What it takes to run a business

Podcast

This week, Paul Downs, Jay Goltz, and William Vanderbloemen assess the damage of a stressful year. We started with the impact the year has had on the value of their businesses. Then we discussed whether they would be ready to sell their businesses if a generous offer were to come along. That prospect, Jay tells us, would likely cause him to do some soul-searching, but he would consider it skeptically. It seems to be a well accepted fact, he says, that most people who sell their business end up regretting it. Plus: as we head into budget season, we find out whether the three owners are planning to give raises. And in this week’s Morning Report News Quiz, we learn what happened to Inspiration, Imagination, and Fantasy.

For Jay Goltz, William Vanderbloemen, and Laura Zander, concerns about the pandemic loomed large this week as one of them had to self-isolate in his basement after being exposed to the virus. That fact helped surface a number of interesting questions: Are the three owners being careful enough? What should they tell employees who choose to travel over the holidays? Should employees who travel get paid if local rules require them to quarantine after they return? And if traveling employees do have to quarantine, will these businesses have enough staffers available in December and January to function? And then there was the question Laura demanded of Jay after Jay explained how exactly he was exposed to the virus: “Wait, no,” she said, “You didn't answer my question. Were you wearing a mask?”

And so, yes, Dana White was in fact the big winner at last week’s Detroit Demo Day, taking home the top prize of $200,000 for her hair salon business, Paralee Boyd, which specializes in serving women with thick and curly hair and which has an unusual walk-in-only business model. Of course, Dana now has some decisions to make: Does she want to take the money in the form of a zero-interest loan? Or does she want to take it in the form of a convertible note, which can convert to an equity stake in her company? And perhaps, more importantly, how exactly is she going to spend the money? As she tells Paul Downs and Jay Goltz in this conversation, she’s thinking about spending it on marketing, on opening another location, or on creating retail products for sale online or in her salons. What do you think Dana should do? Please email your thoughts to lfeldman@21hats.com, and we’ll share them on the podcast and in the Morning Report.

This has not been an easy year for Dana White, who has had to close one of her two hair salons and who has struggled, amid the pandemic, to keep the other one staffed. But this week she reveals to Karen Clark Cole and Paul Downs that she’s a finalist for a potentially game-changing pitch competition. “A $200,000 investment from Quicken Loans is a huge validator when you're looking to grow,” says Dana. “When you have first money in from Dan Gilbert, it bodes well for your company.” Dana also tells Karen and Paul that she’s just made her most important hire ever, an operations manager who had a compelling reason for wanting to join Dana. Plus: the Morning Report News Quiz.

This, to say the least, has been a challenging year. So this week, we’ve decided to bring you two inspirational success stories by revisiting one of our earliest podcast episodes. Way back in November of 2019, Karen Clark Cole and Loren Feldman attended EY’s Strategic Growth Forum in Palm Springs where we conducted a series of interviews with participants in EY’s Winning Women program. Two of those interviews were with women who started companies from scratch and sold them successfully—learning all sorts of lessons along the way.