Meeting the challenge of keeping American small businesses in local, American hands when current owners are ready for retirement is the mission of American Operator. Often these businesses are bought out by large private equity firms that change the character and take away the strength and cohesiveness of locally owned enterprises and American Operator helps enable new generations to take ownership of these long-standing companies.
Joseph Cabrera, Host and Head of Brand for the company, says, “There’s already a group of folks wanting to get into the seat and they just don’t know how. And, you’ve got a group of owners that want to retire, who may not even know this was a possibility and we bring those two worlds together. Some of the best folks to run these businesses often don’t have the money to buy these businesses, and/or may not have the skill-set to go through the whole process. The deal process is quite cumbersome, a lot of complexities, legal and diligence. We create a lot of relationships with the current owners, who often are not trying to sell to the Wall Street or the highest bidder, they just want a fair price with folks they know are going to take care of their business. Then we pull from our roster of high-integrity, experienced, and competent operators who are really the best fit to become an owner and match them with the business. We take away all the business complexities of getting into business to begin with and let them focus on actually running the business.”
American Operator partners with these individuals to buy the business, with the goal of transitioning these operators to the majority ownership over time. Throughout the process, American Operator assists with hands-on business guidance of all types, whether in marketing, inventory control, human resource issues, or connecting the operator with the right advisor. Cabrera says, “We’re actually in it every day. Our teammates fly to the different businesses and are immersed in their culture. We try to give the new operators the reins as fast as possible, but we are getting our hands dirty with them every day.”
Diverse Staff Experience Suits Diverse Businesses
American Operator works with all kinds of businesses, located throughout the United States, from manufacturing, to logistics, to retail, to service industries and maintains an experienced staff to provide the knowledge the new owners need for success.
American Operator is also involved with a variety of business associations and community initiatives that bring business owners together. Many of their new clients come from referrals from business owners and former business owners who have worked with American Operator. Cabrera says that often owners do not want to create concern among employees or the local community when they are thinking about retirement, so don’t make it public knowledge, but are more likely to confide in other business owners.
Retiring owners usually stay on for several months, to assist in the transition to the new ownership After that, most stay in contact to see how their former company is doing, and are often recruited by American Operator as advisors or even as investors.
The Next Generation Ready to Take the Reins
With about six million small businesses in the country, and about half having owners planning to transition to retirement over the next decade, the service American Operator provides is an important contributor to the nation’s industrial strength and security. Many of these small businesses have no succession plan, so they will either sell to a faceless investment firm, and the community will lose the soul of it, or the whole business will just shut down, resulting in job losses, economic losses for the community, and possibly employment opportunities going overseas.
For the all-important operators the company partners with, Cabrera says, “We really disqualify everybody that doesn’t have the heart of a leader, who doesn’t have that serving character, because that is the special sauce for these businesses. These owners, some of whom didn’t even have a GED or high school education, have managed to manifest brilliant businesses. That’s because they cared about their people, they worked hard every day, and when something went wrong, they just went in there and fixed it.”
An important initiative of American Operator is their “Locally Owned and Operated” certification, which the company offers for free to any business owners who want to show their commitment to staying local to their communities and the country, regardless of whether they are clients or not. The certification comes with display decals and digital badges to showcase the owner’s loyalty to the fabric of their community, as well as business exposure in various social media forums, an interactive map with your local business on it to guide customers where to shop and the comradery and counsel of other independent business owners, through a private owner community. If you’re interested in certifying your business, please visit www.locallyownedandoperated.org.
The company helps more and more businesses each year to pass their success on to the next generation, and the current emphasis on maintaining and expanding the country’s industrial base keeps the outlook for American Operator very bright.
