IAM1086- Founder Helps Entrepreneurs Sell Their Businesses

Michelle Seiler Tucker is the Founder and CEO of Seiler Tucker Incorporated. She holds the M&AMI (Mergers & Acquisitions Master Intermediary) title, as well as Certified Mergers and Acquisitions Professional (CM&AP) and Certified Senior Business Analyst (CSBA). Michelle also owns many other businesses in several different industries. As a 20-year veteran in the M&A industry, she is regarded as the leading authority on buying, selling, fixing, and growing businesses. She and her firm have sold over a thousand businesses in almost every vertical and have a remarkable track record of success.

• CEO Hack: (i) I start off my day with results and gratitude (ii) Focus more on my energy management and strengths (iii) Delegating the rest
• CEO Nugget: Your network equals your net worth
• CEO Defined: Continous learner, one who is able to soak it up and is not afraid to hire people smarter than them

Website: http://www.seilertucker.com/

Book website: http://www.exitrichbook.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michele.seilertucker/
https://www.facebook.com/michelletuckerinternational/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michelleseilertucker/?hl=en
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MSeilerTucker
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelleseiler/

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Transcription

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00:19 – Intro

Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO podcast.

00:47 – Gresham Harkless

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I Am CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Michelle Seiler Tucker of Seiler Tucker Incorporated. Michelle, it's great to have you on the show.

00:57 – Michelle Seiler Tucker

Thank you, Gresh, thanks for having me. Happy Friday.

01:00 – Gresham Harkless

Happy Friday to you too. And I appreciate you for taking some time out to talk a little bit more about all the awesome things that you're doing. And before we do that, I want to read a little bit more about Michelle so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. Michelle is the founder and CEO of Siler Tucker Incorporated. She holds the MNAMI, Mergers and Acquisition Mastery Intermediary title, as well as a certified mergers and acquisition professional and certified business analyst. Michelle also owns many other businesses in several different industries and as a 20-year veteran in the M&A industry, she is regarded as the leading authority on buying, selling, fixing, and growing businesses. Her firm has sold over a thousand businesses at almost every vertical and has a remarkable track record of success. Michelle, great to have you on the show. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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01:49 – Michelle Seiler Tucker

I am. Thank you so much for having me on.

01:51 – Gresham Harkless

Appreciate you for taking time out and jumping straight into everything. I wanted to hear a little bit more about how you got started, what I call your CEO story.

02:00 – Michelle Seiler Tucker

Yep, sure. So how did I get started? So many years ago, I had always been an entrepreneur, always knew I wasn't going to, I didn't want to work for someone because my biggest pet peeve is I don't like to be told what to do. So I don't make a very good employee. So I always knew I would be an entrepreneur of many different businesses and different verticals. I also transitioned into the franchise. I opened up a franchise company where I did franchise sales, franchise development, and franchise Consulting. I was a partner with different French Azores. And 1 day, well, not 1 day, but so many buyers kept coming to me and asking me, Michelle, do you have any existing businesses for sale? And I kept saying, no, no, no. And I'm like, why am I saying no? I should be saying yes. A law of attraction. So I said, you know what? I'm gonna start my M&A firm.

And that's basically what I did a little over 20 years ago. When I got into mergers and acquisitions, first I was selling small businesses and then very quickly transitioned into selling businesses $10 million and up. That's how I was able to get the titles and the acronyms that I have now. But I learned very quickly that what Steve Forbes says is true. 8 out of 10 businesses won't sell. So 80% of businesses on the market crash will never sell. So I'm like, Oh my God, I'm gonna starve to death. If I don't learn how to fix these businesses, grow these businesses, build them, and put them on a build-to-sell plan, then I'm gonna starve to death.

So that's when I decided to start my that's when I started to focus on not just selling businesses, emerging businesses but focused on fixing them, figuring out what's wrong with them, growing them, putting them on a built-to-sell program. And that's really how I started specializing in buying, selling, fixing, growing. I do partner with business owners investing my core competencies, expertise, and capital resources and putting them on a go-to-sell model. Plus, we buy businesses and fix them too. So that's really how we specialize in buying, selling, fixing, growing.

04:02 – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I appreciate you for sharing that. And of course, doing that as well, and helping these businesses to be successful so that you can make sure you don't go hungry, which is always important as well. So I love that you've been able to help not just do it yourself, but also be able to help these businesses to make sure that you get there. And so I wanted to I know you touched on a little bit, I wanted to drill down a little bit more here on how you work with your clients, and what you are talking about in your book as well, too, and what we can earn from you there.

04:29 – Michelle Seiler Tucker

So how do I work with my clients? Yeah, it depends on what stage they're in. But you know, like I said, Steve Forbes says 80% of businesses don't sell that's 8 out of 10 businesses. And the biggest mistake business owners make the number 1 reason for that is that business owners don't think about their exit. They don't think about selling. They don't plan their exit until like, Oh my God, I got to sell. And they go, Oh my God, I got to sell because of health issues, partner disputes, divorce, death. Or this pandemic we're in. So they don't think about selling until a catastrophic event occurs. And that's the worst time to sell your business because you're not going to be exiting rich at that point, you can be exiting poor, or you can be selling for pennies on a dollar.

And that's because your business is in a catastrophe. And when your business is in the middle of the catastrophe is turning downward, it's not doing well. The best time to sell your business is when the business is doing, you know, great and it's prime. So what we do is crash, we work with our business owners to plan their exit from the beginning, like Stephen Covey says, start with the end in mind. So we put them on what I call the GPS exit model. So it's like when you want to drive somewhere, what's the first thing you do? You look at your phone, you go to Google Maps and you plug in your GPS or whatever GPS your destination, right? You plug in your destination. If you don't plug in your destination, what happens?

05:58 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, you end up everywhere.

06:01 – Michelle Seiler Tucker

You end up nowhere. Are you in a blast? And that's what happens with business owners. They don't plan to fail. They felt a plan and they don't have a destination. They don't have an end game. They don't have a desire to sell price. So I always tell my clients, to pick a number. Let's say you want to sell your business. Let's say you want to sell your business. Let's say you want to sell your business for $5 million. Boom, there's a number. You can always tweak it along the way. You can adjust it. You can increase it, or decrease it. And then the next thing that the GPS exit model needs to know, is where are you starting from? What is your current location? What is your current evaluation? Most business owners have never had their business evaluated, they have no idea what their business is worth, which is financial suicide because our business is our most valuable asset. We go to the doctor once a year to get an annual checkup, right?

Are we should be anyway, to make sure our hearts are still taking and we're still kicking? We drive a car to the mechanics. Sometimes we take better care of our cars than we do our bodies. But we take our car to the mechanic to get an annual tune-up. But we don't take almost prized possession, which is our business, to get an annual valuation checkup. And you don't do this at your local CPAs, you need to align yourself with an M&A expert because CPAs don't know how to value synergies. And so let's say your business is worth a million dollars, and you want to sell for 5000000. Then the next step you need to know is, well, what is my timeframe? Let's say you want to do it in 10 years. Then the next thing you need to know is what, who are my buyers?

That's 5 different types of buyers. And the reason why I say buyers is because grass, so many people come to me, so many business owners come to me and say, Michelle already has the buyer, I just need you to represent me with this 1 buyer. And I always say no. I go, what do you mean? No. And I go because I got to go in and do the valuation and we got to place the business. We got to look at it to see if I'll brace on all 6 cylinders, all the ST 6 fees. Then we got to do the due diligence. We've got to gather all the due diligence. I didn't stick them in a data room. And I promise you that 1 buyer is probably going to fall apart. So you always want to have backup buyers, number 1, and you can never maximize value if you only have 1 buyer because you can't create competition with a party of 1. So the 5 different types of buyers, would you like to know those?

08:18 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, please go for it.

08:19 – Michelle Seiler Tucker

90% of buyers are first-time buyers. They don't buy multi-million dollar companies. They buy ice cream stores, smoothie shops, restaurants, and dry cleaners. Turnaround specialists are the second type of buyer. They buy distressed assets. They don't buy multi-million dollar companies. Private equity groups based upon platforms and add-ons. So let's say a private equity group wants to get into technology. They won't even look at a technology company unless it has at least $3 million and up in EBITDA. EBITDA is earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, or another word for cash flow. And, if they're already in a technology space and they have that platform, then I'll consider add-ons, smaller technology companies under a million dollars in cash flow.

And then the next type of strategic slash competitors, they pay the highest multiple brushes because they're buying synergies and they're buying synergies account of put their current business to the next level. And then your last type of virus, strategic, I'm sorry, sophisticated entrepreneurs, and they typically are industry agnostic, they just chase EBITDA. So now that you have your plan, you're like, Okay, I want to sell for $5 million.

Those 3 types of buyers, last 3 types of buyers are good for my business. Then you need to say, okay, well, where do my numbers need to be? If I want to sell for 5 million, where's my gross? Where are my cost of goods, and operating expenses? Most importantly, where does my EBITDA need to be? And to sell for 5 million, your EBITDA is gonna have to be around a million dollars depending upon your synergies. And then the next big thing is what are the synergies that buyers are looking for? What are their specific criteria? How do I build my business to meet their specific criteria? It's kind of like when you open up a business, you go, okay, this is my wedge widget. This is my direct target market. It's the same thing with your business. Your business is your product. And you want to build your product to sell to specific buyers.

10:12 – Gresham Harkless

What would you consider to be what I like to call your secret sauce? And this could be for yourself, or the business, or a combination of both. But what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

10:20 – Michelle Seiler Tucker

Yeah, I think when my secret sauce is and that's a great question because I always ask my clients that. But I think my secret sauce is first and foremost, being in this industry for 20 years, having over 20 years of M&A experience, number 1. Number, my company sold over a thousand businesses and we've worked with even more than that. So I think my secret sauce is also owning multiple businesses in different industries because it gives me that competitive edge. And I'm able to completely understand and empathize with what the business owner is going through when they decide to sell their business. Cause I've sold my businesses. So it gives me a whole different perspective to be able to put myself in their shoes versus there are a lot of M&A advisors that have never even owned the business before.

11:11 – Gresham Harkless

I wanted to switch gears a little bit. And I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an Apple book or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

11:22 – Michelle Seiler Tucker

I start my day off with gratitude for what I'm thankful for. I also start my day off with results. A lot of people start their day off with their to-do list, and what they need to accomplish that day. I start my day off with what I want the outcome to be. What results do I want to accomplish today versus on a to-do list? And I focus more on energy management versus time management. Another big hack, I think is I focus on my strengths, only those things that I can do such as writing my books, I've written 3 books, and I delegate the rest. And I empower people to make decisions, but I always inspect what I expect, I always trust what I verify.

12:10 – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. And so that might be what I would call a CEO nugget, which is kind of a word of wisdom or piece of advice. It could be something from your book or just something you would tell a client or maybe even a younger business.

12:22 – Michelle Seiler Tucker

Yeah. What I would tell, I mean, gosh, I have so many golden nuggets. My book, Exit Rich has 23 chapters and each chapter, Gresh, is called Go To Nugget Number 1, Go To Nugget Number 2, Go To Nugget Number 3. So pick up Exit Rich and get all of my golden I get we get a whole mountain. But what I would tell my younger self and this is what I tell clients today is to find an expert, you're it's all about relationship capital. And your network equals your net worth. And if you want to be successful, associate with successful people, you want to be rich, hang out with rich people. You want to be broke and hang out with broke people. But the bottom line is, if you want to be an entrepreneur, really find a great mentor and expert, somebody who's traveled down the path you want to travel, because they will shorten your learning curve dramatically. And it will shorten your path to success dramatically. And my quote for that is it's hard to read the label from the inside of the bottle. You need an outsider's perspective to read the warning signs and keep you out of the danger zone.

13:34 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Now I want to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So Michelle, what does being a CEO mean to you?

13:45 – Michelle Seiler Tucker

Always say you can never grow the business beyond what you can grow the owner. So a CEO is somebody who always has to continue to learn all has to be a sponge has to soak it up and has to continue to grow, because the business won't grow past you. And have to recognize their strengths, like we talked about a minute ago, and recognize their weaknesses. And don't be afraid to hire people smarter than you. So many entrepreneurs are so afraid to go, Oh my god, I can't hire somebody smarter than me because I look dumb. They won't respect me. And they want to hire people just like them. Well, because like likes like, right? You hire people just like you, you're not going to grow your business is not going to grow. Don't be afraid. Some of the smartest, most successful people in the world, hire people smarter than them.

14:44 – Gresham Harkless

Michelle truly appreciates that definition. And I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do was just pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners don't enforce how best they can get ahold of you, get a copy of the book and find about all the awesome things that you're working on.

14:59 – Michelle Seiler Tucker

Yeah. And the biggest piece of advice I can give is your past doesn't define you. So many entrepreneurs, individuals, and people get stuck in their past. Your past doesn't define you and shouldn't control your future. You're the director, you're the producer, you're the star in your movie, you write the script, you control your future. As far as how can people reach me, I would encourage everyone to go get my copy of Exit Rich. And you can get that at exitrichbook.com or you can buy that on Amazon. And my main website is siloedtucker.com. You can also follow me on Facebook, at Michelle Seiler Tucker, and Instagram, and connect with me on LinkedIn, and Twitter, I'm everywhere.

15:49 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome, awesome, awesome. And to make it even easier, we will have the links and information and the show notes as well too, so that everybody can click through and follow all the awesome things you're doing, see the books that you've written, and of course your latest book as well. But I appreciate that last reminder so much. I think so many times when we're in our present spot, we can look backward and feel like we're stuck or we can even get caught looking forward. But I think understanding that you have the power within you to reinvent yourself and be whatever you want to be is so empowering. So appreciate you for sharing that, of course, doing that with so many businesses and leaders as well, too, in so many ways. And of course, appreciate your time. And I hope you have a great rest of that.

16:22 – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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