are now outsourced or not outsourced. In sourced to a team member and I've really focused in on running the business instead of letting it run me. Coaching opportunities out there and a lot of times I'm a little bit suspicious. It's a kind of a sales job, you know, are they, are they in it for themselves? Are they in it for me? And at no time have I ever felt with Pinnacol that my best interest was not number one priority. And it's truly an organization and not just Allison and the coaches, but everyone there. It's coming from a place of giving and working for mutual benefit. A lot of sharing going on and that's a great team to work with.

Right off the bat. I laid a foundation for my coaching practice and I increased my prices and within one week I had signed two high paying clients that had basically paid for my coaching program with Alison. And since then my income has doubled every single month. It's been tremendous. But being a part of the community has been the greatest asset. I've been so fortunate and blessed to befriend so many other amazing entrepreneurs who I learn from on a regular basis who always have my back. Like minded people that I surround myself with and the environment is so positive. I just cannot speak highly enough of it and I am always compelled to share it with everyone I know. I feel it is the biggest gift to introduce and share this opportunity to connect with this kind of community with everybody that I know. Don't be the company like I was being in business for over 12 years, looking back and saying what did I do in the last 10 years? Do it now. Now is all we have.

We don't have the past and we.

Don'T have the future. All we have is now. I've been in business for 21 years now and I've worked with a number of business coaches and I watched Alison for four years and the results that her clients had when they worked with her. And I finally decided this is the next coach that I'm going to hire because she is the real deal. She is available to her people. She absolutely cares deeply about each and every individual and the success of their business. And you know what? We have to in business take risks. And sometimes taking risk is hiring that new coach. This is a risk worth taking. There is nothing like it. I can't even explain what the opportunity.

And the learning that comes with Pinnacle.

Don't even think about it. Because if you think about it and that's the number one thing that will hold you back. Just do it.

You won't regret it.

You just need to do it. I mean, you have to stop being on the fence. You have to get off. The fence is boring. The fence is. Honestly, I was on the fence for. Oh, gosh. I was on the fence for maybe two years. And it was a horrible fence to sit on. I hated the fence because the fence kept me stuck. And it was when I finally jumped off the fence that my business skyrocketed.