This week America pauses to say, “Thank You”. Thank you for the freedom and opportunity offered equally to all in this nation.  Thank you for the merit based economic system which rewards achievement blind to gender, ethnicity, national origin, religion, and all other demographic metrics.  Thank you for the abundant natural resources of this land which have facilitated prosperity, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Thank you for the generous social safety net provided to the elderly and those in our American family unable to provide successfully for themselves through the sweat of their brow and personally developed skills.  No government system is perfect, but ours has achieved a level of distributed national sustenance, a top five ranking median income per citizen when compared to other countries ( https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/median-income-by-country) with the third largest population (https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries) residing within one national border that we collectively should be proud of as a country.  Speaking for my family of immigrants that selected to move to the United States from Russia, Germany, Poland, and Hungry, thank you.  We know we would not have flourished equally to the same level in another land from my grandmother who was one of the first women to be accepted in Wisconsin’s Doctor of Optometry program to my special needs brother who has worked productively for companies like Costco & Microsoft who found ways to successfully utilize his legendary work ethic and abilities.

I also want to extend a thank you to the business community of the Pacific Northwest which has provided IBA with the opportunity to serve business owners and those desiring to be entrepreneurs in Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Idaho since 1975.   As a firm, we are honored by the opportunities you have presented to us to professionally participate in selling your life work to facilitate retirement, a change in career path, or sales needed due to health issues, partnership breakup, or divorce.  We have always strived to sell privately held companies and family businesses with integrity employing market leading knowledge, experience, and professional skill utilizing best practices.

We also want to acknowledge we did not complete these transactions alone.  We strongly value and appreciate the ecosystem of professionals serving the entrepreneurial community who have each played a role in IBA getting parties to “Yes” in over 4200 transactions.  If you ever need a referral of an attorney, accountant, banker, wealth advisor, fractional CFO, IT consultant, marketing or online strategy specialist, health insurance broker, or any other professional serving the business community, it would be our pleasure to introduce you to a vetted party. We offer referrals with pleasure to clients and non-clients recognizing they are a reflection on us knowing the parties in our networks frequently exceed expectations.

Legend has it, the first Thanksgiving in this nation occurred in 1621 when early colonists came together with the Wampanoag Tribe in Plymouth, Massachusetts for an autumn harvest celebration.  Over 400 years later, people are still gathering with family and friends to say thank you.  I believe Tucumseh, a First Nation leader, had the right perspective with the following quote:

“When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.”

On behalf of IBA, our entire team wishes you a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.  We thank you for being part of our community and wish you a healthy and fulfilling remainder of 2022.

IBA, the Pacific Northwest’s premier business brokerage firm since 1975, is available as an information resource to the media, business brokerage, and mergers & acquisitions community on subjects relevant to the purchase & sale of privately held companies and family-owned businesses.  IBA is recognized as one of the best business brokerage firms in the nation based on its long track record of successfully negotiating “win-win” business sale transactions in environments of full disclosure employing “best practices”.