Christopher M. Snider - Walking to Destiny: 11 Actions An Owner MUST Take to Rapidly Grow Value & Unlock Wealth

BABY BOOMER BUSINESS OWNERS, THE TRUE CHANGE AGENTS WHO BUILT A WORLD WORTH VALUING.

Acknowledgements

I dedicate this book to business owners. You are the risk-takers, the visionaries, the game-changers who propel a society forward. You are your business and because of that, it becomes a true expression of your talent, passion, and hard work. I, like you, am a business owner to my core. And ultimately, I wrote this book to acknowledge your unparalleled contributions to the market and to invest in your successful transition to the next big thing you will go on to do.

I have learned that writing a book is quite a taxing project and it could not have been accomplished without the support of my family, including my lovely wife of 34 wonderful years, Denice; my brilliant and creative daughter, Ashley; my soon-to-be son-in-law, Dan; and my son, Scott Snider, who is more than a son to me. Scott is my business partner and my best friend. I am so blessed to have a son, partner, and friend who believes in me so much.

I would like to thank my clients, past and present, for the experiences we have shared throughout the book. I'd also like to thank the many mentors I have been inspired by, particularly Uncle Freddie, Phil Andrews, Andy Rayburn, and Peter Christman, for their patience and wisdom, which now, approaching my third act and looking back, I appreciate more than ever.

Thank you to Brian Frolo and the team at Codesign, our book designer, for working through the many changes in both content and timelines. A big thanks to Sean Hutchinson and Scott Miller for providing their insights and for the friendship and belief in the cause we have chosen to pursue together; to the Exit Planning Institute (EPI) faculty, board, and members whose content and expertise are changing outcomes for business owners and their families; and to the staff at Snider Premier Growth and EPI, Christina Metz, Josh Koza, and most of all, Kimberly Brooke Norman, all of whom work tirelessly on behalf of the members of our family enterprise.

This project was Brookes first major undertaking since joining the team at Snider Premier Growth. She worked around the clock, dedicating many personal hours to assembling all the edits, gently nudging me to keep us on track, and helping me express my voice in this book. She was my collaborative accountability buddy, and through this experience we have developed a friendship that will last forever. Thank you, Brooke! This could not have been accomplished without you, and I swear I will make it up to you.

Lastly, I couldnt have written this book without having a place to go to retreat from the distractions of the day-to-day and brain dump. Thank you to Bowmans Beach Park for that picnic table in the sun.

Contents

Ive known Chris Snider for 30 years. For 15 of those years, I have called him my mentor and teacher. For of them, I have called him my business partner. And for all 30 of them, I have had the honor of calling him my friend and father. Uniquely, I have had the opportunity to be alongside Chris, experiencing the many different hats he may wear on any given day. I have seen him at the top, and I have seen him at the bottom.

The best way I can describe Chris is not just through his business accomplishments, or the countless lessons I have learned from him, or even the person he is in his personal life. He is more than that.

Chris Snider is the leader; for our family, for our companies, and for the industry. Chris is, very simply, the guy who drives the car when everyone else needs to sleep.

I started my first company at the age of 17 and grew that company with mentorship and support from Chris. In 2010, I decided to sell that company. Thankfully, I had a dad who was an exit planner and value acceleration specialist. I spent the late spring and summer of 2010 transitioning that company to the new owners and integrating it into their organization. At the same time, Chris asked me to join his consulting firm, Aspire Management. And so in the fall of 2010, I did that.

I started by becoming an analyst. I would analyze tax documents, recast financial statements, prepare the Enterprise Value Assessment reports for the team, review industries and comparables for the valuation analysis and, eventually, build the company book.

It was in early 2011 that Chris brought me into his office and said, Scott, I want to be THE exit planner in Northeast Ohio. When owners and advisors think about building value and transitioning their companies, I want them to think of me. Can you do that for me?

At the time I was 25 years old, was new to this industry, and had absolutely no technical experience whatsoever. I suppose the entrepreneurial, challenge-seeking, competitive spirit that burns inside me took over and I responded by saying, Yes, absolutely!

What I didnt anticipate, or really have any idea of at all, was the magnitude that very simple answer would have for our future; that we had stepped onto a path to become the nationally recognized authority in exit planning and value acceleration.

I started by analyzing all of Chriss materials, workshops, processes, and philosophies. What I knew was that he had a pretty diverse caree r working with major international corporations all the way down to small family businesses. And that within those organizations, he had a diverse career pat h from auditor to systems implementer to supply chain manager at Sherwin Williams, to logistics, then over to consulting for Price Waterhouse, then leaping over to being an executive at a nuts and bolts distributor, then running a multi-billion-dollar division as CIO for Textron. He got into IT, websites, and content marketing and eventually started his own consulting firm.

All of that robust experience, when you really analyze it and boil it down, equated to helping owners and their executive teams grow their companies, manage and execute projects, and lead teams.