$472,000
My prayer journal entry from Thursday, January 14th, 2021
Being an entrepreneur is one of the most challenging, yet rewarding things I have ever done.
Do you want to know something that is extremely hard to process as an entrepreneur? Pouring your heart and soul into something for 17 years to be told that it’s not worth very much. Of course, as you already know, we were being strongly impacted by COVID and the huge decrease in sales wasn’t setting us up for a successful exit, but the biggest factor?…
The business broker (basically) told me that the business wasn’t worth much without me. I was the piece that made the business worth anything and an investor (who would want to buy the business and sit back) wouldn’t want it without me (or someone with my knowledge of the business) running it.
So, if I wanted to sell my scooter business, I would most likely have to find someone that already knew the industry…
[Re-typed and elaborated for clarity and context…]
Thursday, January 14th, 2021 9:08a NS4L Office
Jesus,
Thank you so much for my friendship with [my amazing friend]. He is a true friend. He has always been there for me. I feel bad because he has never charged me a dime, always makes time for me, and is always happy to help. Please bless his family. Please give me the opportunity to return the favor for all this help. He is an amazing [professional/business consultant] and a better friend.
[Praise God for great friends. People who don’t want, need, or care about your money. People that will stop what they are doing to help, listen, and support you. I pray that I will be one of these people to others.]
Yesterday I talked via text with [name omitted for privacy]. I mentioned that I was interested in selling New Scooters 4 Less, gave him some details as to why, and connected him with [name omitted], the business broker. I believe a distributor like them would be in the best position to buy this business. Unlike NS4L which is in a college market and took a hit in 2020 due to COVID, their business exploded because of it due to most markets doing well across the country because no one wanted to be on a bus, subway, etc. Prices of scooters are going up so that would be a clear competitive advantage with more margin. They have the ability, cash flow, profit, and/or credit to purchase.
[I talked and met with competitive local shops but discovered that most were obviously struggling to survive themselves or simply didn’t have the money to buy us. So, I thought it may be a great fit for a scooter distributor.]
LORD - I pray over these actions I took and pray you’ll place it on [the distributor’s] heart to purchase this business. I told [name omitted] the purchase price of $472,000 for the business.
[The thought of letting the business go for $472,000 is heart-breaking after the time, money, blood, sweat, and tears poured into it over 17 years. I felt it was worth a lot more, but the numbers dictated the purchase price. Today, I’m obviously glad that it didn’t work out. I learned a lot through this and one of the biggest things was that God will protect us from ourselves. We shouldn’t make emotional decisions. When we are at an emotional low point, we’re in a fog and not thinking clearly. I was obviously willing to do almost anything to “get out.” I’m grateful that I was willing to completely depend on God’s will and that He prevented me from making a HUGE mistake.]
I will email them both today, [names omitted], with some bullet points and I just pray for your blessing over that email. Please let something great happen here. Let whatever happens be for your glory and may I be the ultimate steward of what is yours. Thank you for the opportunity, the relationships, the time, to give this day and every day my best. I’m truly honored to have been put on this Earth and given these opportunities.
Thank you, Jesus. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
I love you.
Collin
Today’s final thoughts…
Are you going through a trial? Don’t make an emotional decision. It often leads to further tragedy. I listen to The Ramsey Show a lot and have often heard Dave Ramsey tell people who just lost a spouse to pause and grieve. The widow is often trying to figure out what do to with the life insurance money and their finances but he/she is still in such a fog that they are likely to make an irrational, emotional decision. He tells them to park the money in a high-yield savings account and just grieve. Let some time pass and when the fog rises, then execute a well-thought-out plan.
If you own a business and are going through a trial, don’t make an emotional decision that you will regret later. Give it some time. Let the fog lift. Ask God for wisdom.
James 1:5 NLT If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you.
If you’re facing an emotional trial, push back against what your flesh may want to do. For example, my body wants to lay in bed, sulk, eat sugar, and isolate. If you relate to this, change up your routine. One of my favorite things to do to “change things up” is to get outside and exercise/run. When I do, I find the Lord speaking to me and I have to pause and write down all the ideas down in my phone that are coming to my mind.
If you run a small business, you need to have an exit plan. It’s fine to plan on working in the business for a long time if that is what you want to do, but one day you will have to retire, pass the business on, sell it, etc. If you want to sell it one day, don’t allow yourself to be the value. I learned that I need to create structure and processes that will allow the business to operate without me so that the business is what holds the value, not the operator.
August is here and I hope I can maintain the frequency of posts I have been able to make up to this point, but things have been busy at the scooter shop (praise God!). I will do my best to keep writing during this season.
Thank you for reading! I would love to hear from you and hear if any of this resonates with you. If you have a prayer request, respond and let me know. As we wrap up the summer and prepare all the kiddos for school, I pray that everyone has a wonderful start to the school year.
Blessings to you and yours,
Collin
If this is your first time visiting my blog, please read about it here and please subscribe. Thank you!
