Member Spotlight

CAPSTONE Business Advisors, LLC

 

We sat down with Chad Connery, Director, and Rich Miles, Managing Member and Co-Founder of CAPSTONE Business Advisors, LLC recently and discovered that they drive business based on two tenants, integrity and relationships.


Rich Miles

CAPSTONE is a boutique advisory firm for privately owned businesses. They provide consulting services and advise clients in acquiring and selling. At CAPSTONE, they take on a ‘roll up your sleeves’ approach and ‘Mapquest’ model to help business owners get from Point A to Point B.

When founding members, Bill Cook and Jimmy Dunn, approached Rich in early 2000 with their idea of helping guide business owners aged 65 and older with business decisions, Rich immediately said “thanks, but no thanks.” Rich perceived business brokerages as not having the best of intentions.

Chad Connery

However, after doing some research of the Nashville business climate, Rich’s mind began to change. Rich saw that no one was taking care of those entrepreneurs and their businesses.

When he went back to discuss this idea further with Bill and Jimmy, Rich said that he would not go forward unless they based their mission on two tenants, integrity and relationships. “I knew if we violated one of those tenants, then we would be out of business,” says Rich.

The rule, that is still in place today, also goes both ways. “We do not do business with people that do not value those two things,” continued Rich. “You can buy all the intellect you need, but you can’t always find the right chemistry.”

Rich, Chad and all of CAPSTONE value the chemistry they have with their existing clients. “We seek out true partnerships” Chad explained, “to us our clients are not just another transaction.”

Within their business relationships, they wear many hats that include advisor, challenger, coach, supporter, creator, director, strengthener and validator, meaning that they ask genuine, and sometimes hard questions that help their clients get to where they want to go. Having the right chemistry with their clients goes a long way during the entire process.

“No one can challenge our process” Rich said, “they may not like the answer at times, but they can never doubt that we have their best interests at heart.”

CAPSTONE promotes their business partnership as a 2 to 5-year plan. They seek longer term relationships with their clients to ensure their client gets to where they want to be. CAPSTONE’s process is completely hands-on and getting their client to the right place takes time.

Rich mentioned that 85% of their business comes from referrals. CAPSTONE prides themselves on the meaningful relationships they create with their clients. Rich believes, “relationships drive our business.”

While meeting with CAPSTONE, you can tell that they care about the clients they serve. No names were mentioned for confidentiality purposes, but each one of the advisors that work with CAPSTONE are on a first-name basis with each client.

Their advice to any entrepreneur is to be passionate about what you are doing. “Without the passion, it’s just a job,” Rich said. After sitting down with Rich and Chad, the passion they had for what they do and what they do for their clients was evident.

If you are a business owner, CAPSTONE can help you make informed decisions as well as provide vision, confidence, accountability, leverage, reality checks, execution and most importantly results. To learn more about CAPSTONE, visit their website at capstonebusinessadvisors.com. Chad (615-686-6115) and Rich (615-312-8280) would also like you to have their contact information so that you can reach out to them personally, whenever you need.