Randy Long
JD, CFP®
IT’S ABOUT FAMILY AND LEGACY
My ancestors were some of the
first pioneers to settle
southeastern North Carolina.
The men were brawlers, fiercely independent and self-employed, or pastors bravely leading and guiding their congregations. The women were also brave and possessed an unquenchable pioneering spirit. I am part of the legacy of this sometimes confusing, but always inspiring, mix of independence, faith, and fists.
Small business has always been in my blood, and I’ve loved it since I was a little boy. During my growing up years, I learned a great deal by working for small business owners while aspiring to be one myself. I had a few business ventures of my own in high school and college, like landscaping and paint contracting. One brilliant business venture of mine was selling two-day-old bakery goods to the other athletes in their dorms at night. I was doing quite well until I was shut down by campus authorities, who did not want competition in the dorms for their vending machines!
In college, I majored in business with an emphasis on personal finance. Growing up dirt poor, I was intrigued by the personal finance industry and knew I wanted to learn more about making money and developing strategies to keep it. I also had an intense desire to start my own business.
After Graduating from Liberty University, I Put on My One and Only Suit and Went Down to the office of a Wall Street Brokerage Firm in Newport Beach, California.
I asked to meet with a branch manager and explained to him in detail the work I wanted to do. The entire time I was talking, he kept looking at a paper on his desk. I thought he wasn’t listening to a word I said. But I was desperate, so I pressed on. After 15 minutes, he stopped me and said, “The main office in New York called me two weeks ago and demanded I fill a position exactly like you just described. It’s incredible. I didn’t know how I was ever going to find someone in time.” He then reached across the desk and handed me the piece of paper. “I guess this job is meant for you. The job is yours if you can be in New York in two weeks.”
I Learned a Lot in a Short Time, but I Wanted to Do
Business My Own Way.
And I wanted to advise clients in a holistic manner, collaborating with other professionals for the benefit of the client. This was extremely rare in 1986. I also understood I needed more education for what I wanted to do, so I went to law school.
After graduating from law school in 1989, I opened my own law practice and my own investment firm two separate businesses located in offices next to each other. I ran a law practice that focused on estate planning and business law and a wealth management firm that focused on building and preserving family legacies. Over the years, I grew in competence as my clients grew in complexity.
In 2007 I moved back to North Carolina with my wife and five kids to be with my extended family.
Several years later, I moved our exit planning work I previously did as a lawyer into a consulting company I named Long Business Advisors, LLC.
Since 2013 I’ve worked alongside my daughter Ellen, who is also my partner in the business. This has been the best part of my career!
We have the privilege of helping business owners successfully exit their companies and positively change their family’s legacy. We help them build the value of the company and prepare the company for sale or transition to the next generation. We teach them to see the company through the eyes of a buyer instead of the eyes of an owner and to build value so they can exit for extraordinary multiples. Whether they want to sell to a third party or transition it to their children or employees, we help them pass their legacy to the next generation.
For over 35 years, I have represented, counseled, and advised hundreds of family business owners and created positive change in their family units as a result. I like to think my ancestors would be proud.
