Greg Williams at APEX Business Advisors

04/28/2022

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ACA Club Coffee - Overland Park sponsored by Greg Williams
Please come!!!!
I will be sharing about buying or selling your business.
When 04/29/2022 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Location
ACA Business Club, 6840 West 105th St., OP, KS 66212
You are invited to attend our ACA Club Coffee at the ACA Business Club in Overland Park. Join us on Friday's from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. which brings together members and guests throughout the Business Club for the purpose of building solid, long-lasting relationships - over a great cup of coffee!
The Club Coffee is hosted by the ACA Business Club Ambassadors who represent the leading connectors within the Club, and the community. This is the place to be if you are interested in building your sphere of influence. Guests are welcome. See you at the club!

10/10/2021

Scale Beyond 7-Figures

05/18/2020

I would like to recommend a powerful book. May is Mental Health Awareness Month.
Shawna has poured her life and heart into this book to help others heal by telling her story. I have read her book and it greatly impacted my life. I think that any person who has suffered any significant loss should read it. Her book is not just for families who have had a loved one take their own life. It is for you if you have had any loss of a family member. It is for you is you have gone through a divorce. It talks you through the trauma and gives you steps to walk in healing called “what helped”. I recommend that every counselor or caregiver should have this in your heart and library.
Here is the link to order it on Amazon.
If you click on the main picture there is a sample of a couple of chapters
https://www.amazon.com/…/dp/1947279882/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0…

Please read what Charity has to say as well.
Shawna is self-publishing her book and could use your help financially.

Today, I am honored and thrilled to share with you that Shawna Mertel's book "Shattered by Su***de" is released.

I've had the privilege of working with Shawna from the writing phase all the way through to now and am so proud of her for doing the very hard work of putting this book together to help others out there who have lost a loved one.

I highly recommend this to anyone who has lost a family member or friend to su***de, as well as to care teams, pastors, and co-workers who interact with surviving family members.

About the book:

Are you wondering if the pieces of your life can ever be put back together after everything you once had, dreamed or hoped for has been shattered?

Are you overwhelmed trying to help a child or a loved one process what’s happened and heal?

As you read Shattered by Su***de, Shawna Mertel’s encouraging story of the first year after her loss, you will begin to see hope return to your life as well. She openly shares what she did right, things she would have done differently, as well as practical and powerful “What Helped” sections for specific situations and circumstances.

• Get clear guidance and tools to navigate the healing process
• Learn how best to make urgent and necessary decisions after the death of a loved one
• Discover how to help surviving children get age-appropriate support as they heal and how those needs change as they reach new milestones
• See how to allow joy, peace, and love to re-enter your new normal
• Gain the courage to take the next steps to live your best life

About Shawna:

Shawna Mertel is a mother, author, speaker and coach who helps women heal from abuse and/or eating disorders. In 2014, her world was shattered when her husband unexpectedly took his own life. Shawna quickly discovered there were few resources that could help anyone navigate life as a survivor of a loved one’s su***de. She openly shares her journey, guidelines and boundaries, as well as transformative healing strategies to help others walk through the difficult process of life in the aftermath.

01/30/2020

President Trump signed a new trade deal with Mexico and Canada on Wednesday. The new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) replaces the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

06/16/2017

Offer to Purchase: An Apex Signature Service That Saves Time and Money

June 13, 2017/in General /by Apex Business Advisors
We’ve written about Letters of Intent here on the blog before in an effort to make sure our readers are well educated about the hows and whys of business sales, but truth be told, 90% of our deals here at Apex start with our proprietary Offer to Purchase (OTP).

What is it?
This is a proven, easy to complete, easy to understand document that standardizes and simplifies the buying process by taking 17 years of experience in buying and selling businesses and distilling it into a form that can be adapted to nearly any type of business (as we have language compiled from all the deals we’ve ever been part of).

time and moneyAdvantages
The major elements of an offer are covered and we can very easily amend the offer with additional details as needed. Having a form like this ready to go ensures that both parties know there is actually a deal on the table before spending more time and expense on it.

A big advantage is cost savings. Instead of having to contract with a lawyer to draw up an LOI, and the revisions that follow, you can sit down with one of our advisors and put together all the necessary provisions in a much shorter time frame. There’s no charge for this service.

Our OTP also has sections that take into consideration financing, as well as a good-faith deposit against the sale of the business, usually at least $5000.

Finally, whether you’re a buyer or a seller, you know that speed will be a component of the transactions we engage in, as we are working with a streamlined s better as we do more deals.

Final Thoughts
Three things to keep in mind…

First, the real work really begins after the OTP is signed. That’s when all the due diligence and paperwork flies back and forth (literally and digitally).

Secondly, having our OTP doesn’t eliminate the need for lawyers, it just reduces the amount of time they’re needed for this part of the process.

Finally, we almost always see LOIs on larger and more complicated transactions: our OTP doesn’t cover every situation and business, but it does cover the vast majority of them, and in those exceptional cases we can just as easily work with an LOI as our own OTP.

Want to experience our signature OTP service? Give us a call at 913-383-2671 or send us an email today!

06/08/2017

Book Club #5: How to Win at the Sport of Business, by Mark Cuban

May 23, 2017/in Book Club /by Apex Business Advisors
Mark CubanMark Cuban is a man who needs no introduction. He’s best known today as one of the sharks in the ABC Emmy-award-winning series, Shark Tank, but most people don’t know that in 2011 he managed to pen a thin book called How to Win at the Sport of Business: If I Can do It, You Can do It.

At 73 pages, it’s not a hefty read and is worth your time. But we’ll give you a couple nuggets of wisdom he shares in order to nudge you towards picking up a copy.

Getting Paid to Learn
“In every job, I would justify it in my mind, whether I loved it or hated it, that I was getting paid to learn and every experience would be of value when I figured out what I wanted to be when I grew up.”

This is an attitude that everyone in our society could really use more of. Instead of disdaining jobs and possibilities as “beneath them,” people could enjoy the journey more, realizing that they were being paid to learn.

What is he always asking himself?
“Always ask yourself how someone could preempt your products or service. How can they put you out of business? Is it price? Is it service? Is it ease of use?”

While it’s astonishing to see someone who wears t-shirts with 3 commas on them (to signify he’s a billionaire) be so dogged about continuing to grow, these points are all valid. They belie a fundamental paranoia that Cuban tries to preach often on Shark Tank: imagine someone is coming for everything you have.

Why he might not invest in you…
“The reality is that most businesses, they don’t need more cash, they need more brains.”

Mark always talks about how much he loves “grinders.” This is because he believes that it’s okay to grow slowly. He feels that cash can “make you stupid” at times and it’s the thinking you do when you’re the leanest that can often be the most creative.

There are plenty of great stories and other memorable lessons in the book. You can find a copy of it here.

Apex is actively looking for Advisors to join our team. If you or someone you know would like to learn more, contact Doug Hubler at [email protected] or 913-433-2303.

05/19/2017

What is a Letter of Intent? Part 2 of 3: Structure

May 9, 2017/in Letter of Intent /by Apex Business Advisors
LOI listIn the first part of this series, we focused on the purpose of a LOI (Letter of Intent). In this article, we’re going to outline a basic structure of one.

Long form or Short form?
A LOI can be short or long form, and there are advantages (and disadvantages) to both. A short-form letter will usually focus on price, a few key terms, the length of escrow, and an exclusivity period.

It will be easy to negotiate precisely because it’s short. The obvious downside is that it leaves some important issues to be resolved down the road.

On the other end is a long form LOI, which will often contain some “legalese.” These make sense in complex deals because issues that can be deal breakers are identified ahead of time, before diligence and other time-intensive activities.

The major disadvantage is that in identifying some of these key issues so early on, both parties can get bogged down in deal points before the process has even begun, and so momentum is slowed, or in some cases, stopped entirely.

What an LOI must have:
Price and consideration. Will the purchase be all cash, or will it be in stock? Will there be an earnout? A promissory note? A hybrid which includes all of the above or something entirely novel?
Structure. Is this an asset purchase, or purchase of shares? Will this be a merger? This is very important for tax purposes.
Timeline. When is this deal expected to close?
Exclusivity. This means that buyer has a certain period during which no other potential buyers can be going through this process. This might also include a stipulation for how/when a seller can terminate exclusivity.
Access. The buyer is going to want access to employees, books, and records for due diligence purposes. If the sale is being kept from your staff, you will need to structure a way for the buyer to gain the information he/she needs regarding your employees, as well as an explanation to the buyer of the reason for the secrecy.
Prohibitions. Anything that the seller may not do between the time the LOI is signed and closing, which could include selling real estate, fixtures, or firing key personnel.
Encumberments. Are there any third parties to be considered? This could be leases, copier rentals, or key vendors that are part of the critical path of your business.
Conditions for closing, as well as stipulations for how the acquisition agreement/process can be terminated.
How disputes will be handled and in what jurisdiction.
Deposit, if any. If this is part of the LOI, it should stipulate that such a deposit be paid into an escrow account, typically a third party. It simply will make things easier if things don’t conclude in a sale.
This list is not meant to be comprehensive, and some LOIs may exclude some of these or add others. What’s key is for you to see what we stated in our first article in this series. The LOI is an outline of where the deal is going to go. It’s a roadmap and there’s every reason for the buyer and seller to take their time to agree on what this map looks like so that both parties can reach their desired destinations: sale and liquidity event.

In the final part of this mini-series, our brokers will share some stories “from the trenches” regarding LOIs in deals they’ve done.

05/10/2017

Book Club #4: Small Giants, by Bo Burlingham

April 26, 2017/in Book Club /by Apex Business Advisors
We review books you should read in preparation to buy or sell a business, as well as how to build a company to sell one day. You can see other books we’ve reviewed in our archive.

Small GiantsWhat’s the premise?
Bo Burlingham, who is one of the editors-at-large for Inc. Magazine, wrote a book in 2006 about 14 different companies that chose to be “great instead of big.” He called such companies “Small Giants.”

What are characteristics of these companies?
Well, the book itself is not long at just over 200 pages, but the characteristics of these firms all revolve around intentionality. For example, Small Giants tend to have leaders who have a burning passion for their industry and/or business in general. They also have close, personal ties to suppliers and customers.

Small Giants tend to be deeply rooted in the community in which they do business and have cultures that look at the totality of employees’ lives. One of the companies featured in the book was Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group, based in New York City.

One of the ways Meyer has recently innovated in the employee space was by pioneering “Hospitality Included” pricing (i.e. no tipping at his restaurants). Because the laws governing tipping mandated what he could pay the back-of-the-house staff, Meyer simply changed the rules. By changing the way his restaurants operated, not only did the back-of-the-house staff see a significant increase in pay, but the front-of-the-house staff didn’t feel obliged to take the weekend shifts anymore, as their pay was now salaried rather than tip-based. Some parents went to a softball game of their children for the first time ever.

Why should you care?
A lot of people have called this book the Good to Great of the small business world, and that makes a lot of sense. Sometimes small business owners are busy putting one foot in front of the other and don’t really identify with the stories told in Fast Company and Forbes. A book like this tells the stories of smaller firms that are carving out their own identity and can provide inspiration and a template to be great instead of big.

You can find a copy of Small Giants here and Bo Burlingham on Twitter here.

If you want to hear more about Danny Meyer and “H.I.” pricing, take a listen here.

Apex is actively looking for Advisors to join our team. If you or someone you know would like to learn more, contact Doug Hubler at [email protected] or 913-433-2303.

05/03/2017

What is a Letter of Intent? Part 1 of 3: Purpose
Posted May 02, 2017 04:17 pm by Apex Business Advisors | Category: Letter of Intent
Letter of IntentYou will often hear us state in our blog articles Stephen Covey’s well-known maxim: “Begin with the end in mind.” This very much applies to a Letter of Intent, and it’s one of the most important parts of a business sale.

It’s so important, in fact, that we’re doing a three-part series on it. This article is going to focus on the purpose of the Letter of Intent, often referred to as the LOI.

What is it?
A LOI is essentially a “term sheet.” It details a purchase price and any other terms or conditions that a buyer may stipulate in the purchase of your business.

Now, “Letter of Intent” does sound fancy, but there’s usually limited “legalese” in a LOI, and generally, it’s nonbinding. This means that both the buyer and the seller retain the ability to walk from any deal should terms for a final closing not be agreed to.

Put another way, the LOI is a blueprint for the sale, so while it’s nonbinding, it’s a serious document. Whatever appears in a LOI is generally considered to be a “good faith” negotiating point and if, as a seller, you don’t accept everything in the letter, you should definitely have it amended before signing it.

What’s the purpose of the LOI?
The LOI serves a purpose for both the buyer and the seller. For the buyer, it provides exclusivity during a certain time period. For the seller, the LOI is a serious and demonstrated interest in a purchase, and there is often a deposit that’s put down to accompany the LOI. For both parties, it’s a prologue to a hopeful conclusion and gives the basic outline for the mountain of due diligence that awaits both of them.

Is there any reason you wouldn’t sign an LOI?
Simply put? Yes, for the same reason you wouldn’t sell (remember, begin with the end in mind), namely, price and terms.

If you sign a LOI too early, before the buyer is better informed about your business, you may get a lower price and weaker terms. They are building in risk into their offer. Don’t be afraid to push back on a LOI, or counter with more information (like a certified valuation) which de-risks the business for them and indicates why you think the price and terms are too low.

You may also receive an “indication of interest” prior to s LOI with a valuation range. In fact, if the buyer is aggressive and insistent on an early LOI, take a step back and be cautious. Is this someone you will want to work with?

In the next part of this mini-series, we will examine the structure of a LOI.

Apex is actively looking for Advisors to join our team. If you or someone you know would like to learn more, contact Doug Hubler at [email protected] or 913-433-2303


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04/27/2017

Validating a bold technology plan by a variety of public and private organizations, the KC Smart City initiative won an Edison Award for innovation.

04/27/2017

Are you guilty of EBITDA adjustments from Crazytown?