21 May 2016 was the first birthday of Carwardin Limited.  For me it was the close of probably the most exciting and rewarding year of my entire business career so far.  Given that is out of some 23 years that’s not bad eh?

When I look back now to when I first set up Carwardin Strategy and Business Sales in May 2015 I wasn’t sure how things would go.  I had a clear idea of what I wanted to do – work directly with private business owners on strategy and business sales (i.e. all things ‘ownership’ related) – but I was not sure how my offering would be received.

One year on and for me personally it feels has been a success.   There is something quite satisfying in having a view on how something might work and then being able to bring it to life.

I’ve had the opportunity to work with business owners on a wide range of ‘ownership’ related matters – including strategic planning, introduction of key employees, sale mandates, due diligence, buy side advisory, which has been great.

I have to thank the many people who have helped me over the last year, which includes my family; my many referrers and business contacts who have introduced me to many business owners; and lastly (but not least) the business owners themselves who felt comfortable enough to share their personal situations and goals with me.  Hopefully, I have helped them all in some way, even if it was only to provide my opinion and point them in the direction of who might best help.

A few quick thoughts about the first year:

• Biggest success?  Aside from completed deals and assignments, the satisfaction of having a vision and being able to bring Carwardin to life (I almost feel grown up now!).  I will always value my time working for others but its great to be able to do my own thing (and hopefully with a little bit of personality as well).
• What’s changed from before?  Nothing really in terms of the work I do and how I help clients, i.e. providing clarity to owners around strategy, facilitation, negotiation, business sales and transactions etc.  How I deliver that work and how responsive I can be has changed hugely though and certainly the advances of smartphones, apps and the cloud has given me the flexibility to establish Carwardin in the way that I wanted to.
• Biggest struggle?  This might be a surprise, but getting used to the flexibility of working my way, in my time. ‘The freedom to work’ as it was suggested to me.
• Least surprising?  I have not missed enduring peak hour traffic every day to sit at a desk / be in an office.  Instead my focus has been on getting out and about and meeting people.
• What have I enjoyed?  Being able to collaborate with like-minded individuals from a wide range of backgrounds – hopefully you know who you are!  Also the flexibility of being able to experiment with change, quickly implement then move on has been great.
• What would I do differently?  Not much.  As you would expect, I haven’t got everything right (‘no harm, no foul’ as we say in basketball).   I have appreciated the feedback (both positive and constructive!) that I have received from everyone, which has had a big influence on how my methodology and approach is evolving.  I certainly finished the first year with very clear ideas on how I can help business owners achieve their goals and I see plenty of opportunities out there.

And on to next year…

So thanks again to those that I have worked with over the past year – I look forward to more of the same in the coming 12 months.

And if you know a business owner that wants to discuss ‘where-to-next’ with the ownership of their business, then by all means get in touch.

Kind regards,

Tim