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Episode Summary
You decide it’s finally time. You line up your CPA and your financial advisor, draw up a short list of friendly competitors, sign the NDAs, and walk into the first round of conversations expecting the business to sell itself. Then the offers come back and the market tells you something you weren’t ready to hear. Too small for a financial buyer to run as a standalone. Too concentrated to earn a clean multiple (top five customers were 40% of revenue). The only realistic path is a strategic who wants to tuck you in. That’s exactly where Tim Hall found himself with Western, the family printing business he’d been working in since he was 13. In this conversation, Tim and I got into how he pulled back for six months, regrouped, and went back to market with six non-negotiables instead of a wishlist. How he timed selling the real estate to remove the building from the deal equation. Why he called it “landing the plane” and tied his exit window to a hard lease-renewal deadline. And the moment in his peer group when he finally said “I think I’m gonna sell Western” out loud for the first time. Forty of forty-four employees kept their jobs. Fifteen months after close, none had been let go.
Top 10 Takeaways
- The first time you go to market is your real data. Listen to what buyers tell you about the business, not what you wanted them to say.
- Too small for a standalone, too concentrated for a clean multiple. Customer concentration shows up at the deal table whether you planned for it or not.
- A restless owner is dangerous. Your team deserves someone all in, not someone with one foot out.
- A hard deadline beats a hypothetical one. Tie your exit window to something that forces a decision.
- The real estate is a separate decision. Selling the building before the business removes a constraint that can sink the deal.
- Decide your non-negotiables before the first buyer meeting. Going in without them is how owners get a deal they regret.
- If you can’t say “I’m selling” out loud to your peer group, you’re not ready. The words have to come first.
- The buyer pool you draft yourself can beat what a broker delivers, if you know your industry well enough to do it.
- Profit sharing while you own it is how you take care of employees. The exit is your payout, their career bridge.
- Your second act has to be built before you exit. Without one, the restlessness shifts from the business to the rest of your life.
Sound Bites
“I think I’m gonna sell Western. And I had never said it out loud before.” (@TBD) — Tim Hall
“The journey doesn’t end for a business when you become successful. The journey ends when you leave the business successfully.” (@TBD) — Tim Hall
“I’m restless now, and that means I’m a little bit dangerous because I’m not all in. My employees deserve an owner who’s all in to help them.” (@TBD) — Tim Hall
“Luck is defined when opportunity meets preparedness.” (@TBD) — Tim Hall
“If you’re frustrated, instead of complaining about it and going home and looking to kick the dog, pick up a weapon. Do an improvement. Spend some time and make your life easier.” (@TBD) — Tim Hall
About This Episode
Tim Hall is the second-generation owner of Western, a Minneapolis-based commercial printing company. He started in the family business at 13 as the janitor, came back after college as the controller, took over as president at 27, bought the business outright in 2001, and sold it in 2016 at age 51. Under his leadership, Western was a six-time Best Workplaces in America winner and built a continuous improvement culture that drove 3,800 employee-led improvement projects in its final years. He now runs Altus, where he facilitates peer groups and consults with business owners, doing full-time what he’d been doing on the side for 21 years.
Resources Mentioned
- Altus — Tim’s consulting and peer group firm. — altusba.com
- The E-Myth by Michael Gerber — Referenced for the technician vs. entrepreneur vs. manager framework
- Good to Great by Jim Collins
- Rockefeller Habits — Referenced as part of Tim’s management evolution
- EOS / Traction — The operating system Tim eventually installed at Western
- Open Book Management / Jack Stack — Referenced for sharing top-line and bottom-line numbers with all employees
- Jon Stewart’s farewell to The Daily Show — The “I am a restless host” line that triggered Tim’s decision
Connections
Phase + Module:
- Module 1 — Ownership Goals — Tim’s framing of “what do you actually want” before the first buyer meeting
- Module 9 — Operator Transition — Landing the plane as the operator-to-owner exit
- Module 7 — Leadership Team — The team strength that made the tuck-in possible
Milestones:
- Milestone 1 — Time & Role Goals — Tim setting a hard age/lease deadline for himself at 48
- Milestone 25 — Operator Transition Plan — Sequencing the real estate sale, the buyer search, and the handoff
Concepts referenced:
- The Owner-Operator Trap™ — Tim had been in the seat since he was 13; the restlessness was the trap signaling
- Value Gap — The first market test revealed the gap between what Tim thought the business was worth and what the market would pay