Renewal season is upon us, so remember to renew your membership for 2013. You should have received an invoice in the mail earlier this month, and will receive an electronic invoice next week. If there are any discrepancies in your records, don't hesitate to contact headquarters and let us correct it.

To renew your membership, you may visit www.ibba.org, mail in a check, or call (888) 686-4222. All checks should be mailed to: IBBA, 3525 Piedmont Rd NE, Building 5, Suite 300, Atlanta, GA 30305.

The IBBA Board met in November just prior to the M&A Source Fall Conference. One of the big outcomes from the meeting was the approval of the 2013 annual budget. One of the big initiatives in the budget was approval to return IBBA to a two conference per year pattern.

While IBBA decided to forgo a fall conference in 2012, it has been clear from the feedback that members want more education opportunities. In fact, there was a good contingent of IBBA members at the M&A Source fall conference just three short weeks ago, but even they were looking for IBBA targeted education opportunities.

Based on this, we are confident that both IBBA conferences next year will be a great success. So, be sure to book the dates of the next IBBA conference on your calendar today: June 10-15 at the beautiful Anaheim Hilton.

 

As requested, we are starting a periodic column to answer some of the questions we receive about best practices, technology, past experiences, etc. No question is off limits, but we will pick the best questions each month and offer insight into how you can become more successful in your practice. Answers provided here will, in the future, become part of our new website for later review.

Here are the questions I will be answering in this issue:

• It costs me a lot to go to the IBBA conferences, are there other ways for me to get the education I need elsewhere?
• Is there anything I can do to protect myself when my seller fails to disclose something that destroys my ability to sell the company?
• How can I make the data I collect more standard and use it in the documents I produce? 

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Doug Robbins joined A&W restaurants as their Franchise Manager for Ontario in 1971 ("right out of kindergarten for those who like to calculate age," chuckles Doug) and was responsible for selling new franchises, building the restaurants, and reselling units when owners wanted to retire.  After three years he decided to set up Robbinex and become a business broker.

The first years were quite challenging because no one knew what a business broker was or what he did. There were no guidelines, sample contracts, associations, education programs, fee guidelines or any resource a new person entering this field could learn.  It all had to be created. Experience is a great teacher, and he tells us that he learned a lot from "Bootstrap University".   He first heard of IBBA in the late 80's and joined in 1988.  He was the 88th member and for many years,
Doug was the only non-American-the "I" in the IBBA.

 

My husband and I started our business, Venture Resource, in Louisville, Kentucky in 1980.  In 2002, after completing nearly 900 transactions, we sold it to retire.

One of the major contributors to our success during our business years was our association with the IBBA.  The industry was fairly new when we began and having the opportunity to learn from other business brokers was invaluable to us.  The more active and involved with the association we became, the more we benefited.

In 1998, I was honored to serve as the Chairman of the organization and during that time the IBBA was going through a period of growth.  The CBI certification and the education courses were expanding. The attendance at conferences grew far beyond our goals.

 

The tallest trees in the forest are the California Redwoods.  The tallest tree in our industry is in New Zealand: Clyth MacLeod.  He is a modest and principled leader, and I am proud to call him a friend. We share the same last name, although Clyth insists it should include an A. November 11, 2012 was Clyth's 50th year anniversary in our industry. 

He has successfully completed a staggering 7,000 transactions (I doubt if I can even count that high)!  This number is even more impressive when you remember that the total population of New Zealand is about the same as Phoenix, Arizona. Clyth has a passion for our industry.  Several years ago I had the good wisdom to sit down with him for an hour, ask him some questions, and record his pearls of wisdom:

"I'm a hard worker and I realized that if I worked for a salary there was a limit to your income. If you had your own business your income was unlimited and was a result of your own endeavors. There are no guarantees in life, so seize the day, enjoy the day, and live the day..."

 

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  It is usually a gathering of family and relatives around turkey or ethnic foods - truly a festive time.  During my junior or senior year in college, I took a business writing course.  In one of my readings I was deeply moved by passages written by William L. Stidger, "Why Keep Your Heart in Cold Storage?"  I kept it for years and when I ran banks in the U.P. of Michigan and Wisconsin it became my bank's advertisement at Thanksgiving time.  It is one of my personal treasures, which I share with you now:

The line between business appreciation and personal appreciation is often so thin that it cannot be discerned.  You cannot tell where one leaves off and the other begins.  This is as it should be.  The businessman, the professional man, the public servant - all of us - owe an eternal debt to those whom have constructively shaped our lives.  We should never forget our debt.