Building a Business That’s Always Sellable
“Once you taste it, that taste never goes away.”
In this episode, we sit down with Tyler Martin. When he left a cushy job to start his own business, most of his family thought he was crazy. But after building and selling two of his own businesses, the last one for an 8-figure pay check, Tyler has developed a taste for exits.
He started with a small accounting practice, where over the course of five years, he went from sitting in a room, staring at a wall, with zero clients, to five years later, having a vibrant, growing practice that serviced 200 small businesses.
When he sold that and switched gears to engineering firm, Embedded Resource Group, he again scaled that company to 5x its annual revenue before exiting again. Tyler chats through the ins and outs of that deal, as well as provides sage advice for entrepreneurs thinking of, or in the process of exiting.
His golden ticket to success: making sure your business is always sellable.
What you will learn in this episode
In this episode we’ll cover everything from:
- How Tyler made the shift from sitting in a room by himself with zero clients, to five years later, servicing 200 small business clients
- His template for selling an accounting practice
- The core business principals you need to come into any business – no matter the niche
- How to build a business that’s sellable at any point in your entrepreneurial journey
About Our Guest
Tyler Martin
Tyler Martin is the founder of ThinkTyler Business Coaching. Over the last 20 years, Tyler has worked with more than 1,000 businesses — many hitting 6-7 figures.
In addition to being a Certified Business Coach, Tyler is also a CPA who grew his own business from zero to 200 clients (then sold it). He led an engineering services firm from $5 million to $25 million (then sold it).
He is currently a senior executive for a non-profit firm that grew from $25 million to over $80 million (and it’s on track for $100M this year).
Connect with Tyler Martin
Website: https://thinktyler.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thinktyler/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThinkTyler/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/think_tyler/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/think_tyler
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn5tm5AW0f6cPAIEqt_cTow
Show Notes
(4:39) Learn why Tyler quit his cushy job to sit in a white walled office with one desk with absolutely zero clients.
(14:33) His business mantra that helped him grow his engineering firm from $5M to 5x, with 150 staff.
(20:50) How he intentionally built Embedded Resource Group, Inc. as a business that was always in a position to be sold.
(28:22) Tyler talks through the stress of negotiations and how the process of acquisitions reshapes a company and how, you as an exiting owner, can prepare for the ins and outs.
(36:03) Earn-outs are often attached to mythical targets, and Tyler talks through some common frustrations of his business exit and the earn-out VS the cash from the deal.
(38:45) Tyler’s inner beliefs on how to negotiate a great deal.
(43:00) One top tip to take away: People drive value! If you focus on your staff – from training to culture to treating people well, to developing the leadership team – you’ll find it a lot easier to remove yourself from the business and start taking on a more strategic role. That’s how you’ll build to sell from day 1.
