Well, the cats out of the bag I did sell my small heating and air business that I had worked hard to build for the last 11 years and it's bettersweet to be honest with you. But I wanted to do this video talking about why I sold the business but also give you some tips if you're own some sort of business and if I could help in any way I want to give you a few tips that I learned the hard way I think that might help you So first of all, why did I sell my business I tell you I sold my business recently. we closed during this recording maybe just a few days ago, but obviously there's more to it than that. So it's been kind of coming for the last couple months for me.

it was not an easy decision. this was not. Oh, I've got a buyer and I'm ready to just sell my business and be done with this. It wasn't a an easy decision I had to consider a lot of things I had to consider things personally I had to consider things professionally and what made the most sense now I do feel very blessed in this I feel blessed that I was able to even have that opportunity and have other opportunities to be able to make that leap.

But if I could back up a little bit on why I sold the company I Got to a point with my business where every year it was growing right and my biggest challenge I live in a small area and the area I live in is is somewhat unique. So a lot of folks that live here or own houses here are folks that have either retired to this area. they like being near the water I live near the coast of Virginia or there's someone that owns a second home here. So a lot of these folks are, you know, a little more well off than your average Joe at least compared to where I grew up.

We did not do a lot of financing at my company, so a lot of folks were a little well off. But because they're a little more well Todo They expect some good service they expect when you come to their home that you're going to take care of them. you're going to take care of their home and so on. And so my biggest challenge in this business became finding good help.

not just finding folks that wanted to work and do the work and learn the trade and all of that, but also finding folks that prescribed to that system of taking care of customers, good hospitality, and doing a good job. All in all, it just became a big challenge for me. I Did find some good folks, but it took me a long time to find those folks. I Hired 60 people to find one good one I Was just constantly dealing with folks that just didn't want to do that type of work.

I Guess finding folks that wanted to do a good job wanted to take care of the customers wanted to work for someone younger than them. That was a challenge that I dealt with from time to time. or if they weren't older than me, if they were younger than me, then they felt sometimes somewhat entitled. just the way things are.

you know, just good help became really hard to find. So after doing that for a while, one of my challenges that I learned was that training folks in fact the company that I sold to I think they have a good program. They have a good system in place for training their employees. I Think that's where companies that do well.

that's where they shine. But for me I now do this YouTube Channel I also have some other Ventures that I do and it just became much more of a challenge to be involved in everything from A to Z Everything from being there for the customers and doing a good job and going to job sites if there was a head scratcher but also in addition to that now training these employees that in some cases didn't want to be trained. you know they didn't want to go to sit in a classroom and learn from me or learn from others. I had signed up for this program to help train my employees and only one of them.

best as I could tell, really only one was taking any of those classes. To summarize, it's just finding good help. It just became a big big challenge now I was working through that challenge I had found a couple good ones I had a couple guys that almost became family and we had gotten up to 11 employees and although some of those folks were really good, it just still became our biggest challenge. It became even the guys that worked with me that were great folks.

Finding some Junior techs to work with those or apprentices or helpers whatever you want to call them, but just finding folks that wanted to show up on time and do a good job and have a good attitude just became such a chore. So honestly, that started to wear on me after a while. but because I had other Ventures and other opportunities I felt torn I felt honestly somewhat held back at times because I was having to get in there and deal with the dayto day of some of this stuff stuff that to be honest with you was not very profitable. at times it wasn't like I was dealing with of Hooa and I was receiving a bunch of compensation for that.

and so when I was doing these other Ventures that were doing really well I felt torn I was burning the candles at both ends at times there was multiple times when I considered selling the company or doing something different and so on. So fast forward to about a month ago, month or two ago I was presented an opportunity. a job opportunity where I would get to train other folks. So I'll become a trainer in working for this company, helping contractors and helping train these newer technicians and so on.

which is kind of ironic if since that was my biggest challenge but it was just a great opportunity. It was kind of a no-brainer I don't have to have the stress and the some of the things I was dealing with as a business owner I got to get rid of the negative but still have the positive if that makes sense. So when I was presented this opportunity I had a big decision to make. Not only am I now going to decide whether or not I'm going to sell my company, but now who am I going to sell to and that was a big decision for me.

I had multiple companies that had presented an offer or at least wanted to. Some of those companies were large, some of those were I don't want say small but smaller than those large companies. some of the companies were not local, they were far away, and they were interested in just acquiring businesses in general and ultimately because of all of that, I finally decided on a company that was actually a competitor of mine for years. they were a a company that I would sometimes go to job sites and I I would be bidding against them.

But Ultimately, I chose them because of a few things. Number one: I wanted a company that was local that would take care of our customers I didn't want any customers I I live in a small town I Didn't want to bump into any of them in the grocery store and they say there's the guy that skipped out on me. He he sold me a system and he skipped out. It was important for me to have someone that would take care of those customers, take care of their warranties and just continue to provide good service to those folks.

So that was the biggest thing I would say it wasn't money was it was who was going to take care of our customers. and then honestly, those couple good guys that I did find I wanted to choose a company that would take care of them if they chose that. and so when it came down to it I think that I probably could have gotten more money elsewhere. In fact, I know I could have.

but it wasn't about the money, it was about finding someone that would take care of our customers, take care of our employees, and just continue almost that tradition that we had created at our company to take care of folks. So now that I've kind of covered why I sold the company I Want to give a few tips out there for anyone that maybe you might be selling a business someday soon or you may not have ever even considered it. But some of these tips might help you in the long run because I can tell you there were times in my life I Thought I would never sell right I Thought this company that I've built is what I'm going to do I'm never going to retire I'm going to just continue to do this as time goes on and as I get older I'll find folks that can do things that I can't physically and we'll just continue to do this thing it for years to come. So depending on your situation I do think that some of these tips might help you.

so I've got six tips for you I'm going to run through them quickly. number one operate like you might sell someday and so that is all-encompassing I Think that that goes from the folks you hire, the systems you have in place that goes to The Branding that you have in place. If I would have known that I was going to sell I probably would have done my branding a little different with the company my particular company it was my name on the side of our truck and so I might have done things a little different there, but ultimately I would just say just operate like you could sell someday and whether you sell to a company that is going to continue to do things the way you have always done them, or they're going to come in and do things differently, However, that works. I Just think that you need to keep that in mind.

you need to have systems in place in case they are the type of company they're not going to acquire you like the company that I sold to did. They're going to continue to let you operate separ and independently because you've already got everything figured out. So keep those sorts of things in mind. Number two, take care of your customers.

I Remember hearing how some companies do things years ago, they would almost kind of burn. Bridges At times they would do work for customers and just make the money they could and get out of there and that was never our style. We were always the company that folks would call if they wanted it done right. Maybe not the cheapest, but maybe not the fastest either, right? We were not going to cut Corners just to slap heating and air systems in.

We would always say they either want it right or they want someone else. I think just taking care of customers for long term is something that feel like a lot of guys are like yeah, we do everything right when the next guy doesn't I Would challenge you that if you own some sort of business heating, an air business, or some other type, look in the mirror a little bit and think, well, you know, maybe I don't do everything perfectly. how can I get better at certain things? Part of this is having something to sell if you've got a customer list and folks that love your employees and things that you've done. I feel like some of our customers at my company.

they felt like family I Remember one lady passing away and I balled I cried my employees would tell you I just I'm getting a little choked up, a little emotional right now thinking about it, but when she passed away I bald in the middle of a staff meeting? some folks just they become more than just customers. just have that have folks that you have something to sell folks that are going to do business with you because of the way you do business. Number three would be keep things separate with me personally because I had other Ventures because I I own multiple llc's and I do a few other things I'm not a big deal I'm not some big conglomerate or whatever. but I'm just the kind of guy that I'm the idea guy I'm always like oh, wouldn't it be cool to sell shrimp tacos in a food truck? That's just the way I was build I guess and I would just challenge you if you are the sort of person to do anything business-wise whether it's multiple businesses or just you personally and your business, just keep everything separate.

You need to have separate bank accounts, separate branding separate everything. So that way if you do ever do sell, the boundaries are very obvious that this is what I'm selling. and for me honestly that I learned that the hard way, a lot of my lines were blurred. We had to figure that out I had to put certain things when I sold my company in writing saying this is not part of the sale including this YouTube channel and things like that.

Number four would be find a good lawyer I'll be honest with you, that was huge for me me because the lawyer thought of things that I feel like I'm a pretty smart cookie compared to your average Joe right? You know I feel like most people thinks they're smart and that's how I'm no different I think I'm pretty smart and I thought of things and I think even some of the things I thought of even the lawyer was I don't want to say he was impressed but he was like oh yeah, we definitely need to put that in there too. But the lawyer thought of things because this is not his first rodeo. He thought of things that needed to be in our contract and so on. I would never even would have thought of finding a good lawyer I would challenge you to find somebody that has done it before has a track record of doing that sort of thing.

Number five I would just realize there's going to be some negotiating and it's okay for me. When it first started happening and there were some back and forth, I was scared like I was like I'm going to piss off the person that's interested in buying my business I've never been the type to go look at a car and then try to talk them down, talk their price down I've just never been fun negotiating over things like that and so just realize there is going to be some negotiating. realize that it's okay to say hey, these things I'm willing to negotiate. there are things that I'm not.

There are lines here and I'm going to set boundaries and just realize that there's going to be some back and forth and there's going to be some counter offers and things like that. I can't say how all states do it or how all sales are done I Know there's times that there's going to be a broker involved and so on with us. There was actually a letter of intent and my lawyer wanted to get all the big things negotiated before we got to any sort of contra conts or asset agreements. I Thought that was good, but I know that there are other ways of doing that.

But after that letter of intent was done, then there was the asset agreement and figuring all the Kinks out and so on. So finally, my last tip would be understand that it's not yours anymore. If you do sell that company and you go to clothes for me, that's been a little tough. It's not mine anymore.

they're not my customers, it's not my company. It's funny the first day that the new company was in there working on my website and kind of getting in there and doing some things I could see them like I I have the way my our program works I can see when other people are in there and doing things. When they first came in and started doing things I was like whoa. Feels like I've let the fox in the hen house right? Just understand it's not yours anymore.

understand that that is part of this too. And and and when you're going through this process and negotiating and and all of that, just keep that in mind too. there will come a point that it's not going to be yours and you need to get those things that you want negotiated and figured out ahead of time. Luckily, so far everything has been great I Feel like I've met some of the employees from the new company.

they've been great I'm excited about again the new job. in fact the the new job that I'll be taking I'll be interacting and doing some trainings with the company that bought my company. so all that's kind of cool. but I will say I have heard horror stories from people that have either sold their company or tried to sell their company from companies or individuals that kind of did them wrong and so I would just be very careful.

Make sure your lawyer is involved in a lot of your decisions, making sure sure that you're not getting ahead of yourself, making sure that there's something bonding in place I Remember one of my mentors said to me don't give them the customer list until checks in hand I don't know that I quite did it that way, but just understanding that as you're doing this, that there are folks out there that again I This has not been my experience, but I have heard horror stories where folks will get your customer list and then not go to close things like that. Make sure there's an NDA in place before you even talk to them. How about that? having a non-disclosure agreement of some hype in place before you start having some of those tough conversations? So I think there is a right and wrong way of doing things, but there are some not so good folks out there and that's kind of scary too. So aside from the lawyer, if you have someone you could talk to that's done it before.

a mentor if you will, maybe that might be good to have. So anyway, that's my tips. Have I missed anything. Have you ever sold a business or thought of selling a business and maybe you have a tip that might help folks? please comment down below.

If you like this video I Think you'll like this one even more. It's where I go over five tips for folks in the heating and air industry to make more money. Thanks for watching Hit that subscribe button. We'll see you next time.