Six Weeks to Live
What one Forum visit taught me about letting each other backstage
In May of 2015, my company had about six weeks to live. We were losing money, a lot of it. Cash was disappearing quickly, and if we could not figure out where it was going and stop the bleeding, we were going to run out of runway. I knew we had a problem. What I did not know was exactly where the problem was.
At the time, I was already a member of EO Utah and meeting monthly with my Forum. Like every Forum, we shared the things that entrepreneurs rarely talk about outside a very small circle: the challenges in our businesses, our families, and ourselves. The stuff we sometimes refer to as the 1%.
The backstage part. Each month, a different Forum member would host us at their business and give us a backstage look at how they operated. We would see financials, reports, processes, and the tools they used to run their companies.
One month, we met at the business of a Forum mate who owned a number of fast-food restaurants. As he walked us through his operation, he showed us a report he used to manage his cost of goods sold. In his world, that meant meat, bread, cheese, and other ingredients. I ran a service business. My cost of goods was people. Different businesses, same underlying problem: understanding what it actually cost to deliver what we sold, and where those costs were getting away from us.
"Can I have this?" I asked him at the end of the meeting, and there was no hesitation. One of the great things about EO Forum is that we are not sitting around the table with our competitors. He had nothing to protect from me, and he was happy to share not only the report, but how he used it to manage his business.
It was Friday afternoon. I went back to the office, handed the report to my business partner, Nate, and said, essentially, "I need this built for our business by Monday." By Monday morning, Nate had done it. Almost immediately, we could see the problem. For the first time, we had a tool that allowed us to pinpoint exactly where our cost of services was getting away from us. We made changes, and within three weeks we had turned the business around.
He had nothing to protect from me, and he was happy to share.
The report is not the important part. A report designed to manage food and labor costs helped save a service business that was six weeks away from running out of cash. The part I think about most is why I ever saw it in the first place. Someone was willing to let me backstage.
That is what EO can be. We build different companies and face different markets, but underneath all of that, we are often wrestling with remarkably similar problems. Someone in your Forum may already have the tool, experience, perspective, or question that could fundamentally change your business or your life. And you may be holding exactly that for someone else.
My company survived that scary period in 2015, and it went on to grow far beyond anything we had built at that point. But there was a moment when our future may very well have turned on a Friday afternoon, when one EO member showed another EO member a report he used to manage the cost of sandwiches. That is the power of EO.
Rob
You're Already Negotiating. You Just Don't Know It.
Rick J. Krebs · Business Sales Group · 4-minute read
A surprise offer to buy your business can feel like validation. Rick Krebs of Business Sales Group argues it is really the opening move in a negotiation, and the owners who win are the ones who slow down, create options, and protect leverage before they sign an LOI.
INSIDE: why the first offer is not the finish line, how multiple buyers change your leverage, and what to clarify before exclusivity starts.
More founder-level expertise is one click away.
If this SAP article was useful, the full EO Utah Strategic Partner bench is here for the same reason: practical expertise you can use before a decision gets expensive. Meet the partners supporting EO Utah, see their specialties, and reach out directly when their experience can help your business.
Cooper Norman · Sandler Training · Business Sales Group · Andina Family Offices · Tenfold Advisors · Bank of America · Elevated Employee Group · USI Insurance Services
How an Employee Ownership Trust Made It Possible to Exit on My Terms
EO Blog · Miren Oca, EO South Florida · 5-minute read
Miren Oca built a swim-school business with more than 160 team members, then chose a third door: not private equity, and not handing the company to her son. She sold the company to an employee ownership trust, preserving the culture and giving the people who built the business a path to share in its future.
Welcome New MembersDerrek Holland · The Closet Doctor
Please welcome Derrek Holland to EO Utah. Derrek is transferring from EO Sacramento, where he has been an EO member since 2019 and served as Communications Chair. He and his wife, Lisa, moved to St. George this year after years of family vacations there.
Derrek started The Closet Doctor in 1999 with zero money and a borrowed truck. Today the company builds custom closets, garages, home offices, and Murphy beds, with a 10-to-12-person shop he now runs remotely from Utah. He is already Forum trained and is joining the St. George Forum.
The last two weeks, caught up
Not in the EO Utah WhatsApp groups, or just have not scrolled in a while? Here are the last two weeks in one place. The real conversation is happening in the chats, so consider this your nudge to jump in.
Behind the curtain at Utah Mammoth HQ. The chapter got inside the Utah Mammoth training facility on August 19, and the back story of how Utah landed a professional franchise turned out to be the best part. Thom Hall called it "a fascinating back story." Eric Jacobson put it plainly: "What an effort that paid off." Mike Muehlmann took away the level of buy-in behind the scenes, and Cyle Adair and Emma Garrison both said it was worth the trip.
Crystalee Beck wrote up the Federal Reserve. After the August 5 Fed event, Crystalee Beck published thirteen things she learned inside the Salt Lake City branch, including that it processes about a million notes a day in a secure underground cash area.
Members helping members, the good kind. Emma Garrison went looking for a transportation business owner and Dan Stewart had an introduction ready. Brianne Ika answered a request for a nail tech recommendation with her own sister.
Two events worth putting on your calendar now. Emma Garrison shared registration for Forum of 125 on September 16 and Dr. Niro Sivanathan's Unlock Your Power of Influence on September 24. Rex Hale asked about the Holiday Party, and Brian Fruit confirmed December 12 from the printed mailer.
A free AI series, from EO US West. Emma Garrison flagged that the region is running a monthly AI series with outside experts, free to every EO member. Registration goes through the EO member portal rather than ChapterPro, so it is easy to miss.
An EO member from Brazil came through town. Gregorio Rados of EO Brazil reached out through the EO portal ahead of a company event in Sandy, looking to meet local members while he was here. Rob Goeller passed the note to the chat, a small reminder that the network extends well past Utah.
Over in EO Accelerator. The Stacking Wins group welcomed Cameron, who owns Peak Exposure Media and came to the August accountability meeting before he had even joined the chat. Dave Blais also opened the Mammoth event up to Accelerators, and a couple of them took the last spots.
Want the full story? All of this, plus the links, the photos, and the side conversations, lives in the EO Utah WhatsApp groups. Not in them yet? Reach out to the chapter office and we will get you connected.