Who will succeed the guru?

How does one prepare a business when you have found no successors in your own family? I have heard countless tales of founders who are faced with the challenge of succession. They end up selling to another outfit or getting industrial partners to carry on with the business. But what if your business demands personal time, sincere advice and honest comments? What if your business is not a product but a service? What if the service has no manuals and it comes from your own heart and mind?

Such is the question or questions I posed to franchise guru Armando “Butz” Bartolome (also known as AOB). Who will carry on this legacy of yours after having helped over 800 individuals, couples and businesses who each have made their mark in Philippine, regional and international history? Mr. AOB’s client list is a roster of international brands that started locally and probably were “Mom and Pop” operations, the owners of which he convinced to expand when the time was right. He also has clients who have since gone international, especially with the invaluable help of his better half, Erlyndah “ESB” Sabio-Bartolome, a certified franchise executive or CFE.

I met this couple a little over 30 years ago (yes, that long ago, franchising was already a trend) from a DM or direct mail, believe it or not. Back then, people wrote real letters to potential clients and I happened to open this letter (sent by snail mail) and got interested. I still remember asking them for a meeting at what was then the branch number two of our coffee shop, which would expand to over 70 locations soon after I met this couple.  Over many years, we worked together on franchising models to expand our business using OPM – other people’s money, the name of the game way before M&As (mergers and acquisitions) became the fashion. Way before VC or venture capital became a byword. Way before impact investment became an option. It was a good time to polish our store model, with the help of the GMB group (what they called their company).

Over time they still were around as we got more professionalized and got higher international standards to future-proof the business. There was ISO, SGV and consultants to see our eventual foray into international waters. And we did establish in Hong Kong, Dubai and China, over 20 years ago.

Always Mr. AOB and Lyndah would be by our side, ever the faithful consultants who were more our family of advisers and “contrapelo” or “contrabida” or what today you would call devil’s advocate and adversarial opinion. You need that, always. Otherwise, if nobody challenged you, you would go straight to doomsday scenarios, not being able to recover or rise again.

Over many years, we would still get together to just discuss new trends, even without talking business. And what I realized is that they imparted not just business advice but business values. Mr. AOB is an ex-seminarian and his spiritual experience always comes out when we talk about challenges to the business. We all also respected cultural beliefs, be it religious, astrology or numerology, or whatever clients and friends believed in. On top of all that, GMB would always be about prayer, being grateful and lifting everything – problems and successes – to the Universe and to the powers that be. These are the values I will never forget and have become part of all their clients’ belief systems, who they all treat as family.

I would meet other clients of the couple who had the same “vibes” and values as we believed in, maybe because GMB also chose their clients well. It was not about money, but about common beliefs and values. The old saying “birds of the same feather, flock together” is so true among their clients and friends. You would not meet a soul who was totally on the other side of the values barometer. They had the discernment to choose clients well.

And this is why I asked who would succeed them. Their daughter has chosen another career path so they must be wondering who would take over and carry on. Simple answer of the guru: our clients are our successors. What a gem of an idea – but true. The clients they have mentored over the decades will be the ones to impart their lessons to their own family members and their teams.

This is why it is of prime importance to get advice from people who share the same values as you. Business advice is almost always about money, because it is the business of business to make profit. But not with this couple. Rather it is about sustainability of your business idea and how you can train others to be like you.

I remember their advice when we chose franchisees. Even if they had all the money, they had to pass the first test which we thought was more important: values. To this day, this is how we like to choose partners or collaborators. And yes, maybe we are one of their successors in that we still follow the rules we set up when GMB was actively helping us choose our future business partners – they may have all the cash but if their values differ from ours, we just silently say: “Next!”

For business people who do not have successors and who think they will go with their boots on, think again. Maybe you have already imparted the lessons to your clients and business partners, not necessarily your next of kin.

If you want to learn more from the guru, I have him on my podcast “Good and Green” sharing tips and snippets of wisdom gathered from his hundreds of clients, many who still consult with the couple to this day. I am one of them. When there is a business challenge or even a life challenge I face, there is always a number I can call. Call the guru.

You can find the guru on Facebook and LinkedIn.

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