CASE STUDY: HOW TO STRATEGICALLY BUILD TRANSFERABLE VALUE IN YOUR BUSINESS.

Walter Conner Jr. began Waterloo Washrooms in 2015 to fill the need for luxury portable sanitation services and washroom trailers for events and construction projects in Florida. In 2016, Waterloo Washrooms acquired its competitor, Handy Can Sanitation Services. As a result of this acquisition, he grew the business from being his sole employee to managing a team of 15.

The Situation

As Walter’s business continued to grow he asked himself, “What are the next steps for the business in terms of growth? Am I willing to give up equity or do I want to sign more guarantees and make more acquisitions myself?” At the point of acquiring Handy Can Sanitation Services, Walter had already made investments in the 7 figure range.

The Goal

Walter’s goal was to create an unbelievable impact on his business value. He aimed to do this by de-risking the business in all aspects to limit daily business struggles and increase long-term value.

The Strategy

Walter utilized the Five Stages of Value Maturity to understand the risks in his business, mitigate those risks, and build transferable value in the company.

Identify: Walter was faced with challenges when acquiring Handy Can Sanitation Services in 2016. His challenges focused on Structural, Customer, and Human Capital.

Protect: Once Handy Can Sanitation Services integrated into Waterloo Washrooms, Walter focused on mitigating immediate risk in Structural, Customer, and Human capital. Walter invested in a new fleet of trucks and trailers in 2019.

Additionally, he made improvements to his human capital by providing his team with raises and offering higher base pay for new hires. One area in which Walter excelled was the organization of his company’s financials. The company had well-organized and clean financial reporting and documented other critical standard operating procedures and strategies. This allowed his business to be prepared for a sale and a due diligence process whenever an offer was made.

Build: The improvements Walter made to his structural, customer, and human capital in the Protect Stage resulted in extensive business growth. Handy Can Sanitation Services doubled EBITDA in one year and long-term construction jobs increased. With new and maintained equipment, good people, clean financials, and a strong strategy, Walter was able to land many new clients with an impressive and unique operation. All these efforts in both the Protect and Build Stages in part resulted in a very attractive company to potential buyers

The Results:

Harvest:

In November of 2020, Walter was presented with an offer from a large National Strategic Buyer to acquire Handy Can Sanitation Services. Walter credits his company’s exceptional structural capital for the sale’s quick close. The transition took only six weeks to complete and occurred over the holiday season between Thanksgiving and Christmas in 2020.

Manage:

Walter shared, “As a young exited owner, I was not looking to retire, but looking to move on to the next act in a different business than my last.” The Strategic Buyer offered a fair price and gave Walter the ability to meet his balanced business, personal, and financial goals.

What’s Next?

Since selling his company, Walter has partnered with a family-owned private capital firm as he looks to purchase and run a new venture. The firm is backing Walter with a $100 million investment. He has taken the strategies and successes from his previous venture to heart as he searches for a blue-collar company with a minimum EBIDTA of 2 million and minimum revenue of $10 million. As an exited owner himself, Walter prefers to preserve the legacy through a transition of ownership, not a transaction as the continuity of the business will lead to its success.

Conclusion:

Whilst this case study is from outside the Mortgage and Finance Broking industry, everything that Walter went through and achieved is directly applicable to business owners in our industry.

Every Broker business owner would benefit from a closer look at where their business currently sits in comparison to where you would desire it to be. From there your value and wealth gaps can be assessed and addressed in an organised and strategically logical manner.

If this sounds like something you're interested in reach out for a private chat here --> Discovery Call

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ash Playsted GM Broker Performance - RECLUDO | Fully Accredited CEPA

Ash is both a dedicated STRATEGIST and MINDSET tactician who relentlessly pursues his 'higher calling'. Ash been has been building businesses personally plus continuously learning for more than 40 years, all of it deep inside the Mortgage and Finance industry. He's written thousands of loans, hired and mentored hundreds of brokers and business owners, started, built, and successfully exited, multiple award winning Mortgage businesses himself. When he's not immersed helping clients create massive value you can find Ash with his loving family, including his wife Kaz, two children, two dogs, two cats and three parrots! Ash believes in keeping physically and mentally fit and is constantly developing himself through exercise of body, mind and spirit.