A Trusted Business Coach and Exit Planning Advisor

Assisting Privately-Held and Family-Owned Businesses with Value Acceleration and Succession Planning.

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Strategies Midwest's Services

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01

Business
Coaching

Practical, tailored coaching to help you, key managers and/or supervisors solve problems, enhance leadership and grow your business

02

Succession
Planning

Guiding you through the transition process to ensure a seamless handover to the next generation or successor.

03

Exit
Planning

Helping you prepare for a successful exit, maximizing the value of your business while ensuring a smooth transition.

Dr. Dave Baker, Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA®)

Dave founded Strategies Midwest in 2022 to help small and family-owned businesses achieve their goals of growth and succession.  His personal approach relies on trust which involves taking the time to understand his clients’ operations and what they have accomplished.

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Where Our Clients See Value

Dave’s coaching improved our communication and business performance beyond expectations.

– Mark Wilson

Operations Manager

Thanks to Dave, our succession planning process was seamless and stress-free.

– Mark Wilson

Operations Manager

Dave’s coaching improved our communication and business performance beyond expectations.

– Mark Wilson

Operations Manager

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FAQs

Questions & Answers

Please feel free to Contact Us at any point with additional questions!

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What is business coaching and how can it improve my business?
Owners often struggle to acquire valuable, objective feedback when it comes to making decisions regarding their businesses.  Everyone around them (spouse, key managers, etc.) is directly impacted by most choices, so their input is understandably subjective.  As a business coach, I become an objective voice, helping the owner think through both simple and complex  issues and to set and accomplish personal and professional goals. 
Having a plan for the next stage of a business is crucial.  Certainly, an owner is essential to its success but it should always be the goal to reduce owner responsibility and transition her/him out of certain or all of the day-to-day operations at some point.  This means it is important to  prepare key employees or family members to take on additional responsibilities and to better understand essential operations and relationships.  Being certain the business operates smoothly without direct owner involvement is essential to creating a succession plan.
Exit planning goes hand-in-hand with succession planning and should be considered long before the owner is actually ready to sell or transfer ownership.  A better way to think of exit planning is to think of accelerating the value of the business to maximize profit when ownership is transferred.  The exit planning process is designed to improve four intangible capitals present in a business: 
 
Human: Are the right people in the right seats, doing the right work?
Customer: Are customers satisfied and willing to recommend your business?
Structural:  Are processes in place, documented and reviewed for continual improvement?
Cultural: Is it a business that both customers and employees highly value?
I work with small to medium-sized, privately-held and family-owned businesses in a range of industries.  
My clients come primarily through referrals from existing and past clients or referral partners – CPAs, Wealth Managers, Attorneys, Banking Professionals, etc.  Those referral partner relationships also allow me to recommend competent professionals to my clients when the needs arise.  My first step is to meet with the potential client over coffee, lunch or at her/his business to begin discussing  the business’ needs and how I may be able to assist.  I never sell my services; I simply provide explanation of how I believe I can help accelerate the value of a business and a joint decision is made regarding working together.  The opportunity to work with any business is a privilege  I never take for granted and my goal is always to earn trust through honesty, hard work and positive results.

Ready to get started accelerating the Value of Your Business?

Schedule a no-obligation conversation with Dave today.

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