Our Work Turn Heads
100Waters is a professional advising collective guiding small to midsize businesses through their awkward adolescence. As your dedicated advisor and trusted confidant, we develop the core skills and strategic roadmap your business needs to achieve measurable growth in the long run.
Your industry, our expertise
“Do you know my industry?” We get that question a lot. Usually we don’t know your industry—and that’s a good thing. We’re experts in running a small business, you’re the expert in your industry. So it’s in collaboration where the magic happens. Plus, getting an outside opinion often leads to overlooked opportunities and breaking free of “the way it’s always been done.” If you’re still unsure whether advising is the right way to go, the only way to know for sure is to try it out. If it’s a fit, great. If not, at least you’ve gotten fresh eyes on your business and have an idea on how to move forward.
We’ll make the time
No question, you’re busy. But advising won’t take over your life. We meet every two weeks for 1-2 hours to talk, plan and track progress. This will give you enough time between meetings to implement changes, but not so much to allow procrastination. It also allows us to make adjustments as we go. Some topics will take longer (because they don’t come easy to you or the business), others will go faster. The goal here is to make incremental progress at every meeting so change is never overwhelming. But after a year, you’ll be able to look back and see how far you’ve come.
Meet Our Advisors
Brian Bauer
Brian Bauer is a professional advisor with more than 15 years of experience. If you asked him what he does, he’d say he guides businesses through their awkward adolescence. Being a business owner himself, he’s acutely aware of the complex and often confusing stages that owners work through to evolve their company. Through collaboration, goal setting, incremental planning and a whole lot of empathy, Brian is able to transform businesses and their owners into healthy, successful endeavors.
Brian holds an Executive MBA from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago, and a B.S. in Business Administration from Truman State University. But there’s more to life than academic degrees and work. For instance, he enjoys finishing triathlons slowly, and has somewhat of an obsession with Shamrock Shakes—which he finishes much faster.
Hagen Kern
Hagen is a serial entrepreneur with international roots. A hands on operator with flexible skill sets. Born in Germany, Hagen spent several years in multinational corporations stationed in China and Mexico focused on the supply chain for the automotive industry. He was previously a Financial Controller for the Americas, and most recently launched a successful Junk King franchise which he exited in 2021. Currently, Hagen focuses his efforts on advising small business owners with issues around profitability, scalability and operational efficiency. As they say, he is not afraid to get his hands dirty and can often be found with steel toed boots and a pair of work gloves.
Hagen is an avid fan of Formula 1, can be found water skiing in the summer or snow skiing in the winter, and is always on the hunt for great homemade spaetzle.
Served, Not Sold
We give clients the confidence and peace of mind in knowing we truly want them to succeed. This goes beyond just saying it, we prove it every day with our actions.
Measurable Success
We make incremental changes every week so it’s never overwhelming. But as we build on successes every month, quarter and year, our clients can look back to see the radical growth they’ve achieved over time.
Core Skills, Refined
We ensure our clients, and fellow advisors, improve on the core skills they’re deficient in—while also refining the strengths they already possess.
Accountability
We light a fire under our clients to ensure we get to where they need to be. And while asking tough questions or challenging client timelines isn’t always comfortable, it’s always worth it in the end.
Cost & Time Efficient
We offer a low-touch, high-impact model. One that asks for a few hours a week from clients to keep commitments reasonable and fees affordable. All while maximizing efforts to achieve our goals over time.
Lets Connect!
We’d love to hear your feedback or answer any questions you may have.