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Transcript

The Perfect Storm: Why Now Is the Time to Sell Your Business (and How to Do It Right) · The Inspired Stories Podcast

• 0:04
  Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast,
• 0:08
  where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from
• 0:11
  their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome
• 0:14
  adversity. As you listen today, let one
• 0:17
  idea shape what you do next. My name is Anthony Kotaspodi and
• 0:20
  today's guest started a marketing and operations
• 0:23
  consulting business in 2008 and then spent the next 16 years
• 0:28
  running someone else's company at the at the same time.
• 0:31
  Not as a side project she was winding down, but as a parallel
• 0:34
  track she kept alive through ACO role at a fast growing real
• 0:38
  estate firm and a string of senior positions across four
• 0:42
  different industries. What made her finally go all in
• 0:46
  our own thing is the kind of decision that looks obvious in
• 0:49
  hindsight and terrifying in the moment.
• 0:52
  The story of how she got there and what she built on the other
• 0:56
  side is worth hearing today. She is Christy May, owner and
• 1:00
  lead Business consultant at J&E Business Group, a business
• 1:03
  brokerage and consulting firm in Pennsylvania.
• 1:06
  Now Christy helps service based entrepreneurs buy, grow and sell
• 1:10
  their companies and her clients regularly exit for 3X three
• 1:15
  times their profit. As a consultant, her client saw
• 1:18
  revenue growth of 40% or more. She is a Ramsey Solutions Master
• 1:23
  Financial coach and a licensed Pennsylvania real estate agent,
• 1:27
  credentials she earned before acquiring the business brokerage
• 1:30
  J&E Business Group in 2025. Now, before we get into all that
• 1:36
  good stuff, today's episode is brought to you by my company,
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  back benefits.com. All right, back to our guest
• 2:31
  today, owner of J&E Business Group, Christy May thank you for
• 2:35
  making the time to Share your story today.
• 2:37
  Thanks so much, Anthony. Thanks for having me.
• 2:39
  And I'm going to tell you guys how awesome Christy is.
• 2:42
  We just recorded about 20 minutes of the interview or
• 2:45
  thought we did, but the record button hadn't been pressed.
• 2:50
  And so here we are doing it again.
• 2:52
  And she's been nothing but smiles and giggles.
• 2:54
  And she's ready to tackle those same questions.
• 2:57
  So thank you for being so terrific, Christy.
• 3:01
  So take us back to the beginning.
• 3:03
  How did you get started with this consulting business and
• 3:06
  walk us through how it kind of evolved?
• 3:08
  Yeah. So like you said, I did decide
• 3:11
  to start consulting all the way back in 2008 alongside other
• 3:16
  companies that I was working for and the LLC that I have didn't
• 3:22
  get started until about 2014. And I thought at that time I
• 3:26
  might go all in and start consulting full time.
• 3:30
  I didn't, I ended up working like staying on and working for
• 3:34
  some other companies. And you know, over the years
• 3:38
  there have been like non competes where I couldn't
• 3:41
  consult or do anything like that.
• 3:43
  And so it just kind of continued to exist.
• 3:47
  But Fast forward to 2024, I decided to get married midlife
• 3:54
  and moved to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
• 3:56
  And I told my husband when I was about to do that, that I was not
• 4:01
  going to be looking for a job, that I was going to be starting
• 4:04
  my own consultancy. So he really supported me.
• 4:07
  He's been nothing but a strong rock for me and a strong support
• 4:12
  and, and so that's how I got started and it's just deciding
• 4:16
  to go all in for myself. And what was behind that
• 4:19
  decision? What was it about that time
• 4:21
  period? Were you like I'm in on
• 4:22
  Christie? Yeah, I think that I thought I
• 4:24
  would never get another opportunity kind of to reset and
• 4:28
  decide what I wanted to do like that.
• 4:32
  You know, I was relocating, we had dated long distance and I
• 4:36
  just figured if I'm going to be new in an area, let's just let's
• 4:41
  do it be. New and everything let's.
• 4:43
  Just. Hit the reset.
• 4:44
  Button and I, you know, I really believed in myself.
• 4:47
  I knew that I had the capability to, to run a company and to work
• 4:54
  for myself and be proud of the clients that I worked with.
• 4:56
  So that was kind of what I wanted to do.
• 4:59
  And I'm guessing part of that confidence came from the fact
• 5:02
  that you had become the CEO at a real estate brokerage firm.
• 5:07
  Tell us about. That experience, yeah.
• 5:09
  Yeah. So I came in as the marketing
• 5:11
  director there back during the, the, during COVID, I remember
• 5:18
  and I was brought in kind of the, the controller had actually
• 5:24
  looked for me because he needed help understanding different
• 5:28
  marketing spends that they had and kind of, you know, analyzing
• 5:34
  the budget. And so we did that together.
• 5:36
  Shout out to Jean Cruz if you're watching Jean.
• 5:40
  And so I came in as the director of marketing and pretty quickly
• 5:46
  became the Chief Operating officer.
• 5:49
  You know, we started out with one team, the Philly living real
• 5:52
  estate team, and then we slowly grew the company over time in in
• 5:58
  three states, so Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Florida.
• 6:03
  So I was responsible for helping to start those teams and also
• 6:07
  oversee the staff and oversee the marketing as well.
• 6:12
  And so the consulting business that you had been running on the
• 6:15
  side prior to meeting the folks at J&E, which we'll get to in a
• 6:19
  moment, what kind of consulting were you providing?
• 6:22
  Yeah, marketing and operations consulting for a variety of
• 6:27
  businesses over the years. Yeah.
• 6:30
  Like what does that mean? Like you're helping them.
• 6:32
  Not their non profit. Yeah, yeah, anything.
• 6:35
  And you know, my approach is a little different.
• 6:38
  I like to look at the financials.
• 6:40
  I always like looking at the financials to understand what's
• 6:43
  happening. You know, what is their
• 6:45
  marketing spend? Is there one?
• 6:47
  A lot of, Mark, a lot of small businesses don't, don't spend in
• 6:51
  terms of marketing. Then it's things like do they
• 6:56
  have their procedures outlined in standard operating
• 7:00
  procedures, what's working, what's not working?
• 7:02
  And I can really understand those things through the numbers
• 7:05
  and through their procedures. So I like to look at all of
• 7:09
  those aspects to understand the big picture and the direction
• 7:13
  that the company should be moving in.
• 7:16
  Gotcha. OK.
• 7:16
  So I'm hearing a lot of growth, marketing, operations,
• 7:20
  financial, lots of different hats for you to wear.
• 7:23
  And then tell us about what happened with the meeting with
• 7:26
  J&E. Oh yeah.
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  So I immediately had success in terms of working with brokerages
• 7:33
  out in Lancaster County. I'm very fortunate to that.
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  I was doing a lot of networking, meeting people, building a
• 7:40
  consultancy, and then I got connected with J&E Business
• 7:44
  Group, the owners, and they did ask me if I would be open to
• 7:48
  considering buying their company.
• 7:52
  And they felt that I had the exact right background.
• 7:55
  You know, I had a real estate license, which comes into play
• 7:58
  when you have real estate attached to a business for sale.
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  I had the ability to manage people, manage A-Team, manage a
• 8:08
  process, especially when you're working with buyers and sellers
• 8:12
  and you're, you want to create a smooth process through to, you
• 8:16
  know, the completed transaction. So they, they just felt like
• 8:21
  from a marketing operations, financial background, right,
• 8:24
  doing valuations, I understood the financials and the things
• 8:28
  that went into, you know, the valuing of business or listing
• 8:35
  the business, telling the story of the business through
• 8:38
  marketing. All of those things are really
• 8:40
  crucial to being a strong business broker and owner.
• 8:45
  In fact, I we were talking before and it's kind of what I
• 8:50
  look for in other buyers that might be a good fit for a
• 8:54
  potential seller of mine is looking to see if they have
• 8:58
  marketing and operations and financial background.
• 9:01
  You know, it's really if you're going to be an owner operator or
• 9:04
  a strong owner of any business, I think having a strong
• 9:07
  understanding of those three areas will really help someone
• 9:12
  to do well. OK.
• 9:15
  We mentioned in the intro, let me go back to it, A Ramsey
• 9:20
  Solutions Master Financial coach.
• 9:21
  What is this? Yeah, so I did.
• 9:24
  I got that certification. Let's see, I guess it was more
• 9:30
  probably a year and a half ago and that was really, I noticed
• 9:35
  that a lot of people that I knew were struggling with their
• 9:39
  financials and coming to me for help.
• 9:42
  And you know, they come to maybe business owners or people who
• 9:48
  like for me, I was the COO at the time and you know, agents
• 9:53
  were coming to me with financial related questions and I just
• 9:56
  felt I really wanted to understand how to help them
• 10:00
  best. So I did get certified as the
• 10:02
  Dave Ramsey Financial Coach. And, you know, it's because I
• 10:07
  want to help people make wise financial decisions.
• 10:10
  I want them to be profitable and I want them to be wise in terms
• 10:16
  of their finances. So, OK, the folks at J&E were
• 10:20
  like, hey, we think you'd be a great fit here.
• 10:22
  We buy the business. You're like, yes, I'm this fits
• 10:25
  in. This aligns with everything that
• 10:27
  I, you know, want to do. And then looking forward and
• 10:30
  tell us about how that transition took place.
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  Was it smooth? Was it bumpy?
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  What was that hand off like? Yeah, it was pretty smooth.
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  I mean, with any business transaction and transition, you
• 10:42
  know, you have to know what's going to go into it.
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  You know, we work together for several months to outline what
• 10:49
  me taking over would look like. I am the sole owner.
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  I do, you know, take care of all the financials for the business
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  and you know, it's been great. I I'm really proud of the fact
• 11:03
  that my 10 associates, soon to be 11, are still with me and we
• 11:10
  work collaboratively. In fact, the former owners are
• 11:13
  still on board. They love just still referring
• 11:17
  clients to us. And so I'm really proud of that.
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  Yeah. But there's a lot of thought
• 11:22
  that has to go into something like that with a business
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  transition for sure. And so you said you've got 10 or
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  11 associates. What are those folks doing?
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  What's their role? Yeah.
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  So they're bringing new listing opportunities and sometimes
• 11:35
  buyers. So we work collaboratively.
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  If somebody has a listing and someone else has, a buyer will
• 11:42
  work together to bring a smooth transit transaction.
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  Is that typical or or do brokers typically work on their own?
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  Yeah, brokers definitely typically work on their own.
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  So we're kind of like a real estate team in that regard
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  working together and that's the way I like it, right.
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  It brings a greater buyer pool when we when we agree to
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  collaborate. So that's something that we can
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  offer our sellers. OK.
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  And what what do you think the brokers get from this?
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  Why do they love working with you?
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  Are there brokers? Yeah, because I I handled the
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  financials for the business and it's it's not for the faint of
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  heart. You know you might sell a couple
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  of businesses and it. There's a long, it's a long
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  game, right? So for, for a, a seller, for
• 12:40
  example, it might take several, several months to find the right
• 12:44
  buyer. Could we find one sooner?
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  Yes, absolutely. In fact, this past December, I
• 12:50
  was able to find a buyer in less than 30 days, I think it was.
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  And that one went was very, very smooth and very, very quick.
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  But that doesn't always happen. It could take several months
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  because if you're talking about a couple of $1,000,000, you
• 13:06
  know, it's not every day that somebody wakes up and
• 13:08
  immediately says, hey, I think I'll buy that business for, you
• 13:12
  know, $2,000,000. They're going to, you know, be
• 13:15
  very cautious and they're going to go, you know, they're going
• 13:19
  to want to understand everything that goes into that.
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  And so there's going to be a strong due diligence process in
• 13:26
  place. They're working with attorneys
• 13:29
  to ensure that, you know, everything is legal.
• 13:33
  And there's a lot of questions that go into that that whole
• 13:36
  process. So it can take several months.
• 13:39
  Are you? Is most of your business
• 13:41
  representing on the seller's side or the buyer's side?
• 13:44
  Seller's side, I would say in 2025, we launched by a
• 13:49
  representation because there have been so many people asking
• 13:53
  us to help them find a business to buy or saying things like,
• 13:57
  hey, if you ever have, you know, a laundromat or a landscaping
• 14:02
  company in this area, would you let me know?
• 14:05
  And so we start, we launched by a representation to help them
• 14:08
  find a business like that and then help them analyze it and
• 14:13
  you know, give them a smooth transaction.
• 14:17
  Why do you think there's been such an increase in interest
• 14:20
  from people who want to buy businesses for the first?
• 14:22
  Time. Great, great.
• 14:23
  Great question. So I think that there's a lot of
• 14:28
  fear right now around AI and IT disrupting companies and jobs.
• 14:34
  And so we are getting calls, emails on the regular about
• 14:40
  people wanting to buy a business to kind of take control and be
• 14:44
  able to make decisions for themselves.
• 14:48
  So yeah, I think that there's, you know, there's a lot of
• 14:52
  sellers, there's a lot of baby boomers ready to retire and
• 14:56
  there's a lot of buyers, which is the perfect storm.
• 15:00
  It's pretty exciting to help people, you know, find the right
• 15:03
  thing for themselves and and be able to transfer their business
• 15:08
  to the next generation. So.
• 15:12
  Are you finding that there's certain industries that you're
• 15:15
  working in more than others? Yeah.
• 15:18
  We tend to work in the trades, landscaping businesses, HVAC
• 15:24
  companies. So we've had a lot of experience
• 15:28
  there, restaurants and then service based businesses.
• 15:33
  So those are two main areas of focus.
• 15:37
  And these are primarily the sellers that are coming to you
• 15:39
  with those styles of businesses. The buyers are they looking for?
• 15:43
  Like what do they come to you? Kinds of businesses and all
• 15:46
  kinds of backgrounds, corporate experience, not corporate
• 15:51
  experience, people who want to continue doing, you know, what
• 15:56
  they have experience in and other people who want to explore
• 15:59
  like a job change almost or you know, through company
• 16:03
  acquisition. So it it really runs the gamut.
• 16:07
  And if somebody's listening today and they're thinking, huh,
• 16:11
  I'd kind of like a change in my life and be interested in buying
• 16:14
  a business, but I don't know if I've got the funds to pull that
• 16:17
  off. What would you say to them?
• 16:18
  Yeah, there are so many different ways of buying a
• 16:23
  business, whether you get a loan from a local bank or you do
• 16:28
  what's called an earn out, where you work in the business and
• 16:31
  acquire it from the owner. So it doesn't necessarily just
• 16:35
  because you don't have the funds doesn't mean you can't come up
• 16:38
  with a way to acquire business. There's also the Small Business
• 16:41
  Administration, so an SBA loan, which is slightly different than
• 16:45
  just a local, a local loan. There's hard money lenders who
• 16:50
  will sometimes invest in individuals.
• 16:54
  So yeah, it don't let that be your limiting factor.
• 16:58
  So can I realistically think about buying a business if I
• 17:01
  don't have any cash to bring to the table?
• 17:04
  I would say talk to us and see what see what's possible first.
• 17:09
  And you mentioned an SBA loan is different than a traditional
• 17:12
  bank loan. How so?
• 17:15
  So the SBA loans, they're going to be pretty specific in terms
• 17:21
  of what they're looking for, like for example, a business for
• 17:25
  sale that basically the SBA lender has to qualify that
• 17:32
  business for an SBA loan. And there's a lot of different
• 17:35
  things that they look for and it's industry specific, but they
• 17:40
  will take the buyer through a process as well where the buyer
• 17:44
  has to do a a business plan and where they have to outline all
• 17:50
  of the financials. So there's a lot that goes into
• 17:54
  it. It's pretty regulated and pretty
• 17:56
  serious. Got you.
• 17:58
  OK. So Christy, big picture, present
• 18:01
  day, walk us through all the services that J&E Business Group
• 18:05
  offers. Yeah.
• 18:06
  So like I said, we launched buyer representation in 2025, so
• 18:11
  we can help people buy, grow or sell.
• 18:16
  So we're helping those who want to acquire a business to analyze
• 18:20
  the business and to walk them through that process of
• 18:24
  acquisition. We are helping companies that
• 18:27
  are not ready to sell to to grow and for focus on their assets
• 18:32
  that strengthen the business such as standard operating
• 18:36
  procedures. We are optimizing their website,
• 18:40
  things that are going to bring them growth.
• 18:43
  So we can help them in all kinds of ways.
• 18:46
  We typically do that through reviewing their financials and
• 18:49
  consulting them, consulting with them on their business.
• 18:54
  And then thirdly, our main Ave. is, you know, working with
• 18:59
  sellers to list their business. We first provide evaluation for
• 19:04
  the seller to understand what they could likely sell their
• 19:07
  business for, and we're working with them to list their business
• 19:12
  and manage all the aspects that come with selling a business.
• 19:16
  OK. So is it kind of a two-part
• 19:20
  engagement when they want to sell a business?
• 19:23
  Like is there a, hey, before we actually list a business, let's
• 19:26
  spend X months together actually getting the business ready to
• 19:31
  sell? Or is that like an optional
• 19:34
  part? Yeah.
• 19:35
  No, we typically like to look at their financials first and we do
• 19:41
  take them through a process to understand aspects of their
• 19:44
  business fully. Yes, and then we agree on the
• 19:50
  valuation if we were to list the business.
• 19:53
  So we do have a conversation with them on that.
• 19:56
  You know some things like if they don't have standard
• 19:58
  operating procedures in place, we can help with that.
• 20:01
  It really depends, but we are outlining, you know.
• 20:05
  What they have in terms of the assets of the business and
• 20:09
  because you know, we'll need to know those things for the buyers
• 20:13
  that that are interested in their business.
• 20:16
  So yeah, we are walking them through a process of
• 20:18
  understanding everything that's at play in their business.
• 20:23
  OK. As I understand it, Christy, you
• 20:26
  mostly work with companies that are in the three to $12 million
• 20:31
  range. Yeah.
• 20:33
  On the consulting side, that's been my experience is the three
• 20:37
  to $12 million range. Those individuals are typically
• 20:41
  looking towards growth and towards scaling their
• 20:44
  businesses. And so historically those have
• 20:47
  been the ones that, you know, have the funds to hire me as a
• 20:51
  consultant. I would say we in terms of
• 20:55
  business brokerage, we are willing to work with small
• 20:58
  businesses and some of those we have listed for 100,000, you
• 21:04
  know, and then you know on the high side I would say 6,000,000.
• 21:10
  OK. And when we talk about that
• 21:12
  three to 12 million range in terms of the consulting side,
• 21:15
  are we talking about their annual revenue or their
• 21:18
  valuation? Annual revenue, yes.
• 21:20
  That's correct. Gotcha.
• 21:22
  OK. So let's say I'm a company and
• 21:25
  I'm in that 3 to $12 million band and I come to you and I
• 21:28
  say, Christy, I want your help with growth.
• 21:31
  What is the 1st 90 days that engagement look like?
• 21:34
  What are you doing with me? That's great.
• 21:37
  So I think we were talking earlier about, you know, I
• 21:39
  always look at the financials right away.
• 21:41
  That's where I start because I'm able to see so much about a
• 21:44
  business from the financials. You know that the numbers never
• 21:48
  lie as they say. And and so I'm looking at the
• 21:53
  financials. I want to see things like are
• 21:55
  they spending on marketing? Because a lot of smaller
• 21:58
  businesses don't they maybe, you know, built their business on
• 22:02
  word of mouth and never invested in terms of marketing.
• 22:06
  I want to understand if they know their numbers and if they
• 22:10
  are careful about their expenses and you know, they're really
• 22:17
  overseeing the financials because sometimes I will see a
• 22:20
  business where you know that those financials have not been
• 22:23
  managed well. And so I'm, I'm just looking for
• 22:27
  various aspects. Can we can we save them money?
• 22:30
  Can we cut the budget? Can we grow the budget, those
• 22:34
  types of things. And then from there I can
• 22:37
  understand, OK, what is the marketing plan going to be?
• 22:41
  How can I improve their marketing going forward or their
• 22:45
  team? Do they have standard operating
• 22:48
  procedures in place and does their team know all of the
• 22:54
  procedures in place? A lot of times if you work on
• 22:57
  those, it's strengthening your business, right?
• 23:00
  And so you're going to have a well oiled machine and that's
• 23:04
  what any company that wants to scale and grow is looking to
• 23:09
  have. Got you.
• 23:11
  Now, in my experience in talking with business owners, a lot of
• 23:15
  them think that the hardest part of selling a business is going
• 23:18
  to be just finding the buyer true or false, and what do they
• 23:23
  typically get wrong in terms of understanding what goes into the
• 23:27
  process before the buyer shows? Up I would say, first of all,
• 23:34
  any seller needs to have great communication and that means
• 23:38
  what is, what is the buyer buying right and are they ready
• 23:43
  to sell the business? Is it transfer ready?
• 23:47
  And what I mean by that is like, you know, if you had a buyer,
• 23:50
  are you going to have to train them or do you do you have those
• 23:55
  standard operating procedures that you could hand off?
• 23:59
  So a lot of times the seller isn't quite ready and they might
• 24:05
  not know how to articulate all of the things in their business.
• 24:09
  So being ready to sell your business and being able to
• 24:14
  communicate aspects of your business and just communicate in
• 24:19
  general. Once we do find a buyer, that
• 24:22
  just makes for a smooth transaction, one that doesn't
• 24:26
  fall apart. So if you were and along with
• 24:30
  that, you know the clean financials is part of being
• 24:33
  ready to sell your business as well.
• 24:35
  So if you've got clean financials and you're able to
• 24:39
  tell your business story, well, those are the transactions I
• 24:42
  think that are smooth and where you have a buyer and seller who
• 24:47
  are just really happy to work together.
• 24:50
  How do you find your clients or how do they find you?
• 24:53
  Yeah. So I, I was very interested in
• 24:57
  J&E and inquiring J&E because they've been long known in the
• 25:01
  community through through the owners.
• 25:04
  And so you know over 10 years of doing business as a business
• 25:09
  brokerage people do call our phone line and do visit our
• 25:14
  website. So there is value in that, but
• 25:17
  we market our business through various listing systems and and
• 25:24
  through social media and podcasts like this.
• 25:29
  So let's talk about some challenges here.
• 25:31
  Take me to a moment in this work where you felt most tested.
• 25:38
  In in work, in work. OK, that's a great question.
• 25:45
  One that came to mind is, you know, you have to be on the same
• 25:51
  page as the as your clients, I think and that's really, really
• 25:55
  important. So, so working with sellers,
• 25:59
  making sure they're comfortable on the valuation price, right,
• 26:03
  things like that. You know, in on the marketing
• 26:07
  side, I've had sellers who we're sorry, business owners who will
• 26:13
  say, you know, they are really comfortable with a marketing
• 26:17
  spend, but you find out maybe they're not so much or they're
• 26:22
  expecting immediate results and that's not how it works.
• 26:26
  And I would say that's not how it works for anything, even
• 26:29
  business brokerage, right. So setting those expectations,
• 26:33
  making sure they know it is going to be a long game, whether
• 26:37
  it's marketing and a marketing spend because it takes several
• 26:42
  months to generate results and similarly it takes several
• 26:47
  months to sell a business typically.
• 26:51
  OK. So you've watched a lot of
• 26:57
  business owners go through big transitions, sales, you know,
• 27:01
  exits, acquisitions. What are the ones who come out
• 27:04
  well have in common? Great communication.
• 27:10
  Like we were talking about earlier that they've been
• 27:13
  transparent about their business.
• 27:17
  Transparency and communication. I mean, that's so crucial in any
• 27:21
  business, isn't it? Have you ever gotten yourself
• 27:24
  into a situation where you've been engaged to sell a business
• 27:30
  and as you start digging into the financials and the details,
• 27:33
  you find that maybe everything isn't as advertised?
• 27:39
  Yes, yes, absolutely. I have been in positions where
• 27:50
  maybe I've noticed that they're not honest on their taxes and
• 27:54
  things like that. And honestly, I have turned down
• 27:57
  those opportunities. It is not worth it.
• 27:59
  It's not worth it to me. And, you know, integrity is
• 28:04
  really, really important to me because I don't want to, I don't
• 28:09
  want to be involved in helping to sell a business where I have
• 28:11
  to put a buyer in a situation where they have to figure out if
• 28:18
  this, the financial situation is what I think it is.
• 28:21
  You know, and my job is to give them an accurate valuation that
• 28:26
  is honest and fair. And so, yeah, I've turned down
• 28:29
  opportunities for sure. What are some of the red flags
• 28:33
  that you've seen in the past? In terms of business valuations?
• 28:39
  Yeah. Business valuations are just
• 28:41
  anything that would give you pause and say, I'm not sure that
• 28:44
  this is somebody that I want to represent or work with.
• 28:47
  Yeah. So we have, we have sold
• 28:51
  businesses that are not, that are not growing, ones that are
• 28:57
  distressed. I would call them distressed
• 28:59
  businesses where they are in the negative and that has worked
• 29:04
  when the business has strong assets, you know, maybe there's
• 29:10
  equipment, maybe there's a great location and we were able to do
• 29:14
  that just recently actually. But, but typically I'm not able
• 29:19
  to, you know, always sell a service based business that is
• 29:23
  not profitable. So that is something that not
• 29:27
  every owner understands. And you know, I don't
• 29:30
  necessarily want to get in the habit of doing that, you know,
• 29:35
  so it it's worth a conversation. At times.
• 29:38
  We might know somebody who is willing to acquire a business
• 29:42
  that is not profitable under the right circumstances, but that
• 29:47
  would be the first one noticing that the business is not
• 29:50
  profitable or finding out that they might have two sets of
• 29:54
  books for sure. Why would somebody do that?
• 29:59
  So they they want to save on in terms of taxes, they want to put
• 30:02
  more money in their pocket. So they're finding more
• 30:06
  expenses. Yes.
• 30:08
  And my job is really totally value what is on the tax return
• 30:12
  and what is honestly reported, right.
• 30:16
  And so it becomes a difficult balance, right.
• 30:21
  If if I have any question that the tax returns are different
• 30:27
  than the actual business. And so, you know, I'm sure you
• 30:31
  can understand the position that would put a buyer in and they
• 30:36
  they don't want to overpay for a business and, and be unsure of
• 30:40
  whether that business can actually bring the revenue that
• 30:43
  someone is claiming. Yeah, makes sense.
• 30:46
  I'm going to shift gears on you, Christy.
• 30:49
  We're going to go back to a challenge.
• 30:51
  What's the hardest thing you've ever had to overcome personally?
• 30:56
  I would say the end of a relationship that was pretty
• 30:59
  significant for sure. And yeah, was the most
• 31:04
  challenging time in my life that I'll probably ever, ever
• 31:08
  experience. Are you comfortable saying more
• 31:10
  about that relationship and maybe what the failing of that
• 31:16
  relationship led to in a positive way down the road?
• 31:20
  Absolutely. It it's been probably about 10
• 31:24
  years since that end of relationship and I learned that
• 31:29
  I will never quit on myself. Even if, you know, it's possible
• 31:33
  for other people to quit on me, but I will never quit on myself
• 31:39
  and I will never quit on the people that are in my life.
• 31:44
  And so I have learned significantly even now as a
• 31:48
  business owner that I am not going to quit, I will get the
• 31:53
  results and the what I plan to do, I will accomplish that.
• 31:59
  And that, yeah, that comes from not quitting for sure.
• 32:03
  And what or who did you lean on during the difficult times
• 32:09
  following the end of that relationship?
• 32:11
  My family, I would say God, my faith pulled me through without
• 32:16
  a doubt. Without a doubt.
• 32:18
  Yeah. Any advice you would offer to
• 32:21
  folks who are maybe going through something similar now?
• 32:24
  Yeah, there is sometimes a point where you feel like, you know,
• 32:28
  you're not going to make it or there were.
• 32:35
  For me, there were a lot of different facets at play.
• 32:37
  You know, financially my health wasn't good and and I just like
• 32:44
  there was a a breaking point moment where I had to decide
• 32:47
  like, am I going to get give up? Literally, am I going to give up
• 32:51
  or am I going to am I going to make it?
• 32:53
  And I chose to make it and, you know, to, to really focus on,
• 33:00
  you know, healing and growing as an individual and getting the
• 33:06
  help that I needed emotionally to overcome that.
• 33:08
  So just pushing through and I would say it translates to
• 33:12
  business, right? Because because there are so
• 33:18
  many things that you have to oversee and work on.
• 33:22
  You know, business relationships can fall apart, clients can fall
• 33:25
  apart, like deals can fall apart.
• 33:29
  But if you're really committed to both your employees, your
• 33:33
  contractors, your clients, you know anything is possible.
• 33:39
  In the role that you're in now, Christy, what do you most want
• 33:42
  to be remembered for? Being somebody who cares, who
• 33:48
  really, really does care, wants to help people make wise
• 33:51
  financial decisions, whether that's, you know, buying homes
• 33:55
  because I am a real estate agent or buying businesses.
• 33:59
  I want to see great things happen there for people.
• 34:03
  Where do you see the business going in the future?
• 34:07
  You know, my goal is to be profitable, stay profitable,
• 34:12
  just continue growing. People have asked me do I how
• 34:16
  big do I want to grow? I am able to help people
• 34:20
  nationally and I do have some contractors coming on board in
• 34:24
  other areas. So I'm excited about that.
• 34:27
  So we'll see, but I'm excited to have a team that is just excited
• 34:32
  to collaborate and help more sellers.
• 34:34
  Yeah, and so you got through the rough part of the the
• 34:40
  relationship, you found yourself, you got your health
• 34:44
  back and paint the happy picture for his present day anybody in
• 34:48
  your life. Oh, yeah, So I, I might have
• 34:51
  mentioned this, but I have a fantastic husband who's just so
• 34:55
  supportive. I would say he is.
• 34:58
  I mean, he really helped me make the difference, reminding me not
• 35:03
  to give up on myself. You know, a constantly, anytime
• 35:07
  that he thinks I'm discouraged about something, he is always
• 35:10
  encouraging me to just keep going slow and steady or
• 35:15
  whatever I need to do. So I'm super, super thankful.
• 35:20
  And how did you meet? Facebook Dating.
• 35:24
  OK. Yeah, yeah, it works.
• 35:26
  It definitely works. Yeah, we are today.
• 35:28
  We, we dated long distance and yeah, now, now here we are so.
• 35:33
  OK, fun stuff. What's your favorite thing to do
• 35:37
  outside of work? That's a great question.
• 35:41
  It's been, you know, obviously I've been focused so much as a
• 35:44
  new business owner, but my husband and I just love to have
• 35:49
  fun. We like to play games we like.
• 35:51
  He loves hockey. I like going along with him to
• 35:53
  hockey games. I used to ice skate myself.
• 35:57
  So I do enjoy it quite a bit. And I love art and interior
• 36:02
  design. So I like seeing homes that you
• 36:04
  know are beautiful and in the area.
• 36:08
  I want to go back actually to something that we were talking
• 36:11
  about earlier on, because you're seeing this big influx of folks
• 36:16
  that want to buy businesses and everybody talks about the the
• 36:21
  silver tsunami, you know, the retiring baby boomers.
• 36:25
  Tell me like what you're seeing kind of happen at this
• 36:27
  intersection now? Yeah, definitely.
• 36:31
  I I'm seeing like a lot of business owners and they might
• 36:35
  not know that they can sell. That's the thing that that
• 36:38
  drives me crazy. I want to I want to help more
• 36:41
  small businesses with was selling their business, but a
• 36:45
  lot of them don't know who to go to.
• 36:48
  They might go to a real estate agent and and ask and a lot of
• 36:53
  them are like, I don't, I don't know, right.
• 36:55
  So, so I'm seeing a lot more business owners who are ready
• 37:00
  for retirement and who are ready to sell, not know that they can
• 37:06
  list their business for sale. But I'm also seeing, you know,
• 37:10
  the younger generation just being wanting to be be business
• 37:15
  owners and wanting to buy an asset and you know, that that
• 37:18
  stays in the local economy. When you help transfer a
• 37:24
  business from 1 owner to another, that helps your local
• 37:28
  economy. And so that's another reason I'm
• 37:30
  pretty passionate about it. Love it.
• 37:33
  Yeah, Christy, I've just got one more question for you today.
• 37:36
  But before I ask it, I want to do 3 quick things for the
• 37:39
  audience. First of all, anybody that wants
• 37:41
  to get in touch with Christy May, we've got a few options in
• 37:46
  the show notes. We're going to have a direct
• 37:48
  link to schedule an appointment with her.
• 37:50
  You can get a free consultation, learn more about what she can do
• 37:53
  for you. You can also e-mail her directly
• 37:56
  kristikrist.i@jebusinessgroup.com and we'll have that in the show
• 38:03
  notes for folkskristi@jebusinessgroup.com
• 38:07
  and their phone number. Yes, people still use their
• 38:10
  phones today. Folks pick up the phone call or
• 38:13
  they'll talk to you. 7174358348717, 435-8348 and
• 38:21
  again, that'll be in the show notes, but 717-435-8348 And if
• 38:26
  you're enjoying the show today, a quick comment or review on
• 38:29
  your favorite podcast app goes a long way towards helping others
• 38:33
  discover our podcast. So thank you for taking a quick
• 38:35
  moment to do that right now. And as a reminder, if you want
• 38:39
  to get more employees access to doctors, therapists and
• 38:41
  prescription meds that, as paradoxical as it seems,
• 38:45
  actually increases your company's net profits, reach out
• 38:47
  to us at ADD Back benefits.com. So last question for you,
• 38:51
  Christy. A year from now, what is 1 very
• 38:53
  specific thing that you hope to be celebrating?
• 38:57
  Growth, absolutely. Say more be be specific.
• 39:01
  What kind of growth do you want to see?
• 39:03
  Where do you want to like new clients?
• 39:04
  New services? Yeah, new new clients and new
• 39:08
  services, just more listings, more opportunities for people.
• 39:12
  And I want, you know, I have, I have great associates who are
• 39:17
  just excited to help people. I really want to see them do
• 39:20
  that so. That's awesome.
• 39:23
  Christy May from J&E Business Group.
• 39:25
  I want to be the first to thank you for sharing both your time
• 39:27
  and your story with us today. I really appreciate you being
• 39:30
  here. Thanks so much, this is so much
• 39:32
  fun. Folks, that's a wrap on another
• 39:34
  episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
• 39:37
  Thanks for learning with us. And if one thing stood out, put
• 39:41
  that into action today.