With attendance of 24 Rotarians and 4 guests, president Everton called the meeting to order at 12:15.
BUSINESS
President Everton encouraged members to "brain-storm" and provide suggestions for potential community service projects in which our club's membership could be involved.
Michelle Burke shared that the Rotary luncheon on February 22 will be off-site with a tour of Catalyst 137 on Glasgow Street near Belmont.
Past-president Ian Robertson shared an overview of the "Rotary Meets" program which is part of the 2023 Fellowship Committee, encouraging Rotarians to invite their peers and guests to informal gatherings of two or more people to socialize and become better acquainted or re-acquainted with fellow members.
50/50 - a relatively new pot of $59.50 remained intact despite efforts of Neil and Laura to capture the black marble.
Induction - Syd Vanderpool, sponsored by president Everton, became the newest Rotarian in the world when he was officially inducted by past-president Laura Power. Welcome aboard Syd!
Larry Masseo provided the introduction of guest speaker Simon Fallows, owner of from Freedom For Founders.
Guest speaker Simon Fallows professionally shared his revelation of Exit Strategies focussing on small businesses (under $5 million revenue), with a goal of visualizing issues from multiple perspectives and "what-if" scenarios.
Members were encouraged to visualize an everyday experience - for example shopping - and the variables that encompass and contribute to the shopping experience as being ideal.
That seque led to five "D's" of how business owners ultimately "exit" from their companies:
- Death
- Divorce
- Dispute
- Disease
- Distress
The #1 challenge of planning an owner's exit from a company is, ironically, the dependency that the company has on the owner. Simon suggested that the exit strategy is NOT a one-time event, but a series of small, well-thought-out steps.
Exiting the role is not simply about retiring from and turning over the business, but understanding how the exit will impact not only the company itself, but the staff, the clients/customers, the suppliers and other stakeholders.
The ideal scenario is to have a plan for exiting, rather than having the "exit" resulting from external forces as listed above by the five D's.
Simon was thanked for his thought-provoking presentation and gifted with an Eyesight Restoration certificate by Rotarian John Rose.
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