What nobody tells you about life after selling your business

Thank you for having me.

I so I w I great question. I think I think it's it it was kind of processing over time. I think being a business owner, there's a lot of weight that is carried that the brain never shuts off. And I would say I'm a very happy person, but having the business for ten years, the the longer it went, I felt I wasn't smiling as much. Because of the weight and stress carried on my shoulders. And so, you know, it was with my heart and my family communicating. You know, it was a big moment after kind of going through the process of selling. You know, I told my family and my daughter who's fourteen years old, she was just like, I'm happy for you, Dad. Like she saw the weight that I had carried and and the amount of stress that was constantly on me.

Are you talking about during the sale or after the sale?

Yeah, it's it's all the due diligence, right? I think, you know, it's just like I would say, you know, many people have probably sold their house or whatever. And so it's kind of you know, it was probably a a too The three-month due diligence kind of going through the process. And where I compare it to selling a house, it's just like it's you know, you have your LOI or you have your agreement going back and forth, but until it actually goes through, you're you're kind of like waiting, right? Is like, is this actually gonna happen or is it not? And you're mentally the hardest part was going through it and having the document signed. was mentally i like i'll be honest like halfway mentally i was kind of like okay this is done and kind of wanting to check out but then the other side was the mental i gotta stay on and continue to make sure the team is handling what they need to handle and it was emotional moment me letting the team know right and i didn't let the team know until right right when it closed because I wanted to make sure it happened without you know saying this is gonna happen it didn't happen. So that you know having a great team but it was hard to tell them that and you know but you know some of the people that were with me for a long time, same thing. They're kind of like I'm happy for you, right? I mean they saw my

stress or demeanor change a little bit over time.

Yeah, so currently, you know, we're doing a few different things and I'm I'm I'm planning on not hiring employees. I'm planning on just helping clients. And so, you know, what we're I'm currently doing is kind of helping tax plays for someone making a million dollars or more. There's some some exciting tax strategies that can offer to the clients and doing their tax planning to make sure they're I always say having your Head in the sand is is not the right approach to taxes. And so I'm kind of having a smaller niche of clients to kind of help them and have more of a relationship and not just that. And then I still do fractional CFO work. So, you know, clients, the businesses that are making $5 million to $25 million, they usually don't need a full-time CFO, but they need someone to implement how their business is running. And what changes can they make to make it more financially solvent? And you know, the biggest goal is looking front of the boat, not back of the boat. You know, a lot of accounting is okay, here's your numbers a month later, but you're not having the what's going on in front? Where are we going for the rest of the year, right? Like currently with our CFO clients, we're working on budgets right now to kind of get it dialed in. And and I always say it's my job to make them eat their vegetables. So, you know, having the hard discussions of where the business is going, where are we overspending, how are we adjusting top line revenue to make more profits for bottom line, all of that.

Yeah, and and I I would say I mean, so you had a few questions there. So I would say like the first question is, you know, sit on the beach. I think there is a thought process of that is happiness, is we can just vacation, right? And I love vacation, but there is what you're lacking is a target. A motivational target, purpose, right? Sitting on a beach has no purpose. You know, I I I'm a big reader, and so I'm reading actually. I'm part of Front Row Dads, which is like family men with business, not businessmen with family. And one of the guys in the group, Ryan LeBec, he has a book called Return to Real. And so it's kind of talking about how the digital era is not good for us. And so we should have more relationships, more purpose, all of that. So so that's kind of answering that. Like I'm figuring out how to help people a have more space to create more hobbies and more time with my family. but it it's it's it's the second chapter of my life and and not having business as the main focus is fun but slash difficult. 'Cause when you have a A thought, and I'm I'm thinking as I'm talking, but if you have a thought of of who you are based on your success, based on what this business is, and now shifting it to now that piece of you is pretty much gone, and what does the new you look like? And and and I've always said I work I work to live, not live to work. So the ego of having foster financial CPA was never defied who I am. But at the same time, now that that is gone, there's like something, it's like having a kid and never not having that anymore. Right. And so it's kind of like, okay, what is my new purpose? And so getting into Big Brothers, Big Sisters, kind of helping underprivileged youth, like that's kind of the role I'm taking.

I I mean I so you know from a fractional CFO people how would I say this? S someone may know their business, you know, whether it's a construction company, whether it a marketing company, they know their business. But just because you know how to do something doesn't mean you know what the financial landscape looks like, right? And so it's kind of You know, when when I engage with a CFO client, you know, first it's I'm kind of educating on how you read all this stuff, how it makes sense, the PL, the balance sheet, and kind of going there. And then, you know, then we're kind of understanding what are all the pieces that go into it, right? And w how are how are we making it more profitable? You know, most the when I say small businesses, five million to twenty-five million is not really small, I would say mid-sized businesses like don't have haven't created a budget and and have exact detail of what's going into every expense and to see where we're overspending or hey we're gonna increase we're gonna you know critical thinking we're gonna increase our marketing budget because we need to get more revenue And trying to define, okay, well, what pieces should we subtract? Or do we have the right people in the right seats? Or is everybody doing what they need to do to make the business more money? You know, like so it's all of those things. And then understanding the cash components and how to structure a business, because those are different needs as well for the owners.

I I I I mean y so I I I sayings, right? And and it's hard w what you're asking, because there's two sides of it. There's the okay, what's the tax advice I'm giving for the client, or what's the CFO advice I'm giving for the client? Because those are two different things, right? Like the tax advice is always never let the tax tail wag the dog. There's people going out there and buying stuff just to have the tax write off, and it's not financially the right play for Right, from a CFO side it's You know, they say the top three reason business fail is number two, you don't know your numbers. So when owning the you know, owning the firm and having tons of small businesses and all of that, a lot of the owners didn't understand the financials to make the right decisions. And or bringing on new clients, you know, they would have a a CPA or a bookkeeper provide financials, but they would provide at year end for taxes, but not financials throughout the the year. So how Someone, if they're flying blind and just looking at their checking account, making those decisions, it's just not a way to make an educated guess. And sometimes business decisions are educated guesses, right? Based on gut, but based on what is trending in the in the company.

Yeah, I mean so I always say there's two sides of of every answer, right? So the first is it's getting personable, right? It's getting understanding A, what are their problems, B w what what are their goals within this business? Right? It it because until I know that, I don't know how to help them. Right. So so there's that side of it is like tell me what you're looking for. What are your goals? Where if it five years down the line, how would this relationship be successful for for you and I to continue? Right. And and understanding those and like I said, sometimes pushing back, like having clients being like, I'm at twenty-five million. It's taken me ten years to get there, but in five years I'm gonna make a hundred million. So it's like, okay, how would that work? Right? Just helping understand. So there's that side, and then the other side is obviously a business runs on their financials. So to take on a client. A, I have to understand the balance sheet, what is going on, what are these different other receivables, what are these liabilities? Do we have you know, looking at the loan statement, creating the amortization schedule? None of that's usually created, and a lot of the times they're booked completely wrong, right? And so it's like it's getting into the financials, understanding what should be and how to correct it. is the next part of the case. And then once we kind of get the financials corrected most of the time, then we gotta start creating the budgets and start creating the KPIs and start kind of tracking the business.

Great question. I'm probably gonna answer it not the way you want. I I I believe like it's all a process, right? And so I wouldn't do anything different because it It I had to pivot and change and you know, coming from corporate America, I knew accounting, right? And that's what started my career. But starting a business, it's not okay, you don't need to know your trade. You net then need to know how to market the trade or how to sell what you're offering, right? As a service business, it's all about do they see the value in what I'm charging and can I create that value? You know, I there's so there's no I wouldn't do anything different because I always say like it's it's like the age old question if you could know when you're gonna die or know how it all turns out, would you? And the answer is no, right? Like why would you why would you read the end of a book before seeing what it is gonna go on? I think that's owning a business is kind of the fun within it, slash the stress, but you gotta just figure it out as you go. And I'm very blessed. I think successfulness with business has you know 50% to do with luck and and and hard work, right? But there's luck component into it. And you know, I'm blessed to be where I am and had amazing clients and some very good employees.

I I mean it would just be A A you could go to my website, fosterfinancial CPA dot com, or you know, my EA Carmen, she can she it's admin at fosterfinancial cpa dot com. You know, what it would be A if they're looking for a CFO client, you know, someone to help with their fractional CFO, or B if you have an audience that are CPAs that are have clients that are making seven hundred grand or more of what tax strategies they could do, they could definitely help their clients and save them a great deal of money.

Thank you so much, McGillas.