The Executive Advocate Philosophy

We hope these writings have been of use to those managing their own business. We can attest that creating many of the entries have been of great value to us.

However, times are changing. A growing need has captured our attention as illustrated by the following graph found on the Executive Advocate Facebook page.

We had been assuming that baby boomers would be selling businesses to younger entrepreneur types. Not so!  The graph show the greatest increase in business ownership is in the 55 to 64 age brackets, followed by the over 65 age bracket.

What's happening here? Baby boomers are selling businesses to other baby boomers. Why? It appears that the disappointing results of all saving programs have left those with business management capabilities in a position they are financially unable to retire. Sadly, their aging is also making them unemployable. What alternatives do they have? Business ownership stands out as a really good one.

The danger is that if a young entrepreneur gets into a business that fails, there is plenty of time and resources left to just go start another business or get into another career. At 55 or 65 or older, that luxury isn't there. An investment of your time and financial resources must work! So how does someone go about making the right decision in buying or starting their own business?

Key Executives use an Executive Headhunter to help them locate career opportunities because they know the very best ones are not to be found in classified listings. The same thing is true with business opportunities. The very best ones are not in the business listings. An Executive Advocate locates them; and this is a sophisticated process.

Those doing this on their own all start making the same mistake, a focus on financial information. At best, this is information about the seller. The career transition process needs to start with the personal business strengths of the buyer. This determines where the search for buying a business must focus. Burn-out is so prevalent today that a search of any industry will find owners of good businesses ready to sell because they are tired. It's an art to be able to get them to believe there is a qualified buyer waiting for them; but it has an can be done by trained specialists. Now addressing financial information is really useful. It can be placed in the context of what this opportunity can mean to the buyer.

There is another alternative for the executive in career transition. A business franchise offers industry experience and support. These are generally start-ups; but a comparison of buying a franchise versus starting a business shows that historical success rates for the franchise model are much more successful.

The key is a focus on the buyer instead of the seller-focused business broker model being generally used. This fundamental paradigm change has become the focus of those involved with The Active Investor blog. Future posts will no longer be here; but on the new Executive Advocate website blog. We hope everyone who enjoyed these posts will now find those as interesting.

The DREAM needs an Effective Business Plan

A business dream usually can't be executed solo. We often need to attract investors, secure lending relationships, and have a way to guide future business growth. Business plans have become the media we use at this point. Because of their importance, computer planning tools are available to assist the entrepreneur in their development.

A wonderful idea can be married with a fantastic technology to produce dismal results. For example, food is a wonderful idea. We all love food. Airplanes are a fantastic technology. The offspring of this marriage is airplane food. There is some wonderful food served in first class; however, the words "airplane food" bring to mind something uninspiring.

Business plans are a wonderful idea. Lay out in text and charts exactly what you intend to do and how you intend to get it done. Computer automation is a fantastic technology saving users untold hours of unnecessary work. But their offspring, the typical automated business plan, is as exciting as airplane food. Pity those that have to read them for a living.

How do we upgrade to first class? Our intention is not to just get by; it's to attract the best - funding, talent, clients, etc. Adequate simply will not suffice.

Business Model Generation, a technique described in the book by that name, offers an exciting and elegant place to start. A Business Model is an abstract version of the business broken down into 9 key elements. It represents the flow of people, products, ideas, information and values that drive the revenues and costs of a business. By taking time to first abstract the business dream on paper, we develop an appreciation of its inherent values and attractive features.

Now take that Business Model and apply it to a specific set of circumstances and we have the makings of something interesting. If the model is exciting, the specifics of a plan can be written (even with the assistance of computer software) so that the excitement flows through it. If the sizzle isn't there in the beginning, no computer application is going to add it. Our dreams are always exciting.

At Murphy Business, we use Business Model Generation in our Executive Advocate (sm) programs. These programs fit executive buyers to target business acquisitions that have the greatest likelihood of success for their future growth. We don't start with a business plan. There is too much unknown about our client. We start with the client's Business Model Canvas. This specific graphical representation of the Business Model becomes part of a highly profiled search criteria to find "unadvertised" potential business acquisition targets. Details of the business acquisition targets are merged with the Business Model Canvas of the client to produce a business plan with substance. Something to excite the seller, the buyer and the investors.

We have developed a Business Model Canvas for the Executive Advocate(sm) programs to illustrate the communication power of this approach. You invited to watch this 8 minute video introduction . What we discovered was the use of this tool internally has also been invaluable in helping us also communicate the value of the Executive Advocate (sm) programs to candidate clients.

Communicate the dream!


Photo credit: fsse8info

The Executive search for How To Buy A Business in Texas

The Executive search for How To Buy A Business in Texas

The Miracle Posting

We search the Internet because we're looking for solutions to our problems. We find an interesting blog posting, somewhat thought-provoking, that we really enjoy reading. Our day continues normally and when it's over we fall asleep, still concerned about our situation. While asleep a miracle occurs. The underlying issues creating our problems resolve themselves. The problems will begin to go away once we wake-up; but there's still one thing wrong. We're asleep and have no idea the miracle started by the blog posting has happened.


How do we find out about the miracle the next day? What could we do differently that would show us indicators? What would those indicators be and what could we do to nurture and speed them along?

 These are the questions asked by Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) practitioners, a practice commonly used to help those struggling with personal issues that has equal value in an entrepreneur's life. The Active Investor doesn't get a free pass. That investment in our own business or professional career comes with significant problems along with the freedom and financial benefits. It's our business. How do we wake-up in the morning and deal with it?

Frequently the best answers are not in the language of the problem. They are hard to see because you have to look in non-problem places to find them. That's a lot of places, so we need to narrow this down! We do that by looking in solution places instead. That is, try to imagine finding an answer that is already out there. What would that look like?

Sometimes, simply a solution-based way of looking at things brings sudden, dramatic insights. Other times, it doesn't. Now what? 

Badness comes in degrees. Some days have moments that are much better than others. What happens that allows those better moments? How can we capture more of them? The solution begins to unfold itself for us incrementally as we learn how to do this. The trick is to be looking for it.

Could each of us have a miracle bog posting somewhere? Perhaps.  Maybe for someone it's this one. Tomorrow morning, how would I know if a miracle has happened?

Photo Credit: angelofsweetbitter