Fifteen years ago I created CSAT, just prior to retiring from the Army. I felt I had more to give back to the tactical and shooting world and decided CSAT was the way to do it. I did a bit of contract work before it was all the rage to help get the business started and also went on the road doing 28-30 trips a year to conduct law enforcement training. After a few years, it became obvious that the road was a hardship tour I did not wish to continue on.
I started putting my money in land and carved out a training area. I first purchased 220 acres, then 110 as a buffer/additional training area and then purchased the barracks with its four acre tract. We finished our final projects this year and to be honest, I am out of gas.
Unfortunately, it takes a constant cash flow to stay on the porch which means a certain number of classes need to be run to ensure the business stays afloat. I have learned a new appreciation for small business owners on this journey as I have done our accounting, maintenance, building and teaching. An average work day without a class averages 9 hours and a work day during a class is 14-16 with the pre-work and post class chores. I am not complaining. As I say, it has kept me off the streets and out of the bars and channelized my energy to a positive end. As a business owner, I have scrubbed the toilets more times than I can recall. I have been blessed to work with conservative groups of people, government, LE and civilian who share the same work ethic and passion for protecting the nation, their families and themselves.
I will be 55 this year and don’t want to be a 60 year old running around in body armor trying to keep up with 30 year olds. I am too long out of the arena. I like to think that from 40-55 is a good age to give back to those who helped teach you and thus bring up the next generation. I can keep up, but it gets harder each passing year and with the demands of maintenance, scheduling, accounting, etc., there is only so much time in the day.
I have therefore decided to implement an extraction plan from CSAT and I am not quite sure what the future will hold. My plan is to stop within the next 1-4 years. I have started developing a staff and will leave it up to them on how the business will continue. My only requirement is that the quality stay the same or get better, it cannot drop. Further, I will be looking at options to transfer (sell/lease) CSAT in the future with several different options on the table:
Stay and consult
Stay and teach limited time
Sell as complete package (220/barracks-possibly 110)
Sell CSAT as package (Land/lesson plans-Business)
Lease the land
Part out the land for sale
If I don’t advertise my intentions, I limit who knows about this and which limits the potential customers interested in its purchase or lease. Finally, I will continue to teach and advertise classes and quietly discuss offers with anyone who is seriously interested.
Finally, I will be no longer teach any government classes as they have become C/D customers. This means I have A, B, C, D, and F customers, just like an old report card. I would prefer to work with A and B customers. They show up and pay on time. With the government and their constantly changing budgets and poor scheduling practices past government clients have cancelled classes on short notice. I am unable to generate another class as working Americans are forced to plan their time and vacations, etc. The government leaves you with “sorry” and that is unacceptable in the business world. I lose time and money and prospective students lose classes. With that, I have had federal clients remove all their equipment from my facility and in the future I will train only local and state Law Enforcement and civilians.