Word of The Year – 2024

4 Things to Consider   Let’s talk about selling your business.   Cue the theme music to the movie Jaws. I see the terror on your face as you think about a larger predator ripping your business to shreds. I see you imagining your staff scared, legs dangling in the water, unsure about what’s underneath. I see you mentally swimming helplessly out in the open ocean, making life-changing decisions without clarity on what’s to come.   Stop the music. It doesn’t have to be like that.   Now cue the ukelele. Picture a calm sea, a sweet breeze, a sandy beach and your friends and family sipping Mai Tais next to you as they congratulate you on a very challenging but very successful decision that you just made. To stick with the sea theme, you just took your small fishing boat and transformed it into a large fishing operation where everyone benefits.   It doesn’t have to be Jaws. It can be Mai Tais, instead. Selling your business doesn’t have to be wrought with fear and anxiety. It can be an enjoyable process that lands you and your co-workers in a better situation.   And sometimes, it’s just the right decision for your business.   Nick Starr of Starr Group Insurance in Milwaukee, Wis., is a third-generation family business owner. Recently he and his leadership team decided to roll their business into Acrisure, a larger insurance firm.   Starr notes that it was clearly the best decision for their company for several reasons: it provided a succession plan for the second-generation owners, offered a larger breadth of services to their clients, and allowed the Starr Group to continuing operating in the same way with the current leadership in place. He says it was a great opportunity for growth without losing who the Starr Group is.   Every situation is different and so is every business. Whether it is the right decision to sell, or not, you can simply consider selling without feeling like you’re drowning. Ask yourself the following:   Does selling align with the vision that you have for your business and its growth? First you must identify what that vision is. Do you see yourself handing off everything related to the company? Or do you want to maintain the day-to-day operations as they are? Maybe you want partial say in large decisions but no say in day-to-day. Maybe you have a vision for growing much larger or maybe you just want your current employees to continue to do what they are already doing. Identify what is best for you and the company, look around in the market and begin conversations with a variety of larger players. See if your vision is even an option.   Have you communicated well with the other shareholders, owners or leaders in your company? In the words of the IOL team, embrace the awkwardness. This means don’t shy away from hard conversations, especially in the case of fellow family members who are also stakeholders. Nick notes that communicating well about key decisions has been the ticket to Starr Group success. He was willing to sit around the table with those who were a part of the decision and hash out all the good and bad, options, challenges, fears and rewards of selling or not selling.   Will the wins outweigh the losses? There aren’t many cases of only wins and no losses. Something will have to go. It might be something simple like a name change or it might be something big like a leadership transition. Whatever it is, make sure that what you gain is larger than what you lose. Weigh the things that matter to you; decide which are priorities or “big rocks” in the jar. Once that’s clear, you’ll be able to see if what you’re sacrificing aligns with your goals.   Are you keeping intact what’s most important? For the Starr Group, their vision and mission were most important to them. Rolling into Acrisure, allowed them to stay at the helm, ensuring their vision and mission would stay the same. What is most important to you? Staffing? Retirement? Find a partner that understands and offers a partnership that is the best fit for you and your values.   If you are considering selling, beginning to examine options, well into the process, or have a story to tell about your experience, we’d love to speak with you further. Please reach out!   This post is loosely based on IOL Podcast #141: Vision & Culture Attract Talent with Nick Starr from the Starr Group. Give it a listen.   Blog Written By: Ashley Buenger  

Doing business at your own pace   My daughter is going off to college in the Fall and while I’m so proud of her for taking the opportunity to leave home and grow, I’m also sad to say that she’s going all the way to Ohio. It’s a small Christian school that she loves and it’s within driving distance, but it does require driving through Chicago. On a recent trip there, she asked me if there was any way that she could get there without driving through Chicago. We looked at a map and realized there wasn’t.   My wife suggested that I help my daughter with her fear by taking her on a drive through the city while coaching her along the way. I wasn’t thrilled about the idea. This wasn’t baking cookies with my daughter. It was coaching her through the chaos of driving while other drivers went past us at 70 or 80 miles an hour.    I knew that it was going to be hard and scary for the both of us.   We decided to take the drive on a Sunday afternoon. Before we started, I told her, “You control your actions, you control the car, but you have to be aware of your surroundings.”   We saw it all—accidents, highway patrol chases, traffic, and cars swerving to the off-ramps. We also saw drivers who were going 100 miles per hour or even faster.   That’s when I realized this is a lot like business. In business or in life, if the car is going too fast, then slow it down. We are responsible for ourselves, for our car. If you need to pull over and take a break, then do it. Other people around you may go 90 or 100 miles per hour and they will cause panic, but you need to stay calm. Stay in your lane and don’t react out of emotion because that will cause accidents in life.   The thing is that you have to actually be IN the car and driving in order to learn how to drive. You can’t stand on the side of the highway and expect to be a good driver. No. You have to take risks, get in the car and drive through one of the busiest cities in the U.S. Yes, you will make mistakes and yes, sometimes you will feel stressed out, but on the other side of the trip, you will be so proud of the things that you have accomplished.   I’m happy to say that my daughter made it to Indiana without an accident and we stopped for coffee and a breather. After that, we got right back into the car and drove back home because we keep going and we don’t give up.   At IOL, we are leaders who are not always perfect at driving the car, but we do always show up. We get in that seat and give it a go, sometimes we have to turn around or pull over or we decide that our destination is something different than we thought it would be, but we do it with integrity, which is one of our core values.   As leaders, we want to leave a legacy and ask ourselves what kind of impact we are making. By taking my daughter on that Sunday drive, I was showing up for her and being the one to teach her something hard, even though it was a little scary for the both of us. She thanked me after, and I knew that what I had done made an impact on her.   Yes, we are working to make an impact in our businesses but also in our homes. I’m a firm believer in making sure that we are leaving a legacy in both places.   So, what kind of legacy are you leaving? Reach out to me and we can talk about it.   [email protected]