The short answer
Sandy Hansen-Wolff shares how she took over a family agribusiness after her husband's passing, ran it for 18 years and eventually sold. It is a story about resilience, identity and the deeply personal dimensions of exit planning.
Key takeaways
- The insights required to start a business without any existing know-how
- How to thrive as a female entrepreneur in a male-dominated industry
- Establishing processes to take yourself out of the business
- How to build your business around your walkaway price
Listen to the podcast
59 minWatch the full interview
About this episode
Starting a business is never easy, but imagine taking over a business suddenly and not knowing anything about the vendors, the customers, or even the industry.
Most would balk at the challenge, but Sandy Hansen-Wolff – after the early death of her husband – had no choice but to step in and overhaul the near-bankrupt agriculture business.
As a woman in a male-dominated industry, her journey to profitability included many lessons and roadblocks along the way. Eighteen years later, Sandy was turning over as much as $8M in revenue when she decided it was time to sell.
Chapters
- 5:17After Sandy’s husband suddenly died, she was thrust into their regional agriculture business. Rather than drowning, she grew the company to $8M before selling 18 years later
- 10:09It took Sandy, an unblooded entrepreneur, only 18 months to go from near bankruptcy to the black
- 19:37Being a female business owner in a male-dominated industry is tough. Being a small player in a big industry is also tough. Sandy’s competitive advantage? People
- 32:36Following a period of burnout, Sandy and her team decided to double down and pivot, pulling in ideas around holistic health for animals that mirrored the trend in humans. This small-town business was mind blown seeing this trend take off across the continent
- 43:03Sandy sold to her largest vendor. Her terms: this deal needed to be friendly, go quickly, have her staff taken care of and don’t tell her what the plan for the business was post-exit
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 Sandy Hansen-Wolff
Sandy Hansen-Wolff began her speaking and consulting career as a result of her experiences when thrust into entrepreneurship in 2003 after her young husband of one year died of leukemia. Sandy was determined to keep the business going despite industry pressures and challenges with the business that was then near bankruptcy.
Sandy turned around that multi-million dollar company from near bankruptcy to a successful sale and exit. Quite honestly, she made a lot of costly mistakes and felt she needed to do everything the hard way.
Now, Sandy integrates these key insights as the platform for her work with high-level business leaders and entrepreneurs so that they too are empowered to move from struggling to success and profitability.
Connect with Sandy Hansen-Wolff
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.
