Episode Description:
In this episode, host Elizabeth Ledoux is joined by James Iacino, the former owner, Chairman, & CEO of the Seattle Fish Company. James shares how his family got started in the seafood business in the early 1900s, including how his grandpa as a teenager pushed a cart around Denver selling oysters that had been trained in from Seattle. Tap or click the play button below to listen to: From Oysters on a Cart to Seafood Empire: The Legacy of Seattle Fish Company with James Iacino.
James and Elizabeth also dive into the pressure of being a successor in a family business and the challenges James faced balancing his vision with his company’s established path.
Connect with James Iacino on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesiacino/
Connect with Elizabeth Ledoux and the Transition Strategists:
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Elizabeth on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethledoux/
Transition Strategists on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/transitionstrategists/
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This episode was produced by Story On Media & Marketing: https://www.successwithstories.com.
From Oysters on a Cart to Seafood Empire: The Legacy of Seattle Fish Company Transcript
James Iacino: When I got there full time, my dad to his credit, he essentially retired and stepped aside. Wow, he had he had a management team that he trusted, he was still, you know, in charge of the company. But he really he didn’t, you stopped coming in day to day to day to day, you know, he started relying on his management team started doing a lot of reporting over the phone in different, you know, board meetings and things like that. And really just let me kind of not have his shadow looming over me. And it’s something when I reflect back, that was really a good move, I think, and a lot of folks, you know, it’s really hard to prove yourself, if if your dad’s right there, right, always looking over you and doing the right thing, or if especially if he was saying, Hey, you should be doing it this way, then I don’t have the freedom to do what I think I should be doing. And and you might feel constrained or threatened or or you’re under his shadow comparisons, people may be going to him if they should be coming to me for decisions. There’s a lot of that that said, so he was really able to just truly delegate give authority and give space and clear out to make it clear that he was no longer going to be the one running it. So
Elizabeth Ledoux:Welcome to the business transition roadmap. My name is Elizabeth Ledoux. And through my years, I have seen how communities thrive. When business succession and transition are done. Well, me and my team at the transition strategists have been helping business owners develop and implement transition strategies for over 30 years. And on this show, we want to help you by giving you the roadmap to a healthy business transition. Let’s get started. Hi, everyone, and welcome back to the business transition roadmap. Today, I am so grateful to have James IOC no with us. He is the former owner, Chairman and CEO of the Seattle Fish Company. And he is a third generation owner. So he had the experience of coming in and taking over for his father. And he’ll tell us more about that story. That business was founded in 1918. So James, gosh, thank you so much for being here today. And this is really exciting for me. So I’m appreciative.
James Iacino: Thank you so much for having me know, I appreciate the opportunity to be here and tell a little bit of our story.
Elizabeth Ledoux: Thank you. So you have, I think quite a story to share with a lot of insight for our listeners. And so first, let’s just start out with a little bit about who you are and how you got into being an owner of the Seattle Fish Company.
James Iacino: Sir. Yeah. So first of all, I’ve been in Denver, my whole life. My my grandfather really is the he’s the start of the whole story. So he immigrated from Italy in 1905. And came out to Denver when he was three years old. And he was the last of his brothers to to come over. So my great grandfather really came out and started bringing his kids over as he could afford to. And they emigrated straight out to Denver a lot of Italian Americans did at the time. And he was kind of forced to be entrepreneurial, or at least work hard. So he got through about eighth grade and had to start helping to support the family and his brothers had started a meat market in downtown Denver is called the diamond a meat market. It was it 15th And Lawrence. And so he would go to work with them and had a little corner of the shop and wanted to be able to provide products they were providing, you know, rabbit meat and local meats and things that they could do to consumers in a retail shop. And he came up with the idea he went down to the trains that would come through passenger trains from Seattle and from the West Coast. And he would buy oysters and put them on a little cart and with some of the rabbit meat and the other meat products from the store and push the cart around downtown Denver selling oysters and rabbit meat. And that’s really how he kind of brought seafood he was then he was quite the innovator he decided you know okay if they didn’t have seafood here in 1918 you know around the turn of the century then unless it was local trout or things like that. But he would go to the chef and he started buying more seafood products it Can you can you sell me some salmon? Can you sell me some halibut things like that? And his brother’s game a little corner of the shop and for a while he would sell his seafood products in the corner of the shop there and push the cart around Denver. And when he was 16 he decided to go out on his own and open his own retail shop called it Seattle Fish Company because all the fish was coming by train from Seattle. That’s the most common question I get asked because we are a company named Seattle fish. I think also the name Seattle fish probably sounded better than Denver Fish Company. So it’s a little bit of branding there. That worked out well for him. And so he, he would purchase the products from the the chefs. And ultimately, as he started bringing in more quantity, he came up with a way to mix sawdust with ice and create an ice slurry that would allow the him to byproducts from Seattle and ship it via rail on the express trains that can forego stopping for the ice stops, which allowed the fish to be fresher and to get here faster. And so he really found a way to kind of use that entrepreneurial spirit to come up with something to transport the seafood products to Colorado. So he was had fresh fish and introduce products here that people had never seen and started selling places like the brown Palace Hotel and the Oxford hotel and all these businesses that were out here. So he started selling them and had his retail shop, which he ultimately moved to between 15th and 16th. on Market Street, the building is still there. And they were there for I don’t even know how long until 1982 When my dad was working and then running the company. My dad started when he was a kid and started you know, he was just telling me about it the other day, just remembering how much how you’d have to unload and load all these pallets of crab legs and shrimp and things and walk it downstairs in the Market Street building down into the freezer and then restack it on the pallet and then bring the new stuff in and unstack it and restock it and it’s all 10 degrees, you know, and it’s freezing and he just was recalling all this hard work he did as a kid, his dad the store, but he ultimately took over the company and expanded it opened a brand new facility at the time, which is where we still are today. In 1983, out near I 70 and Monaco, so kind of out near Stapleton airport at the time. And he started and he built at the time the largest freezer this side of the Mississippi and had a lot of the product during his generation kind of became frozen as freezer technology became available. And so he was a lot of shrimp and crab and lobster and all that kind of stuff, but still had the fresh product that he would fly into Stapleton airport at the time. And so he built it and then ultimately shut down the retail aspect and just went pure wholesale started selling to King Soopers and ultimately builds up to Whole Foods and mosaics and all those all the retailers you see today, in addition, which is about half our business and the other half is all the restaurants and hotels and caterers that they’ve been dealing with for a long time. So so he built that business worked there for 55 years, I think I my story. I started going in with him to the office at 530. In the morning, my dad was ultimately a purchaser he was a buyer. So he while he was president of the company, he really bought fish and sold fish. And so he knew kind of those mechanics of it. So I would go in and you’d have to go in at 530 in the morning because the east coast was already open and he had to buy fish off the auctions and get that those orders in for the day. So I would go in and do some paperwork when I was really young. And then when I was about 12, I started working overnight on the docks. And working in fresh production, which is packing the fish I was cutting fish and was 13. And then started driving trucks when I was 16 drove trucks all the way through high school and college. And then after college, got into first purchasing I travelled around the world and visited a lot of our vendors at the time. So I lived in Japan and then went up to Alaska and down the West Coast, went up to Maine and down the East Coast and just kind of visited learned about all the different seafood products and started buying fish for about six months before I moved into sales and sales where I really found my passion. And started talking to chefs and restaurants and selling products became sales director. And then President a few years after that, ran the company for 10 years. And then and then stepped down just into the chairman role after at that point, I was majority owner of the company and and ultimately we had a transaction a couple of years ago. So the company is still there. And it’s 100. And what if a year now so yeah, yeah,
Elizabeth Ledoux: incredible. And what an incredible story. And I think one of the values that we have with you hear today is that you have the you have the perception of what it’s like to be a successor. And that your story from starting young with paperwork all the way through to Chairman and then a transaction. So you have that perspective. And you also have the perspective of being transitioner. Right, leaving the company and getting out of it. Just noticing what a long journey I’ve been thinking about and talking about the the learning curve of a successor versus the learning curve of a person transitioning. So your dad already had all that knowledge, but you had a lot to learn. And so what was it like to be in the successor role? How did that work for you?
James Iacino: I mean, there’s first of all when you get to a company this size, or you get to this Are generation, there’s a lot of expectation, I think, and a lot of folks, first of all, assume that you’re going to come into the family business. So that really wasn’t an option for me, it was just kind of know that that’s what it was gonna be. And then there’s a lot of pressure because you’re, you’re young, and you want to earn your way and prove that you are able to do this on your own of your own merit. And at the same time, there’s a clear path kind of lead that’s been laid out, that shows that you are ultimately going to succeed and be, you know, running this company and owning this company someday, if things work out that way. So you have this, these these high expectations, you have folks who, you know, maybe feel a little bit threatened, and you have to earn their trust and respect, you need to go in and do the work, and then also be able to put your own stamp on it. And at some point take over, well, here’s where I think the company needs to go. And maybe that’s different than where my dad thought it needed to go, right. And so to start to build trust amongst the team, build some of that, you know, get everybody on board pointed in the right direction, start to do some strategy and really start to move, it just it takes a lot of time. And it’s not, it’s not easy, because the whole time, everybody. And the rest of the time, you also have in your ears, something everybody’s told me, which is that the first generation starts the company, the second makes all the money and the third runs it into the ground. And so the back of my head, the entire time as well, that, you know, everybody’s kind of expecting you to fail when the most such small percentage of businesses make it to this position. So, so a lot of a lot of pressure. And at the same time, a lot of opportunity. And I think a lot of opportunity to maybe see a business with fresh eyes that maybe hadn’t seen that in a while. Right? If my dad was there 55 years, you get used to doing something a certain way. And I think he got used to this level of, well, this is successful. And and I think maybe it can go to here, I’m not sure how to get there. And I could come in and say well, have we thought about this? Or have we thought about that? Or here’s where I’m seeing things are changing? Can we can we start to look at new ideas and so, so a lot of a lot of excitement around the opportunity to kind of make it your own and change as well. Which was, which was good.
Elizabeth Ledoux: Yeah. And also a lot of opportunity to work with your dad. You know, those years together?
James Iacino: I’m sure. Yeah, it was it was interesting. And it’s something I credit him for, because a lot of folks don’t do this. So my grandfather worked till his 90th birthday. So even about 20, at least 20 something years after he had transitioned to ownership to my dad. He continued to show up in the office and was always kind of looking over my dad’s shoulder. And my dad didn’t really appreciate that, because he wanted to do his own thing. So there’s a lot of that pressure, like, is this really mind to run even though I now own the company, is the founder and his dad is still there in the office next door to him, right? Yeah, the opposite kind of views. So the moment I got there full time. So I did work alongside him growing up. And then anytime I got breaks from school, and I was working at the office, I got to see him operate and see the business and just learn it. But a lot of times I was working in different departments where he wasn’t wasn’t there either. When I got there full time, my dad to his credit, he essentially retired and stepped aside. Yet he had a management team that he trusted, he was still you know, in charge of the company, but he really he didn’t, he stopped coming in day to day to day to day, you know, he started relying on his management team started doing a lot of reporting over the phone and different, you know, the board meetings and things like that. And really just let me kind of not have his shadow looming over me. And it’s something when I reflect back, that was really a good move, I think, and a lot of folks, you know, it’s really hard to prove yourself, if if your dad’s right there, right, always looking over you and doing the right thing, or if especially if he was saying, Hey, you should be doing it this way. Then I don’t have the freedom to do what I think I should be doing and and you might feel constrained or threatened or or you’re under his shadow comparisons, people may be going to him if they should be coming to me for decisions. There’s a lot of that, that so so he was really able to just truly delegate give authority and give space and and clear out to make it clear that he was no longer going to be the one running it. So. So that was that was a blessing.
Elizabeth Ledoux: Yeah. So So in these we talk a lot about, you know, what worked, what worked. And it’s interesting, I think, too, you know, for your dad to have the experience with his dad. And then a lot of times what happens is you have an experience, and then you do the opposite. And it sounds like that experience was like, Oh, I could do this better. And so let’s try to make it better in this next. Yeah, the next transition versus the other. Yeah.
James Iacino: Yeah, it was something he was intentional about was saying, you know, this, this didn’t work for me. And I think if I want to set this up for success, I could probably do this better by building a team and get and out of the way. So yeah, definitely pointed to him. Yeah,
Elizabeth Ledoux: and also gives you the opportunity as a successor to come in, and actually make a decision and see whether it was the right one or the wrong one. And if it’s the wrong one, it gives you the opportunity to pick yourself back up again. And to keep on going, because so many times the prior owner, whether it’s a parent or not, just comes in and saves you. And that really can be detrimental, because you don’t get the opportunity to learn,
James Iacino: ya know, it’s, it’s all about being able to make those mistakes and, and those successes and just those choices, with the team around you and with the people there on the ground, and, and to Yeah, succeed or fail. And we did both, we had things that worked. You know, when I came in, we didn’t have a website, we didn’t have any kind of marketing, it just it was all very old school, word of mouth, you had relationships, it was very relationship based business, there was no talk of sustainability, which is something that my generation really was, you know, keen on. And really, we started those conversations and ultimately built a brand around it. That was very successful. But those things weren’t happening, I was able to start to make moves in that direction, even though it was something that my dad didn’t have any of that experience on or just didn’t necessarily just wasn’t a part of his business career, right. But it was where the business was going, it was what was important for the business, I was able to do those. At the same time, we did things like trying to get into the meat business, because it always sounds good to throw stuff on the truck and get more profit per stop. And, you know, and and learn, okay? Commodity meat business is a whole different ballgame and whole different margins, and the sales reps don’t want to learn how to sell it. And there’s a lot of conflicts. You know, so we try that, and that didn’t work out. And it’s okay. And I was able to make that mistake and say, Here was our thinking behind it, here’s what we learned, and here’s what we’re going to do going forward. And so, you know, he, he gave me a lot of, of grace there, I think, you know, it helps to that we were able to start growing, and I was able to start particularly in my position in running the sales department and able to kind of, you know, change the way folks were compensated start to to change the way we interact with the customers and the value we bring to them and how we talk about sustainability and menu offerings. And just, I had a lot of free reign there. And it was successful, it took us from what was when I got there, zero to 1% growth, kind of a lifestyle business doing very well, but not a lot of growth to, you know, rocket ship growth, where we started growing double digits year over year for the next decade. And so it really transformed the business, but I had a lot of the freedom to do what I needed to do to help to help make that happen. Yeah.
Elizabeth Ledoux: And it’s incredible when you have the opportunity. You know, having businesses continue forward is one of my passions to be to have those businesses Thrive Forward, communities continue forward and to be thriving and safe. And to have the opportunity as an entrepreneurial person to come in and take a company that exists and then make it more, you know, expand and use that as a platform to launch into something bigger. I think that that’s something that well, I’m hoping that other entrepreneurial people will be able to do that in the future instead of the businesses being shut down.
James Iacino: Yeah, yeah. And I think you have to, if you don’t come in with an entrepreneurial mindset and think we always have to be adapting, we always have to look at where’s the puck going to be like, where’s this? Where’s the market heading? what do what do you what do our customers want? What are they looking for, that we’re not providing that somebody needs to provide in this market? If the business doesn’t adapt, then it will die? I think and that was, you know, that was something that we saw early on. You just can’t you just can’t do the same thing that always worked for decades before, I don’t think because and he might have innovated without him knowing it to that business shifted throughout his time as well, in order to, to continue to adapt. But yeah, that was that was something you’ve got to be able to come in and have the authority and the the vision and the team and just the the ability to be able to pivot where you need to and it can create a whole new business. And I think that’s what we hopefully set
Elizabeth Ledoux: Yeah, yeah, super successful. And so we’ll fast forward, right, fast forward. And all of a sudden, we’re towards the end of you owning and running the business. And what I want to talk about is in that time of transition, what for you worked in your thinking about that? What were some of the catalysts behind you deciding to sell at this time, right at this time in this market two years ago? And you know, what didn’t work for you?
James Iacino: Yeah, I think first of all, Making the decision to sell it’s it kind of started with it. I think my intention was to, I know my intention was to hold and build the company and I was happy with where we were going. And a couple things changed one, we got an unsolicited offer from one of our partners that, you know, at the time was like, Oh, wow, this could be an option, we hadn’t really considered a third party exit at the time. And to ultimately, I built a family and I started to have kids of my own. And when I had my kiddos and my first kid, in particular, I started to see the expectation of folks around me in the community. Well, of course, you know, the fourth generation is here. And I’m just and I started to think he’s gonna go through what I went through, and both my voice now right, in terms of that pressure to carry on this legacy, and maybe that’s not what he wants, and maybe I don’t want that for him. And we’ve had family drama as well. I think anytime you get inside family business, it’s not always pretty. And so oftentimes, that I think the business took precedence over family, and a lot of the relationships in my family were strained because of it. And so as I looked for forward towards my kids was just thinking, do I want that for them? Or do I want something different? Do I want them to have an opportunity, and at the same time, what’s going to be best for the business going forward? Right, I honestly got a, I started to get a bit burned out, I was like, You know what, just like I came in, and had to have fresh eyes and a willingness to engage and invest in this business and take it to the next level where it needs to go, you know, now my dad’s retired, and I’m kind of moving out of that and wanted to, I thought it was fair for owners to come in, who were willing to invest and take it to that next level, when maybe, you know, with some with some fresh eyes and some fresh energy and maybe a different perspective. So ultimately, it was gonna be more sustainable for the business to be able to succeed as well. So I think what worked was identifying that early, before, well before the transaction, so probably four years before the transaction actually occurred. Understanding this is the direction we’re going to go, what do we need to then focus on to make sure this is the most, you know, the most financially beneficial, the most beneficial for the team that’s in place, the most beneficial for the marketplace and our customers and start to have those conversations. So bringing in my senior team starting to have those conversations, looking at how we focus on particular EBIT, da growth and in what’s our growth rate, what the multiples look like in this market, you know, how’s the financial situation of the company, all those things, if you take enough time ahead, you can really focus on those things that are going to help create the most value during the transaction, right? Can’t then we were able to look at with the team’s help, okay. What would an ideal owner look like? Right, who’s going to come in and really steward this business, I, for instance, knew just having examples with other friends that I did not want to sell to a traditional private equity company, I was very, our I mean, one of our core values of the company was family. And I can tell you to this day, if you go into the receptionist there, she’s been there since before I was born. And a lot of our employees are tenured with multiple decades. And they stay because we take care of them. And they’re with a company that grows with them. So it was very, very important to me that we find somebody that’s going to be able to steward the company the way our family did, right. And so you can start to identify those characteristics of ideals that you want an owner and then when it’s time to go to market, here’s who we’re definitely not going to talk to, and here’s who were interested in looking for and start to narrow that down, right? Timing made sense, because we were at the peak of our performance, and at the time, multiples were great, this is still this is two years ago. So that was free evaluation, which is significant significantly, I think, had we done this today instead of then so and I knew that it was getting it’s either that kind of cycle or you’re gonna have to wait a whole nother cycle. And for me, I didn’t want to have to wait another, you know, 10 years until maybe the opportunity came. And so the timing was right and worked out for me personally with the with my family and, and then through a process with the team. And with third party helping us we were able to identify an ownership group that came in to to purchase that is another family office, and happens to be a family office out of Vancouver. So for us, you know, and for the market and the community that you talked about that’s so important to us. I mean, you can’t be 100 years in a community and not have incredible history with people and kind of their expectations of the company. It was it was one family going to another that’s the way we looked at the transaction. This is one family taking it it’s brought it this far and this this next family can take you for the next 100 years and they buy and hold specialty protein companies and they they are there for the long run and I can proudly say that two years later, our whole team is still there and the company is thriving and I Just met with the ownership group and they’re doing great, they couldn’t be more pleased with the transaction. I love seeing the trucks around town, still all over the state. And so I think that to us was a successful transition. But But it started years ago, and it started with an intentionality and, and with good communication and good idea of what we wanted the outcome to be.
Elizabeth Ledoux: Yeah, and also a couple of points when you included others to help you to get there, both inside and outside of the company. I think that’s important. Second, when you talk about maximizing value, maximizing value, isn’t always and many times is not about the money. It’s the values also that you’re trying to maximize our culture, and taking care of people. And you know, one of our top values in our company is people first. And that’s how we like to see those transitions go. Because I think if you are able to help people continue to live a great life, the odds are in your favor of the business going forward, because it’s the people who make the difference, truly in helping that to continue to thrive. And yeah, the other one that I think is important for, for our listeners too, is, there’s a belief out there, in my experience, when I go talk to owners, that two things, one, they say, Oh, my business isn’t worth much, and nobody would probably want it or it wouldn’t be a value. And then the other thing that happens is a belief that, that they won’t be able to find the right successor, that that successor doesn’t exist and in the millions of people that we have billions available to us that that one person or the one company doesn’t exist. So that intentionality of four years before and then having the belief and actually going and intentionally looking made all the difference for you.
James Iacino: Yeah, 100%. And, and internally as well. And I think one thing that’s that I think any good investment banker, or folks preparing you for a transaction will tell you is you know, if you as the as the CEO or the principal, the president can, as much as possible, separate yourself from day to day and build a team around you, that’s going to take the company to the next level, that creates value and creates value in the stability of the company. And it’s not all on one person. And so we were fortunate to identify that early and have somebody internally that we could work with and build who is still the CEO today to be able to take the reins and say I want this challenge I he’s been there for years decades. But you know, was excited to be able to bring his spin to the company. And we were able to work and kind of develop him and his team to be able to take the company to the next level. And we had this transaction so that it was it was it maximize the outcome. Because the company wasn’t tied to me. It wasn’t tied to one person. It was tied to a team of people and they were taken care of in the transaction. And they were really a part of the process the entire way. So that they won just as much as we did, you know, they’re with a great employer as well and continue, and continue to have the freedom that they wanted to, you know, in their jobs in the first place. So,
Elizabeth Ledoux: absolutely. Absolutely. So if you look back at that time, what are some of the things that you think didn’t work or confusing or missing? What would you have done a little bit differently?
James Iacino: It’s a it’s a good question. I mean, we did we did this part very well, I think I think we were really intentional about it, because we hadn’t, you know, I think if anything I would have would have continued to plan even further ahead. You know, I think if if that’s something that’s going to be an outcome, or even if you don’t think like I didn’t know that you’re ever going to sell the company, and then somehow it’s going to translate at some point it says it doesn’t mean you can’t do the things today to make it as strong as possible for that eventual transaction. Right. And that’s shoring up systems that you know, are, but I mean, literally, the blocking and tackling, like is everything documented on how things work in your operation, right? Is are things if you had to do a deep dive and due diligence, if you were buying your business today, what are the things that you’d want to see in place? Everybody should have that in place, right? And we did. So a lot of the work that we had to do was really documenting processes, organizational stuff, just everything you would do in a due diligence dive. And you know, and we had, we were fortunate to start that with our first unsolicited offer that you know, we started talking, oh, we got to get our ducks in a row. But you know, once we had done that, then when the time actually came where we were ready to do it and we were intentional about selling 90% of the heavy lifting was done right? It was all in place and it just it just allows you to have that so I would have I would have had that a little more organized and it was it was it was tough because it was 100 year old company to go through. But I think I think any business If you’re gonna, you know, if you’re running it, you should be prepared for that, eventually, it’s just going to make you a stronger business, it’s just going to make you see where you might have some weak spots are things that you can, you know, document and systems you can put in place or just things you can have together so that you’re going to be stronger for an eventual transaction. So I would have done absolutely, yeah.
Elizabeth Ledoux: Thanks. Yeah. And it makes me think about, you know, when you have a house, and you let it run, and you live in it, and then you’re thinking about selling it, and then you start fixing it up. Yeah, right before you sell it. And then I think about CEOs and owners who, you know, they’ll stay in that house forever. And then toward the end there burned out tired, etc. But if with the systems, the processes and the things that you’re talking about, I’m guessing that that would make it easier for you to operate the business, and probably make it more fun, not only for you, but for your, for your team, and also teach that team because every single time they have to go through the building of the process, they’re the ones that do it typically. And they learn, it’s a learning platform, basically, on the
James Iacino: present, and it provides and you’re going to have succession or transition, whether you like it or not just within your team within your company, right. So for somebody to come in and use like and you already have your ducks in a row. And you’re like, well, here’s how this operates. Right, and here’s, here’s all the documentation. And here’s, here’s how things have worked. And you keep that up to date. It just gives them a huge head start. So they’re not having to start and figure everything out from scratch, they can really hit the ground running and be more engaged in meaningful work and drive the business forward, as opposed to trying to figure out what’s going on in the first place. Right? That’s right. Yeah, so whether you like it or not, you’re gonna have some kind of succession or transition, you might as well best prepare your company as if it were going to happen today. It will just put you miles ahead. Absolutely.
Elizabeth Ledoux: Absolutely. Well, gosh, we are at our time. And so I’m I know, it goes quickly. And, again, grateful to have you here, I have one last thing that I asked everybody. If you had one thing that you would leave with the listeners and our audience that you might think would help them the most. What’s the one thing that you want them to walk away with? Just on the spot there?
James Iacino: Oh, no, I get it. I think I think you said it earlier, I think when people are transitioning a business, ultimately, what the core of a business, there’s so much more value in the values and culture and and people of the business than than you’ll ever imagine. Right. And that’s, that’s, it’s the way people talk about government. You know, it’s like government is just people, right. And so if you have great people, you have great government and business is truly people. And it’s the relationships they build. It’s the knowledge they have, and it’s the way they interact and work together. And it’s the brain share. And so the more you invest in your people, and you can communicate with them and bring them along, I just think there’s so much value there, whether you’re selling your business, or you’re passing it to another generation, you know, it’s it’s, it’s those folks that you have around when you invest in them, and you take the time to communicate and make them part of the process and make them part of your decision making. They’re going to be there with you, no matter which direction it goes. And they’re gonna be there with you when it was best for the business. I think so just you can never over invest in your people. Let’s put it that way.
Elizabeth Ledoux: Nice. Nice. I love that. So, James, again, thank you so much for being here. What a great conversation we’ve had. And I just so appreciate again, you taking the time. So thank you very much.
James Iacino: Thank you very much. I appreciate the opportunity.
Elizabeth Ledoux: Thank you for listening to this episode of the business transition roadmap. If you are listening to this and you find yourself wanting to go deeper into these topics and start the process of putting together your transition strategy. I’d love to offer you a free initial strategy session with my team, where we’ll help you to explore the future transition of your business, head over to www dot transition strategies.com To schedule a call. Thank you again for listening, and I’ll see you on the next episode of the business transition roadmap.
The Business Transition Roadmap with Elizabeth Ledoux
How do communities thrive? When businesses experience healthy growth and transition. Join CEO of The Transition Strategists, Elizabeth Ledoux as she and her guests identify what makes a successful business transition roadmap. If you know you want to transition or exit your business “one day”, today is the right day to start planning. This show will give you the roadmap.
