With nearly four decades of business experience, Tom Hamp has helped business owners navigate growth, leadership challenges and successful exits. After spending 25 years in the office technology industry, he founded Hamp Business Coaching Inc. | Exit Factor, working with companies across Michigan, the United States and internationally. Hamp shared his perspective on building stronger businesses, preparing for ownership transitions and the habits that help companies thrive for the long term.
Tell us a little about your business and the clients you work with.
Hamp Business Coaching provides transformational business coaching and exit strategies tailored to each business’s individual needs. Our services address financial mismanagement, ineffective marketing, underperforming sales, a lack of human capital management and poor leadership. We help clients attain their desired future by creating measurable goals, establishing clear strategies and providing consistent follow-through.
We primarily work with businesses that have been operating at least two years and generate between $500,000 and $10 million in revenue, though we’ve coached companies ranging from $136,000 to $1.2 billion. I also coach at least two clients each year free of charge as a way to give back.
The top three challenges I see are time, team and money. Business owners are often stretched too thin; building a strong team is essential; and understanding cash flow, profit and margins is critical to long-term success and business value.
What are the biggest obstacles you see business owners facing today, and what separates those who successfully overcome them from those who struggle?
Here’s the test. As an owner, can you take an extended vacation — two to three weeks — and not have the phone ring? If you can, you’ve set up your business to be successful and have maximum value when you’re ready to transition out. Your team is doing the things you hired them to do, and you’ve trusted them to run the company without you.
One caveat: Your accountant has probably done a great job keeping your tax bill low. That can work against you when prospective buyers evaluate your business. They want to see positive cash flow, profit and consistent growth.
Is there a particular client success story that stands out as especially rewarding?
I’ve coached clients who turned struggling businesses around, achieved stronger growth and even worked through significant tax challenges. The most rewarding part is seeing those companies continue to thrive long after our coaching engagement ends.
The stories that stay with me most are the clients I helped transition out of their businesses because ownership simply wasn’t the right fit. I helped them move into professions better suited to their strengths, and watching them find success in a new direction has been incredibly rewarding.
If you could spend one day coaching any well-known entrepreneur or business leader, who would it be and what would you work on together?
Bob Iger of Disney. He represents one of the most public succession challenges in modern business. He groomed a successor, stepped away, watched it unravel and ultimately returned. Disney demonstrates what can happen when a company builds its identity around one leader instead of developing the leadership bench beneath them.
Jason Schmitt
Jason Schmitt is a social media manager for M3 Group. Originally from St. Johns, he spent more than 20 years in the field of journalism, working for several newspapers across the state. He and his wife, Sue, currently reside in Royal Oak and enjoy golf, pickleball, bowling and traveling to warm destinations.
