We were lucky to catch up with Tyler Evans recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Tyler thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start big picture – what are some of biggest trends you are seeing in your industry?

My industry is going through a major upheaval at the moment. There is a new class of buyers that are interested in buying small businesses.

This new group of buyers are colloquially referred to as ‘searchers’ their typical profile is they are under 35, a recent top 10 MBA program graduate and they have some form of consulting experience from a large consulting firm like McKinsey or Bain and Co. During business school, they learned about the opportunity of Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA) and more graduates are deciding to pursue a path to small business ownership rather than try and climb a corporate ladder. It is a fascinating group to see enter the market because they bring a radically different set of skills to small businesses. Many small business owners have grown their business through sheer grit and determination and this new group of business owners are looking to match their ‘book learning’ to find a better way to operate and grow businesses.

There are trillions of dollars of assets that are set to transfer from the baby boomer generation to the next generation and it will be interested to see how the assets will be spread across the next generation.

Tyler , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I grew up in this industry. I remember going into my dad’s office as a kid and helping him stuff envelopes that contained information on a seminar he hosted each year for business owners. My family had a major influence on me getting into this industry and I wanted to preserve our family legacy by becoming a small business advisor. I recently bought out my father from the company which allowed him to fully retire but he is still featured on our website and maintains a presence in the business.

I have a big, fancy education but I’ve learned more from working hands on with my clients that I ever could from a book.

I am truly dedicated to helping small business owners unlock the equity in their business that they have grown since they

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

The pandemic was a difficult time for my industry, just like it was for a lot of people. I had business owners calling me literally every day asking me what they should do about their business. I completed more opinions of value during the pandemic than any other point in my career. Any business owner will tell you that there is a significant moment in their business journey where they needed to choose between short-term profits or long-term profits.

I attended an industry conference where one broker that I spoke to bragged about selling the same restaurant 5 times during the pandemic. This person chose short term profits.

I took a very different approach during COVID. Brutal honesty. For many business owners, their businesses lost 30% of their value almost overnight and when they called me in a panic, I had to be brutally honest with them. I told them, yes, we could sell the business, but if you think your business will recover after the pandemic, you should wait until the business has recovered. I know a lot of people that would have been eager to sign up a new client and take them to market like the broker at met at the conference that sold the same restaurant 5 times, but I prefer to put my clients in control and provide them with the correct information to determine the best outcome for their situation.

As a result of my advise for many of my potential clients, my business was very slow during 2020 and into 2021. I had to cut back on most of my expenses and reduce my salary in order to keep the business going. I am happy to say that putting these potential clients before my own needs paid off and many of them have retired me to sell their businesses.

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

People can tell if you are being authentic or not. I have had multiple clients tell me how lucky they were to have found me because my industry is full of sharks that are just out looking to make a buck. I do come from an industry that has a lot of bad actors either because they are not educated on how an intermediary should conduct themselves or for more malicious reasons.

I believe I operate the business in a way where I always put the client first and put their needs before mine. I always provide free estimates of value, I never charge up front fees, and my compensation is 100% tied to performance. There are many volume based brokerages in my industry that will just try and sign up as many clients as possible because they get to collect a $5,000 to $10,000 fee. It can be hard to differentiate between firms, but I have a great reputation in the industry and my previous clients are great advocates for the service that I provide.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.so-calbusinessbrokers.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evanstbe/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/EvansTylerB