Entrepreneurship can have a way of making people want more. More money, more profit, more reach, more impact. But when it comes to building a business, Ellen Long, cofounder and consultant of Build Prove Sell, wants you to know that bigger isn’t always better. In fact, “more” can hinder entrepreneurs’ true goals and aspirations if they don’t align.
She and her father, Randy, are themselves entrepreneurs and run Build Prove Sell together. The consulting company aims to help business owners form a strategy and road map for creating their ideal business and then selling it with the best possible outcome when they’re ready. The father-daughter duo has worked with hundreds of clients over the past decade and recently rebranded from Long Business Advisors.
“What we do is help entrepreneurs build, prove and sell their company,” says Ellen Long, who gave a TEDx Talk at age 26. Some owners want to sell their company quickly, and others simply want to build a sellable business that’s ready in the future. “The best businesses have higher profitability margins than everyone else in the industry. They have a leadership team that’s running the company without them.”
How Build Prove Sell is different
Many firms help owners set up succession plans, but they typically focus on just growing the business side. Build Prove Sell is different—with a mantra that bigger isn’t always better. The idea is for owners to get clarification on what their goals are so they can choose the best path forward—faster, better and sustainably with more leverage in their money, time, energy and expertise, with less burnout.
“I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s [an autoimmune condition] in October [2023],” Long says. “And I have learned a lot about burnout and that whole concept of more isn’t better.… A lot of entrepreneurs have this drive, this fire. But the problem is, a lot of times, that fire becomes so big it starts burning down everything else in their life. They started their business because they want to take care of their family, and now, they might never see them.”
Aside from burnout, Long says the biggest danger to entrepreneurs is their finances. Perhaps they don’t have enough cash flow or they just don’t have a handle on their money, so they’re not profitable. “We’re always thinking about and working through those two sorts of dangers.”
Long says they help clients with tax planning, estate planning, insurance, net worth and other personal factors that can impact the business and vice versa, instead of going to different specialists and firms for the things entrepreneurs need.
“We’re kind of bringing concierge services that wealthy people would have, but we’re doing it mid-market,” Long says. “We sit [with businesses] between $10 and $100 million for the most part… and we really fall mostly between 15 and 20 clients at a time.”
Ellen Long’s leadership advice
The most important advice Long gives her clients is to view leadership as their top product. “My mentor always says leadership should be every business’ product,” she shares. “Business owners don’t understand how important their leadership team is to every other initiative they have.”
Long also admonishes her clients to focus on profitability. Build Prove Sell runs profitability studies, and much of the time, up to 50% of an owner’s time, energy, effort and money are being wasted. She helps entrepreneurs truly understand their cash flow and statements, so they can take their business to the next level. But what she wants clients to understand in order to transform themselves and their businesses is that progress doesn’t always look like a checklist. Sometimes the key to transforming is self-development.
“It’s a different mindset; it’s different skills,” she says. “You’re going to have to go on this learning journey. To see the transformation of the entrepreneur… is actually my favorite part of the whole process.” Many entrepreneurs who start working with them begin the process completely burned out and out of love with their job. “My favorite part about the journey is when you have a more profitable business with a better leadership team, with better processes; you’re a business running like a well-oiled machine. They are completely different people.”
Selling your business is a transformation not a transaction
Owners, she says, often think about selling a business as a transaction—when it should be viewed as a transformation. Over the course of working with Build Prove Sell, businesses will often transform their vision for who they could be and the company they could have. This switch dramatically improves not only their lives but also the lives of their family. “There’s something so powerful about: ‘I know where I’m going, and I know how to get there,’” Long says. “There’s this transformation of, ‘I love what I do again because I’m working in my unique ability.’ Sometimes, they’re working less hours, or they’re spending more time with their family, their loved ones.”
Build Prove Sell has transformed in its own right, starting locally with a few clients and no true road map. They built out reliable processes and a vision for their own entrepreneurial aspirations. And now have a vast network of partners and experts who help them execute on their clients’ objectives. One of Long’s goals for 2025 is to build exit-ready or sale-ready programs along with coaching programs.
“There is a better, easier, more sustainable, more joyful way to live, especially for entrepreneurs,” Long says. “And I think it’s my passion to help them find that. It’s a journey that you do alone, but it’s a journey that you don’t have to do completely alone.”
This article originally appeared in the January/February 2025 issue of SUCCESS Magazine.
Photo courtesy of Ellen Long
