Latest POST
When Your Growth Outpaces Your Bookkeeping

Three very different companies, one common problem: Without strong accounting, financing becomes more complicated—or impossible.

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About 21 Hats: What We Do. What People Say. How We Got Here

Have you read our testimonials? At 21 Hats, don't tell you how to run your business. But we do publish news articles, Q&As, webinars, podcasts about what it takes to build a business.

How Would You Finance a Buyout of Your Partner?

One of my clients has a tough decision to make: Is he willing to use his home as collateral?

I Recently Decided to Change My Business Support Group 

I couldn’t sleep the night before I made the switch, but I’m confident it was the right decision.

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Latest PODCAST EPISODE
Best of Episode: Seth Goldman Brews Another Success
Best of: Seth Goldman Brews Another Success

It was around Memorial Day in 2022 when Coca Cola stunned the beverage world by announcing it was shutting down production of Honest Tea. No one was more surprised than Seth Goldman, who had co-founded the brand and sold it to Coke. But within two weeks, he’d decided to do it all again, and by that Labor Day, bottles of his new venture, Just Ice Tea, were already landing on store shelves. And now, three years later, Just Ice Tea has exploded from $1 million in annual revenue to nearly $24 million to rank 88th on the latest Inc. 5000—more than two decades after Honest Tea first appeared on the list. Which makes this the perfect moment to revisit the conversation I recorded with Seth right before Just Ice Tea launched. In it, he shares how he processed Coke’s decision, why he sold to Coke in the first place, what compelled him to get back into the business, and what he learned working inside the world’s largest beverage company. And yes, I asked whether he could imagine selling this brand to Coke, too.

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When Your Biggest Hire Ever Is a Bust
TIME TO LISTEN: 44:27

This week, Jaci Russo tells David C. Barnett and Kate Morgan how the hiring of her agency’s first top-level sales person went wrong. About four months ago, when Jaci first told us about this big step, she sounded thrilled. She said her new sales chief was a delight to be around, had hit the ground running, and had already lined up at least one impressive client. Unfortunately, none of that panned out. But Jaci, who is hardly the first business owner to have an important placement go off the rails, offered to walk us through her process to see what lessons we can all learn: Were the interviews flawed? Was the onboarding effort insufficient? Was it the executive recruiting firm she used? Was it the compensation structure? Or was it the remote-work arrangement? Plus: We also discuss the mounting evidence that companies have stopped filling entry-level positions. And should that trend continue, where will owners find the next generation of leaders?

Laura Zander Named Her Exit Price
TIME TO LISTEN: 49:04

This week, Laura Zander tells Mel Gravely and Jennifer Kerhin how she and her husband, Doug, managed to sell their business for precisely the price they wanted. As you may recall, Laura and Doug started Jimmy Beans Wool more than two decades ago as a tiny corner store and turned it into one of the biggest brands in the yarn industry. Years ago, the couple decided they’d be open to selling—but only if the offer was right. With that goal in mind, they made a deliberate effort to get the business sale-ready and to keep it that way. And as Laura ran the company, she started cultivating relationships with anyone she thought might one day be a buyer. In fact, she tells us, she was never shy about saying, “Oh, hey, Bob, it's really nice to meet you. Do you want to buy my business?” Eventually, someone said yes—although getting to a signed contract, Laura says, nearly broke her. Plus: Jennifer thought she had her hands full running her business—and then her own home went up in flames.

Dear ChatGPT: What Are My Blind Spots?
TIME TO LISTEN: 45:15

This week, Jennifer Kerhin, Jaci Russo, and Sarah Segal talk about how they’ve been using ChatGPT. Jennifer has deputized the AI chatbot as a key advisor, feeding it all kinds of performance data and soliciting its analysis before making hiring, financial, and strategic decisions. Recently, she asked it to identify her biggest blind spots as a CEO. Five seconds later, it spat out five answers with detailed explanations and suggestions. And what did Jennifer think of the feedback? “It was right on,” she tells us. “I mean, it was totally, absolutely true.” We even brought ChatGPT into our conversation in real time, asking it whether Jaci had hired the right business development person, whether Sarah had been fully prepared two years ago to buy back her PR firm, and what’s the best podcast for small business owners. Plus: while we were talking, Jaci asked ChatGPT to evaluate the performance of her co-founder and spouse, MIchael. Let’s just say, it does have some concerns.

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Never miss a 21 Hats Podcast episode
Latest CONVERSATION
The Changing Face of the Yarn Industry

For many, knitting may still conjure an image of a grandmother in a rocking chair, her cats sleeping and her doilies taking shape. In recent years, however, the quiet industry of tiny neighborhood yarn shops scattered across the U.S. has become an unlikely cultural battleground. It’s been divided by charges of racism and cultural appropriation that have erupted in a series of social media firestorms, prompting some owners to close, sell, or rebrand their businesses. It may seem surprising that such a quiet pursuit could produce so much conflict, but it’s really not all that different from the fissures afflicting the country as a whole. In this conversation, we meet three women who were not content to stick to their knitting: Adella Colvin, whose business, LolaBean Yarn Co., is a prominent independent dyer based in Grovetown, Ga.; Gaye “GG” Glasspie, a leading yarn industry influencer whose signature color is orange and who is based in Clifton, N.J.; and Felicia Eve, who owns String Thing Studio in Brooklyn, N.Y., one of the few Black-owned yarn shops in the country. The video offers our entire conversation. You can also listen to a slightly edited 21 Hats Podcast version of the conversation wherever you get podcasts.

Top CONVERSATIONs
What’s Wrong With Small Business Marketing?

It’s not always about marketing. Sometimes, the real issues go deeper. Sometimes, before you can figure out how to sell, you have to figure out who you are.

The Changing Face of the Yarn Industry
TIME TO WATCH: 1:34:43

For many, knitting may still conjure an image of a grandmother in a rocking chair, her cats sleeping and her doilies taking shape. In recent years, however, the quiet industry of tiny neighborhood yarn shops scattered across the U.S. has become an unlikely cultural battleground. It’s been divided by charges of racism and cultural appropriation that have erupted in a series of social media firestorms, prompting some owners to close, sell, or rebrand their businesses. It may seem surprising that such a quiet pursuit could produce so much conflict, but it’s really not all that different from the fissures afflicting the country as a whole. In this conversation, we meet three women who were not content to stick to their knitting: Adella Colvin, whose business, LolaBean Yarn Co., is a prominent independent dyer based in Grovetown, Ga.; Gaye “GG” Glasspie, a leading yarn industry influencer whose signature color is orange and who is based in Clifton, N.J.; and Felicia Eve, who owns String Thing Studio in Brooklyn, N.Y., one of the few Black-owned yarn shops in the country. The video offers our entire conversation. You can also listen to a slightly edited 21 Hats Podcast version of the conversation wherever you get podcasts.

When Buying an Unsexy Business Becomes Sexy
TIME TO WATCH: 51:59

This week, we talk to two people who walked away from promising careers to buy blue collar businesses. Long before search funds and sweaty startups became all the rage, Bob Schwartz left a Wall Street investment banking career to buy a chain of laundromats, SuperSuds, which operates in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. More recently, Mills Snell left a prominent private equity firm to buy a roofing contractor, Aqua Seal Manufacturing and Roofing, which is based in Columbia, South Carolina. In this conversation, Schwartz and Snell talk about what they were thinking, what they learned about buying a business, what they’ve learned about operating a business, and whether they’re looking for an exit.

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