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Jennifer Hendrickson was raised in Springfield, Missouri, and has a bachelor's degree in finance and an MBA from Southeast Missouri State University, along with two graduate degrees in banking from Vanderbilt and LSU. She is also a Board Certified Intermediary (BCI) and a Certified Merger & Acquisition Intermediary (CMAI). After 15 years in financial services she moved to her husband's hometown of Cape Girardeau in 2003. She left banking to start Hendrickson Business Advisors, LLC in 2007. The firm provides management and marketing consulting services to small and mid-sized businesses across all industries. In 2010, they opened Murphy Business of Cape Girardeau, a locally owned office of the largest business brokerage firm in the United States. Through Murphy Business Jennifer helps individuals value, buy and sell businesses up to $500 million across the United States. Visit these businesses online at www.hendricksonbusinessadvisors.com and www.murphybusinessofcape.com. Jennifer can be reached at jennifer@hendricksonbusinessadvisors.com or at 573.335.1885.
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Value Your Business
Posted Thursday, January 18, 2018, at 2:52 PMWhile your accountant is working feverishly to get your 1099s and W2s out, it’s a good time to think about using your up-to-date year end financials to have a business valuation done... -
Don’t be a lame-duck business owner.
Posted Monday, August 28, 2017, at 1:07 PMIn politics, the lame duck refers to an office holder who knows he is leaving office but hasn’t been replaced yet. Not thinking long-term, he neglects his duties and leaves a bit of a mess for his replacement. It can also happen when a business owner decides to sell... -
It's Valuation Time!
Posted Friday, March 24, 2017, at 4:19 PMSeriously. If your business operates on a calendar year then you’ve just filed or are close to filing your taxes – and your financial numbers are fresh. Those numbers are part of what we use to calculate a Broker Opinion of Value (BOV)... -
Pedal to the Metal
Posted Tuesday, September 20, 2016, at 10:02 AMRunning a business can be tiring. Wait. Scratch that. Running a business IS tiring - even exhausting sometimes. We also know that when you’ve done it for several decades it can be difficult to find the energy to keep your business growing. We often hear from business owners who are ready to sell because they want to retire and enjoy life. ... -
Use Retirement Funds to Buy a Business
Posted Wednesday, August 17, 2016, at 10:57 AMIt’s a common situation: You have been doing a good job of saving for retirement and so there’s a considerable amount that’s accumulated in your retirement accounts…but you don’t have a boatload of liquid money just sitting around in a checking or savings account. ... -
Seasonal Businesses
Posted Monday, July 18, 2016, at 5:21 PMSeasonal businesses come in all shapes and sizes. A snow cone truck will thrive when the weather’s hot and won’t generate a profit when it’s cold out – there’s just not enough demand for snow cones when there’s snow everywhere. ... -
Unsellable Businesses
Posted Friday, May 13, 2016, at 2:15 PMAfter nearly two decades of real estate/fixer-upper/curb appeal/garage sale picker reality television, it’s easy to think that there’s a buyer for everything. That may be true – just not at every price and certainly not at any time. ... -
The Right Person for the Job
Posted Friday, April 15, 2016, at 8:45 AMYou wouldn't expect an oral surgeon to perform a successful open heart surgery. Sure, she's a licensed physician trained in surgery and all the latest surgical techniques but she doesn't know the heart as well as does a cardiovascular surgeon. ... -
The Rhythm of the Deal
Posted Monday, April 4, 2016, at 10:31 AMSo much in our lives follows a natural rhythm – breathing, heart beating, asleep/awake, the rising and setting of the sun, the ocean tides, music. These rhythms are comforting – necessary even. They help us keep track of time. Occasionally they go completely wrong: We get short of breath, our hearts race or skip beats, we can’t sleep, there’s daylight saving time and tsunami and we can’t dance any more. These breaks in the rhythms are awful and sometimes deadly... -
Reflections and Predictions
Posted Monday, January 18, 2016, at 11:05 AMHappy New Year! We thought it might be fun to take a look at what happened related to merger and acquisition transactions in 2015 and make a few predictions as to what you might expect in the coming year. 2015 Reflections: Buyers were optimistic about the health and viability of businesses and valuations reflected that. ... -
Reduce Your Risk
Posted Wednesday, November 18, 2015, at 12:11 PMAccording to Bloomberg, 8 out of 10 entrepreneurs who start businesses fail within the first 18 months. Scary. You can greatly reduce your risk of failure (or increase your likelihood of success) by buying an existing business. They have cash flow from day one, clients already in place, and a proven business model. But how do you go about doing that? We're so glad you asked!... -
Penny Wise and Pound Foolish
Posted Monday, October 12, 2015, at 12:39 PMIt's an English idiom that means someone is so careful about the small matters (pennies) that they become careless with the big ones (pounds.) Sometimes when an owner is selling their business, they try to win every little point in negotiations with the buyer and it ends up costing them the big ones... -
Let It Go
Posted Wednesday, September 16, 2015, at 10:42 AMHave you ever sold a house and then driven by to see what the new owners decided to do with it? I have. Sometimes the new owners take good care of what was once ours, and sometimes they totally trash it. It's easy to become disappointed and even angered when someone doesn't take care of our own hard work, but it's theirs to do with as they please. They bought it. They own it... -
When to Sell Your Business
Posted Tuesday, July 14, 2015, at 4:39 PMToo often, business owners envision selling the business someday in order to have time for their retirement and/or grandkids. This article will change that vision. I recently attended a conference in Dallas where our office became certified to handle "middle market" merger and acquisition transactions ($5 million - $500 million). Among the many great takeaways from this conference was this: Sell your business when it's ready to be sold (not necessarily when you personally are ready)... -
Grace Under Pressure
Posted Tuesday, May 12, 2015, at 5:45 PMThe process of buying or selling a business is stressful. So much goes into a successful transaction that it's easy to feel overwhelmed and most people can't make rational decisions when they're overwhelmed. As transaction brokers, we have to remain neutral. What's overwhelming about it?... -
Pay Now or Pay Later
Posted Thursday, April 23, 2015, at 4:50 PMSpring! It's baseball season, allergy season, thunderstorm season (for those of us based here in the Midwest), aaaand it's tax season. Taxes. They're a source of common ground among all industries. We all have to pay them, nobody likes paying them and so we're all looking for ways to reduce the amount we pay... -
The Negotiator
Posted Wednesday, March 18, 2015, at 8:45 AM2"I've messed things up with my last two buyers...will you negotiate with this next buyer for me?" You bet! One of the most valuable services that a business broker provides is that we negotiate on behalf of the buyer and seller. As transaction brokers, we filter out the stress and buffer any criticism. I'll explain:... -
Champions Adjust
Posted Wednesday, February 11, 2015, at 10:13 AMNo business survives if it doesn't evolve. Every factor that affects our businesses keeps changing over time including the economy, technology, law, best practices, natural and human resources, etc. Change is not a dirty word even though it has a bad reputation with those who refuse to accept it. Change presents tremendous opportunities to those of us who embrace it and adjust our business accordingly... -
Looking Ahead at 2015
Posted Monday, January 12, 2015, at 4:15 PM2014 was a good year for business brokerage - our first really good year since the recession. I'm feeling optimistic going into 2015 as well and here's why: Buyers are excited. They're starting to feel better about the economy. The businesses that made it through the recession have demonstrated their resiliency and, even if the numbers aren't quite back to normal, they survived and that survival builds confidence. ... -
Benefits to Buying a Franchise
Posted Thursday, December 11, 2014, at 6:26 PMLast week I was honored to conduct two workshops at the Dale Carnegie Training International Convention in Atlanta, Georgia. The theme was "WOW!" - which accurately describes how I felt being there among such an impressive group of people. Dale Carnegie Training is a franchised organization - one of several we support from our Cape Girardeau office. ...
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