Fort Worth Small Business Owners Swim Against the Trend to Sell Out Soon

The Growth Coach of Fort Worth Finds Exit Strategies Being Postponed

Fort Worth, TX – As the economy remains uncertain, baby-boomer small business owners ages 46 to 64 in Fort Worth area are delaying the process of selling their business, despite national statistics showing otherwise.

A recent study by PriceWaterhouseCoopers reported that one out of two small to large businesses will change hands between 2006 and 2016. However, according to a survey conducted by The Growth Coach franchise system in which Tim Fancher, local owner of The Growth Coach participated in, the recession has caused many small business owners in the Fort Worth area, claiming sales revenue under $5 million and less than 100 employees, to push back their selling plans and delay retirement. This is due to the negative impact degraded business performance will have on the near-term selling price of their business.

Based on survey responses, less than 10 percent of baby boomer small business owners in Fort Worth are planning to sell their business in the next five years. That indicates the vast majority of small business owners are planning to delay an exit strategy until beyond 2015.

“We coach dozens of baby boomer small business owners annually in the area, which helps us analyze various small business trends in the market,” said Fancher, owner of The Growth Coach in Fort Worth. “This latest Business Barometer survey indicates that despite what national statistics report, the uncertain economy is forcing small business owners to re-think and delay a potential business sale until bottom-line results improve and are sustained for several years.”

The Growth Coach survey also indicated that of those baby boomer small business owners in Fort Worth thinking about selling their business:

• 25 percent of their business coaches report that the primary reason for wanting to sell their business is to cash out and collect the equity.
• 23 percent simply desire to retire.
• 28 percent agree that small business owners are setting aside at least two years to properly prepare their business for the selling process.
• 28 percent are looking to sell to third-party buyers that are not competitors.
• 14 percent are looking to sell to family members.

The baby boomer generation has been one of the most entrepreneurial generations in U.S. history. During the last 30 years, more than five million businesses with annual revenues ranging from $1 million to $75 million were founded. The majority of these business owners are now 50-years-old or older.

The Growth Coach specializes in providing affordable group coaching workshops to business owners and executives utilizing its proprietary Strategic Mindset® process. In addition, they provide face-to-face coaching, Coaching Club (tele-coaching), as well as coach entire sales teams and management teams to be more effective with a strategic-focusing process. All initial coaching services come with a 100 percent money-back guarantee. The coaching process helps clients gain clarity about where they want to go, develop continuous action plans to get there, and receive on-going accountability to stay on track. For more information, please visit www.TheGrowthCoach.com/tfancher

About The Growth Coach

Founded in 2002, The Growth Coach is the only pure business coaching franchise system with the single purpose of helping drive the success and balance the lives of business owners. Their goal is to help clients gain greater focus and leverage so they can work less, earn more and enjoy more fulfilling lives. Clients include small business owners, franchisees, self-employed professionals, high-end sales and financial services professionals and managers from businesses of all size. Through an expanding national accounts program, The Growth Coach serves franchise systems, dealer networks and associations. With a presence in more than 150 markets across North America, The Growth Coach encourages diversity within its franchise system, as well as the development of small business and franchising worldwide. Currently, The Growth Coach is a member and/or affiliated with the following professional organizations: International Franchise Association, SBA Franchise Registry, VetFran, Minority Fran and is listed in Bond’s Minority Franchise Guide, 2010 AllBusiness.com AllStar Top 300 Franchises, and Entrepreneur’s 2010 Franchise 500®. For more franchise opportunity information, visit www.TheGrowthCoach.com.

Do You Belong to a Social Network?

Are you on Facebook? Do you tweet? What about Blogging? Or do you believe that this entire social media is just a fad that will eventually fade away? No matter what your beliefs, here are some interesting facts concerning Facebook and Social Media in general:

• By 2010 Gen Y will outnumber Baby Boomers….96% of them have joined a social network
• 1 out of 8 couples married in the U.S. last year met via social media
• Years to Reach 50 million Users:
• Radio - 38 Years
• TV - 13 Years
• Internet - 4 Years
• iPod - 3 Years
• Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months
• If Facebook were a country it would be the world’s 4th largest between the United States and Indonesia.

 As you may have heard numerous times, the numbers don’t lie. With statistics’ such as these, it’s hard to believe that Facebook and the social media blitz is just a fad. Many have described it as a “Social Media Revolution”. Describing it more as a fundamental shift in the way people communicate.

 

Whether you are a business owner, a manager for a large corporation, a soccer mom or even a married couple trying to make ends meet, the way you communicate is very important. There is no doubt that our society has lent itself to always being on the go and little time to effectively communicate. Therefore, to become more efficient, the way we communicate must change. This is why social media has become so popular. It’s fast, effective (communicating to hundreds or thousands at a time), it can be done virtually anywhere with the advances in cell phone technology, and best of all, it’s FREE!

It might be as simple as keeping up with old high school friends, communicating with relative’s miles away, advertising specials that your business is offering, connecting and communicating with your church group or even posting pictures of your new grandchild for everyone to see. It doesn’t take long to get up and running with social media and the cost couldn’t be better.

So if you are not part of the Facebook crowd, or you and/or your company is not on LinkedIn, take a few minutes to learn more about what they can offer you. Although I typically work with small business owners to become more strategic, I encourage everyone to explore the fast growing universe of social media.

Another interesting fact: The fastest growing segment on Facebook is 55-65 year-old females.