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Old and Starting "over"


Jiggy-Z

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On 9/20/2024 at 2:42 PM, Jiggy-Z said:

I own a business (concrete constru tion) and my business partner wants to quit. He is 72 and I am 57.

The business has kind of diminished over the years and is really not worth anything without us running it, except for some salvaged equipment.

I own the business office and land and have been told it is worth between 2-2.5 million.

I am a CPA, but have not practiced in decades as my job duties were estimating and project managemnt in the concrete construction business.

My old 401k is light about 130g.

My wife and I have a nice house, but it is too big and we want to get out of Texas and sell it and pocket the difference for retirement and  ollege fund.

My wife is seriously contemplating divorce right now as seen in the divorce thread.

I haven't slept well in awhile and this job has worn me out.

I am contemplating my options.

Will anyone even hire someone like me?

1) The divorce is a key factor.  Simply in that most folks have great emotional difficulty dealing with major life changes of more than on; Baby, firing, job change, relocation, divorce, death are the biggies.  So if divorce is truly imminent, figure that shit out first WITH AN ATTORNEY!!!!  I have not read the divorce stuff, but the rule is still the same.

2) How is your overall health?  Are you a weak and wimpy 57, or is there still some steel left in you to go forward?  How are you truly from a health perspective?  I would tell you to start taking a walk for your mental and physical health.  You need some contemplative time to clear your head, a walk can do that and help you physically.

OK now the tough love...

1) Did you expect your partner to work until he died at the office?  Do you and your partner really not have an exit plan in place? For either of you?

2) You have assets, and you will walk away with a lot more cash in hand that probably 90% of the people "starting over" at this age.

3) If you and your wife are contemplating moving would not a "starting over" source of employment for you or both of you, a big part of that conversation?  If not sure as shit should have been.  As by definition you are moving away, selling the business and house were going to create a lot of cash.  But enough for no future cash flow at 57?  

4) I am a CPA, but have not practiced in decades as my job duties were estimating and project managemnt in the concrete construction business. 

5) I am the sales guy.The company is really nothing more than some equipment, some receivables, and  cash and a few relationships. If I were starting a company like mine, I wouldn't buy it...just grow it by hiring and making conections.

Now the good news!  

1) You actually already know what to do! (IMHO). IF you are selling and leaving the state then that's a choice that negates most of your options other than working for somebody else punching a clock.    Could you ever punch a clock again?  For somebody else? Not take off when you need to at the drop of a hat in a real emergency?  Self employment is not easy, but I would find it impossible to work with real structure in a punch in punch out environment.  

2) Sounds like you are just emotionally beaten down.  In 4 and 5 above, you explain why YOU are the company!  And because of that you can save yourself.  The real estate market is down, and your business assets are not huge beyond the land.  But you already have exactly what you would tell somebody else to do if they owned your business.  You have connections in your business already, and likely you have some younger folks you have worked with that you could see forging an alliance with. Perhaps even a partnership over time?

3) Can you go sell more business?  OR can you find somebody else to sell more business?  Sales drive everything, and as you said you are the sales person, head estimator, and project manager.  Find a younger project manager, and free yourself to sell!  You also might try to find potential areas of higher profitability to fold into your existing business model?  The easy stuff like warehouses is probably less margin simply because it's simpler and thus I assume has more competitors in this space?  What about adding the metal pergolas for carports and backyards to your business (IF HIGH MARGIN)?  There is safety in numbers!  More smaller contracts offer more stability than one or two monster contracts where the stress is huge on the big jobs as well.  

4) Is there a career that you can envision, that has the potential to be more satisfying than making the one your are in more successful?  If so do the research and that might be your path.  

5) I don't know how big your land is, but I might also look for a small up and coming company that could dove tail with your cement work space?  Then you have another "salesperson" in that business.  So in the example above I look for a metal pergola business to work alongside, where you could get easy pours without you doing anything but the same 24 x 24 slabs over and over with less stress and more margin potentially.

Anyhow I feel your pain.  Simply as my business largely became dormant when I lost my biggest account, and was more interested is coaching soccer and real estate, than selling promotional products.  I still make some money on it, but not much.  I would rather risk my cash on home remodels at this juncture. Simply as I like the challenge and actually seeing a finished product.  BUT - I am also looking for cash flow and I have the basic bones of a business that I could reignite.  I am going to pitch a kid I have helped out for a few years, that I hoped would be the first in his family to get a degree.  He's abandoning that to make money, working as a bartender and diligently building a small detailing business on the side.  The kid saves like crazy, and will eventually marry his high school sweetheart.  I bought him a computer for college, and I think he is a natural salesperson.  I am going to try to get him working for me on the promise of giving him control of the business and eventual ownership.  Like your business, it's only worth really the receivables and contacts whioch are now minimal.  And I don't NEED that income stream luckily.

In your case find a way to sustain your business by finding a way to get a partner, ally, or company that needs your business for their business in a strategic partnership.  If you can grow you business, and develop some strategic partners that help "sell" your product for you. That IMHO is your best path. IF you could grow your business some and bring in a new younger replacement partner, you can put a plan in place to exit when you are 67, with a multi-year buyout in place because the business survived and your grew it.  The business will still be paying your kids in 40 years because you still own that land that your former partner rents from you now that your buyout is complete.

Good luck!!!!!  And STAY STRONG!!!!

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10 hours ago, horn4life said:

1) The divorce is a key factor.  Simply in that most folks have great emotional difficulty dealing with major life changes of more than on; Baby, firing, job change, relocation, divorce, death are the biggies.  So if divorce is truly imminent, figure that shit out first WITH AN ATTORNEY!!!!  I have not read the divorce stuff, but the rule is still the same.

2) How is your overall health?  Are you a weak and wimpy 57, or is there still some steel left in you to go forward?  How are you truly from a health perspective?  I would tell you to start taking a walk for your mental and physical health.  You need some contemplative time to clear your head, a walk can do that and help you physically.

OK now the tough love...

1) Did you expect your partner to work until he died at the office?  Do you and your partner really not have an exit plan in place? For either of you?

2) You have assets, and you will walk away with a lot more cash in hand that probably 90% of the people "starting over" at this age.

3) If you and your wife are contemplating moving would not a "starting over" source of employment for you or both of you, a big part of that conversation?  If not sure as shit should have been.  As by definition you are moving away, selling the business and house were going to create a lot of cash.  But enough for no future cash flow at 57?  

4) I am a CPA, but have not practiced in decades as my job duties were estimating and project managemnt in the concrete construction business. 

5) I am the sales guy.The company is really nothing more than some equipment, some receivables, and  cash and a few relationships. If I were starting a company like mine, I wouldn't buy it...just grow it by hiring and making conections.

Now the good news!  

1) You actually already know what to do! (IMHO). IF you are selling and leaving the state then that's a choice that negates most of your options other than working for somebody else punching a clock.    Could you ever punch a clock again?  For somebody else? Not take off when you need to at the drop of a hat in a real emergency?  Self employment is not easy, but I would find it impossible to work with real structure in a punch in punch out environment.  

2) Sounds like you are just emotionally beaten down.  In 4 and 5 above, you explain why YOU are the company!  And because of that you can save yourself.  The real estate market is down, and your business assets are not huge beyond the land.  But you already have exactly what you would tell somebody else to do if they owned your business.  You have connections in your business already, and likely you have some younger folks you have worked with that you could see forging an alliance with. Perhaps even a partnership over time?

3) Can you go sell more business?  OR can you find somebody else to sell more business?  Sales drive everything, and as you said you are the sales person, head estimator, and project manager.  Find a younger project manager, and free yourself to sell!  You also might try to find potential areas of higher profitability to fold into your existing business model?  The easy stuff like warehouses is probably less margin simply because it's simpler and thus I assume has more competitors in this space?  What about adding the metal pergolas for carports and backyards to your business (IF HIGH MARGIN)?  There is safety in numbers!  More smaller contracts offer more stability than one or two monster contracts where the stress is huge on the big jobs as well.  

4) Is there a career that you can envision, that has the potential to be more satisfying than making the one your are in more successful?  If so do the research and that might be your path.  

5) I don't know how big your land is, but I might also look for a small up and coming company that could dove tail with your cement work space?  Then you have another "salesperson" in that business.  So in the example above I look for a metal pergola business to work alongside, where you could get easy pours without you doing anything but the same 24 x 24 slabs over and over with less stress and more margin potentially.

Anyhow I feel your pain.  Simply as my business largely became dormant when I lost my biggest account, and was more interested is coaching soccer and real estate, than selling promotional products.  I still make some money on it, but not much.  I would rather risk my cash on home remodels at this juncture. Simply as I like the challenge and actually seeing a finished product.  BUT - I am also looking for cash flow and I have the basic bones of a business that I could reignite.  I am going to pitch a kid I have helped out for a few years, that I hoped would be the first in his family to get a degree.  He's abandoning that to make money, working as a bartender and diligently building a small detailing business on the side.  The kid saves like crazy, and will eventually marry his high school sweetheart.  I bought him a computer for college, and I think he is a natural salesperson.  I am going to try to get him working for me on the promise of giving him control of the business and eventual ownership.  Like your business, it's only worth really the receivables and contacts whioch are now minimal.  And I don't NEED that income stream luckily.

In your case find a way to sustain your business by finding a way to get a partner, ally, or company that needs your business for their business in a strategic partnership.  If you can grow you business, and develop some strategic partners that help "sell" your product for you. That IMHO is your best path. IF you could grow your business some and bring in a new younger replacement partner, you can put a plan in place to exit when you are 67, with a multi-year buyout in place because the business survived and your grew it.  The business will still be paying your kids in 40 years because you still own that land that your former partner rents from you now that your buyout is complete.

Good luck!!!!!  And STAY STRONG!!!!

Thanks for the detailed response. Digesting.

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