Today we’d like to introduce you to Deb Purvin.
Hi Deb, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I skied on the US Ski Team as a teenager so you probably think that Dallas is a strange place to call home. That’s a longer story about a boy… I attended Dartmouth and Harvard and then moved to Dallas because the bank making me a job offer did it over the intercom at DFW airport (long before cell phones). I thought that was really cool!
My education and banking career were intentional — I wanted to be a real estate developer like my dad. I did so by partnering with one of my borrowers. He was a well-known tenant improvement builder who wanted to develop luxury subdivisions. I found the land, obtained the permits, and secured the financing. My compensation was the land on the corner of subdivision where I built neighborhood shopping centers.
This partnership worked well until all the banks went under in the late 1980s. My partner was OK because his properties were self-liquidating. Me, not so much! I owed $82M to various banks and savings and loans! AHH! I couldn’t refinance as no Texas banks could lend money (even though the majority of my properties were cash flowing). I couldn’t sell them because the market was chaotic. If you had cash, you could buy real estate for 10cents on the $1.
The Feds intervened by creating the RTC and brought banks from out of state to help with workouts. I was incredibly lucky that all my properties ended up in one bank’s portfolio. When I finally got to talk with a banker, I convinced him that I would pay him off in full. My properties were cash flowing. We had to wait out the market, but eventually I sold everything.
Surprisingly, I made a pretty good profit. My family (husband, 2 kids ages 1 and 6) left town on our 42′ sailboat for a 5-year journey through Central and South America. Many ask me about the risk of having young kids on board a sailboat so far from home. I tell them it wasn’t half as frightening as renegotiating my real estate debt!
But I was eager to try again. I purchased a 1000-acre golf and ski resort out of bankruptcy in Vermont. It had 2000 grandfathered building permits which are hard to obtain in Vermont. I borrowed $100M from my favorite banker (who had said to call him if I ever wanted to borrow money again. At the time I was sure that neither of us meant it…). I believed this would be the culmination of all my experiences — skiing, running a business, building real estate.
The first person to walk into my new office was the local IRS agent. I owed the government almost $1M in back payroll taxes — not paid by the previous bankrupt owner. AHH! That was not in the plan… I was preparing for the first ski season — rebuilding the base lodge and snowmaking equipment, hiring and training 150 employees, to get ready. Christmas week represents about 40% of the ski season’s revenue.
The day after Christmas, I was standing on the top of the mountain in the pouring rain! All of our guests drove home. I was wondering how I was going to dig myself out of this hole! I estimated that I lost $5M that winter. It’s bad to use debt to cover operating losses… Would I ever be in the black?
I built townhouses, condominiums, and infrastructure for single-family neighborhoods, created a municipality to provide sewer and water and started a marketing cooperative. I learned a lot about cash flow, financial management, pricing metrics, collaboration and incentivizing employees who didn’t want to work. It was quite an education!
After 6 years, I sold the resort — profitably. I returned to Dallas to work for banks for the next 20 years — less risk. It was fun to work with CEOs, CFOs and business owners who appreciated having a banker who understood the stress and the risks of owning a business.
While working as a banker, I developed my financial coaching business, Business Owner’s MBA (BOMBA). The Accelerator (a 6-month program) teaches business owners to understand their financials and to integrate this knowledge with best practices. This is the class I wished I had had before running my companies. I might not have made so many mistakes! I’ve also taught the financial modules the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business program for the past 11 years.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
As I discussed in my story, I struggled at almost every turn. I loved the creativity of building — designing a property that would serve the community for a long time and designing an experience for families that they would remember forever. That’s the dream.
The reality was much harsher. Sometimes I didn’t think ahead. I’d skied all over the world in the rain, but I was so focused on the opening of the resort and the opportunity to provide an amazing experience for our guests that I didn’t even consider the downside. Sometimes bad things just happen; in business, you need to be prepared.
I learned resilience, to appreciate the good things (even tiny, good things), and to listen to my clients. That’s where I found the best innovative ideas to help me out of the disasters that I faced.
We’ve been impressed with Business Owner’s MBA (BOMBA), but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
BOMBA teaches business owners financial literacy and how to use this data to manage their businesses more profitably and efficiently. I think it is one of the only programs that focuses on financials — what are they saying and how is this information used to make better decisions. I love passing my experiences and expertise along to the next generation of entrepreneurs — so that they don’t have to make all the mistakes I did.
I believe that BOMBA has been successful in helping business owners succeed. The Entrepreneurs Organization (EO) found that 82% of business owners fail because they don’t understand their cash flow. So far, after more than 25 years, none of the BOMBA alumni have failed — all have grown profitably, hired additional employees, and increased their contribution to their communities.
My mission is to “give-back” to the community that has given me so much by helping business owners achieve their dreams. Small business is the backbone of the US economy. Every successful business owner supports her family, her employee’s families, and their community. With BOMBA, I strive to improve the small business success statistics!
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
I think I’ve said enough.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.businessownersmba.com
- Instagram: @debpurvin(BOMBA)
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debpurvin
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BusinessOwnersMBA
