Episode 22: Selling a Business with STS Capital Partners

Welcome to this week’s Wisdom and Wealth Podcast. Join us for a discussion with Kempten Schwab of STS Capital Partners on how he guides business owners through the emotional and psychological journey of exiting their closely held business. Additionally we will talk more about how he helps entrepreneurs monetize the strategic value of their privately owned business.  

Thank you for listening! Please let us know what you think and also pass along any questions you have after listening. 

Kempten Schwab is not affiliated with CWM, LLC. 

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JOSH KLOOZ, CFP®, MBA
WEALTH ADVISOR

Phone 281.719.0036
Text 281.699.8691
Fax 281.719.0156
jklooz@carsonwealth.com

1780 Hughes Landing | Suite 570
The Woodlands, TX 77380

Music by bensound.com

Transcript

Joshua Klooz  0:01  
Welcome to the wisdom and wealth podcast, a series of conversations designed to equip our listeners with helpful insights necessary to simplify the critical decision points of life. We believe true wealth is the thing Money cannot buy, and death cannot take away. Furthermore, we also believe our calling is to enable others to fulfill their own. And to that end, we end up with investment advisory services offered through CWM LLC, an SEC registered investment advisor. Welcome in again to today's episode of wisdom and wealth. I'm Josh Klooz, as always, and today we're going to focus on business owners specifically, and the thought of exiting, exiting your business can be overwhelming and sometimes stressful. One of the resources that we have turned to locally and within Carson corporate has been STS Capital Partners. And to help us through that conversation. I've invited Kempten Schwab in today to explain a little bit more about what STS his passion and mission is in the marketplace. So with that, welcome to the episode Kempten. I'm so excited.

Kempten Schwab  1:12  
Josh, it's an honor to be here. Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to have a chance to speak to your audience and hopefully maybe provide some information of value to them.

Joshua Klooz  1:22  
Absolutely. So just for level setting, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself personally, and why you're passionate about the industry? And what missing what series of misfortunate life events led you here?

Kempten Schwab  1:35  
Well, my name is Kempten I have a unique name. My parents were college professors coming out of the 60s they were a bit on the hippie side of life. And so nine months before I was born, they were hanging out in a town called Kimpton, Germany. And so I ended up being named after that town, my middle name is love. So early in life, I had to kind of fend for myself in public school. So I grew up in the land of college professors. So I did not have a private enterprise experience at all until into my 20s. But I was always enamored by the private sector. And I remember asking my parents as a kid, you know, how do you make money? How do we actually pay for our groceries and the house and where we're living? And the answer was always we'll tenure son, you have to get tenure. And I didn't really understand what that was at a young age. And later in life, I came to get knowledgeable on that, but chose a different path for myself. But the one thing I did take from my childhood was my parents were always consistent with a message. I've learned how to think, learn how to think if you can teach yourself how to think critically, you can do anything that you want. It doesn't matter whether you want to be a doctor, a lawyer, a business person, a veterinarian, whether you want to be an engineer, if you can think critically think through the issues at hand, you'll be able to successfully tackle anything that's brought before you in this life. So I'm always grateful to that lesson and carry it with me today. As far as how I got into this space, I studied international studies in German. And my first occupation was with the European Union in Brussels, Belgium, where I did a lot of research and development for underdeveloped nations around the world, to help promote economic stability in parts of the world that were deprived of such. So I got to exposure to a lot of different cultures from around the world and sell the commonality in humanity, but also the differences between how people are prosperous globally. From there, I was on a fast track to being an American Eurocrat in London or in in Brussels and wanted to really feel like I needed to try my luck at the private sector. So I was fortunate enough to network to a position back in the United States in the mid to late 90s, to work with a business that was selling payphones for the younger audience today. Now those are devices that were on the walls of public establishments where you would put change into the machine and be able to make a telephone call. And then what's changed? Change that would be the coins in an older person's pocket. So needless to say that set of owners had gotten their first batch of cell phones and realized that that was going to be negative impact to the payphone industry in which they've chosen their investment. And so we had to pivot, you had to learn how to think through the opportunities before us and to make a long 25 year story short, we with a group of people converted that payphone business that was selling public communication devices around the country into a custom software development shop. And then after multiple internal transactions, I was able to orchestrate and own exit from such a business in 2017. Josh, that experience presented me with visibility into the global mergers and acquisitions industry and I saw how often and how frequently owners are taken advantage of, by various investors in that sector. And so going through that, as both a buyer internally within my business and then a seller, whenever I wanted to monetize my own equity and my own exit, was enlightened, both positively and negatively into the activities in that sector. And so from there, I kind of fell passionate into a space where I could help owners whenever they want to navigate those waters, or in essence, want to climb those mountains of their own lives, and achieve, you know, a successful exit for themselves and their families, to an extent making sure that they do not get taken advantage of, of some of the characters that are operating in the space. So beginning at the end of 2017, and into 2018, a fully devoted my professional time to assisting owners whenever they're ready to take that leap and monetize either their life's work or multiple generations life's of work, which is the equity in their operating companies on a stage that is typically global in nature and strategic and in transactional value.

Joshua Klooz  6:23  
That is really cool. So that I think that helps our audience understand a little bit more, especially on your end is how you can empathize specifically with their with their situation. Could you orient us a little bit more to how STS what what STS does in the marketplace that drew you to them specifically?

Kempten Schwab  6:46  
Oh, absolutely. So, I'm going to take another leap of faith beyond just the public telecommunication space and hope that maybe your audience has seen the movie Jerry Maguire, I use this analogy often, because it does resonate, or most people are familiar with the life of a professional athlete as they see it on television. But in that movie, you have a couple of characters that represent athletes. One is played by gentleman named or this character name is Bob sugar. And the other is Jerry Maguire. And Bob sugar represents a lot of what is happening in the global mergers and acquisition space, they care about deal flow, they care about commissions, they care about the money and the money only. And even though Jerry's character gets gets told by his client, show me the money, he really was more deeply involved in that character's life than just your typical agent who's out there just trying to do a deal. So with that in mind, you know, if you think about STS we are sales side only, meaning we only represent sellers that makes us non conflicted, were independent and objective, constantly looking out only for the outcomes, both desired and preferred for our clients. So we're not thinking about how we do the next deal with the next buyer to compromise, you know, some terms and conditions on behalf of one seller for the next. And so by working within the STS family and STS stands for success to significance by selling to strategics. And we'll talk more in this podcast about what selling to strategics really looks like. But by being fully loyal by being the Jerry Maguire, to our clients, we are fully versed and knowledgeable in a transparent manner of what they want to achieve whenever they undergo the monetization of their work. And then that becomes the mandate that we have to operate under in a very loyal and dedicated fashion to help our clients achieve their desired goals from the exit event themselves.

Joshua Klooz  9:07  
Sell side only right?

Kempten Schwab  9:09  
Sales not only the only time we will do so I mean only is a very dangerous word try to say things that avoid only never and always. But we will do some by side work or some light merger work whenever it's in conjunction with an overall exit. So you might have a client who says, Hey, listen, I really fill this void in the market. But if I were able to acquire X, Y, and Z companies that are maybe adjacent to what I'm doing, it would help my strategic value on a global scale exponentially. And so can you help me acquire those businesses, bring them into our fold and then collectively represent us through the exit. And in that situation, we're typically doing by side with the other owners outcomes in mind as well. So we always are looking out for the entrepreneur, the owner, the the executive operator, who has in Josh, and a lot of cases, the largest asset owner in our clients portfolio is the equity they have in their operating companies. And so we have to treat that asset with the same type of with the same type of care that you all treat all the assets of your clients with regard to Carson wealth.

Joshua Klooz  10:27  
Absolutely. And even, you know, with a keener eye to it, because it's one, it's it right, it's one one investment and so monetizing it becomes huge. So with that in mind, what business? Are you able to help the most? Would you say Kenton? Like, is there a profile online?

Kempten Schwab  10:46  
Yeah, I think the profile that's really important for us as a firm really has four characteristics to it. And these may sound really simple, but there's some there's some nuance to each of them. The first is, we really only want to represent sellers that are of the highest integrity. Because we need transparency between the seller and ourselves, we become their agent, we become their extension, we become the guide, we are their Sherpa as they climb this mountain. So we need to have intimate knowledge as to why they're doing this. Because we're going to have to exchange information as we CT potential investors, we need to understand what's hitting the mark what's missing, what they want to see what they don't want to see. And we have to protect them from the from the marketplace so that they can continue to operate their businesses successfully. One of the pieces of advice I give any client is you need to continue to operate this as if the exit is not going to occur. Because if you take your eye off the ball that got you there, then you're going to have nothing from which to exit in the future. So our job is to provide that cushion to provide that air cover provide the guidance, but it has to be done in a very authentic, genuine, transparent, and in a manner that is exemplified through high integrity by both parties. So that's the first thing we look for. The second thing is oftentimes the businesses we represent are not sole proprietors, they have partners, and they have multiple shareholders within the organization. And so at the shareholder level, we need full alignment. And what I mean by that is if you have two shareholders that own the business equally, in the most simplistic terms, if one shareholder believes that he would like to exit the company at $100 million level, and the other shareholder would like to exit the business at a $300 million level, they are not aligned. If we go to market, and we are presented with a $200 million offer, then we have a gap between the shareholders. So before we even go to market, we need to assure seller alignment and shareholder alignment is achieved. And so integrity, seller and shareholder alignment within the organization itself. Now that's going to bleed into stakeholders in the company at a later time. But at the highest level, the people that own the business need to have alignment. The third piece of ingredient, or the third ingredient we need is does the business have enough enterprise value in it to merit a team like STS is going to put on a project to do the global work to find the strategic buyers and build out the reverse investment thesis for a buyer to come in and acquire the company at a high high level. And so if you think about it, we're probably not going to be representing a mom and pop dry cleaners store. We're not doing transactions for the most part that are real estate in nature, it's really incorporating and representing robust businesses, our typical client is going to range between $50 million in enterprise value and $500 million in enterprise value. And that doesn't mean that's the end all be all. That's just the average. In some cases, there are smaller businesses that we're honored to represent because they have such strategic value on a global scale. So we'll look at anything that makes sense, but there needs to be enough meat on the bone to justify a global process. So that's the third thing we'd seek. And then the fourth thing is is there something special in the business that makes that company best of breed? What are their competencies? What are their assets? What are their attributes that make them special? And in essence, we use this analogy in the industry on a regular basis. What are their M Rembrandt's in the attic? So for example, if I'm buying a house and there are two houses that are across the street from one another, both built by the same builder, both designed by the same architect, both have the same square footage both on the same size plot of land But one happens to have a Rembrandt in the attic, then that house is far more valuable than the other one. And so what we want to do is dig back the layers and dig into the companies and make sure that they do have something special that we can put forward. As far as the leading edge is concerned when we represent them on a global stage. That is very attractive. And in a lot of cases, Josh, it's more than just one thing. There are several Rembrandt's in the attics of the clients that we represent. And those are the leading edges of what we want to put forward when we go through this process, not just a balance sheet, not just a financial statement or an income statement.

Joshua Klooz  15:40  
Excellent. So could you give us an idea of just the level of activity you're currently experiencing? And maybe even how the public markets affect that? Or maybe they don't, in your opinion? Currently,

Kempten Schwab  15:53  
yes. So if you can hit those four criteria, then the level of activity at a macro level is virtually is, you know, is indifferent. Because the companies that have something special within them. And if you've done the homework in advance of representing them, you've already done the work to see whether or not that's going to be attractive. And as long as capitalism is alive, and well, there's going to be a market for a successful company to be acquired. However, if you start bridging that into the financial markets of private equity, or venture capital, where people are putting in in essence, other people are using other people's money to make investments, then you might see a little bit of trepidation there at the current market conditions that we have today. However, when you're dealing on the strategic level, and you think about selling an operating company to an operating entity, then as long as there is a business model or an investment thesis to support the acquisition, then the macro MOUT markets are secondary with regard to investment activity or regard to transaction activity.

Joshua Klooz  17:06  
Very helpful. Do you have any advice for sellers specifically, that may be listening to this, this podcast and they either a fit the criteria or B don't fit the criteria? Or C, you know, aspire to fit the criteria?

Kempten Schwab  17:23  
Well, you know, Joshua, I get asked this question a lot people like well, how many businesses go through an exit? And the answer to that question is, all of them. Every business goes through an exit. It's either reactive or proactive. And so if you're operating a company, and you're not spending some of your strategic time as an executive, on what that exit, and what that what that what that liquidation scenario is going to look like for you, I think you're doing a disservice to not only your shareholders, but also all the stakeholders of the company. Because you need to be forward thinking not reacting. Oftentimes, people undertake the exit process after death, disease, divorce or, you know, some sort of downturn, we call it the DS in the industry. And then that owner is operating from a position of fear, not a position of confidence. And that creates situations where it's difficult to achieve a forward thinking strategic exit doesn't mean we can't do it, it just means that you're coming into the into the process with a negative mindset versus a POS diverse is entering the process from a position of strength. So it's never too early to answer your question specifically to be thinking about this. And it's never too early to be contemplating who might value your business more than you. You know, a lot of businesses are providing services or providing products, X, Y, and Z to companies P, D, and Q. But if they got a layer deeper into their capacities, competencies, and attributes within the company, someone else might acquire that and use it for something that's more profitable for them. So that's a lot of words, let me give you a real life example. So you might have a company that is providing software as a service between businesses and government. And that software as a service could be delivered. And let's just say it's a contract between the state of Nebraska and this and a private company, like let's just pick one out of the blue State Farm Insurance. And they might be reporting back and forth with one another, but they're StateFarm, who's a big global or big national organization. And then there's a state in the state of Nebraska who's doing a lot of work with multiple different companies. Well, that procurement via nickel that allows that cash to exchange hands between the private sector and the public sector might be transferable. And there might be an acquiring party that could use that vehicle and put more technology and more software as a service through that same procurement vehicle at a much higher level. Therefore, it's worth more to someone else than it is to the existing owner slash operator. And that can be across industries that could be in manufacturing, where someone may be manufacturing Styrofoam cups. And on the flip side, you could use some of those same processes and procedures to manufacture high end glass. And so the margin in a Styrofoam cup is incredibly low. It's environmentally dangerous. And it's not necessarily attractive in today's marketplace. However, high in glass using the same processes and procedures can be highly profitable, and is renewable, and therefore really attractive to a different operator. So you have to think about the what it's worth to the buyer in the future, not just what it's worth to you today. And a lot of owners can't get out of their own way and can't think that way. But if the more they can do that early in the process, the more they bring into the experience, which allows us to do our job even better.

Joshua Klooz  21:17  
I know you don't represent your buyers. However, if you were to flip the table and you were to be on the other side of the of the table, do you have any advice or any strategic thoughts from the buy side?

Kempten Schwab  21:29  
From what Oh, absolutely. So buyers and buyer representatives should be constantly looking for businesses that would enhance what they're doing today. So in the dream scenario, what you want is a win win experience, buyers are paying something and they're buying something they're paying for something they're buying an operating company, that when they integrate it into their business, it's going to yield rapid and significant returns for their shareholders. But because of what it's going to mean to that buyer, they're able to pay more than what the seller could ever dream, they could get in the in the same operating space that they are today if they were to sell to a financial investor or to a competitor. So there is all sorts of goodness that happen in strategic transactions, both for buyers and sellers. So buyers need to constantly be on the lookout for organizations that have skill sets and success stories in competencies that they seek that become complementary to their larger enterprise.

Joshua Klooz  22:41  
The process of human flourishing never gets old. From a creativity perspective, I love how that comes out when you start talking about it. Can you give us an idea of some of the common pitfalls, I think you've given us some already some of the common pitfalls that you've seen owners fall into?

Kempten Schwab  22:59  
Yes, owners fall into this. The, there's some of these have a little humor to them. Oh man, I just heard that such and such company just sold for fill in the blank multiple 15 times EBIT da three times revenue. But you know what they don't have, they don't have visibility into the terms and conditions of those transactions. You know, transactions have lots of different components, cash at close, hold backs, earn outs, rollover, equity, all of that creates a transaction total with other things as well. And you have no idea that somebody may have put $5 down and they have 95% of that transaction value based on hitting earnout targets that are virtually impossible to hit. But yet on paper, it looks like they just sold for an astronomical amount. So the first pitfall is don't fall traps into what you see in your own market, because they're clearly marketing pieces that someone's putting forward are out there in the public domain for consumption for sex appeal. So that's the first pitfall you see. And the second thing is, don't value your own business based on what you can do with it. Start thinking about what someone else could do with it. And don't ask your representative how much you think I could get for this because quite honestly, they don't control that what they control is a process. Fall in love and by representation from a firm or services from a firm that has a process that you really respect and understand that will allow you to be revealed to strategic investors who, when ultimately will value your business more than you will. So if you just constantly are thinking about what what can I get for it, you're missing the mark because what you're not thinking about is what it's worth to someone else. And then the third thing that we talked about already is be proactive, not reactive. Don't wait till you're 80 years of age, and you get diagnosed with the term mental illness to then say, You know what, now I've got to sell this, you're now operating out of position of panic in a position of reactivity. Think about it proactively engage, you know, the right balance of a team. And that team has got to include folks like Carson wealth with regard to wealth strategy with regard to tax protection tax strategies, as well as a separate type of firm like ours, which is how do we actually monetize this equity? And how do we create new assets that we haven't had before in our family? That is, and then you might need to think about executive coaching. If you have leadership that needs to grow a bit before they can think in the manner in which I've articulated previously, you might need to really look at the business and make sure it's ready. Oh, if you think about an analogy to the house earlier, you might go to sell a house, and it really needs some paint here. And it needs some foundational work there. And we want to make sure that we look at the businesses before we put them on the market and get them tidied up appropriately. That could be in how their financials are presented. It could be how their company is marketed. It could be how their are their competencies articulated. So those are the types of things to be thinking about on a on a forward thinking basis, not a reactionary, one,

Joshua Klooz  26:22  
very holistic, because you know, you've got your business enterprise, and then all of a sudden that becomes your family enterprise, you know, after the exit. And so how are you going to run those two separate enterprises in the interim, and then after the exit as well. So I don't know what

Kempten Schwab  26:35  
one of the one of the biggest mistakes that a lot of people make is they think that just because they created this offspring with their spouse, that that individual male or female, is positioned poised and capable to run a business with the same Vim, vigor, passion and capacity as the existing owner or the owner that came before them. The odds of generational success, increasing generation after generation are so very low. But if you can go through, there's a great book called every think it's everyone's business, I can get it to you. It's it's a fantastic book, that I'll email you later. And you can tack this on if you'd wish. But it talks about how if you actually monetize the business at its height, you're creating generational wealth, and there is an entire occupation to be found after the exit for multiple generations to come, versus giving it away, or transitioning it to an offspring that ultimately, potentially not always drives the business into the ground. And to think that genetics of business success is transferred from parents to children is a very risky strategy.

Joshua Klooz  27:56  
It's stewardship, it's just an a different asset, right? At the end of the day, so we're creating the next generation of stewards is key if like, Hey, I've created this enterprise knows the next is the next

Kempten Schwab  28:09  
every family's been paired. That's an that's the name of the book, every family's business. Tom Dean's, it's a great read.

Joshua Klooz  28:16  
So I don't want to focus on on the host and the pitfalls. I don't want to end on the negative Could you give us some recent case studies and success stories that you've come across recently that our audience would find interesting?

Kempten Schwab  28:32  
Oh, sure. I mean, I'll start with my own. I mean, I was fortunate enough to be a part of a company that did do a lot of business to government reporting. So I used it as a hypothetical. But we were working within the regulated object inspection reporting space, and we were able to hold you know, over 100, over 100, state and local municipality contracts, and those procurement vehicles were strategically valuable to our acquirer. And so that was Software as a Service, instead of taking things that were worth a few dollars in transactional value to a few $100 in transactional value. And that was a meaningful strategic exit. You know, and we've seen things on the other end of the spectrum, the non technological side, we were privileged enough to represent a firm that did electrical grid, fabrication and construction. And they had processes and procedures with regard to safety and delivery of construction site or construction outputs, particularly in the electrical grid space that were best of breed when extrapolated into a larger, more global entity. They could take those practices and really harness new new profits for their shareholders just by seizing this business and its competencies and taking those best practices and extrapolating them. And then, right now, we're in the middle of a project which is really exciting, where we are representing a firm that has hundreds of millions of tons of what potentially could be a renewable material that would replace a significant portion of plastic. And that unto itself, if we're able to, to represent this firm, strategically and globally, which we plan to, and it is fully proven out that it is biodegradable, and it is lighter and stronger than current plastics in the marketplace, that has a tremendous amount of strategic value, both in the in ecological areas of the world, but also in the plastics industry. So we're super excited about some of those successes that two that have passed and one that we're undergoing right now.

Joshua Klooz  30:46  
You have to forgive me, if I send you random press releases, or is this it? Is this it?

Kempten Schwab  30:54  
I will say that, I hope you know, that's one of the things we do pride ourselves in is with regard to confidentiality. I mean, it's very important that we honor the confidentiality of our clients. And whenever we do run our process, we do reach large, and we do reach around the world. But the initial outreach is always done in a anonymous fashion. So that before we begin to get into any of the details associated with our thesis as to why it's attractive to a potential buyer, we have it protected under the appropriate agreements.

Joshua Klooz  31:27  
It occurs to me when you talk about, here's the broad scope of industries that you work with, are there any reoccurring mistakes that you see across industry? It's a different way of asking one of the questions I had earlier, but are there mistakes that that span different industries?

Kempten Schwab  31:47  
Well, the mistakes I mentioned at the owner level, they are across every industry out there. As far as other mistakes that could be made, that maybe a little bit beneath the surface are people that aren't mentally and emotionally ready for the transaction, the transaction and transition. I talked to a friend of mine earlier this week, who is at the finish line. And, and he it's now hitting him that I'm not going to have a job when this is over, nobody's going to need me. My emails are gonna stop, my phone's gonna stop ringing. And that, that sense of self, that sense of pride that came with owning and operating, you know, his livelihood over the last six decades, is now being removed. And so a lot of people don't think about the mental and emotional aspects of what they're going to do after the sale before they get to the space. And so I highly recommend, you know, engaging with people that have understanding and capacities in the psychology around the exit and experience in the exit, versus folks that just are in it for the money. I'll leave this firm, anonymous, but a large name brand investment bank house, I was meeting with the head of their m&a department. And the first thing I asked him, as I said, well, so tell me about your business that you sold, and how you got into this space that qualifies you to grow up and raise yourself into this space into this level of position where you're responsible for billions of dollars of transactions on an annual basis. And you know, what he said is he said, I never owned one business. I went to this school and that school and I got this degree in that degree. And I said, Well, man, you may not be qualified for your job, because he's providing a leadership over a team of people that can't and have not sat in the same seat is that owner. That is really important. One of the things I pride ourselves about STS is we're owners representing owners. So when I get that phone call the other night from that owner telling me about the emotional experience that he's having, I can reflect back to my home. I highly recommend and that's a mistake a lot of people make is they don't think about the therapeutic side of this experience. They just think about the financial side. And it is both as you mature in your life

Joshua Klooz  34:28  
makes me think of a blue with Arthur Brooks just wrote a book called strength to strength and he talks about a lot about happiness. And ultimately how there are different air bubbles in your career that cause you to focus more on a family friends that there's things in life that that pick you up or support you once your professional career as a law. It's very applicable, but he talks a lot about earn success and how you work so hard to get to that point, and then, you know, there's a sense of being needed. But he talks about the diversification being needed by many groups of people in many, many different communities and how that plays into somebody's overall happiness. But it strikes me as he talks about finally getting to that summit professionally for these owners.

Kempten Schwab  35:19  
And then and then falling off it and not knowing where they're going to land. And there in lies a lot of what we try to do, which is I mentioned early on that success to significance. So now that you've been so successful, how are you going to do something that's significant, so that you leave the world in a better place, not just monetarily, but also for your own emotion in your own satisfaction beyond just what you can pass on with regard to wealth. And that's an important aspect of what we try to do, which is understand that next level of what our client's desires are, and let's make sure that when we represent them through a transaction, that we have an eye on that prize as well.

Joshua Klooz  35:59  
So you've been so generous with your time Kimpton one last question, if I may, is there anything that you wish people understood about the global m&a space or that you wish was different about that space?

Kempten Schwab  36:13  
The biggest thing I wish people would really understand is the origin of the dollar, or the the euro, whatever the currency is, that is actually making up the transaction. And so a lot of people don't take the time to think, Okay, if somebody's going to give me $100 million, from where did that 100 million come? And why is it being put into my business? And so the one thing I would like people to do is be more cognizant of the origin of where those dollars originate. And that will help sellers understand buyers more deeply, which will allow both parties to prosper at the closing table more frequently.

Joshua Klooz  37:01  
That is, that is interesting. In some, obviously, I mean, if it's a global enterprise, something that you don't take into account, you know, unless you think about it from their side, and helps you understand the Win Win, probably, I would imagine, far, you know,

Kempten Schwab  37:14  
the most frequent question that we ask is why, why are you doing this? Why are you good at it? What makes you know, it's why we dig on that? Why a lot, you know, why are you making money here? I mean, and not just settling on? Well, we are in this amount, we want to understand the foundational levels, because the foundational levels will help us present the real capacities of a business outwardly. And it's those capacities competencies, as I've said several times that attract strategic interest, not just what they're doing on a balance sheet, or on an income statement.

Joshua Klooz  37:51  
Hampton, thank you so much for your time today, we we definitely are blessed and privileged to know you and to learn from you. We appreciate your time. And we'd love to have you come back on at some point in the future as interesting topics arise.

Kempten Schwab  38:06  
Happy to do it, Josh. I mean, we value our relationship with Carson wealth. I mean, it's a fantastic collaborative relationship between both parties. I mean, it's really a lot of fun, we complement each other. And we lock and step with what we do, both in how we operate our firms and the types of people we want to represent. So thank you for having me happy to do it anytime and all the best to you and your clients.

Joshua Klooz  38:31  
Thank you. And again, if you're listening to this, and you think that you meet this criteria that you fall within that criteria, we want to reiterate, it's never too soon to reach out. And our team is here to assist you in staying on track and pursuing those opportunities. So thank you again, and we'll talk soon.

Kempten Schwab  38:49  
I'd absolutely see Josh.

Joshua Klooz  38:56  
Well, that's all for today. Thank you again for joining us. We trust that you are better equipped to steward both your wealth and your financial resources. If you have questions or suggestions for a future topic, please direct those to info Houston at Carson wealth.com May you and your family encounter truth, beauty and goodness on the road ahead. The opinions voiced in wisdom and wealth with Josh Klooz are for general information purposes only, and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal. No strategy assures success protects against loss. To determine what may be appropriate for you. Please consult your attorney, accountant, financial or tax advisor prior to investing. Investment Advisory services offered through CWM LLC, an SEC registered investment advisor. Our address locally is 17 at Hughes landing suite 570 The Woodlands Texas 77380 Today's guest is not affiliated with CWM LLC

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