We are joined by Scott Sofer the owner of Bickford Flavors, a provider of over 200 stock flavors to the food and beverage industry.  Scott is a 3rd generation entrepreneur, has owned several companies, and is passionate about giving back and helping young people learn about entrepreneurship.

We are feeling old as we celebrate another Dirty Secrets of Small Business milestone with our 200th episode!  Who would have though 4 years ago that a couple of radio/podcast novices like us would still be going strong?  It’s been a fun ride and we feel like we’re just starting to hit our stride!

During this show, we cover the second part of a topic we started in Episode 195, the 7 Key Pitfalls When Transitioning My Business.  Transitioning your business to the next owner will likely be one of the most difficult things you do in business.  And you usually only get one shot at it!

We are joined in studio by Elisabeth Sapell of All City Candy who shared her story of jumping from the non-profit world into the business world to start her own company in 2013 after growing up with parents who were business owners.  Elisabeth is also a graduate of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program (https://www.goldmansachs.com/citizenship/10000-small-businesses/US/) and shared her experience with the program as well!

This week we were joined in studio by Cristina Bertero of Fully Promoted (http://www.fullypromoted.com/cleveland-west-oh) who is an immigrant from Brazil who came to this country several years ago not speaking a word of English.  After her kids grew up she decided to launch her business and she shared her great story  with us tonight!  Cristina is also a graduate of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program and she shared with us some of her key takeaways from that program in our monthly Goldman 10 for 10 segment including how it helped relieve her solitary feeling as a business owner and got so close with folks in her class.

This week we were joined in studio by Michael Uetz and Danette Amstein the owners of Midan Marketing a full service marketing and communications focused on everything meat.  We’ve known and worked with Michael and Danette since 2007 and have seen them grow from 6 employees to nearly 100!

Running a business can be difficult.  Transitioning your business to the next owner will likely be one of the most difficult things you do in business.  And you usually only get one shot at it!

We are joined in studio by John Sonnhalter, the Founder of Ohio Industrial Advertising dba Sonnhalter, a B2T marketing firm specializing in helping companies who target professional trances men in the construction, industrial and MRO markets.