How Time Can Affect Planning Success

matt M&A Insights

Time is the one consistent element that affects all business planning. It’s also something that business owners can harness with proper planning. When harnessed properly, time can be your best planning friend. When ignored, it can turn the best intentions into a planning nightmare. Let’s look at how time— and how each owner used it—affected the futures of two separate …

Protecting Yourself Against Employee Risk

matt M&A Insights

Successful business owners constantly strive for growth. And when everything’s humming along, it can be easy to think the good times will last forever. However, it’s crucial to protect yourself, your company, and your future against employee risk throughout your growth and planning. While it’s likely that many of your employees are good people working in good faith, just one …

Why Communication Is Essential to Successful Planning

matt M&A Insights

The one thing that makes humans unique (and the most dominant species on the planet) is our ability to communicate using language. Why, then, do so many business owners fail to communicate their business plans—both short term and long term—to those who can best help them achieve them?  A business plan isn’t something to tuck away. Instead, it’s something to …

What’s the Point of Asset Protection?

matt M&A Insights

As a successful business owner, you know how important asset protection is. However, many business owners look past an important question when protecting their assets: “Why am I doing this?” A cursory glance at that question might make an owner say, “Because I’ve worked hard to create what I’ve got.” But that raises another question: “How is your hard work …

How Your Employees’ Motivations Can Affect Your Business Planning

matt M&A Insights

Business planning often revolves around the idea of “What’s in it for me?” Business owners usually want the kinds of planning that let them run, grow, and eventually leave their business on their terms. But rare is the business that can run, grow, and allow its owner to leave on their terms without support from key employees. To gather that …

Strength From Within: How Preparing Employees for Ownership Can Strengthen Your Business

matt M&A Insights

No matter how you define business success, one thing is constant: When everyone is rowing in the same direction, it’s much easier to reach the destination. As you grow your business, you’ll likely find that the stronger your internal people and processes are, the more options you have to achieve success.  Today, we’ll examine some of the potentially positive consequences …

Connecting Your Personal Financial Plan and Business Continuity Plan

matt M&A Insights

Owning a successful business is a constant exercise in planning. Many successful business owners have already committed to personal financial planning, including investing and providing financial security for themselves and their families.  However, fewer business owners have created a business continuity plan. A business continuity plan includes strategies and action items regarding what happens to the business if or when …

Are You Protecting Your Most Valuable Assets?

matt M&A Insights

As your successful business grows larger and matures, you should always be on the lookout for forces that can diminish its value. New companies and competitors constantly aim at the top dog by identifying and exploiting weaknesses. To mitigate this constant threat, you should do two things. Identify what makes your company valuable. Protect those assets as much as possible. …

How Agility Can Affect Your Company’s Future

matt M&A Insights

One of the most important skill sets that successful business owners have is the ability to be ready for just about anything. The key to doing this is being agile. Let’s look at what an agile framework looks like, why it matters, and the differences between waiting for perfection and being agile in your business planning. The Agile Framework You …

Retaining Key Employees: One Size Doesn’t Fit All

matt M&A Insights

Retaining your company’s key employees is one of the most important steps toward your business’ success. Key employees can reduce your workload, noticeably improve company performance and operations, and act as the backbone of a successful business sale in the future. So, how can you keep these employees on board and engaged as you work toward a successful future? Let’s …