The Auto Repair industry is underserved in terms of financial services. Matt Difrancesco elaborates on how he noticed a gap in the auto repair industry regarding information and solutions. As a result, the virtual family office was rebranded to become HighLift Financial. It brings in several options that family business owners can choose from.
Identifying The Gap
During my 15 years of working with family businesses, I’ve worked with automotive collision repair shops families. They all faced similar challenges. Due to this, we geared our marketing message towards this space.
Absence Of A Plan
This is common to many family businesses, but automotive repair shop owners don’t have a plan for their future. They don’t have a plan for their next phase of life. Though they are grinders, they’re building their businesses one job at a time. They are held up with the immediate tasks that tend to lose the path of where they want to be.
This is the point where they start wondering, “what am I going to do? Am I going to retire? And if I do retire, what happens to the business? Are my kids going to take over? Do they have the business skills to run it?
And then the owners think, what does my role become? So all of a sudden, a fog comes over them. What do they do if the kids aren’t interested in the business? Where are they going to sell it? After all, this is where they have put their blood, sweat, and tears in almost 30, 40 years.
So, the first step that we follow at HighLift Financial is to help that shop owner define what he wants his life and future to look like. This involves a series of family meetings to get their input regarding their particular goals, dreams, and how they fit into the owner’s vision.
Often, we can identify where there may be a lack of communication between the family and then help them help assist them and coordinate this vision. Read more about why family meetings play an integral role and how we can assist.
Once we get the family vision, we guide them in formulating a plan that will help them accomplish it and actively help them execute the plan along with the monitoring of life changes. Of course, the plan can be modified as life happens. It throws us wrenches all the time, so we need to adapt to these things that come up.
Where To Find The Help?
Most family businesses don’t know where to get the answers that they need. In addition, there is a lack of business management skills. Due to this, the owners can face difficulty coordinating their business and lives.
As life is never static, countless issues can come up. Whether it is a spouse’s death, divorce, or shifting parents to assisted living, there will be an instant need to seek advice from a professional to make sound decisions.
At HighLift Financial, we have a team of experts outside my area of expertise that handles and helps guide families in the eldercare transition and other situations that come up. We have positioned ourselves as one point of contact for these owners because we have access to experts in many areas. So we have:
- Tax and legal experts
- Eldercare specialists
- College planning specialists
- Counselors
- Benefits specialists
- HR specialists
- Sales and marketing specialists
Accessibility to Services
The automotive repair industry is underserved by the financial services industry. For example, there is a decent-sized business with a good cash flow. However, the cost of running a shop can be astronomical.
Due to the emissions, state or federal government regulations are constantly changing. They’ve got to buy a $20,000 piece of equipment. Otherwise, they can’t do business. In addition, they have certifications that they’re required to have and maintain. Plus, there is training and the case of employee turnover.
So as a result, they spend a lot of money reinvesting into their own business. So what happens is they don’t have a tremendous amount of “investable assets”. These are assets like brokerage accounts, 401K’s, retirement plans, insurance, annuity products, etc. Most planning advisors get paid on the assets under management that they manage.
Resultantly, they tend to look for clients with a large amount of these assets that they can manage. So, this is how the smaller businesses cannot find the right help. The absence of plans and incorrect information can make the situation worse.
HighLift Financial is a registered investment advisory firm. We always put the client’s best interests first in making recommendations.
How To Get In Touch With Matt
Whether you are an automotive business owner or provide any other services, you can visit the HighLift Financial website to check the services that we offer. Then, get in touch with Mat DiFrancesco and schedule a free 20-minute conversation.
Go through my blog posts or podcasts, If you want to know more about our team, which can act as external key personnel for business, or learn about how auto shop or collision shop owners are growing their business.
Disclaimer
The information compiled and posted here solely represents the opinions and views of the guest. It might not necessarily be similar to the opinions and views of High Lift Financial. The availability of this content only serves educational and informational purposes. It is not a substitute for tax or legal advice or professional investment.
Always make sure to consult your financial advisor with any queries related to personal or business planning. DiFrancesco Financial Concierge, LLC. d/b/a HighLift Financial is a Registered Investment Advisor registered with the State of Pennsylvania and subject to the State of Pennsylvania’s regulatory oversight.