Steve Bart
July 13, 2024
The 2024 Delaware Business Owner Summit presented by Blue Rock Financial Group was an early highlight of the summer that brought local business leaders and entrepreneurs to beautiful Dewey Beach, DE. The summit featured incredible local and regional participation, with a notable number exceeding 150 attendees.
Financially, the event was successful, raising substantial funds through ticket sales, sponsorships, and donations, while maintaining reasonable expenses. The proceeds were donated to a local veteran-focused charity, Redefining Warrior Culture, reflecting the event’s commitment to community support. Blue Rock Financial Group played a pivotal role in organizing and sponsoring the event, contributing to its overall success. Business attendance was strong, with over 60 companies represented from 13 different states, fostering networking and collaboration opportunities across multiple regions.
Mark O’Donnell is an expert on the Entreprenurial Operating System, or EOS for short, and described in detail the 6 key components of their process. Vision, People, Process, Data, Issues, and Traction are all areas where our business owners can start to identify gaps in their business and begin to create a roadmap to what success looks like to them. Mark was able to hit the entire room with his captivating demeanor and quick-to-answer responses to all of the participants questions.
Gregg-Brooke Koleno is an expert in the field of organizational management, specifically I.A. Business Advisor’s BIZ Vision process, that outlines where business owners are today and where they are capable of going in the future. Gregg mentioned S.M.A.R.T. management where they identify gaps in current processes and lines of communication, and then institute a way forward with key action items every step of the way. She was able to assist a large majority of the room with her management principles, applying them to every business owner who was looking to improve their current situation.
Joel “Thor” Neeb is a former F-15 fighter jet pilot turned A.I. guru. Joel captivated the audience with his storytelling ability and his brilliance around the insight age of intelligence, an age in which he believes we are currently living in 2024. He mentioned ways companies in the past have failed and that they were not able to adapt to the changing business landscape and then provided examples of what that looks like for business owners today. His simple yet elegant description of the Insight Age was extremely beneficial, and it was clear that everyone plans on implementing a number of items he had mentioned into their business right away.
Jim Kniffen of Gulfstream Mergers & Acquisitions was our 4th and final speaker who tied in the entirety of the day by speaking about the succession plan of every business. Jim mentioned that every business will eventually come to an end whether they choose to sell the business, or the business fails. Jim described techniques that many younger business owners don’t consider in the early stages of owning their business and that many veteran business owners think of too late in their business journey. Jim’s perspective on selling a business gave new insight to everyone in attendance because everyone could see themselves somewhere along the path that he set out in front of the room.
Mark O’Donnell of EOS Worldwide discussed organizing your vision and how to make realistic goals in the business realm. Gregg-Brooke Koleno from IA Business Advisors discussed their BizVision process and how to take companies from where they are, to where they want to be using S.M.A.R.T. management and forecasting. Joel “Thor” Neeb talked about the Insight Age of Artificial Intelligence and what business owners can do today to plan for a better tomorrow. Batting clean-up was Jim Kniffen of Gulfstream Mergers & Acquisitions who discussed the importance of having a succession plan in place regardless of where the business is in its life cycle.
Overall, the summit was a well-organized and impactful event, providing valuable insights and connections for Delaware’s business community. We have already started planning next year’s event and we are so excited to provide value to our local business leaders here in our home state of Delaware as well as other surrounding states.
