04 Jan Looking Towards a Success in 2021 and Beyond
At the end of our previous article, “Celebrating Our 90th Webinar with an All-Star Group of Panelists” we covered some of the key insights our group of highly-distinguished panelists had regarding the highly usual year that was 2020. The webinar is accessible here. In this article, we’ll explore what our panelists are expecting for 2021 and beyond.
After a year like 2020, you could be forgiven for wondering why our panelists might be so wildly optimistic about the future. The simple fact is that our panelists believe that the vaccine will have a positive impact in the coming months, and this will help to slow and eventually beat back COVID-10. However, this is only one reason for the optimism. Much of the enthusiasm discussed on the panel stems from the historically unique shift in all aspects of business that is on the horizon.
Panelist Jim Parker noted that it is a fantastic time to be a business broker stating, “Over the next 10 years, we’re going to see the greatest chance for personal wealth that this world has ever seen. We’ve got a lot of business owners in their sixties and early seventies that have run businesses for 20 or 30 years. They’re looking to retire, regardless of what is going on right now…there is not enough business brokers across the country to handle the amount of businesses that are going to need to be sold in the next five to ten years…I am very, very positive for our industry.”
In short, while 2020 was a rough ride for most people in every walk of life and in every sector of business, the experts generally agree that the big picture warrants a high degree of optimism.
As Parker goes on to observe, it is important to focus not on the problems, as there will always be problems. Instead, he suggests shifting our attention to what he refers to as an “abundance of opportunity.” Looking at the tidal wave of Baby Boomers that will have no choice but to retire in the coming ten years, there is little doubt that a simply tremendous opportunity exists for brokers in the coming years. Now, is quite likely the greatest single time to be a business broker ever. Parker points out a very important fact. By their very definition, business brokers are problem solvers that find solutions and make deals happen.
In closing out 2020, it is important for business brokers and M&A advisors not to obsess about the ample and often diverse woes of 2020, but instead look forward to a potentially massive wave of business opportunities. It is well documented that Baby Boomers have delayed selling. But Father Time will catch up with even the most stubborn Boomers in the next decade. Savvy professionals will firmly put 2020 in the rear-view mirror and begin preparing for what looks to be a very lucrative future for the entire industry in 2021 and the rest of the decade.
