The short answer
Michael Griffiths shares lessons from seven businesses and six exits, including what preparation changed for him and the platform dependency risks that almost derailed multiple deals.
Key takeaways
- Knowing when your ‘What’s Next’ moment looks like
- The power of referral marketing in any business
- Concentration Risk: Regaining the control in your business model
- How to turn your clients into walking, talking billboards
Listen to the podcast
40 minWatch the full interview
About this episode
Teacher by trade, basketball coach by passion, Michael Griffiths thought life meant ending up with a job in the NBA.
Fast forward just over a decade and Michael has successfully started seven business and exited six, including a global marketing agency employing 800 contractors and servicing over 12,500 clients across the world.
Tune in to learn how Michael’s entrepreneurial dream has come full circle from teacher to business owner, to marketing expert, now back to teacher and mentor for service providers looking to incorporate more referral-based revenue into their companies.
This episode is a slam-dunk of insight from an entrepreneur who’s been there, done that again and again and again.
Chapters
- 3:10From career aspirations as a coach in the NBA to a 180 person-strong home tutoring in Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne, entrepreneur Michael Griffiths took his three point shot in business and kicked off a 7 business strong journey
- 8:18In every business, there’s a pivotal moment that takes your company to a whole new level. For Michael, this moment came on a Friday afternoon. At the pub
- 14:47If your business is in the hands of someone else - be it Facebook, Instagram, or Google - do you really have a business? Algorithms can change, clients can leave, but here’s what you can do
- 19:05Professional service business? Here’s Michaels approach to how you could and should be marketing your business
- 30:43Tune in for the nuts and bolts of the valuation, exit, and transition which happened in an extremely fast, three-month turnaround time
The Newscast
How to value, grow and exit your company
Get two useful emails each month: founder stories and lessons in the Buy Grow Sell Newscast, plus the latest small and mid-market M&A insights in The Wire.
Related episodes
About Michael Griffiths
Michael Griffiths is seen as the leading authority worldwide on referral marketing. Michael’s passion lies in helping service providers to be more remarkable, more profitable, and more impactful in their business.
Having left the school system where he was a teacher for 7 years, Michael started his first business in 2009. Since then, he has built 7 businesses, and then selling 6 of them along the way.
Today, he shows service providers how to get more referrals into their business and grow their client base through some simple systems and an injection of mindset thinking change.
Connect with Michael Griffiths
About the show
Buy Grow Sell is hosted by Simon Bedard, founder and managing director of Exit Advisory Group, a boutique mergers and acquisitions advisory firm that helps Australian business owners value, prepare for and navigate a sale. Every conversation draws on real deals and the patterns behind them.
