Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / From Radio Sales to M&A: Jeremy Furtick’s Unlikely Path to Co-Founding NorthStar M&A

Transcript

From Radio Sales to M&A: Jeremy Furtick’s Unlikely Path to Co-Founding NorthStar M&A · 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 Koduspoti and
0:21
today's guest studied journalism in college, spent nearly two
0:25
decades evaluating over 1000 businesses, and became the first
0:30
person in history to win the number one worldwide agent title
0:35
multiple times and one of the largest business brokerage
0:39
networks on the planet. That kind of track record
0:43
doesn't happen by accident. It comes from years of
0:46
navigating deals that fall apart, owners who aren't ready
0:49
to let go, and a market that punishes anyone who cuts
0:54
corners. He took everything he learned
0:57
and bet on himself, Co founding an M&A advisory firm built to do
1:02
things differently. His name is Jeremy Furtick, he's
1:06
a founding partner at Northstar Mergers and Acquisitions, a
1:10
Dallas, TX firm that helps owners of lower middle market
1:14
businesses navigate strategic exits.
1:17
Jeremy has personally assisted in over 100 successful closing
1:22
and brings 20 years of deal making experience to every
1:25
engagement. This is a conversation about
1:28
what it really takes to help someone walk away from the thing
1:31
they built and what that teaches you about building something of
1:35
your own. But before we get into all that
1:38
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back benefits.com. All right, back to our guest
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today, founding partner of North Star Mergers and Acquisitions,
2:42
Jeremy Verdict. Thanks for making the time to
2:44
Share your story today. It's great to be here, Anthony.
2:47
Thank you. So Jeremy, you went to Texas
2:49
A&M, got a degree in journalism with a marketing minor.
2:54
So walk me through how does a journalism grad end up spending
2:58
20 years helping people sell their businesses?
3:03
That could be its own episode telling the story about how I
3:07
ended up where I am. But, but it all really started
3:10
with I, I started out actually as an architecture major of all
3:15
things and realized after about a year and a half that ain't
3:19
going to work for a lot of reasons.
3:23
And, and really wanted to get into the, the creative
3:25
advertising space. And my dad actually had a friend
3:30
from high school that owned an advertising agency in Dallas
3:34
that was a partner with an Aggie.
3:37
And so I went to lunch with those two gentlemen and told
3:40
them all about how I would be a great intern.
3:42
And of course they never hired me.
3:44
But what they did is they kind of set in motion the list of
3:47
names they gave me and said, contact all these people, drop
3:51
our name and and see if they've got anything.
3:55
That's how I ended up with an internship with the Texas
3:57
Rangers baseball club, which led to a a job in the promotions
4:02
department at KRLD News Radio in Dallas, which was the the
4:06
Rangers broadcast partner at the time, which ultimately led me to
4:10
a client in the M and a space when I got into sales at the
4:14
radio station, which ultimately led me here.
4:16
So it's a it's an interesting story with a lot of twists and
4:20
turns along the way. So no, I, I, I tell people all
4:23
the time, and especially my daughter who just graduated from
4:26
college and my youngest daughter who's just started college is
4:30
don't worry about it. Just do something that that you
4:33
like doing, that you could see yourself doing, and then allow
4:38
opportunities to present themselves as you get older and
4:42
into your career. I think that's what I took away
4:44
from the Reader's Digest version of what you gave There is one
4:49
door led to another led to another and you weren't afraid
4:53
to walk through them. So taking back to the early
4:59
days, how did you get like specifically foot in the door
5:02
closing that first deal? Well, so the interesting thing
5:07
is when I decided to to leave radio and, and called up one of
5:12
my clients and said, hey, I think I'm ready to entertain the
5:15
idea of, of coming to work with you.
5:18
One of the things he told me was you've got six months.
5:24
Basically you're not going to close a transaction sooner than
5:27
six months. And if it takes you nine months,
5:29
you're in the wrong business. So that was an interesting, you
5:34
know, stepping into it with with this idea.
5:36
Right off the bat. Yeah, really especially my wife
5:39
loved hearing that. But that first transaction
5:44
happened. I I started in June, closed it
5:47
in December. So it was right under six months
5:50
that window and and the first deal was a multi location thrift
5:56
store operation here in the Dallas area.
6:00
And you know, it's just you you think about and I've never done
6:03
one of those since. And what I learned from that
6:06
deal is these transactions are hard and they are hard to to
6:11
close. Buyers are unique, sellers are
6:14
unique, circumstances are unique.
6:16
So it was very eye opening getting that first transaction
6:20
done and, and then from there it was well, I got a taste of it
6:24
and, and just absolutely loved it and, and felt like I, I am
6:28
certainly in the right spot. This is what I need to be doing.
6:32
So that first deal, how did it get placed in your lap or did
6:36
you have to go and source it yourself?
6:39
That first deal was a, it was a, a lead that was generated
6:44
through the company's marketing efforts.
6:46
So it came in as a, as a cold call, so to speak, an inbound
6:52
lead that that then of course followed up with and, and met
6:56
with the owner or the owners and you know, came up with a, a
7:01
evaluation for their business and talk to them about their,
7:04
you know, what they were trying to accomplish.
7:06
And then ultimately go through that, that process of taking
7:08
them to market and finding a buyer.
7:10
But yeah, where the lead originated would have been a
7:13
based on our our outbound direct response marketing.
7:17
And what was something about closing that deal that surprised
7:19
you? You mentioned how hard it was.
7:25
Defining it that specific deal, defining the inventory level
7:30
and, and you never really think about this.
7:32
You, you think, OK, there's a retail operation, they order
7:35
product, they put it on the shelves.
7:37
At any given time, you can pop into their books and you can
7:39
tell what their inventory levels are or the thrift store, you're
7:43
getting donations. And one thing I found out about
7:46
this business that was interesting was that industry,
7:50
they buy inventory by the pound. So these donation centers around
7:56
the area that you'll see, you know, some of them are tied
7:59
directly to a, a retailer like like Goodwill.
8:02
They take in their own donations.
8:03
They put it on their own shelves.
8:05
But an independent thrift store or resale shop, they're getting
8:09
independent donations, but they're also going through
8:12
these, I guess call it inventory brokers if you will, that are
8:17
collecting gently used items, basically bundling them and
8:21
selling them by the pound. So to establish an inventory
8:24
value when all of this stuff was on the floor is incredibly
8:27
difficult because there's not a price on each individual
8:30
sweatshirt and stereo and crockpot that's on the shelf.
8:34
There is a price per pound that they paid to get that.
8:39
So we we had to get creative in the in the sense of we basically
8:44
established the inventory value based on churn rate.
8:47
This is how many times they turn over their inventory on an
8:50
annual basis. So this is how much they should
8:53
have at the closing as we're trying to determine what
8:57
inventory is being transferred in the sale.
8:59
And so did you assign the value of that inventory as some sort
9:03
of a percentage of the retail price that was marked?
9:07
No, it was really more about how many times they place an order
9:12
and what their total revenue is and and then backed out a margin
9:17
and said, OK, this is what should be on the floor today.
9:20
So it was and it was one of those things that it was, there
9:23
was no science to it. It was really sitting down and
9:27
understanding the inventory process with the owner and then
9:32
sitting down with the buyer and saying, does this make sense?
9:36
Does this work? And, and a lot of that is that,
9:39
that first deal. That's, that's one of the things
9:41
I really took away from it was a lot of the decisions and the
9:45
agreements that are made in these transactions is just what
9:48
feels good and what makes sense to the parties involved.
9:52
It, it doesn't necessarily have to follow strict accounting
9:55
principles or anything of that nature because a lot of these
9:59
businesses, you know, they started from nothing and all of
10:03
a sudden they built into this $50 million company that really
10:08
the, the, the accounting practices haven't necessarily
10:10
caught up with, with the size of the business they are.
10:14
So there's some interesting aspects to that.
10:18
OK. So you close this first deal and
10:20
just under the six month mark, so you met that metric for being
10:25
in the right business and where do you go from there?
10:28
Are you staying with the same firm for a while?
10:31
Yeah. I mean the, well the, the firm
10:35
evolved quite a bit. You know, when we started out we
10:38
were a Main Street business brokerage and then probably
10:42
about 8-7 or eight years after that, we became an independent,
10:48
started doing what we had been doing and we made it our focus
10:51
to do larger transactions. And, but, but that first full
10:56
year of mine in 2007 was maybe the most fun I've had working
11:02
ever. That was where it really
11:04
solidified that that I'm in the right place.
11:08
I'm, I, I actually can do this, You know, not to be arrogant,
11:12
but OK, you, you can tell when you're doing something and
11:15
you're good at it. It felt right.
11:17
I really enjoyed the aspect of that, the two sides of the
11:21
transaction where you're, you're helping one person, the seller
11:26
achieve this dream of exiting their business and at the same
11:29
time you're helping a buyer achieve their dream of, of
11:32
owning a business. And so there was a lot of
11:34
gratification. And you know, we all look for
11:38
motivation and, and satisfaction in our, our jobs that we do
11:42
everyday. And I got an immense amount of
11:44
of enjoyment out of that aspect of it.
11:47
What do you think are the qualities that make for a good
11:51
business broker? Wow, that's a, that's a tough
11:55
question because I think there's a lot of different personalities
11:59
and a lot of different skill sets that become successful.
12:02
For me personally, what was really interesting was, you
12:06
know, going back to what you mentioned, I have a journalism
12:08
degree with a marketing minor. I've never looked at AP and L
12:13
before in college. I didn't have to do that luckily
12:15
because you know, it wasn't something I was interested in
12:18
when I got into KRLD and started working with, with business
12:23
owners, selling them, advertising.
12:26
The nature of KRLD being a a News Radio station is different
12:30
than a music radio station. You sell directly to clients,
12:34
business owners, more often than not, it's called direct selling
12:38
versus agency selling. So we would actually go in and
12:42
sit down with a business owner and we're trying to solve a
12:44
problem. Their, their problem is I need
12:47
more calls, I need more response, I need my advertising
12:51
dollar to generate leads. And we're trying to come up with
12:55
a way of how can we use our, our tool, our radio station to be
12:58
able to do that. And I found out real quickly
13:01
doing that, that I can't speak that language effectively.
13:06
And so I went back and got my MBA at that point.
13:09
So I, I felt comfortable sitting down and being able to talk
13:13
about being able to analyze an advertising budget, being able
13:16
to, to say, this is, this is how this ROI should work and, and
13:20
doing that from a technical standpoint, but also on the
13:23
creative side of being able to do those things.
13:26
So it was really that, that background in radio that
13:31
translated surprisingly into this industry, because what do
13:35
we do in this industry? We sit down with a, a privately
13:38
held business owner and say we're trying to figure out
13:43
what's your objective, what's your goal, what's your problem?
13:46
And we're coming up with a way to creatively attack that
13:50
problem and provide a solution. So at its core, it sounds crazy,
13:54
but but being a, a, an MNA representative for the owners of
13:59
businesses has a lot of similarities to selling direct
14:02
advertising to them. There's a lot of the same
14:05
fundamentals. So for me personally, that was
14:08
the thing I think that translated extremely well.
14:11
And then of course, there's things like, you know, I think
14:13
you have to have empathy. I think you have to have
14:15
appreciation for these business owners understanding that that
14:20
and now being the father of two daughters, I can say this with
14:23
confidence. It's like marrying your your
14:25
daughter away. This is something that you've
14:27
built that is inherently part of you.
14:29
You're emotionally attached to it.
14:32
So it's not a business transaction to you.
14:35
It is on paper, but understanding that that's the
14:38
mentality of of these business owners is, is really critical I
14:42
think as well. So that's all really helpful and
14:45
interesting the the connection between the radio advertising
14:48
what you're doing now. But clearly you're doing
14:51
something at this point, you know, even early in your career
14:55
differently because three separate times with VR business
14:59
Brokers 2007, 13 and 14, you win the agent of the year for
15:06
closing the most deals. Like what is it that is sort of
15:10
in that secret sauce that's allowing you to be the first
15:13
multi year winner in history? Well, I think a lot of it, you
15:18
know, there's, there's a lot of factors.
15:20
One of them is one of great market, North Texas, Dallas,
15:23
Fort Worth Metroplex is is a tremendous market.
15:26
It's a very eclectic economy. So no matter what sector of the
15:30
end of the economy may be struggling, whether it's
15:33
automotive, whether it's energy, whether it's financial real
15:36
estate, whatever it is, the Metroplex kind of has it all.
15:40
SO1 sector may be down, which might destroy another market.
15:44
That's that's so it relies on that more of that industry so
15:50
much, whereas real estate can be down in Dallas, but financial
15:54
services can be soaring or energy can be soaring.
15:56
So a lot of it's market driven. We're in a great market.
16:00
Another thing is is, you know, being with the right people and
16:03
and I was with a great firm at that time.
16:06
But the other thing I think is just kind of some of the things
16:11
we talked about earlier, just having that, that willingness to
16:16
understand what is really motivating A seller to, to do
16:19
what they're doing to even entertain the idea of selling
16:24
and, and really being there for them is not just a, a business
16:28
consultant or advisor, but if somebody that becomes a, a
16:31
trusted member of their team. And, and every successful
16:35
business owner will tell you it took a team to get to where I am
16:38
today. And and so being part of that
16:41
team, whether it's five years from the time they sell or five
16:44
months from the time they sell, and then being part of that,
16:46
that trust, you know that that circle of trust, if you will,
16:50
is, is as important as well. So you're part of this great
16:54
team. You you credit, you know, a
16:57
portion of your success to that, but then at some point you
17:00
decide to leave that to you. Talk me through the moment you
17:04
and your Co founders Tom Bronson and John Corbett decided to
17:08
launch North Star. Well, it's, you know, when I
17:13
first started that the realization hit me in right
17:18
around 2014 that I think I could do this on my own and I think I
17:24
could do it better. Not that it was bad.
17:27
I mean, like, you know, there's a million ways to have a
17:29
successful business. There's a lot of different ways
17:31
to do that, but there's also every individual within those
17:34
organizations has their own personalities and skills and,
17:37
and opinions. And so it was about that time
17:40
that I started thinking, you know, I think I could do this
17:43
differently, I could do it better.
17:47
And, and that seed was planted and I didn't really get to the
17:50
point. I mean, I was in a, in a good
17:52
situation. You know, I had a, a lot of
17:54
autonomy with what I was doing with the, with the firm I was
17:57
with. I had the, the freedom to
17:59
develop a lot of, of systems on my own and, and kind of run my
18:02
own business, which which was, was fantastic.
18:08
Then, you know, you start to get that itch, you get a little
18:10
older, you start to look at, at a certain age in the, in the, in
18:14
the distance and think, is there something more that I want to
18:16
accomplish personally? And there was a, a moment where
18:22
some things happened that I just, I, I came home one day and
18:25
realized and told my wife, that's it, it, it's time to do
18:29
this. You know, I've been thinking
18:30
about it for a while, but but now it's time and, and call it
18:34
divine intervention or, or, you know, God pudding people in the
18:38
right place at the right time. But about 10 days after I had
18:42
that conversation with my wife, I went to a networking event,
18:46
which in itself is interesting because I, I'm, I'm a terrible
18:50
networker. I'll just admit it.
18:52
I don't like doing it. A lot of it feels forced.
18:54
You know, we don't need to get into all that, But I made myself
18:57
go to this event and I don't know anybody there.
19:01
And, and I see Tom across the hall.
19:04
I knew Tom from a couple of different interactions.
19:09
Back in Tom's previous life, he was buying and selling
19:11
businesses like crazy. So as a buyer, he had looked at
19:15
a couple of my deals years and years before that when he was
19:18
still in that that mode of of his professional career.
19:22
So I knew Tom, but then we were actually the members of a, of a
19:26
networking group together where he was on the board a few years
19:31
prior to this meeting. And so I got to know Tom in his
19:35
next stage of his career where he had started a company called
19:38
Mastery Partners, which was a a business consulting firm, ran
19:44
into Tom at this event and of course made a beeline to him
19:48
because he's the only person I knew in the room.
19:50
And and I just didn't want to stand there looking like a moron
19:54
in this room of 300 people. And you know, we exchanged some
19:57
pleasantries real quickly and, and the first thing out of Tom's
20:00
mouth after that was. Have you ever given any thought
20:03
to hanging up your own shingle? And it you talk about just
20:06
getting broadsided? I thought, you know, do you have
20:10
surveillance equipment in my living room?
20:12
How do you even know that this is something that I'm literally
20:15
thinking about 20-3 hours a day? And so I told him, yeah, it's
20:20
something that I'm, I'm playing around with the idea right now.
20:23
And, and that's where it all started.
20:25
And at that time, I was considering other partnerships,
20:29
doing it completely solo. And, and then this opportunity
20:34
came up and my wife was really pushing me to just do it on your
20:40
own. You don't need any help.
20:41
You've been successful at this for almost 20 years.
20:44
You can do this. You know, what does it take?
20:47
And I was a little hesitant because, you know, I'm not a,
20:54
you know, jump first, ask questions later person.
20:57
I'm a little more analytical than that.
20:59
So I like to to at least have an idea of what's going to happen
21:02
before I make a decision or what the possible outcomes are.
21:06
And, and so I told her, you know, I'm really on the fence.
21:10
I don't know what to do. So, you know, as you mentioned
21:13
earlier, we're Aggies, my wife and I both.
21:16
And then so we were driving down the College Station making a
21:18
three hour drive to go to a football game and visit our
21:22
daughter that was down there. And I said, OK, we're going to
21:26
talk pros and cons the whole way down there.
21:29
Three hours. That's all we're going to talk
21:31
about. And we're going to figure this
21:32
thing out. What, what I need to do because
21:35
I can't waffle anymore. I need to make a decision.
21:38
And so we started with where I was pros and cons for three
21:42
hours. And then we ended on the way
21:44
back for three hours with pros and cons of not where I was, but
21:49
doing it on my own. And then on the way back, pros
21:51
and cons of a partnering with, with Tom and John.
21:54
And like I said, she was very vocal about you don't need help.
22:00
By the time we finished that 6 hour round trip trip and she
22:04
looked at me and said, you need to get in the boat with these
22:07
guys as quickly as you can. And that was really the moment
22:10
where we got to sit down and talk about it and talk about all
22:13
the, the, the pros and cons of both options.
22:17
And so what's the? Summary of why it was better for
22:20
you to go with these guys and go it alone.
22:23
I, I think what it boiled down to is I'd never done this
22:27
before. Tom himself bought and sold over
22:32
100 businesses personally in his serial entrepreneur days, Tom
22:37
has built multiple successful businesses using a platform
22:41
acquisition and and bolt on acquisition as well as organic
22:45
growth. So when, when not that I
22:48
couldn't do it on my own, but I've got somebody there as a
22:51
sounding board to say, what would you do?
22:54
What should we do here? How would you know, what's your
22:56
opinion? And I can trust that, that
22:59
experience that was, that was 1 aspect of it that was extremely
23:05
unique and appealing to me. The other one being John, John's
23:09
background being as ACFO and, and really working on the
23:12
financial due diligence aspect from the buy side.
23:17
You know, understand, prior to this partnership, my former
23:21
firm, I did everything from soup to nuts, from the initial
23:26
meeting to doing the valuation to writing all of the literature
23:30
that goes out to, to promote the business, dealing with the
23:33
buyers, negotiating, managing due diligence and closing.
23:36
It was a solo act, which is great because I've done it all.
23:40
So, so I know what it takes, but there's parts of it I was better
23:44
at than other parts and parts of it I simply didn't like.
23:47
And I didn't like as much of the financial aspects of it.
23:51
Well, John brings that to the table and is a wizard at
23:55
valuations, at financial analysis, at due diligence
23:58
management. So as we started to talk about
24:01
all these these pros and cons, those were two of the really,
24:04
really appealing aspects of it was we, we've got somebody
24:08
that's built the business before we got somebody that can take
24:11
the, some of the the less desirable aspects of this
24:15
process off my shoulders as opposed to doing it on my own.
24:19
And then what I bring to the table is I've been in the weeds
24:20
for 20 years almost at that point doing deals.
24:25
And so I understand how to create systems and processes
24:29
that are going to allow us to ultimately grow this this
24:33
business. So those were the really the key
24:35
things that, you know, as we talked about the pros and cons
24:39
that that that really appealed to, I hate to say I convinced my
24:44
wife that I'm not as great as she thought I was, but that's
24:47
kind of what it was is look, look how much better I can be
24:50
with these people. So there's a part in the story
24:54
early on, it was right before you bumped into Tom at this
24:57
networking event that you said something happened personally
25:02
that kind of nudged you in this direction.
25:05
Is that something you're comfortable saying more about?
25:08
You know, I wouldn't say it was that particular.
25:13
It wasn't really a personal issue.
25:15
It was, it was professional. The, the company I was with just
25:20
just started to change. And like I mentioned before, I'd
25:23
operated in this autonomous kind of bubble, doing what I wanted,
25:29
being very successful at it and, and, and kind of building my own
25:34
process and, and, methods and, and business and referral
25:39
network and all those things. And there just came a time where
25:42
that bubble was about to explode and, and I needed to, to move
25:46
on. There were some things happening
25:47
within the bad things. They were just things that
25:50
didn't work for me. And and so that's where that
25:53
motivation happened, where I just, you know, at a point of
25:55
frustration just said, I'm done. It's time to to move on.
26:00
But even before that transition, that change was starting to take
26:04
place at your previous firm. You already and you were happy
26:08
and you know, you enjoyed working there and you were doing
26:10
really well. You already had ideas for I
26:13
think there we can do this better.
26:16
And So what was it when you guys started started North Star, what
26:20
was it that you guys wanted to do better?
26:22
What was your idea on how to improve?
26:26
Well, number one, you know, there's just that I, I call it
26:30
ego where, you know, I, I want to be the buck stops here guy.
26:36
I want to, to, to feel that responsibility and, and have
26:40
those sleepless nights and wonder and you know how this is
26:43
all going to work out. There was there was a, a desire
26:46
to do that. Obviously Tom being a serial
26:48
entrepreneur had that, you know, John had been working with Tom
26:52
for years. And and so from their
26:55
perspective, what made sense at the time was Tom's business that
26:59
he had started Mastery Partners, the consulting firm, their whole
27:04
focus was on getting businesses ready to sell.
27:08
So the reason Tom and John were thinking about we need to, to
27:12
add an M&A on them is because all these clients that they had
27:16
been wildly successful with getting their businesses ready
27:19
to sell and making them more attractive and more valuable,
27:22
all those clients then wanted them to sell them.
27:24
Well, they want to set up for that.
27:26
They tried a couple of times. It wasn't really successful.
27:29
So that's why, you know, we talk about divine intervention.
27:32
And when I ran into Tom, I was 10 days into this brainstorming
27:36
of a plan of how I was going to start my own firm.
27:39
They were a couple of months into making the decision that
27:43
we're adding M&A to our offering.
27:45
And so when we got together, it was it was like, OK, the stars
27:48
of a line, you know, the old idea of luck being where
27:52
preparation meets opportunity, That's exactly what this was,
27:55
call it a chance luck meeting, but if we were both ready.
27:59
But what we identified was there's a segment of the market
28:03
that's underserved and call it that lower middle market.
28:06
And everybody has kind of a different definition of what
28:08
that means. But for us, it was businesses
28:11
that really are too big for your Main Street business broker, but
28:16
businesses that are too small to really attract investment
28:19
bankers and ultimately, you know, large private equity
28:22
capital companies buyers. So there's a lot of really,
28:27
really good businesses that are valued in that call it 5 to $25
28:31
million space that are too big for for one segment of of the
28:38
market and and too small for another segment.
28:41
But they're great companies with great people that have a lot to
28:43
offer. And so we felt like we could
28:46
bring a superior level of service and, and
28:50
professionalism, call it, bring it down to that level, while,
28:56
you know, being able to, to serve a, a, a smaller, call it
29:00
smaller market than than what they're used to getting that
29:04
type of, of, of level of service or attention.
29:08
So it was a very calculated move in who we wanted to focus on.
29:13
But even further than that, it was this, this desire to having
29:18
a sister company and mastery partners that we could really be
29:22
an asset. You don't just need us when
29:25
you're ready to sell you, you need us when it's time to start
29:29
thinking about selling. So I can't tell you how many
29:32
hundreds of times I met with owners over, you know, decades
29:38
that when I did their valuation for them, it was just not enough
29:42
that I can't retire on that. The business is worth more than
29:46
that. And there was really nothing I
29:48
could do except, you know, give them some very generic idea of
29:52
of here's why your business isn't worth what you want.
29:57
That that was difficult to do outside of just saying sell more
30:01
stuff, make more money, that'll make it more valuable.
30:04
There's so much more to it. Now I can meet with a a business
30:08
owner and have that same conversation and say, OK, let me
30:12
introduce you to the guys over at Mastery Partners.
30:15
They can walk you through how to make your business as valuable
30:20
or more than than you need it to be for this exit to make sense.
30:25
That's that was a very unique offering in the marketplace.
30:30
Nobody else has that. There's a lot of companies that
30:33
refer work to each other, which we are.
30:36
I mean, if you work with Mastery, you're under no
30:38
obligation to work with North Star and vice versa.
30:41
But having that, that sister company mentality of, of these
30:46
are people, we're all kind of on the same team and, and we can be
30:49
a resource for you, even if you're 10 years away from
30:52
closing or selling or five years away.
30:54
It doesn't have to be, you know, you don't have to accept less
30:58
than you think you're worth if you're willing to put in the
31:01
time and work with a company like Mastery to to grow it.
31:05
So if I understand this correctly, with North Star and
31:08
with Mastery partners, you guys are funneling clients back and
31:12
forth to each other where it makes sense for the client so
31:16
that, you know, if you get somebody that comes to North
31:18
Star and they want to sell their business and you're like, hey,
31:21
this just isn't, you know, ready.
31:23
This isn't the going to get the valuation that you want.
31:26
You can send them to your friends at Mastery and what is
31:29
it that they do there for folks? You know, how do they get them
31:32
ready to send back to you then? You know, mastery, they do a, a
31:37
deep dive. They dig into I, I think it's a
31:41
300 point questionnaire, if you will.
31:45
They want to understand every single aspect, nook and cranny
31:49
of your business. You know, from revenue
31:51
generation to marketing, to operations, to employee benefit,
31:57
to culture, sales processes, everything.
32:02
And then they go through and, and tell you, here are the
32:06
things where you really have a problem.
32:08
Here are the things that are making your business unsellable
32:11
or less valuable. Or, you know, there's varying
32:14
degrees of things that'll that'll make you unsellable
32:17
versus less valuable. And then they lay out a road map
32:21
and say, you know, here's the low hanging fruit.
32:23
Here's the things you can do very easily.
32:25
Here's the things that are going to take more time.
32:26
And here's the things that are really long term projects.
32:29
But if you're in it for the long haul, then let's do these
32:31
things. And then they, they stay on as a
32:35
consultant for you to, you know, have these monthly touching base
32:40
to say how are things going? And it's really depending on the
32:44
scope of the project. I mean, some clients are with
32:46
them for 12 months. Some clients have been with them
32:48
for eight years. And a lot of times these clients
32:52
that thought they wanted to sell, all of a sudden they get
32:55
in there and fix all these things that mastery shows them
32:58
how to fix. They don't want to sell anymore
33:00
because all of a sudden this is fun and easy.
33:02
Again, you know, I've taken owner dependency out of the
33:06
equation and now I can go on a 30 day trip to Europe and I
33:09
don't have to check in the business runs.
33:11
So there's aspects of that where I, I think you hit the nail on
33:14
the head when you said if it makes sense for the client to
33:17
refer them back and forth. Every mastery client does not
33:22
need North Star and every North Star potential client does not
33:27
need mastery. So we, we look at it when it
33:30
makes sense, but it's, it's great to know that we have that
33:34
trusted resource to be able to, to, to move people back and
33:38
forth if, if it makes sense for them.
33:42
So what are some of the biggest things that you feel are
33:47
important to communicate to sellers?
33:52
Wow, that's a really good question.
33:55
So I'll try to whittle it down to most important.
33:58
There's there's subjective aspects of this process and
34:03
there's objective aspects. There's call it art and science,
34:07
call it data and fact versus opinion.
34:11
You know, it's a true yin and Yang, if you will, scenario.
34:16
So the, the things that are that are really difficult sometimes
34:20
to get across to sellers because they've never done this before.
34:23
Most of them, some have, they're exiting multiple businesses in
34:26
the past, but most of the time this is the one biggest
34:30
transaction they're ever going to make and it's selling
34:32
something that is near and dear to them.
34:34
So I think that, you know, there's, there's one kind of
34:39
call it subjective comment that I always try to get across to,
34:43
to potential clients is you're never going to get the value out
34:49
of this transaction that you think you deserve because you
34:52
can't quantify sweat equity, you can't quantify blood sweat and
34:57
tears. The only person that knows how
35:00
hard it was to do what you've done is you and other business
35:03
owners. But at the end of the day,
35:05
valuation is really going to be driven by data.
35:09
Now there's some intangibles in there and, and we have a, a part
35:12
of our process, we call it the, the sellability scale.
35:15
And we rate 10 aspects of your business that are more
35:19
subjective and, and say, you know, when we give you a value
35:22
for your business, we're saying it fits into this range.
35:25
Well, the, the sellability scale tells us, are you on the high
35:29
end of that range or on the low end of that range?
35:31
What, what makes your business attractive?
35:33
But one of the things you don't, you'll never be able to claw
35:36
back is that that sweat equity. So understand that this is how
35:41
valuation, how business valuation is driven.
35:44
And then here's how we're going to maximize it.
35:46
I mean, that's the next part of that conversation.
35:49
The other aspect that I really try to hammer home, and this is
35:53
very, very specific, but it's a, it's a very objective data point
35:58
is this is what working capital is.
36:01
And This is why it's included in your transaction because I can't
36:05
tell you how many deals get derailed because a seller looks
36:13
at what working capital is as a, as a, as a functional, living,
36:17
breathing thing, as theirs. I, I earned this, this cash is
36:22
in the bank. I earned it.
36:23
This AR is, is out for collection and we've already
36:26
done the work. That's my money.
36:29
And it's a, it's a very delicate conversation to, to try to
36:33
explain in the context of these transactions.
36:37
Yes, working capital is your money, but in, in one sense, but
36:41
in the sense of a transaction, it's actually just another asset
36:44
of your company. Just like you know, you're a
36:47
trucking company, your trucks, a buyer can't continue your
36:51
business without the assets being the trucks.
36:54
They can't continue your business without the asset of,
36:56
of networking capital. So that's that's another
37:01
conversation I try to have 100% of the time because it is if if
37:06
I don't, it's something that will rear its ugly head later.
37:09
And, and I get that, yeah, as somebody who sold their business
37:13
before, you know, I've provided the service or sold the product,
37:17
I've got the cash in the bank or I, you know, I've got the
37:19
accounts receivable. That money's coming to me like
37:23
that. To me, that's already mine.
37:25
Like you want working capital, like bring your own cash to, you
37:30
know? Right.
37:32
Yeah, And that's the one thing we.
37:34
Are clear in saying that that's not how it works.
37:36
Yeah, exactly. And and we hear this one a lot
37:39
is well, I didn't have any working capital when I started
37:42
the business, right. You were starting the business,
37:45
you weren't buying a going concern that you know, and and
37:50
the explanation is always a buyer needs to be conveyed to
37:55
them in the sale what it's going to take to continue operating
37:58
the business in the same historical fashion that it has.
38:02
Because what they're paying you for is what you've done.
38:07
And whether or not they're able to replicate that should not be
38:09
contingent on you providing them adequate support, resources,
38:14
assets, those types of things. So most of the time, you know,
38:18
the sellers come around to the idea and understand it.
38:21
But if you wait, if that's a discussion you have while you're
38:24
negotiating a purchase agreement, that deals dead.
38:28
The the sellers already worked out in their mind what the math
38:31
is going to look like for them, and they've included that cash
38:34
that's in their company bank account as part of that.
38:36
Absolutely. Absolutely.
38:38
Yeah. So tell us about this
38:41
proprietary system you built called the North Star
38:44
Transaction Navigator. Well, this, this business, this
38:51
process, of course, there's two sides to this, this business,
38:56
right? You've got sellers that that is
39:00
primarily what we do is represent sellers, but you have
39:03
to have buyers on the other side as well.
39:05
I mean, you can't have a successful transaction without a
39:07
buyer. The idea behind the the
39:11
Transaction Navigator was this idea that you have to have a
39:16
systematized process in order for us to do what we want to do,
39:20
which is is be successful the vast majority of the time.
39:24
And and by success we define that as not just selling the
39:28
business, but but achieving what our clients goals and objectives
39:32
are. The first step in the
39:33
Transaction Navigator is an exploration meeting.
39:36
And that exploration meeting, we want to understand what are your
39:41
motivations? What are your goals?
39:42
What does your dream exit look like?
39:44
Among other things, obviously about the business.
39:46
But we really want to understand that the person or the people,
39:50
if there's multiple owners and that's something we can always
39:54
kind of harken back on is, is understanding that that process
39:58
of, of what is the reason we're here and why are we doing this?
40:04
And and so the idea of the transaction Navigator is.
40:08
We need to do the same thing every time we talk to a
40:12
potential client. We need to do the same thing
40:14
every time we take a business to market, every time we manage due
40:17
diligence, every time we close. It's the same 10 steps.
40:21
Now, within those steps, every business is inherently unique.
40:27
Buyers are unique, sellers are unique, industries are unique,
40:29
company cultures are unique. Markets are unique.
40:33
You know, economic conditions are unique.
40:36
All those things make the individual steps feel unique,
40:41
but we're still following this process.
40:43
And of course, having a process like that, we're able to explain
40:48
on the front end to our potential clients.
40:51
You'll always know where you are.
40:52
You always know what it's going to take.
40:54
There's, you know, I, I tell people all the time, taking
40:58
someone through this process of selling a business is like
41:00
leading someone blindfolded through a minefield.
41:05
I'm, I'm going to try to warn you about where all the danger
41:09
is and all the bad things that can happen.
41:10
And we're going to avoid those things with, with me leading
41:13
you. And then every now and then
41:15
stepping on one of those minds is going to be unavoidable.
41:18
But at least I'm going to tell you it's coming.
41:19
You're not going to be surprised.
41:21
So this, this process is meant to design that.
41:24
And I had a manager at one time back in the radio days that I
41:28
asked him one time, how do you how do you manage a radio
41:31
station because you have two diametrically opposed forces in
41:36
the content creation, creative folks and the business and sales
41:40
revenue generation side of of the operation.
41:44
They never see eye to eye. They have very different
41:46
motivations. And he said something that stuck
41:49
with me and, and this is kind of the same way we think about
41:51
these individual steps is our job is to create the sidelines.
41:56
And what happens on the field is going to be, you know, we let
42:00
that happen based on the unique aspects of that particular.
42:03
It's like game planning and football.
42:05
You don't want the same plays every game because every game is
42:08
different. Every opponent is unique, but
42:10
it's the same field. It's the same sidelines.
42:12
Once you get outside of those sidelines, we got to ring you
42:14
back in. And that's what the 10 steps are
42:17
in the in the transaction navigator.
42:20
Is this this way that we can stay organized on the on the
42:23
inside with while conveying to our our clients that we've got a
42:29
plan, we know what needs to be done to get here, but also
42:35
within those steps being very customized in what we do?
42:38
Jeremy, who is the ideal client for North Star mergers and
42:42
acquisitions? Well, ideally I'll, I'll start
42:47
broaden and, and narrow it down. And you know, our, our stated
42:50
criteria is, is we will sell businesses valued between
42:54
1,000,000 and 100 million. And that sounds like a, a, a
42:56
vast gap, but there are some things that change when you get
43:01
under $1,000,000. There's things that change when
43:03
you get over 100 million in value.
43:06
We're comfortable in that space in between.
43:09
We're industry agnostic, meaning that we we're pretty much work
43:13
with any business so long as it's profitable and and
43:16
marketable. Now we tend to stay away from
43:20
certain industries just by nature.
43:23
And a lot of those have a lot of cash involved in them just
43:28
because those businesses become extremely hard to sell because
43:31
it's hard to prove the financials.
43:33
So we don't do a lot of like restaurants, bars, those types
43:37
of businesses, car washes, things like that, even when
43:40
they're multi location, really valuable businesses.
43:45
If, if they can't prove their, their financials, then it
43:47
becomes a, a real problem. Not that those aren't sellable,
43:51
it's just not our, our, our target.
43:56
Of course, we're looking for privately held businesses, you
44:00
know, where, where you don't deal in in the public space.
44:03
But when you really narrow it down that I mentioned this
44:08
earlier, that 5 to $25 million enterprise value is really our
44:11
sweet spot because we do things for those size businesses that
44:17
they're not used to having done for them.
44:19
There's a level of service and professionalism and experience
44:24
for those clients that that it's hard for them to find.
44:28
So when we can bring a, a process like transaction
44:31
navigator to them and, and show them how we do what we do and
44:34
the expertise that we have and, and the way John's going to
44:37
manage the due diligence process.
44:39
And, and it's, it's very eye opening for them if they talk to
44:44
anyone else in, in the space geographically, you know, we're
44:51
based in North Texas. We do work around the country,
44:55
but primarily, you know, if you start drawing concentric circles
44:58
out from, from DFW, the majority of what we do is, you know, from
45:03
call it West, TX to the Red River to the East Texas Tyler
45:08
Longview area down to Waco. That's kind of our our general
45:12
core territory, you know, place you can drive to and back from
45:15
in a day without much trouble. Is that because you like to
45:19
visit with them in person? You know me personally, it is.
45:25
And of course, five years ago, everything changed with the way
45:29
people do business. So used to be much more
45:31
important, but now everybody's used to this type of virtual
45:34
interaction. So that's why we're able to do
45:36
deals around the country without, you know, much, much
45:39
problem. But there is a certain level of,
45:42
of being able to sit down because every deals going to
45:45
have problems and there's going to be difficult conversations.
45:48
I'd much rather have those in person if possible.
45:51
So to be able to, to, to get out and see somebody, but also to be
45:54
able to, to, when buyers want to visit a location, I want to be
45:58
there. So being able to, to make those
46:02
trips easily is important. But again, that doesn't stop us
46:06
from, from working with, with businesses outside of that
46:08
radius. It just tends to be.
46:10
And I think there's a certain level of, of as a business
46:13
owner, but it's, it's reciprocal.
46:15
You kind of like the idea of your advisor being able to, to
46:18
be in your office when needed, knowing that, that, that they're
46:23
not too far away. And it doesn't take an act of
46:25
Congress to get a flight to get out there and see them.
46:29
So Jeremy, we talked in the early part of the conversation
46:32
about that rush of closing the first deal, right?
46:35
And that you were sort of hooked at that point.
46:37
But there's another side to this right there, the deals that fall
46:42
apart at some point in the process.
46:44
What does that feel like, and how do you figure out whether
46:48
you're going to fight for that deal or let it go?
46:52
That's a great question. And and this gets back to the
46:54
idea that every deal is very unique.
46:57
But, you know, start with again, there's two sides to the
47:00
transaction. There's the buyer and the
47:02
seller. So where's the problem coming
47:03
from? Is this a a problem on the sell
47:07
side? Is this a something's been
47:09
discovered in due diligence that no one was aware of that is
47:13
giving the buyer pause? OK, well, that's a conversation
47:16
about this is how that changes the deal, this discovery.
47:22
Does it still make sense? And not does it make sense in
47:26
this instance, but does it make sense going forward?
47:28
Because this changes what we know.
47:30
So it's going to be the same for every buyer.
47:33
So that that's one problem that'll come up.
47:36
Other times you have sellers that they just start to have a
47:39
little bit of a change of heart. This gets back to the
47:42
exploration meeting and the very first step of this process, if
47:46
we properly identify a seller's motivation, because before we
47:52
enter in, enter into an engagement with these clients,
47:56
we want to make sure we're on the same page that that we're
47:58
all seeing this through, barring some, you know, drastic
48:01
unforeseen circumstance. We don't want to work with
48:04
someone that is kind of thinking about it.
48:07
We want to work with someone that's committed to doing this.
48:10
So we, we avoid a lot of those problems.
48:12
Now there are things that can happen.
48:14
I've had, you know, sellers, spouses pass away during the due
48:19
diligence process unexpectedly. Of course, that changes
48:22
everything for them personally in their outlook and what they
48:25
want to do. So some of those things are
48:27
just, you know, they're, they're unique and, and drastic.
48:30
But the bigger side, I think is on the buyer's side.
48:33
When you talk about this fight or flight idea of when to fight
48:38
for a deal, we try to make it clear to buyers very early on,
48:43
we're not selling anything. We're not selling you a
48:47
business. Our, our role, the way we look
48:49
at it is we're providing you quality information in a timely
48:54
manner where you can make decisions on whether or not this
48:57
is the right deal for you. The, the last thing I want to do
49:01
is sell someone a business because then you start to have
49:05
buyer's remorse of did I really, you know, you don't have a buyer
49:09
say, did I really make this decision or, or was I convinced
49:13
that this was a good deal for me to do?
49:16
So we, we try to avoid that. But this, this idea from a buy
49:21
side, there's some red flags that will come up where you
49:25
start to see, OK, this, this person is starting to waver for
49:30
one reason or another as they got into this, this process.
49:34
And so that's a conversation with, with the client to say,
49:38
here's what we're seeing historically and in our
49:40
experience, this is what you can expect is, is happening.
49:43
So should we should we move on? Should we try not to force the
49:47
issue a little bit? And we'll have that conversation
49:49
with the buyer as well. So not every transaction or
49:54
every deal is worth saving. Because now having said that, we
49:59
do have a, a call it a motto or a saying in the office that
50:03
every deal dies three times. That doesn't mean we're going to
50:06
have three different buyers. That means every successful
50:09
transaction with the same buyer is going to reach a point, a
50:14
critical point at least three times where you don't know if
50:17
this thing's going to make it or not.
50:19
So we prep our sellers for that, that there's going to be some
50:22
rough patches. We just got to fight through
50:24
them. As long as it still makes sense,
50:27
if this is still the right thing, go back to that
50:29
exploration meeting. Is this still, does this
50:32
transaction still achieve your objectives, your goals, your
50:36
motivations? Is still your dream exit?
50:40
If that's the case, then OK, let's keep moving forward.
50:42
If not, then let's go find, re evaluate or find another buyer
50:46
that that does accomplish that. So it's a, it's an interesting
50:50
and, and very, very personalized, if you will,
50:55
unique decision to make when, when a deal starts to feel like
50:59
it's struggling number one, what's the cause and #2 is it
51:02
worth fighting for? Jeremy, what's the hardest thing
51:06
you've ever had to overcome personally?
51:11
Wow. Well, that's a interesting
51:14
question because I'm sure, you know, everyone has something
51:20
that was the hardest for them. By definition, everybody has
51:23
their hardest thing. And you know what, what
51:27
something that we went through, like my family and I went
51:30
through a couple years ago, was actually a a house fire.
51:36
So we had one daughter on her study abroad.
51:40
We had another daughter at drill team camp and my wife and I were
51:44
sitting there in the living room on a Sunday night and we're
51:47
like, OK, we're getting ready to walk out the door because our
51:50
one daughter's about to fly into DFW and her other daughter's
51:53
camp is at DFW. So we're going to pick up the
51:56
older one. We're going to go drive by and
51:58
say hi to the younger one because she hadn't seen her in a
51:59
month. And it was going to be this
52:01
great Sunday evening until it 631.
52:05
There was this incredible explosion that the TV blew up.
52:11
You know, the fire alarms started going off.
52:13
Of course the power was out and my wife looked at me and said we
52:16
just got struck by lightning and I ran outside.
52:19
She was on the phone with 911. There's smoke and flames coming
52:23
out of the roof already. And what you talk about a, a
52:28
catastrophic moment where everything changed from that
52:31
point. So that the, the other thing
52:36
that makes that very interesting it was that happened exactly 1
52:41
month from the time that we announced the the launch of
52:46
North Star. So now we had obviously been
52:49
working on it for some time before that.
52:51
And so it wasn't like it was only 30 days old, but at the
52:55
official go to market date was 30 days before this, this fire,
53:01
which you know, you're sitting there going, are you kidding me?
53:04
I mean, could anything else be thrown?
53:06
Which of course it can. Don't ever tempt fate by saying,
53:11
but I will tell a funny story though.
53:13
It's funny now. It wasn't funny then earlier
53:15
that day, we were planting, replanting new bushes in the
53:19
front yard that we had lost from this huge ice storm that we had
53:24
had the year before in in North Texas.
53:26
Actually, all of Texas plants didn't make it.
53:29
So I was replacing them and I have this sharpshooter shovel
53:34
and I'm digging the holes and doing all the things and I'm
53:36
planning like 25 bushes and I get down to like the second or
53:40
last or second to last Bush and I, you know, digging a hole and
53:46
the shovel breaks and I'm exhausted.
53:49
I've been out here for hours and I just remember saying out loud
53:52
I could this day get any worse. But let me tell you about 3
53:56
hours later, the answer was unequivocally yes, it can get
54:00
much worse. So I, I'm really conscientious
54:03
about saying those things like that now.
54:06
And I still have that shovel with a, with a little tag under
54:10
it that says there's an expletive that says it, it can
54:13
always get worse as a reminder. But that started this process
54:19
of, of it took us a year to get to rebuild the house.
54:22
I mean, it was a total loss, the house.
54:24
Just wipe the fire. Wiped out the entire place.
54:27
So, yeah, so there's a, there's a insurance definition of total
54:31
loss and there is burn to the slab.
54:34
We were not burned to the slab, but I had a, a buddy of mine
54:38
who's a firefighter, he told me one of the first things they
54:42
learn in, in fireman's school is whoever gets to the attic first
54:46
wins because the, if the fire's in the attic, the volume of
54:49
water coming down is going to total the entire house.
54:53
So, you know, the fire was the, the fire.
54:56
We had five different fire departments on our street
55:01
putting out the fire. The fire departments were
55:03
incredible and incredibly responsive, empathetic.
55:08
I mean, it was, it was a, it was a very emotional experience to
55:12
actually watch people out there literally risking their lives to
55:16
save our crap. I mean, there was nobody in
55:19
there. There were no pets, There were
55:20
no people. So it was, it was, you know, it,
55:24
it was a very interesting emotional dynamic to to see them
55:29
going in and out fighting a fire that that at the end of the day,
55:34
did it really matter, you know, if, if I lost the suit coat or
55:38
not? The photographs, other, you
55:41
know, personal things that you know, were you able to save some
55:45
of those? So yes and no.
55:47
I mean, it's kind of a mixed bag.
55:48
There were parts of the house that, you know, you think about
55:52
the stuff that you got stored in plastic containers in the attic
55:54
where there was some of that stuff was was fine.
55:57
It didn't. If it didn't get burned, the
55:59
water didn't bother. Smoke damage didn't bother.
56:02
And then there's other things that are out because they mean
56:06
something more to you that you like to experience and enjoy
56:09
every day that were destroyed because they weren't protected.
56:13
But you know, for the most part, wait, it's hard to say.
56:19
You didn't really notice until you moved back in how much stuff
56:21
you didn't have, which I, you know, like I mentioned.
56:24
So we're about living in between.
56:26
We had a rent house not too far away and then the insurance
56:29
company was was very helpful, but but we were able to find a a
56:33
rental property that was only about less than 10 minutes away,
56:37
which was helpful. When we started rebuilding, we
56:40
were able to be here on a moment's notice when we needed
56:43
to be. But you know, when you get into
56:45
the actually what made this hard, it was such a emotional
56:50
swing. Our youngest daughter was
56:52
entering her senior year of high school and now living in a rent
56:56
house and and her whole life was upside down.
57:00
I mean, the girls rooms were upstairs.
57:02
So everything was destroyed. The only thing that really made
57:06
it with any consistency was some stuff downstairs that we were
57:08
able to salvage the night of the fire.
57:13
But it, it became a, I mean, their personalities changed, you
57:19
know, there was a lot of things that as parents, we sat there
57:21
and, and struggled with, you know, and, and me personally, a
57:26
lot of, of did I make the right decision?
57:31
I mean, am I doing the right thing?
57:33
Is starting this business smart or did I just set my family up
57:37
for an incredibly difficult time and potential failure?
57:41
And what am I going to do? I mean, I mentioned sleepless
57:44
nights earlier. That was less about the business
57:47
and more about circumstances of life and, and credit my wife and
57:54
and girls, for that matter, my daughters.
57:58
You know, it was, it was easy to look at them on a daily basis
58:01
and, and find that motivation and they plowed through it.
58:06
You know, of course, our dog became an emotional support
58:09
animal for my wife. And, and so I've, she is our
58:12
little puppy dog is near and dear to me now more than she
58:15
ever was. So I had some help.
58:18
But at the end of the day, this, this, it was, you know, and I
58:23
had a friend of mine who said something to me that will stick
58:26
to me till I the day I die, who had gone through some incredible
58:30
personal loss, family members and friends that an inordinate
58:35
amount of those things that happened in her life.
58:39
And I told her and I was in tears talking to her.
58:42
This was the week of the fire. Very, very close friend of mine.
58:45
And I just said the guilt I feel for people feeling bad for me
58:54
because I lost some stuff. And then I'm sitting here,
58:58
you're helping me, you know, you're in my burnt house
59:01
salvage, trying to salvage stuff, digging through mess and
59:04
wet sheetrock and, and you know, insulation and all this stuff.
59:09
After what you've been through, it's and she said, just stop.
59:14
You cannot compare tragedy. You can only deal with what you
59:19
deal with. You know, you're, it's, you're
59:21
blessed that you haven't had to deal with certain things, but
59:25
you can only handle what what, what's put on your plate.
59:27
And that is something that resonated so deeply with me at
59:30
that time and help me get through that.
59:32
Because there was there was a outpouring of support for us by
59:36
friends and family and neighbors and people we didn't even know
59:40
that that were there for us and doing things for us and helping
59:43
where they could. It.
59:45
There was a guilt like I don't deserve this.
59:47
You've been through. We had one lady in our house
59:50
helping rummage through things that started Teemo the next day.
59:53
I'm like, what did we do to deserve any of that?
59:56
And but that comment about you don't compare tragedies.
59:59
You deal with what you deal with.
1:00:01
And and one thing my dad always told me was don't, don't feel
1:00:08
bad asking people for things as long as you know in your heart
1:00:10
you'll be there for them. And that's another thing that
1:00:12
helped me get through that is, is God forbid anybody has to go
1:00:15
through this, but they're going to go through something.
1:00:18
So it's become a. I mean, in reading like my
1:00:21
daughter's college essay that year and about how the fire
1:00:25
affected her, she's not a big talker and hearing those things,
1:00:29
she never told us those things before.
1:00:30
So reading her essay was incredibly emotional.
1:00:33
All four of us really learned what it means to be part of a
1:00:37
community and to be there actually be there for people in
1:00:40
whatever capacity you can and how important that is.
1:00:43
And, and so ultimately get back in the house and, and you know,
1:00:50
I feel a little guilty that I don't think the business is
1:00:52
where it could have been had I not had that.
1:00:54
Well, of course that's a no brainer statement, but but my
1:00:58
partners were incredibly supportive.
1:01:01
So we got through it and, and here we are.
1:01:03
And, and I think the four of us that went through this
1:01:05
experience are just much, much more empathetic, appreciative,
1:01:12
and and really better people. That's great that you guys were
1:01:16
able to take some beneficial advancements to your own
1:01:23
personality traits. And you know, the other thing I
1:01:26
pulled from that story is showing the bright side of
1:01:29
humanity. You know, how many people that
1:01:32
you know, woman going to chemo the next day, folks you didn't
1:01:35
know, you know, showing up to help you guys out.
1:01:37
I think that's wonderful. So what does the future of North
1:01:41
Star look like? What what's coming?
1:01:43
What kind of growth plans, new services?
1:01:46
What's on the the frontier? We're getting back to that idea
1:01:50
of, of why I was excited to partner with these guys.
1:01:55
You know, the one of the first things we did at, at Tom's
1:01:58
direction was we need a 10 year plan, We need a 10 year plan and
1:02:03
we need to break it into a one year plan, a three-year plan and
1:02:05
a five year plan. And you know, we, we follow the
1:02:08
EOS, the the entrepreneur operating system as as closely
1:02:14
as we can. But that's something that that
1:02:17
that we are tied to. So we look at those things from
1:02:20
that, from that scope. You know, our goal when we
1:02:24
started this thing was let's develop and prove the systems
1:02:30
and processes. Let's make sure that that what
1:02:33
is in my mind and our minds collectively, when it's put into
1:02:37
applicable use, it actually works.
1:02:40
And then next step is an aggressive marketing program.
1:02:44
Let's build our lead generation to a volume that we can't handle
1:02:50
anymore. And then Step 3, let's start
1:02:53
growing to handle that from a, from a personnel standpoint.
1:02:58
So where we are now is, is we're in that aggressive marketing
1:03:02
stage. We've proven the systems and
1:03:04
processes, the the clients we work with, of course, sing our
1:03:09
praises, but almost more impressively are the buyers that
1:03:12
we don't represent that give us, you know, unsolicited comments
1:03:19
all the time in front of our clients.
1:03:21
In fact, I had one earlier this week.
1:03:23
I just wanted to let you know Northstar's process is
1:03:27
incredible and you're incredibly well represented.
1:03:31
Those types of things, you know, we knew what we had, we knew we
1:03:34
had some real gold here with our, our, our processes.
1:03:38
So we proved those. And now the next step is OK,
1:03:41
we're going to commit some, some real marketing dollars to lead
1:03:45
generation and let's grow this thing now that we know the
1:03:49
systems work. And so next year, you know that
1:03:53
the goal is that we haven't quite nailed down because it's
1:03:56
going to depend a lot on the right person.
1:03:58
But is it a, is it a second office or is it a adding agents,
1:04:06
advisors to the to the office to the operation we currently have?
1:04:10
So those are the two ways we're going to grow.
1:04:14
We don't know yet, but but that's that's where we're
1:04:16
headed. I mean, ultimately, you know, we
1:04:19
want this to be AI mean, of course we want it to be a
1:04:22
transferable business at some point.
1:04:25
We want to be able to sell it. We want to be able to to live
1:04:29
what we preach and and that's build a business that is
1:04:33
sellable, it's transferable, that's valuable.
1:04:37
Jeremy, I've just got one more question for you today.
1:04:39
But before I ask that, I want to do 3 quick things for the
1:04:41
audience. First of all, to get in touch
1:04:44
with Jeremy and his business, go to the website
1:04:47
northstar-mergers.com. northstar-mergers.com.
1:04:53
And by the time this episode comes out, their brand new
1:04:56
website will be live. And so it's worth going to check
1:05:00
out 'cause Jeremy was telling me off air just how much effort's
1:05:03
gone into it. Northstar-mergers.com And if
1:05:07
you're enjoying the show today, please take a moment to
1:05:09
subscribe wherever you're listening.
1:05:11
It sends a signal that helps others discover our show.
1:05:14
So thanks for taking a quick moment to do that right now.
1:05:17
And as a reminder, you can be the Hero advisor that helps
1:05:20
clients give their employees access to therapists, doctors
1:05:24
and prescription meds while paradoxically increasing net
1:05:28
profits. Real games that can change how a
1:05:31
business is valued. Contact us today at Add back
1:05:33
benefits.com. So last question for you,
1:05:36
Jeremy, and you kind of already hinted at this a bit.
1:05:39
A year from now, what's a specific thing that you hope to
1:05:43
be celebrating? And it can be personal or it can
1:05:46
be professional. I'll, I'll give you 1 of both.
1:05:51
So sorry to talk professionally are my preference is next year
1:05:58
we're celebrating our our second office and, and have someone in
1:06:04
place there that is starting to build their team.
1:06:08
And that would be a tremendous success to, to be able to do
1:06:12
that. Considering all the things that
1:06:14
that I went through personally and my partners have been
1:06:16
through personally that have made it, it seems like we can't
1:06:20
go a month without something happening that we have to deal
1:06:24
with that we can't just focus on the business.
1:06:26
But but that's all right. You know, personally, just my
1:06:32
oldest daughter just graduated from from college from Texas
1:06:35
A&M, another Aggie in the family.
1:06:37
We moved her to Florida to, to start a job and it's a 12 month
1:06:42
training. I would love for her to be back
1:06:45
in Texas. I'll be very selfish.
1:06:48
It's a lot harder to go see her in Jacksonville.
1:06:51
I'd love to have her back in Texas and, and it sounds like
1:06:54
she'll have an opportunity to do that.
1:06:55
So that would be a a real personal celebration for for my
1:07:01
family. Awesome.
1:07:02
Jeremy Ferdick from North Star Mergers and Acquisitions, I want
1:07:06
to be the first to thank you for sharing both your time and your
1:07:08
story with us today. I really appreciate you being
1:07:10
here. Hi, Anthony.
1:07:11
It's been great. I I really appreciate you taking
1:07:14
the time to to talk. Folks, that's a wrap on another
1:07:18
episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
1:07:20
Thanks for learning with us and if one thing stood out, put that
1:07:24
into action today.