Francis Farwell, founder of WinterSilks Inc., a Middleton, Wis., mail-order apparel company, planned to sell his business from the start. Based on that decision, he built the business accordingly. Instead of plowing all his earnings into growth, he made sure the company maintained a sizable free cash flow, making it more attractive to potential buyers. In 1990, Farwell sold out, pocketing several million dollars.
I knew that the hot appeal of silk would be deluded once it became a commodity item and it did become a commodity item the minute it was in the LL Bean catalog. The importer who originally brought in this product sold to a bunch of little vendors like myself as a way to tread water until they got t...(Full transcript available to logged in subscribers.).
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