I love the month of July! Aside from celebrating the birth of our nation, which I love to do, it is a time for celebrating family, friends and usually taking some time away from the office and the demands of the work week schedule to really unwind. 

This July was no exception for us as we made plans to visit friends and family to celebrate this great nation we are extremely blessed to call home. Afterwards, I planned to book our annual anniversary trip. 

I did wait until a couple of weeks more than normal to book some arrangements, and I did not think much of this, initially. That is until I found that I was running into roadblock after roadblock of no available rooms in some of the areas we liked to visit. 

I finally remembered a resort we stayed in back in 2015. It was a lovely place, and after checking the availability, I was extremely pleased to find it had one available room. 

After getting the rate for the three-night stay, my jaw fell open as I saw that the price per night was about three times what it was in 2015. 

However, this was not the time to be a penny pincher — so I secured the room, and felt quite proud of my accomplishment. After all, the place I remembered was well maintained, had lots of pleasant people who seemed to enjoy working there and the rooms and property was very clean. 

After arriving on site, I quickly realized that the resort had gone through some sort of transformation and it was not a good one. I learned that the resort had been sold just before our stay in 2015, and had seemingly gone downhill since. 

The property looked worn and unkept. The service was less than stellar and the people that were working there — seemed to be a bit rudderless.

This is what many have come to expect when a business gets sold. The seller rides off into the sunset and the customers, the employees, and many times, the community — are left holding the bag for an underperforming operation that never regains the fervor that was once there when the original owner was at the helm. This is the sad commentary for many a deal — but it does not have to be. 

I was reminded of our topic for our Inaugural Power Breakfast called "Entrepreneurs and Acquirers.” At the Greater Fayetteville Business Journal’s first Power Breakfast on July 27, attendees will meet the entrepreneurs (Ralph Huff and Charles Horne — representing Jack Horne and the rest of the Horne family). 

They'll get to learn how these leaders grew their organizations and what led them to sell their businesses — and more importantly — what led them to sell their businesses to these particular Acquirer's. The attendees will also get to meet the Acquirer's — Jack Rostetter — representing HH Homes, a subsidiary of Dream Finder Homes Inc. (DFH) and Chris Dunbar, representing Blue Ridge Power. 

These gentlemen will share why these acquisitions made sense to them and their organizations. They will also share more about the transitions underway since the sales were completed, and what they have in store for future growth.

Aside from learning from these great business minds, you might ask, “why is this topic so important?” 

Well, consider these facts taken from InvestmentBanker.com and verified by other very reputable resources:

Roughly 10 million (or 65-75 percent) of all small companies will be up for sale in the next 10 years.

$5 trillion is the number given by some specialists who see the impending wealth transfer as the baby boomers retire and shift their business assets into liquid assets.

Roughly 40 percent of family-owned companies in the U.S. will experience leadership change in the next five years.

As these statistics bear themselves out in our local economy during the next decade, they will have a significant economic impact and results. 

SO...

If you have not already purchased a ticket or bought a table for this event, I would highly encourage you to do so — and soon. Go to FayettevillePowerBreakfast.com or check out page two of this issue to learn more.

I am certain you will learn from these entrepreneurs and acquirers that a good deal — is when everyone gains ground. Who is the "everyone" I am referring to? Of course, it's the obvious players. The owner of the business being sold — the entrepreneur. And also, the acquiring company; but it is also the most important stakeholders: the customers, the employees and the local community/economy.

I was very blessed to have had a good experience here. I sold one of my businesses in 2017. The organization that bought my company had a great reputation of keeping all of the existing staff employed — well after the deal was done, and they had expanded product and territory offerings — which helped our customers as well. 

They were also very well capitalized. Since the acquisition — they have grown tenfold, kept existing employees happy and have hired and expanded operations all throughout the Southeastern US — to include Fayetteville, North Carolina.

So, if I had any advice to the owners of the resort we stayed at — I would say: Remember the upside down org chart. The customers are all at the top. Right under them are all the employees, and way down at the bottom are the owners.