Positioning Your Agency for Exit

We aired this episode a couple of years ago and it’s still one of our favorites. Enjoy, digital agency owners–and happiest of New Year to you and yours!

David C. Baker is an author, speaker, and advisor to entrepreneurial creatives worldwide. He has written five books, including his latest book titled, The Business of Expertise.

Baker has advised over 900 firms, was the keynote speaker at conferences in 30 countries, and his work has been discussed in dozens of international publications.

The New York Times referred to him as the “expert’s expert”. He is also the co-host of the 2Bobs podcast.

Episode highlights from David C. Baker

• How to position your agency for exit
• Why agencies are so hard to sell
• Wrapping up identity in business
• Small deals that are successful
• What can I do now to make my business more attractive to a client in the future?
• Positioning your business
• Failed acquisitions
• Why transparency is important

Lightning Round with David C. Baker

• Best advice: Figure out your unique ability.
• Habit that contributes to success: Discipline
• Recommended tool: SavvyCal, Asana
• Recommended books: Win Without Pitching Manifesto by Blair Enns, The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber
• Run time: 43:12

Resources, plus connect with David C. Baker

• https://www.davidcbaker.com/
• Podcast: 2Bobs
• Book: The Business of Expertise
• Book: Financial Management of a Marketing Firm
• Book: Managing Right for the First Time
• Book: Built to Sell by John Warrillow
• Facebook: Brent Weaver

Quotes from David C. Baker episode –

• “We start businesses to run them, not to sell them. So, it’s a different way of thinking.”
• “Even if you don’t want to sell it, you ought to run it as if you want to sell it.”
• “We are consumed with what our peers think, way more than any other industry.”
• “You can’t have a big firm and be too involved in the business, for lots of reasons, but particularly if you’re hoping to sell it.”
• “The price we will pay to not have a boss is staggering. We are willing to work for half of what we would make somewhere else because that’s how important it is for us to not have a boss.”
• “The goal is not to sell your firm. The goal is to sell your firm IF this is the right buyer.”

Takeaways from David C. Baker episode –

• Run your business as if you plan to sell it someday.
• Be transparent.
• Unique Abilities Exercise: Invented by Dan Sullivan of The Strategic Coach.
  • Ask 30-40 people who know you well to describe your unique ability, without consulting with each other, and then compare what people say.
  • It should be a mix of colleagues, bosses, family, friends, etc.

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