The 10 Steps of Successful Small Business Owners: Your Roadmap for Joining the 2% Club

By Thomas M. Griffiths

The 10 Steps of Successful Small Business Owners is an indispensable book written by Thomas Griffiths, CPA, MBA, ABV, PFS, CEPA. Griffiths, one of the prin- cipals and the founder of the leading advisory firm, Griffiths, Dreher & Evans, has turned his personal passion for help- ing business owners plan for success into an engaging and interactive g

• Language: English
• Publisher: Griffiths, Dreher & Evans, PS, CPAs
• Release date: Aug 20, 2013
• ISBN: 9781939758224

Book preview

ABOUT THE BOOK

The 10 Steps of Successful Small Business Owners is an indispensable book written by Thomas Griffiths, CPA, MBA, ABV, PFS, CEPA. Griffiths, one of the principals and the founder of the leading advisory firm, Griffiths, Dreher & Evans, has turned his personal passion for helping business owners plan for success into an engaging and interactive guide which is indispensable for any business owner seeking to uncover the secrets of their most prosperous peers.

Griffiths shares personal experience from the field, combined with insights and research, to give business owners concrete steps that they can take to formulate a strategy that works for them. Only 2% of America’s entrepreneurs will succeed. Through engaging chapters and insightful open-ended exercises, Griffiths helps draw the roadmap for joining that best-in-class group.

Copyright © 2013 by Thomas M. Griffiths

All Rights Reserved.

For information contact:

Griffiths, Dreher & Evans PS, CPAs

906 West Sprague, Spokane, WA 99201-4015

509-326-4054 | [e-mail]

www.grifco.com

978-1-9397582-1-7 - Hardcover

978-1-9397582-2-8 - Digital

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013914354

Although the author and publisher have made every effort to ensure that the information in this book was correct at press time, the author and publisher do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by an electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording means or otherwise without prior written permission of the publisher.

To my wife

Roxanne

Your love and support

are the foundation

of my life.

Contents

CHAPTER 1 The Missing Advisor

CHAPTER 2 Meet The 2% Club

CHAPTER 3 The Roadmap—10 Steps for Joining The 2% Club

CHAPTER 4 The 5 Rules of The 2% Club

Rule 1: Understand Business Valuation

Rule 2: Use Tax Strategies that Build Wealth

Rule 3: Develop Investments Outside Your Business

Rule 4: Stay Informed About Exit & Succession Planning

Rule 5: Protect Your Assets

CHAPTER 5 Creating Your Plan

CHAPTER 6 Finding The Missing Advisor

Obtain A Certified Business Valuation

About the Author

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1

The Missing Advisor

In business, as in life, there are no certainties. That’s something that I experienced firsthand not too long ago—an experience that would ultimately change my life, and one that I’ve used to help change the lives of my clients.

In 2000, I was heading up a very successful CPA firm—my own business. I was thirty-five years old and had just started a family; my wife and I had two beautiful children, a son and a daughter. It was an uphill climb, and not in the bad sense: I could see the horizons in front of me, and they were bright, full of promise.

Then, one day, sitting in my doctor’s office, I was thrown for a loop. In for a checkup, I was waiting on the table, legs dangling off the side, watching the clock slowly tick forward and thinking of the meetings I had to get to and the clients I’d need to see that afternoon. The doctor wheeled in with a concerned look on his face. Tom, he said, there are some spots on this chest x-ray we took. We need to send you to a specialist to get this checked out.

It’s one of those moments that make you feel like you’re shrinking down to nothing, and the world in front of you has just gotten unmanageably large. Suddenly, I couldn’t see the horizon anymore; I could barely see the hand in front of my face.

I went home from the appointment to tell my wife what the doctor had said, and made arrangements to go see the specialist that my doctor recommended. While I waited to find out exactly what I would be facing, my mind swirled with questions. What will happen to my business if I die? Who would buy it? How will my wife get paid a fair value for all that I’ve worked to build? Would that value be enough to provide for my family? … see my two small children through their lives ahead? … put food on the table? Simply put, I had no idea what I was dealing with—not just about my health, but also about the viability of my family’s future. And it wasn’t for lack of effort, either. I had been successful in my business because I had the drive, the acumen, and the sense to be forward-thinking, but I was in the midst of a humbling experience, one that taught me that sometimes all the hard work in the world won’t help you when life throws you these kinds of curves.

When I sat down to take a hard look at these questions and search for any possible answers, I found that a lot of my sounding boards were saying the same thing: You’re good with money, right? Shouldn’t you be able to figure something out?

It was true; my background was as a CPA. But these were not tax and accounting questions—these were entirely different quandaries: financial planning questions. Like most people, I thought my investment advisor could help me with my financial challenges; after all, financial advising is the role of a financial advisor. But I was disappointed to find out that while he selected funds in which to place my investments, most of his clients were not business owners, and as such, he offered no expertise in solving my financial challenges.

Thankfully, my medical situation turned out to be manageable. I spent five years working with the specialist to develop a solution that would stop the progression of my lung disease. While my health situation was slowly improving, I was able to take a hard look at my questions and develop the resolve to create my own answers. That’s when I decided I wanted to become the best advisor I could be for the small business owner, an advisor who could solve those particular needs that fall through the cracks that exist between the advice of their CPAs and that of their financial advisors. My personal health scare had taught me that those two voices simply aren’t enough, that the small business owner is missing a key advisor, one who bridges the gap between business and personal advice. So I set out on my journey to become The Missing Advisor. One of the first things I discovered on my journey was that only 2% of small business owners were solving the puzzle and finding their way to success. I call this very rare but highly successful group The 2% Club, and I have written this book to help you become a member.

This is where my story ends, and yours begins. Let’s write it together.

Chapter 2

Meet The 2% Club

When I first set about preparing my firm to help Main Street business owners become financially successful, I knew that I could learn valuable lessons by researching what already-successful business minds had done to get to the top. I logged hundreds of hours and several years interviewing these success stories: men and women who have a net worth between $1-10 million, with assets under management in their investment portfolios of about $300,000 to $3 million. Other than their investments and their property holdings, they all had one big thing in common: their business represented a significant portion of their