Client Story – Michael, Consulting Engineer

Having run his successful engineering consultancy for a number of years, Michael was thinking about what’s next?

He wanted to be able to retire young enough to enjoy the rewards of his hard work, follow his passions and spend time travelling the world with his wife.

Sadly, his brother had passed away much too young and he didn’t want to leave things too late.

Introduced to us through his business mentor, Michael needed a succession plan to bring the right person in to take his business to the next level and enable him to realise some of the value he’d built up in the business.

Completely new to selling part of his business – he wanted practical advice, someone to help him step through the process, and also facilitate and project manage the different aspects with his other professionals.

“I’d heard about things such as shareholder cover key man insurance but, other than my personal insurance, I really knew nothing about them. I didn’t know what I didn’t know,” says Michael.

"What I liked about Bruce MacQueen was he took the time to understand what was important for me and my business. He also had the experience in this area, and was easy and fun to work with. At the end of the day, I only want to work with someone I like.”

Insurance is just one part of selling part of your business. There are a number of things – shareholder agreements and buy-sell agreements, for example – that must be done correctly as well to protect the owner and the incoming shareholder.

“Taking care of the whole thing, Bruce was a safe and confident pair of hands, linking it all together to deliver what we wanted. Allowing me to get on with growing the business and avoid the detail.”

In addition to managing and facilitating the process of a new shareholder buying into Michael’s engineering firm (including the relevant insurance cover), Bruce also took Michael and his wife through an Aspirations Map. This was a key part of the discovery process and provided valuable insight to help get everything right.

Overall, Michael is extremely pleased with the result. With a growing company he has the structure and protection in place to safeguard his investment and business now, while also being flexible as the company changes.

And, with the new shareholder on board, he’s able to relinquish some of the day-to-day management and start living the lifestyle he’d aspired to.