Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Josh Greenbaum. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Josh, thanks for joining us today. So, folks often look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight – but that often obscures all the nitty, gritty details of everything that went into the growth phase of your business. We’d love to hear about your scaling story and how you scaled up?

Scaling a business is not for the faint of heart, but it was the journey I was ready to go on. After nearly a decade of operating my consulting business, I wanted to grow in order to build a team to support me and meet the client demands. Growth is a balance of vision, marketing, hard work, space for life and rest, and a willingness to show up differently.

I found a variety of professionals who guided me towards a vision of growth. Knowing what I didn’t “want” was equally important to what did “want.” Specially, as a fractional CFO, I asked myself what services did I want to provide, what work was I doing that could be delegated, and where is their opportunity within the market.

From there, I chose to take out an SBA loan so I could rebrand my firm, build a new website, and write a book – Numbers Scare Me & Other Excuses (available at www.numbersscareme.com). All this to say, I created a marketing plan to accelerate scaling.

Work got hard, very hard! Since I needed to build my client base to afford a team, I had a stretch myself. Keeping the energy up to continue to serve my clients from a place of professionalism, happiness, and enthusiasm. My duty as a professional is first and foremost to those who pay me. Secondarily to marketing, networking, and revenue growth. A huge lesson learned in the moments of being most tired was understanding how much more I gave of myself to clients compared to peers – I was a premium brand. Such as with any premium brand, my pricing needed to reflect that level of service. Finding the courage to ask for a higher retainer is what allowed me to truly scale and establish a financial security.

As in life, it’s continuously vital for me to find time for family, friends, and rest. This is what makes the hard work doable and, quite frankly, makes for better client relationships. No one wants a boring accountant who has no interests. I’ve always found it important to be open with those who I work with about my own adventures in life and encourage them to share their own stories. Aside from the humanity, being a CFO requires a deep understanding of business owners in order to guide and support – their relationship with money, aspirations, and values.

Today, I grown 4x in just 2 years and am currently launching a second company.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Josh Greenbaum is an advisory CFO, author, and outdoor enthusiast living in Denver who supports consulting, digital marketing, and management and talent representation companies. It was while working at a Big Four accounting firm that he looked around and realized he wasn’t interested in wearing khakis drinking mediocre wine with other accountants for the rest of his career.

In the 15 years since then he’s helped start-ups, celebrities, and founders raise money, expand their teams, and prepare to exit their business. Josh is known for his dedication to bringing big business sophistication to small businesses, from companies of one to rapidly growing teams.

Josh’s book: ‘Numbers Scare Me & Other Excuses: A business owner’s guide to lead like a CFO’ educates business owners on how to take financial control and lead with confidence and purpose.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Reputation is an interesting thing because it comes from deep within yourself. Early on, I earned a nickname “t-shirt guy” from a networking group. The consensus amongst the group is that I was more approachable and trustworthy than my peers who were too buttoned-up. Ironically, the story around “t-shirt guy” proceeded my introducing myself to others in the group. My objective was to create a comfortable and relaxed atmosphere so that clients and I could move beyond the technical side of accounting and move towards strategy and vision. I’m able to approach client work from the perspective of a CFO as well as a business owner – many accountants don’t truly understand what it is to be a business owner.

We’d appreciate any insights you can share with us about selling a business.

I haven’t sold a business of my own, though I’ve been an advisor to many clients selling their business. There are a handful of lessons you must be clear about.

1) Know the value of your business to your customers,
2) Understand the value to the potential acquirer,
3) Have solid numbers
4) Be clear with yourself on a purchase price and your rock bottom.

Value is your uniqueness that makes your company attractive to a buyer, which could be how you deliver your service, high profitability, product offering, etc. That value to the potential acquirer is the opportunity to radically grow what you’ve created or find financial efficiency through cost cutting. Remember, all acquisition comes back ROI (Return On Investment).

Lastly, have a ambitious, yet realistic, target number in your mind as to what would sell the business for. Further, what are the tax implications of selling the business, debt to be paid off, what to do with that money and how long will it last, and how do you want to spend your time post-sale. And of course, know your rock bottom number for which you’d have to walk away from the deal.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.cfominded.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshgreenbaum/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshgreenbaum/
• Other: www.numbersscareme.com

Image Credits
Tori Time, Nicole Goddard