Propane marketers, oil, gas, and "energy" business owners manage daily changes affecting their business's short and long-term goals. While there's no way to control what goes on in the world, there is a way to plan and keep your business stable despite family, political, economic, or business challenges. Doug Woosnam, a Consultant with Cetane [...]
The value of the business is directly related to the reliability of future profits. Potential buyers, banks, investors, top talent, and strategic relationships all care about the sustainability of business performance. A temporary, or as we call it, a "Contingent Successor," provides a business owner and their family a strategy [...]
Lack of a qualified family member successor is a common reason family business owners decide their only option is to sell their business; otherwise, they would rather keep it as a family asset. However, for owners looking to transition out of daily operations or "bridge" the leadership gap if something [...]
Seasonality, inflation, politics, people, and technology are a few headwinds impacting fuel dealers, wholesalers, and service contractors in the energy space. We are often asked, "How can we create predictable revenues in an industry influenced by so many outside "threats?" In this episode, Doug Woosnam, a Consultant with Cetane Associates, [...]
Successfully integrating family into the business, whether as an employee, manager, or one-day successor, requires having a plan. Next-Gen business owners may need to invest their entire net-worth back into the business to compete with the larger consolidators. This means being less a caretaker of the business as generations past, [...]
Successfully integrating family into business leadership while balancing family dynamics is full of complexities. As Joe Chastang shares, many private and family business owners screw it up. Thanksgiving and Christmas come around every year, and the business provides for 100+ employees.Mis-matched expectations, communication differences, and management styles can create challenging moments [...]
Hope is at the center of many dealers' business strategies. Hope that if they sell the business, the sale will return the cash they need to retire and support their dream lifestyle. However, many dealers have to show up with checks to pay debt and find a job to help facilitate [...]
Operating a store is hard work, but it is rewarding. A common question we hear is what are the options to keep the dealership(s) as a family asset if no family is interested or capable of filling the shoes as Dealer/Operator. The good news is that the world is your [...]
Many business owners lean on the DIY approach to strategic planning, integrating family into the business, succession planning, and positioning their business for sale on the open market. Where entrepreneurs are sharp in many ways, without outside help, they often suffer from being able to see the trees from the [...]
People are the backbone of any successful business, and business owners across all industries have difficulty finding qualified talent to fill open roles. No longer will people put up with toxic work environments or dead-end jobs; they want more for their future. In this episode, Marty Kirshner, Partner with Gray, [...]
