the end game

Tweets on 2010-03-20

Michael Oleksak — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 05:57:00 +0000

Tuesday's Exit Planning Exchange Boston-chapter Summit a big success. 150 advisors to business owners attended. Set the bar high for 2011! #

Exit Planning Exchange Summit – 3/16/10

Michael Oleksak — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:14:36 +0000

Tuesday, March 16: XPX will hold its second annual Summit at Babson College. The day-long program, entitled Engage, Educate and Exit: Delivering Value to the Owner-Managed Business, will kick off with an interactive exercise on exit planning for a business owner that will allow participants to share ideas and work together on an exit planning case.

The lunchtime keynote speaker will be Rob Slee, author of “Private Capital Markets”, “Midas Managers” and “Midas Markets”. Rob is an investment banker from Charlotte, NC.

Kevin Mulvaney, who is a Babson professor and small business advisor, was so popular at last year’s Summit, we’ve invited him back to speak about credit and the current M&A environment. Between keynotes, attendees can choose three of nine breakout sessions around exit planning.

The New Golden Age – by Mark Stahlman

Michael Oleksak — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:12:19 +0000

Normally, we review a recently published book in this space. However, this month, I’d like to share some uplifting news from a piece in Strategy & Business entitled ‘The New Golden Age” by Mark Stahlman, a Wall Street technology strategist. (Excited about reading something upbeat concerning the future?) Strategy & Business article - It’s free to register. If you enjoy this newsletter, you should probably subscribe to Strategy & Business as well – substantial concepts with great research.

Stahlman starts by saying the global economy is about to begin a new phase of robust, dependable growth. He explains that every 60 years we enter a phase like this, driven by technological change and financial activity. This cycle, he asserts, will be driven by silicon – the integrated circuit, the digital computer, global telecommunications and the Internet. The cycle is only half over. One of the notable features of the coming age will be global inclusiveness, giving a billion more people around the world the chance to join the middle class. It’s a four-page article and well worth the effort.

Good reputation and winter coats

Michael Oleksak — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:04:32 +0000

A damaged reputation makes for a good headline, while a story about a hard-working business building its reputation typically does not. So, I thought I’d share a great story with you.

I run with Charles Anton, CEO of Anton’s Cleaners. Anton’s Cleaners is one of the top cleaners in the Northeast and has collected second-hand winter coats for charity in its 44 stores for many years. They clean the coats free of charge and donate them to charities such as The Salvation Army, Goodwill, church groups, homeless shelters and schools. The collection and distribution of these coats, over 600,000 of them, has taught many elementary school and middle school children about the importance of giving, charity and taking care of your fellow man.

As Charles told me, the children learn about giving something tangible and meaningful from an early age. What a wonderful life lesson to learn from a business. Of course, as a side benefit of creating a great reputation, the children’s parents get familiar with the Anton’s business and that connection translates into long-time customers. A perfect example of the value of a great reputation.

The rapid descent of Tiger and Toyota

Michael Oleksak — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:01:44 +0000

Recently, we’ve witnessed remarkable ‘falls from grace’ of two giants who had previously enjoyed superb reputations – Tiger Woods and Toyota. Reputation, roughly defined, is the sum total of all your work – creativity, outreach, public relations, communications, actions, everything. Reputation is why people buy from you in the case of Toyota, and why they buy the products and services you recommend, in Tiger’s case.

In our new book* we refer to reputation as the ‘New Bottom Line’. This doesn’t mean, of course, that reputation has replaced the need for bottom-line profits. Rather, it highlights the all-important fact that yesterday’s profits are in no way a guarantee for tomorrow’s profits. Your ability to earn a profit tomorrow, and through the coming years, is dependent upon your reputation.

As Tiger and Toyota have found out the hard way, reputations are earned over time by hard work and careful planning – but oh, how quickly they can be damaged.

We’ll be making a more formal launch of our book soon, although our publisher Greenwood Press and Amazon are already taking pre-orders!

Tweets on 2010-03-16

Michael Oleksak — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 05:57:00 +0000

Exit Planning Exchange Summit at Babson College (150 attending!) will be in Gordon Trim Hall, not Knight, tomorrow. Great program planned #

Tweets on 2010-03-08

Michael Oleksak — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:57:00 +0000

Bloomberg article on upcoming losses for many banks after FDIC bad loan auctions, incl. small banks w participations http://bit.ly/cwPJJs #

Tweets on 2010-03-05

Michael Oleksak — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 04:57:00 +0000

Great advice and short video on value building for business owners in exit planning. Sharpen the focus. http://bit.ly/cDTI1c #
Our monthly newsletter Trekking was named a 2009 All Star by @constantcontact ! http://bit.ly/9rxRjr #

XPX Summit 2010

Joan — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:25:41 +0000

Tuesday, March 16: XPX will hold its second annual Summit at Babson College. The day-long program, entitled Engage, Educate and Exit: Delivering Value to the Owner-Managed Business, will kick off with an interactive exercise on exit planning for a business owner that will allow participants to share ideas and work together on an exit planning case. The lunchtime keynote speaker will be Rob Slee, author of “Private Capital Markets”, “Midas Managers” and “Midas Markets”. Rob is an investment banker from Charlotte, NC. Kevin Mulvaney, who is a Babson professor and small business advisor, was so popular at last year’s Summit, we’ve invited him back to speak about credit and the current M&A environment. Between keynotes, attendees can choose three of nine breakout sessions around exit planning. Caturano and US Trust are the Platinum sponsors.

For more information and to register for these events, go to the XPX Boston website.

Tweets on 2010-03-05

Michael Oleksak — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 04:57:00 +0000

Over 100 already signed up for Exit Planning Exchange (XPX) Summit on 3/16 at Babson College. Interested? http://www.xpxboston.com #