Quick take

BIO: Michelle Seiler Tucker is the Founder and CEO of Seiler Tucker Incorporated. She owns many businesses in several different industries. As a 20-year veteran in the M&A industry, she is regarded as the leading authority on buying, selling, fixing, and growing businesses.

Audio Length: 00:24:54

STORY: Michelle met a business leader at a conference, and he convinced her and others to invest in a tech company in South Africa. The excitement of investing outside of the US got the best of her. She invested over a quarter of a million dollars and even convinced her husband to invest a similar amount. The business leader got into a massive fight with the company’s CEO, and needless to say, the investors never made anything out of it nor got their money back.

LEARNING: Always make decisions based on logic, not emotion. Separate the research that you do on risk and return. Have trusted advisors.

“Get a mentor that has been down the road you want to travel, early on. This will shorten your learning curve and path to success dramatically.”

Michelle Seiler Tucker

Guest profile

Michelle Seiler Tucker is the Founder and CEO of Seiler Tucker Incorporated. She owns many businesses in several different industries. As a 20-year veteran in the M&A industry, she is regarded as the leading authority on buying, selling, fixing, and growing businesses. She and her firm have sold over a thousand businesses in almost every vertical and have a remarkable track record of success.

In addition to being featured in INC, Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, and USA Magazine, Michelle is an international keynote speaker and makes regular radio and TV appearances on Fox Business News and CNBC.

She has spoken alongside many prominent speakers: Eric Trump, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kathy Ireland, Donna Karen, Stedman Graham, Randi Zuckerberg, Steve Wozniak, and more.

She holds the Mergers & Acquisitions Master Intermediary (M&AMI) title, as well as Certified Mergers and Acquisitions Professional (CM&AP) and Certified Senior Business Analyst (CSBA).

Worst investment ever

Michelle met a business leader during a conference who talked her and several other attendees into investing in a technology company in South Africa. Michelle was excited she’d wanted to do something unique outside of the United States.

Michelle invested over a quarter of a million and convinced her husband to invest a similar amount. The investment was just a disaster. The business leader ended up getting into a big fight with the company’s CEO, and he went his separate way. Michelle and other investors fought for years to make something work or get their money back. It’s been about seven years now, and they still don’t have their money back.

Lessons learned

• When somebody is trying to raise capital from you, make sure that they’re doing it the right way. Make sure they’re following all the rules with the SEC.
• If you’re going to invest in a company outside of the United States, do your due diligence and have some alliances in that country.
• Have trusted advisors.
• Make sure that you don’t get caught up in the excitement of an investment. Weigh the pros and the cons. Write down all the things that could go right and all that could go wrong.
• Never make decisions on emotion; always make decisions based on logic.

Takeaways

• Whenever you’re investing your money, especially in startups or small businesses, know that there’s so much risk in it. Try not to bring additional risk on, like going to a foreign country if you can.
• Step back from your emotions and do your due diligence.
• Separate the research that you do on risk and return. Write down all the exciting things about the upside on a piece of paper. Then a couple of days later, take that same paper out and write about what could go wrong.

Actionable advice

Due diligence, due diligence, and more due diligence.

No. 1 goal for the next 12 months

Michelle’s goal for the next 12 months is to keep helping business owners to save their businesses and put them on the road to riches. She wants to help them to retire rich.

Parting words

“It’s hard to read the label from the inside of the bottle. You need an outsider’s perspective to read the warning signs and keep you out of the danger zone.”

Michelle Seiler Tucker