Surprise answer here. Um, and it doesn’t always hold true, um, but spouse, um. It is very difficult to run a business, um, without that person at home, spouse, partner, whatever you want to call it.

Um, that rock at home that can keep you in check. Um, so, um, not always the case, but spouse, partner, whatever is at home to help keep you grounded is extraordinarily important beyond spouse. Um, it still sounds selfish and, and in many regards, um, it, it, it could be, but we think of it and the industry uses it as a quarterback.

Um, somebody that can help you manage. Manage the game. Um, and oftentimes, not all the time, oftentimes we consider us to be that quarterback, somebody that can help you understand where you are from a personal perspective, what, what gaps you have, what gaps you need the business to fulfill so you can start to understand, okay, before I can sell the business, I need to make sure I’ve got these things in place.

And. Then also not just on the personal level, on the business side, where are all the holes from a business perspective starting to help you understand and interview those folks that are going to, are going to need to come into your life to help you sell the business. So that’s gonna be a great attorney, and you might already have a great attorney.

You might not. That’s going to be a great CPA. You might already have a great CPA. You might not a tax attorney, somebody that can help us manage through the tax impacts of selling the business, an M&A advisor. This is for most business owners. This will be the first time that you interview these folks.

It’ll be the first time that you work with these folks, and the reality is it’ll be the last time that you do it. We’ve done it multiple times. We will continue to do it multiple more times from here. And so understanding. Bringing the right partners, realizing that relationships matter, that trust matter, that all those things are important in order for you to go through the process and feel like you’ve gotten the most out of it.

Because there are gonna be times where you’re gonna hear some feedback from the attorney or the M&A advisor or the tax attorney or whatever it ends up being that you don’t like. Um, it’s not, beneficial to you and the way that you want it to be, and if you can’t trust that person, or if you can’t trust that team, that even though you don’t like it, it’s the right thing, then.

It’s not gonna be helpful. It’s going to create confusion and anger in the process. It’ll create distrust and so having somebody alongside that can walk you through those steps, gain, regain that trust, realize that it’s part of the process, and help you sell the business in the best possible way that you can is the most important person, and oftentimes that person needs to come on board 2, 3, 4, 5 years in advance to make sure all of those components are built, most importantly, so that the trust between you and that quarterback is built so that y’all mark, walk through that together. You’re able to have open and honest and sometimes not great conversations in order to pull you through to the other side where you realize that everything’s being done in your best interest.