We recently connected with Brian Robben and have shared our conversation below.

Brian, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

I’m extremely happy as a business owner. It’s a different kind of happiness than the careless, free sensation. It’s a rewarding sense of happiness, which lasts longer and is a sustained feeling.

In my business and real estate investing pursuits, the timeline from pursuing a deal to winning the opportunity, executing and exiting, can take years. During this period, every day is not sunshine and rainbows. It’s often the opposite. Though at the end, after a culmination of hard work, relationship building, and value creation, the experience and rewards pay a happiness dividend that can only come from accomplishing hard and worthy problems.

So no, I don’t wonder what it’s like to have a normal 9-5 job.

A challenge is good for me. I’m used to it. And it brings out my best.

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.

Essentially, I’m focused on buying businesses and properties, adding value to them, and then holding or exiting to create capital events.

The first business I sold was an information website. I learned SEO and grew it to millions of page views, then found an acquirer and exited in 2018. After doing this, I became hooked on doing deals. I saw them as the highest leverage play I can make.

With real estate investing, I started with a purchase of a college house for Miami University students in Oxford, OH in 2019. I know the location is prime because I went to school there. It’s one street over from the main street in the college town. We renovated the property using a modern design and color scheme. This improved product has performed extremely well. Plus, the residents are enjoying a better living experience.

Growing in confidence, I then went on to raise capital and purchase now 8 units in the next few years. The plan is to continue to scale, add small multifamily properties, improve our financial position, and move up to buying and adding value to large multifamily properties. In doing so, we’ll be able to have a greater positive impact on our residents, investors, and communities.

Conversations about M&A are often focused on multibillion dollar transactions – but M&A can be an important part of a small or medium business owner’s journey. We’d love to hear about your experience with selling businesses.

Always know your numbers. The better you can tell the story of the business you’re selling, and back it up with actual numbers, the more likely you can sell and at a good price.

Without being able to show the true financial health of the business, the risk grows for an acquirer. Sometimes the risk is too much to make an offer. Or they will simply lowball you in the chance you’re desperate and don’t have other options.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

My previous track record offers evidence that I’m capable of producing major value. Racking up previous wins, no matter if it’s in the current industry or outside of it, is a leading indicator that you’re bound to be successful in the future as well. While the past can’t predict the future, it gives you a sign of what is likely to happen next. That’s how I think about it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://brianrobben.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brianjrobben/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianrobben/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/brianjrobben