I was at a professional group meeting recently, we broke into small groups to discuss an issue and the first thing one person blurted out was that her personal life was a mess. This came almost immediately after receiving a reward from the group for her business accomplishments.
I’m not sure if she had feelings of inadequacy after receiving the award or if she just had to tell someone. The lesson is we can’t judge things, good or bad, based on what we see on the surface. There’s often more to the story than what we see or hear.
I tell my clients, all the time, something similar; that there are no perfect businesses and no perfect deals. Business buyers shouldn’t get too excited based on their initial impression and they shouldn’t be too down on a company because they recently read something negative on the industry. As my friend Ted Leverette used to say, there are bad businesses in good industries and good businesses in bad industries.
The same applies to business sellers as they screen buyers. Just because a skillful person has enough money to buy your company doesn’t make him or her a good buyer. Manufacturing company owners would lose all their money if they bought a restaurant and a good restaurateur would lose all their money if they bought a manufacturing business.
Delve deeper and here’s hoping your business and personal lives are in good shape.
“The most luxurious possession, the richest treasure anybody has, is his personal dignity.” Jackie Robinson
