Who Owns Businesses? 

• Average Boomer: 67 years old
• Age Range: 58-76 years old
• 51% companies owned by Boomers
• 43% owned by 34–54-year-old 
• 6% owned by people under 34
• Boomer Core Value: Success, “Pay Your Dues / 60 Hour Work Week”
• Generation X Core Values: Work/Life Balance, “Work Smarter, Not Harder”
• Millennial Core Value: Ambition and Unfocused, asking “What’s Next”

Reason’s Why Owner’s Consider An Exit:

• Age
• Market
• Pandemic
• Economic Outlook
• Health

1. What you need to do: First - Know you’re not alone. All business owners will exit someday. Most of them keep it a secret. You don’t have to. 
2. Next, start by simply getting informed. Keep listening to the Exitology show and we’ll go on a journey together to show you how to unlock your access to more freedom, more profits, and a larger exit without any additional work

These statistics are dire. And they contribute to well founded fears such as:

• Fear that they won’t be able to retire
• Fear that they won’t be able to pass the business down to their family
• Fear that they are going to be chained to their business forever

Many clients who come to us have already tried:

• Bringing family up through the business
• Training their successor (who may have left)
• Closing themselves off to help (because they know their business the best - which is true!)
• Read books and courses, trying to fix problem

And yet, nothing changes. It leaves them with these problems:

• Millions of dollars left on the table 
• Years of living - life - gone forever because they’re trapped in the business
• Families destroyed from workaholism or worse
• Legacy never achieved

1. The cost of inaction is huge. It’s not always obvious, because temporary success is often covering a multitude of sins. It might feel like you don’t have time today, however, one day that will be true for real. You will run out of time.
2. Bottom line: If you want to sell your business in the next 5 years, come to us and we will get it ready so you get one heck of a payday.

"It’s not how much you make; it’s how much you keep.”

• How much you keep is the difference between your sales and your profits.
• Let’s talk about maximizing your profits.

Profit is a measure of how much value you’re bringing to the world.

• Are you serving your customers and staying on mission? Are you staying true to your people, your stakeholders (inside and outside the business)
• Are you growing from profits?

"A company that focuses solely on profits ultimately betrays both itself and society." -Dave Packard, Cofounder of the Hewlett Packard Company

• In most cases there is a 3-5 year time horizon
• Profit is an important word = the cornerstone of your transferable value
• The Profit Gap - Profit You’re Sacrificing by Not Operating at a Best-in-Class Level
• 80% of businesses aren’t there

Best-in-Class Profit at Your Level of Sales – Your Actual Profit = Profit Gap

• Your value gap is the business value you’re sacrificing by not operating at a best-in-class level

Best-in-Class Value at Your Level of Cash Flow – Your Actual Business Value = Value Gap

• How will you bridge the gap? Exitology helps you get there.

1. I’ll share proven strategies to help you build a new model that makes your current business obsolete.
2. Ways for you to unlock your profits, and unlock your potential.
3. Direction for you to contribute to your highest callings in business and in life.

Hundreds of business owners I have talked to over the years have felt this way despite building a really great business… they feel trapped.

By following these four steps, you will gain traction faster and reduce risk at the same time.

• Step #1: Make a commitment to yourself and to your business to continuously improve on each of the seven areas of your business, ultimately applying Exitology to your own growth.
• Step #2: List your objectives. Be honest with yourself about your business and its status.
• Step #3: Ask questions. Ask questions of yourself, your business, and any potential vendors or strategic partners you might consider bringing aboard.
• Step #4: Once you are confident that you’re working with honest, competent professionals who resonate with you, consider going all in for a period of time. Define your success and milestones clearly and work together to clarify outcomes and your definition of success.

Consider stepping farther into your future and into the new reality you are creating.

1. Reach out to my office and schedule a one-on-one discussion and explore whether your business is a good fit to employ Exitology.
2. Simply send us an email at discover@exitology.com and share an insight, question or challenge that you would like feedback on.

1 out of 40 business owners will get to the promised land...

Gold is a metaphor for YOUR wealth.

Statistics show that owners have 80% of their net worth tied up in their business.

• In 1859, George Andrew Jackson discovered gold nuggets in Idaho Springs
• Prospectors came flooding in and soon the creeks' gold dried up
• So the prospectors dug deep into the mountain to mine gold instead with picks, axes, explosives, etc.
• Another group worked differently - these investors, set up processing plants on the side of the rivers & enjoyed consistent profits while working smarter, not harder - The Millers
• The Millers let the gold come to them

Today we face a similar situation

The choice is yours! You can be the miner or the miller...

• Both the gold miner and gold miller created a lot of value, but the gold mills are still standing, while the miners had to move on...
• You can create something that morphs and evolves to last 150 years.
• Let the Gold come to you! Build an asset! Leave a legacy

The real journey begins after the spark of discovery and you transition from the gold miner to the gold miller.

The past is prologue - we can learn a lot from the last 100 years of history.

• Are you a gold miner or a gold miller?
• What does it look like to be a miller in your business?
• How can you apply that to your Exit?

Gold Panner = Traditionalists (1900-1945)

• Key Attribute: Very committed to the company
• Work Ethic: Pay your dues
• View on Money: Pay cash
• Core Value: Take care of your family & community
• "Figure out which way the money flows and then make sure it flows to you. Then you can take care of your family and your community."

Gold Miner = Baby Boomers (1946-1964)

• Key Attribute: Great ability to handle crisis
• Work Ethic: 60+ hour work week
• View on Money: buy now pay later
• Core Value: Success
• Keep digging, there's more gold! Success is just 3 feet away...

Gold Miller = Generation X (1965-1980)

• Key Attribute: Work life balance
• Work Ethic: Work smarter, not harder
• View on Money: Save, save, save
• Core Value: How can we all achieve success, but still have a life outside of work?

There's an 80% chance you'll experience 1 of the 5 Ds in the next 5 years of your business...

The 5 Ds - can sneak up on you

1. Divorce
2. Disability
3. Disagreement
4. Disruption
5. Death & Disease

What would it look like for you to be a miller?

How would I build up my business?

The business owners who exit his/her business are the Gold Millers. They build assets & leave a legacy!

What would you business look like if you let the gold come to you?

• Decentralizing your business is crucial to becoming a Gold Miller
• A business that's sellable & has transferable value is independent of its owner
• Owner has a balanced life & feels fulfilled in their work
• The owner has a defined personal purpose

An unsellable business -

• Has its customer capital (or relationships with its customers) tied to the owner
• The customers have a high likelihood of terminating their relationship with the company once the owner is gone

A sellable business -

• Customers are attracted to the brand the company has created (sales & marketing)
• Customers believe in the solution the company provides them

Decentralize the business owner so they're independent of:

• Customer Capital
• Structural Capital
• Social Capital
• Human Capital

Can you leave for 3 weeks and the business still be fine? Fire yourself so your business is worth more...

The story of Levi Strauss

Pick and Shovel Play- an investment strategy that invests in the underlying technology needed to produce a good or a service instead of the final output.

Think about who is upstream and downstream of you who would be in trouble if you went out of business.

Pros & Cons of Pick and Shovel Play:

• +Tend to have more stable cash flow
• -Need to de-risk the business

How can you position your company for Picks/Shovels investors?

Statistics for business owners who want to grow their business to then exit are pretty dire...

You can take steps to increase your chance of success.

Is it possible to hold 2 opposing views at the same time and for both of those to be correct?

• "Never lower your target...Just increase your actions." -Grant Cardone = hustle
• "The big money is not in the buying and selling, but in the waiting." -Charlie Munger = growth

Gold Miner vs Gold Miller - we need to be a little of both

Flow culture is all about enrolling someone.

The business owners who exit their businesses are Gold Millers.

They're building assets and a legacy.

Are you a Miner or a Miller?

• Gold Miller = Strategist
• Gold Miner = Tactician
• We need them both; Growth Mindset & Hustle Mindset

It's more important for you to get yourself out of your business so you can thrive even more!

Business we work with reach a point of

• client concentration risk
• too much capacity - not enough demand

Q. When things aren't working like they used to... what are you missing?

A. Strategy - looking into the future and consider the "what-ifs"

You want to have 3 plans

1. What if a recession hits
2. What if the status quo remains the same
3. What if a massive growth opportunity happens

A competitive long-term strategy is what's required to grow in today's marketplace.

What is the difference between strategy & tactics? (You need them both)

“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy are the noise before defeat.” -Sun Tzu

Strategy

• Goes back at least 2,500 years
• Looking forward & planning
• Reflects the core values of the company
• Something you can execute against
• 3-5 year timeframe
• Thinking work

Tactics

• Super concrete
• 1-3 year timeframe (very actionable)
• Clear purpose in alignment w/ strategy
• Finite Timeline
• Specific activities that will be measured against
• Action work

Strategy work = Thinking work

Tactic work = Action work

They must work together for you to achieve your long term success

Regularly review- What gets measured gets managed & what gets managed improves!

Are you a Worker or a Thinker?

"Run your business as if you're going to sell tomorrow. Plan as if you'll run it forever."

Hustle & Bustle culture vs Slow and Flow culture...

You need balance in order to maximize the value of your business upon exit.

Jobs as an Executive:

• Create a place for the culture to emerge & live
• Get space to become objective
• Spending more time on strategy than tactics
• Guide and lead a hungry sales team

Executive entrepreneurs create a reality that doesn't yet exist.

We can only build our businesses to the level of our own limitations - The Law of the Lid

For every $1M in annual revenue, you're responsible for overseeing $480/hr of productivity.

"Entrepreneurs can't work any harder, so they must work smarter with a new mindset, a new skillset, and a toolset. They have to think like an executive." -Mark S.A. Smith

What do Executives need to know to grow their business?

• Get out of your own way
• Delegate without losing control
• Foresee the future of your organization
• Raise capital

What if you woke up every morning knowing exactly what you needed to do today to take the next step towards your goal?

Your business must be an asset that turns out cash to be successful.

The story of Charlie & Al

How can you be one of those dividend paying investments that someone wants to buy?

The story of a former client

Investors - wake up, do what they want, when they want, with who they want

Your investment in "to think" time pays itself back in time dividends.

What is your game?

The story of Warren Buffett

Where are some areas where you’re fighting nature in your own business?

Circles and Cycles

• Celestial Bodies
• Seasons
• Hurricanes
• The Golden Mean
• The Chinese concept of Li

We aren’t bigger than nature

• Humility
• Fight it or flow with it

Energy is never wasted

• Nature math in sales (seeds)
• Long term
• Doing less and creating more

Turning money versus making money

1. Observe
2. Step back
3. Think (IBM)

Growth Plateaus and the Valley of Death - Verne Harnish, Scaling Up

• Zoom In: The Dip
• Zoom Out
• Get to take off as fast as you can

Maximize the value of your sale

• Be one of the 40…
• Momentum supports culture
• Winners attract winners
• A culture that’s dying (A/B players leave)
• A culture that’s thriving (A players attract and build up more A players)

How to identify where you are

• Conscious growth

Accurately assess where you are

• Get space
• Take some time alone, reflect, journal, and see what else you’re missing
• Listen to your advisor/board members

How can patterns be observed, documented, and then implemented into business flows that generate leads and sales?

Common Patterns

1. The Bell Curve - Pareto's Principle (80/20 rule)/ Range of Value Curve
2. Circles - Spheres, Orbits, Cycles - 1 Year = 4 Quarters, 4 Seasons - Farming
3. Up and to the Right

How do I have and create a Return on Investment (ROI)?

• how a lead surge can increase the value of your business
• Often need 30,000-foot view / often folks are too close to the effort
• Figure out who your Goliath is

Observe:

• Who are they selling to?
• How are they presenting themselves to the market?
• Where might you innovate when they cannot?
• What is their business growth pattern?
• Are they plateauing?
• Are they valley of death?
• Are they something else / maturing?
• How can you get 10% of their established stream? 

“Happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of one principle: Some things are within our control, and some things are not." - Epictetus

STRESS!

• What types of gaps do we see in our business?
• Disruption
• Accept everything, expect nothing

Walking the floor of a tradeshow

• Oils and fluids
• Tires
• Pipe benders moving into manufacturing
• Where will we be 15 years from now? - a lot of folks might simply be out o business as the internal combustion engine becomes less relevant
• Circle of Control

What I did to stop worrying and love people again - Social Media

Examples of lack of Locus of control

• Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger 
• Robot
• Inflation
• Disability

Let the Gold come to YOU! - Gold is a metaphor for your wealth.

• Statistics show that privately owned businesses have 80% of their net worth tied up in their business
• Unlock that 80% of your net worth

Do you want to be the gold digger or the gold miller?

• Gold diggers - endlessly pivoting and hustling
• Gold Miller - Continually add value to everybody as you touch and refine your systems as you grow continually, steadily, & rapidly

What would you business look like if you let the gold come to you?

What does your wealth picture look like?

• Profit Gap - do you have a country club valuation?

Why is this topic important

1. Extending the rapid growth phase is the most important
2. Exitology helps make sure there is transferable value during this phase

What does your perfect exit look like?

• Second bite of the apple approach
• Determine what are you missing?
• What other assets are you setting up?

What happens when you go past the Startup & Rapid Growth Phase? You're now entering the Mature Growth Phase!

Why is this topic important:

1. If you haven’t exited by now, you’re at risk of going into valley of death
2. Decision time - Is it time to grow or exit?
3. Let’s talk about how to make good decisions

Step back, Take a breath, and Break it down into smaller problems...

What you need to know about this topic:

1. Listen to your advisor / board members
2. Profit Gap and Value Gap

What you need to do:

1. Who, not how
2. What are you missing
3. 20 idea method

1. Turning money versus making money
2.  Energy never wasted
3. Nature math in sales (seeds)
4. Long term
5. Doing less and creating more

Why is this topic important:

1. Rebirth is often the most important

What you need to know about this topic:

1. The decision is yours
2. If you’re going to go bankrupt, do it consciously

What you need to do:

1. What is their business growth pattern
2. Are they plateau
3. Are they valley of death
4. Are they something else / maturing?

Why is this topic important:

1. Failure
2. Lost Time, Money, Opportunity cost
3. Friends and family route / cc’s
4. Debt, Donation, or Ownership
5. Exit Planning Institute - Stats

What you need to know about this topic:

1. About 90% of startups fail. 10% of startups fail within the first year. Across all industries, startup failure rates seem to be close to the same. Failure is most common for startups during years two through five, with 70% falling into this category.

Why did they fail?

1. Undercapitalized (not enough time)
2. Poor product choice / not aligned with market
3. Founders are inexperienced / don’t have a good advisory bench
4. Nail It then Scale It
5. Don’t be a pioneer
6. Blue ocean
7. Innovate
8. Improve

Lose your business!

What you need to know about this topic:

1. Contrast that with CONTROL of your destiny
2. Real value created

What you need to do:

1. Offer real value
2. Get intertwined with your customers
3. Pain of disconnect 
4. BECAUSE YOU”RE SO VALUABLE
5. Indispensable

Marketing is just like baseball - Get on base!

Why is this topic important:

1. Momentum is FELT
2. Momentum is created from a Lead Surge
3. Winning begets winning - where momentum comes from
4. A Players are winners
5. MOMENTUM PUTS YOU IN THE CONTROL SEAT
6. Growing from Profit (THINK HP WAY)
7. Versus getting deeper into Enslavement

What you need to know about this topic:

1. Top Producers are competitive
2. Top Producers are hard to poach
3. Top Producers are worth incentivizing

Owning your destiny is the most important thing!

What you need to do:

1. Have one-on-ones with key employees
2. Check if key values align
3. Figure out if you need to:
4. Do the Garrett Gunderson / Jack Welch Thing
5. Hire a sales trainer
6. Hire an assistant
7. Eliminate Prospecting?

Build a business the right way and the Exit will take care of itself!

Why is this topic important:

1. Every 90 days - is it time to Grow or Exit?
2. It's all about transferable value!!!
3. What is my annual transferable value?
4. Where are you on your high level exit readiness?

What you need to know about this topic:

1. Executive - mission accomplished
2. Key number - VALUE

1. Story of David vs. Goliath

Have faith in your vision & the change you're creating!

Why is this topic important:

1. This story has been around for thousands of years
2. There’s a reason for it - wisdom
3. David saw the opportunity
4. David went to the king to open the opportunity
5. David had faith
6. Used a “secret weapon” - faith and a stone - not a sword - to win the 

What you need to know about this topic:

1. What is your unfair advantage/secret weapon?
2. Is it an insight from the founder?
3. Do you have a strong culture?

Small businesses account for 99% of America's 30 million firms. 88% have fewer than 30 employees... -JP Morgan

Do you think like David?

1. Scrappy
2. Gritty
3. Humble
4. Strong
5. Faith in your vision - Stay Heart-strong!
6. Identify the place in the market you’re going to serve (and innovate) and ask “Who, not how?” “What am I missing that Goliath might use?”

Embrace the concept of David vs. Goliath & Your place in the market!

1. "Jū" can be translated as "gentle, soft, supple, flexible, pliable, or yielding", and "jutsu" can be translated as "art or technique".
2. There are many variations of the art, which leads to a diversity of approaches.

Why is this topic important:

1. Use Goliaths energy against him
2. Stoicism
3. Happiness and freedom…
4. Stress - Gap between expectation and reality
5. In today’s disruptive environment, nobody know what’s next
6. Examples

What to do:

• Look up Charlie Munger and Warren Buffet's use of Economic Mote concept
• Find where competitors are ranking & buying ads
• Duplicate their approach

FAITH, VISION, NIMBILITY

Why is this topic important:

1. Get set up for the Exit YOU want
2. Most of the employers and owners are in small businesses

Be a catalyst between generations! - huge opportunity

What you need to know about this topic:

1. Most of what you need is already there
2. Discussion of Interplay between generations
3. Opportunity - Catalyst between Boomer/Millennial
4. Opportunity - Boomer Exits
5. Opportunity - Gen X exits

What you need to do:

1. Get a structure around you, get help
2. Think about who should be on your exit team?
3. Explain the folks you want around the table

"Give me a place to stand on and I will move the Earth" -Archimedes and the Law of the Lever

Why is this topic important:

1. Your biggest lever = Your brain / your thinking
2. Your brain will help bring your future forward
3. Brain Nimbleness - do a journaling prompt for 5 mins
4. Prompt: Who am I missing on my team to bring forth my business vision?
5. Prompt: What have we tried in the past we should innovate on in the future?
6. Prompt: What are 10 great things about me and my team I forgot about?
7. Prompt: What is the one thing that by doing/eliminating it can change everything for my business?

"Think Different." -Thomas J. Watson IBM

What you need to know about this topic:

1. Your Inner Economy - optionality
2. Numerically speaking, Gen X is in the sweet spot
3. Case Study 56.5% increase - $1.5M
4. 7 unique areas of study on your biggest competitor
5. Building Competitive Moat
6. SEO and PPC (SEO is David, PPC is Goliath)

"Invert, always invert" -Charlie Munger

Think: "What could go wrong in this investment?"

Why is this topic important:

1. Understanding your business from the perspective of the BUYER (What’s In It For Them?)
2. Avoiding Stupidity
3. Success in business is more about avoiding losers, than finding winners...

What you need to know about this topic:

1. Margin of Safety (Benjamin Graham)
2. Put on the Value Investor lens
3. Margin of Safety for any asset = the discount between the intrinsic value of the business and the price paid for the asset.
4. Truly valuing a business is difficult & is why the Margin of Safety is implemented

What you need to do

1. What is the book value of the company vs the asking price
2. What are the business comps?
3. Begin with the end in mind!

See the forest for the trees!

"The key to investing is determining the competitive advantage of any given company and, above all, the durability of that advantage. The products or services that have wide sustainable moats around them, are the ones that deliver rewards to investors." -Warren Buffett

Why is this topic important:

1. Economic Motes create a margin of safety!
2. Elon Musk vs Warren Buffett

Elon Musk vs. Warren Buffett vs. Exitology

1. Where are you - still an entrepreneur? Or CEO, etc...
2. What’s your team look like?
3. Growth Perspective - are you growing 33% YOY?
4. Vision Perspective - What is your purpose after the Exit?
5. Operations Perspective - Do you have a strong Exec team?
6. Human Perspective - Do you have the right people on the bus?
7. Process Perspective - Do you have streamlined, repeatable, and successful processes in place?

Why is this topic important:

1. Most businesses are not disruptive businesses
2. The “forgotten man” = the producer

What you need to know about this topic:

1. Growth!
2. Who Is Around the Table? Do you have everyone you need to be successful?

CEPA = The Certified Exit Planning Advisor

1. The story of R.R.

Where is the next Million Dollars hiding in YOUR business?

3 Way Win!

1. Business owner retires
2. Operations and Employees continue
3. New Owners can take the reigns and expand

Do you want to grow or exit?

1. Every 90 Days ask - grow or exit?
2. Exit - Am I ready? Is my business attractive?
3. Is this the right time?

Story Time - Am I meant for more...

Get a benchmark - Where am I?

1. Wealth Gap - close this by creating a transferrable asset
2. Wealth Goal – Owner’s Net Worth Not Including the Business
3. Cashflow - increase cashflow & sales to close wealth gap and increase value

What's going on? Mega trends...

• Story Example

Why is this topic important:

1. DIAGNOSIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT HERE

What you need to know about this topic:

1. Get your planning in place
2. Real talk - budgeting
3. 3:1 return over 9-12 months

Analysis

1. Phase 1 - Perfect Profitable Prospect
2. Phase 2 - Your Offers
3. Where are the breakdowns? Sales team?
4. Is it an internal or external?
5. How can you get 100% of the work done, with 60% of the workforce

"I believe luck is preparation meeting opportunity. If you hadn't been prepared when the opportunity came along, you wouldn't have been so lucky." -Oprah Winfrey

Exit Planning is simply good business strategy.

If you choose to do nothing, studies show it will cost 400-500% of your wealth... (Leaving literal, millions of dollars on the table)

• Transferable value in 5 stages
• What is your high level exit readiness score?

De-risk & get 100% of work done with 60% of the workforce -

1. 3x your manufacturing facility - example
2. Knowledge transfer - shrink timeframe
3. Use workflows and technology to eliminate need for workers
4. Recasted EBIDTA x (market multiple)
5. Recasted SALES x (market multiple)

STRESS! The Gap between your expectation and your reality

1. Expect Nothing, Accept Everything…

The Four C's - Your Capital

1. Social Capital
2. Customer Capital
3. Structural Capital
4. Human Capital

What does success look like?

1. Grow on the top 
2. Optimize on the bottom
3. Meet in the middle

Value from worst in class to best in class

1. Establish a Regular Rhythm - quarterly renewal, monthly, daily
2. Accountability
3. Execution - if you don't execute, it's all talk

Where does your business value stand? How big are your Gaps?

• Assess your personal finance side of things
• Prioritize your action - 12 month plan & break it down backwards

Can I exit in 10 years? (My answer, try 5)

What would it look like for you to move up your exit timeline?

As few as 15% of businesses are ever sold... The other 85% mostly fade away because they couldn't sell or go out of business.

It's important to find trusted advisors.

Strategic value is simple math:

• Increase cash flow by increasing sales
• Put 7 numbers into market place to show you can be trusted
• Your multiple
• Intangibles

Amazon reinvested for so many years; cashflow but not profitable

7 Key Numbers

1. Number of leads generated (marketing / sales)
2. Conversion rate (marketing / sales)
3. Rate of customer retention (conversion / operations)
4. Number of transactions per customer (conversion / operations)
5. Average price per transaction (conversion / operations)
6. Variable costs (operations)
7. Fixed costs (operations)

Gap between generations on values

• Boomer vs. Gen X
• vs. Millennials

What does success look like in the business?

What are we being held accountable to?

What do these numbers mean?

The organization is responsible for all the key numbers, but specific roles are held accountable to one or more key numbers as well.

The key numbers provide the story of the organization & insights at a glance to understand the business

7 Key Numbers - Examples

1. Number of leads generated (marketing / sales)
2. Conversion rate (marketing / sales)
3. Rate of customer retention (conversion / operations)
4. Number of transactions per customer (conversion / operations)
5. Average price per transaction (conversion / operations)
6. Variable costs (operations)
7. Fixed costs (operations)

Once you get clear on where you are, you can get clear on where you're going.

Bring in your core strategy team and ask what the numbers mean from their perspective.

A story of a manufacturing company - example of key numbers

Q. What's the one thing I can do that will make everything else easier or unnecessary?

A. Implement the Seven Key Numbers in your Exit Journey.

"Do what you do best and outsource the rest...What get's measured gets managed...What gets managed gets improved..." - PETER DRUCKER

• Creating repeatable success numerically to get best in class valuation
• Where are you on the valuation curve?
• Start thinking about who you're missing from your team...
• How are people held accountable to their roles and the numbers?

We are ultimately helping you find out what your transferable value is!

• Where does your business sit with its valuation?
• What class does your business fall under?
• Do those you hire supply a 3:1 return within 9-12 months?

The Seven Key Numbers show the story of the business...

7 Key Numbers

1. Number of leads generated (marketing / sales)

2. Conversion rate (marketing / sales)

3. Rate of customer retention (conversion / operations)

4. # of transactions per customer (conversion / operations)

5. Average price per transaction (conversion / operations)

6. Variable costs (operations)

7. Fixed costs (operations)

Valley of Death = A presentation of how businesses grow & die.

The story of 3 product manufacturers

• They were never able to get on the same page about their integration & growth strategy

Sometimes you do everything right, and all hell breaks loose anyway...

Every 5 years you're at an 80% chance of experiencing one of the 5 Ds...

5 Ds are often referred to as

• Death
• Disability
• Divorce
• Disagreement
• Distress

There are geometric patterns of nature we can apply to business-

• First stair step: $0-$100,000
• Second stair step: $100,000-$300,000
• Third stair step: $300,000-$1M
• Geometrically Expanding: $1M-$3M
• $3M-$5M
• $5M-$10M
• $10M-20M...etc.

In order to go from one to the other, each business must go through The Valley of Death or Rebirth.

Acceptance of Reality, is the first step towards overcoming the valley of death!

How Businesses Grow and Die...

The story of an internet business portfolio company-

• They took on a lot of investor money
• Where did the money go?
• They were a victim of the 5 Ds
• Investors had no confidence

Why is this important:

• How did the owner get into the Valley of Death
• We're often too close to our businesses
• If owner listened to advisors, the problems could have been caught sooner
• We often don't reach out and ask for help

What you don't know, you don't know, and the Valley of Death can catch you by surprise...

What is your personal readiness level to grow and exit this business?

Understand & accept where you are... Get clear and objective!

What can happen if we get too close to our business?...

Almost all of us are too close to our business at all times... It's okay & part of the process!

• Only around 10% of business owners end up selling their business
• Of that only a small percentage are happy with how that went

In the face of the 5 Ds, have a plan A, B, & C at all times -

Use the Eisenhower Decision Matrix Framework Square

• First Quadrant (upper left): urgent and important
• Second Quadrant (upper right): important, but not urgent
• Third Quadrant (lower left): not important, but urgent
• Fourth Quadrant (lower right): neither important nor urgent

Use this to simplify & optimize your life!

There is danger of staying too long on the down cycle before Rebirth...

• Most businesses don't make it
• Only 10-15% actually sell

Do you really want Advisors on your team?

• Often you can't see your own blind spots
• You can leverage someone else's expertise
• There are different levels of advisors

Getting the right advisors on your team- Different Generations

• Babyboomers - are looking to give back and stay engaged; they don't want to quit working
• Gen X - value work life balance

Levels of Advisors:

• Coffee Shop Mentor - wants to be valuable & in return only requires a cup of coffee (find them in places like the small business development centers)
• Create a round table or Mastermind - share your expertise! (a safe place to ask stupid questions)
• Financial Advisor - they ask all the personal/financial questions
• CPA - they provide a diverse set of services
• Attorney
• Growth Consultant

Value Acceleration Methodology -Exit Planning Institute

"Walking to Destiny" -book by Christopher Snider

5 stages of Business Exit

1. Identify - determine the initial value of your business
2. Protect Your Wealth
3. Build - increase your cashflow & improve your multiple
4. Harvest - harvest the fruits of your labor
5. Manage Wealth

Methodology - actual business strategy process to go through the 5 stages

Expect to define your Wealth Gap - How far are you from the value of your business today to your Harvest value?

What is your personal & business readiness score?

Let the data and the process drive where you're going to go. Do I grow or do I exit?

Improve your cashflow & your business multiple

Case study of an automotive company client-

• David vs. Goliath example
• Reviewing his competitors psychological triggers
• Helped them more than double their business

Good exit planning is just good business strategy -Exit Planning Institute

Good strategy = insight applied to bring the future goal about faster

Begin with the end in mind!...Do I grow or do I exit?

Build a business the right way, and the exit will take care of itself.

The story of a current client - beginning with the end in mind

• Diversify lead sources

Exitology acts as a bridge between current business owners and new business acquirers.

Ask yourself:

• Am I measuring my transferable value correctly?
• Do I have the right people around me to accomplish my goals?

Good exit planning is good business strategy!

Build your capital & cash flow to create transferable wealth for your exit

The story of a company who chose to grow & exit

Every 90 days we ask - do you want to grow or do you want to exit?

Where are your personal and business readiness?

...The personal side of the Exit Journey...

The story of a long time client

When was the last time you listened to your allies in business?

• The journey of business requires so many different things...
• When everything comes together and you can get alignments, things just happen

Remember that feeling of freedom boundless creativity.

• What would it be like to unlock yourself from the handcuffs of your business?
• What are you going to do if you don't have your business anymore?

• A story about a former client - external sale
• A story about New Belgium - ESOP
• A story about a soil company - Scale Out
• The stats on Bankruptcies

The Four Types of Exits

1. Exit One - Sell to External 
2. Exit Two - Sell Internal
3. Exit Three - Scale Out / Go Passive (visit ExitologyBook.com)
4. Exit Four - Consciously Bankrupt

The story about a strange business conference

Good first steps: take some time to yourself and journal

Journaling Prompts:

• What do you want to DO in 5 years?
• What do you want to BE in 5 years?
• What do you want to HAVE in 5 years?
• What do you want to GIVE BACK in 5 years?
• What am I deserving as a reward for all of my hard work?

Are you ready to create your new reality?

• Do you have knowledge of the transition process?
• Do you have a contingency plan?
• Do you have knowledge on your ideal deal structure?

“Entrepreneurs are the unsung heroes of the world. Small business owners, not giant corporations, create nearly all personal wealth as well as 75% of all new jobs.” -Ted Nicholas

Direct Mail - using the power of the written word to do most of the sales process for you.

“There is no wasted energy in the universe. Make every move you make count and be worthy of you.” -Ted Nicholas

Summarize this Season:

1. Unlock Your Profits, Unlock your potential
2. Let the Gold Come to you
3. Are you a Miner or a Miller?
4. How Businesses Grow and Die
5. Extending the Growth Phase
6. Infinite Runway
7. David vs. Goliath
8. Economic Moat
9. The Importance of ROI
10. 7 Key Numbers
11. Overcoming the Valley of Death
12. Discovering your Unfair Advantage
13. Getting to the Promised Land

Important questions we ask:

• How do we know when to quit?
• How do we know what to keep doing?
• Do I have the right people in the right seats in my organization?
• Are we taking action for the sake of action, instead of taking the correct right action?

If you're not happy with the direction you're heading, it's time for a better strategy.

Where's the $1M already hiding in your business?

Create a new reality for yourself

Let go of old patterns and create space for new patterns

Learn methods to lead you to your new reality

• Guided meditation
• Journaling

Looking ahead 5 years, are you ready to answer these questions?

1. What do you want to do?
2. What kind of person do you want to be?
3. What do you want to have?
4. What do you want to give back

Prepare for exit planning discussions 

• Personal readiness scorecard 
• Identify key personnel 
• Contingency planning

How do you reconcile your entrepreneurial spirit with a structured, corporate foundation?

• Pay your dues
• Determine your own personal exit strategy

Learn how I developed my own exit strategy on the value accreditation journey 

Guidance for developing your career strategy

• Look ahead 3-5 years
• Mentorship - “When the student is ready, teacher appears”
• “Employee is limited, entrepreneur is unlimited”

A side business is an important change for an entrepreneurial mindset

If you have an entrepreneurial spirit, 

• You will be tested!
• Client concentration risk

“Keep learning, do your best to not make the same mistake twice and use the resources around you”

Accelerate the value of business by utilizing ecommerce and digital marketing strategies

Every business should “grow it and look for an exit”

Think about what it would be like to retire by connecting capital, expertise and opportunities

Losing My Shirt

• Not enough due diligence
• Trading time for equity
• Greed

Learn more about Exitology Grow to Exit Process - 2 day accelerated strategy session

• What has worked best in your business?
• What has not worked?
• What do you need to do to extend your business growth curve?
• What would you do with yourself without your business?

Identify grow to exit business strategies to add 7 figures to your business

How can Exitology bring $30 Million in the marketplace?

Exitology can grow revenue, maintain and extend profit margins to put more money in net income

A business owner’s most important metric is a transferable value metric

Exitology offers tools to show a business range of value

Exitology aligns with Exit Planning Institute’s Value Acceleration Methodology and body of knowledge

Turnarounds - are you too close to the problem - mentally, physically, emotionally?

If you determine that it is worth applying startup energy to your turnaround, think of it as rebirth.

Accept the fact that the way to the top is not the way that you got there before.

Impacts to turnarounds

• Changing demographics
• Labor shortages
• Culture changes

Ask yourself - do we grow or do we exit?

• Discover Gate planning to mitigate risks
• Prioritize action plan for the next 12 months
• Plan for the next 90 days

Value acceleration is all about the end game. Exitology focuses on established businesses, getting them to the next growth plateau.

Not talking about failure is a mistake

Real life, real business is basically a series of failing your way forward and learning from mistakes

Projects and Startups

• Startups fail all the time for so many reasons
• Bring a startup energy for a rapid business growth phase
• Define success and failure for you
• Which of the 4 Exits would you choose?

Winging It = Mistake

Ask Questions, Do Your Homework, 

Use A Proven Value Acceleration Methodology = Success

Is my business more valuable and transferable than it was 12-18 months ago?

Out of 10 businesses, an average of 2 may be sellable

Transferable business items include client relationship, contracts

Studies show 80% of business owner’s wealth is tied up in their own business and failure occurs by: 

• Not being transparent
• No value in business
• When asked how much would you like for the business and the response is “How much you got?”

8 out 10 businesses will fall apart if the business is

• Not prepared
• Don’t know who to call to be prepared? Call Exitology and follow the Value Acceleration Methodology

Listen and trust your advisors

Ask good questions to your advisors

• Be humble to ask for help
• How would you proceed if you were me?
• What haven’t I asked that I should have?

Trust yourself that you’ve chosen the right advisor

45 days into a 90 day plan, expect a drop off, then reboot and trust your plan

Opportunity cost = cost of inaction

Often your advisor can see the future clearer than you can because you are too close to the problem

• Be decisive
• Ask good questions
• Trust the process of asking questions
• Trust your advisor

Is profit a dirty word for corporate culture?

Learn the key components of the Exitology culture

How you think is everything - live the Exitology culture and profits will come

Ask yourself, what should a culture look like? Does it have to be this way?

References

• It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work - Jason Fried
• HP Way

“To recognize that profit is the best single measure of our contribution to society and the ultimate source of our corporate strength We should attempt to achieve the maximum possible profit consistent with our objectives.” - Bill Hewlett & Dave Packard

Do you put the mission and why you exist first, or are you just in business to make money?

In today’s episode, I explore these questions as I ponder this statement sent in by a listener: “If you sacrifice culture for profits, your organization will go through difficult change. If you set up the right culture, long term profits will come.”

Corporate culture is the shared values, beliefs, and behaviors that determine how employees and management interact.

And believe it or not, your culture will impact the transferability of your business.

If you build a culture in which profits are respected, long-term profits are a natural byproduct of this culture.

#HealthyCulture #Inner Economy #Value Acceleration #Millennials #Baby Boomers #Value Gap

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

How your team operates on a daily basis determines whether or not you’re advancing your mission.

And leadership is all about being a positive role model and setting the temperature for your company.

So, my question for you is: Are you setting the temperature, or reacting to it?

#Purpose #Vision #Mission #Leadership #Values #PoliticsandBusiness #Politics #Coinbase #GenerationalWealth  #ValueAcceleration

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Join our next Executive Briefing where we share what’s working right now to grow your revenue and increase your profit margins as you triple the value of your company.  Just send us an email at discover@exitology.com and we will add you to the list.

You can, and should have both.

Profit is the cornerstone of sustainability for your company. And your culture needs that sustainability to thrive.

But how can you have both profits and culture? 

This episode walks you through understanding how you can have both profits and culture; and demonstrates how they are inextricably linked.

#ValueAcceleration #Leadership #Direction #Mission #McDonalds #Walmart

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Choose your lens on failure.

Listen to a personal story of failure leading to Exitology.

What is the most important thing you can have in business? - your network.

Business owners need advisors and coaches. 

Figure yourself, forgive others, play your own game, think of your other successes to see yourself at your best.

Doing too much with too little causes failure.

#Failure #Network #ValueAcceleration #Strategy #Coach #Advisors

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Difference between clarity and being blurry.

Every business is different and every family is different. However, when it comes to a business transition, there are three forms of readiness that all owners need to consider – personal, financial and business.

Explore the Millennial culture versus Boomer culture and views of success.

Follow your passion, be clear on your vision.

The metric is what is my transferable value in my business right now.

#clarity #businessowner #exitstrategy #commitment #vision #exitplanner #transferrablevalue

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Listen to a personal story of how exactly Exitology helps business owners.

Create a shared understanding of client challenges.

The sales team gains trust when you walk a mile in their boots.

Understanding is the first step of moving towards growing the value of the company.

#challenges #walkinmyshoes #trust #valueacceleration #exitplanning #understanding

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

“The way most business owners attempt to grow their business is flawed.”

Evaluate problems from a business growth perspective.

Seek new growth and opportunities, a business faces a plateau.

Infinite runway - grow from profits, reinvest, recapture revenue, grow your business. 

Tips to extend the rapid growth phase of your business.

Measure your profit margins and look back on the business to see who would buy this business today.

Exit planning evaluates patterns for clarity.

#valueacceleration #profitmargin #growtoexit #growyourbusiness #revnue #reinvest #clarity

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

What does success ACTUALLY look like and how do you get there?

Culture and people need to be included in the exit strategy and commitment strategy.

Listen to an example of how Walmart took take the best parts of tech strategy to move the business forward. 

Clarity - get clear on where you want to be and when.

Have faith and trust faith with numbers.

Discuss ROI zone and projections.

Define, share and enroll your employees in the bigger vision.

#strategy #exitstrategy #exitplanning #walmart #faith #ROI #clarity #metrics #vision

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Persistence only comes if you really believe what you're working for.

To navigate and succeed through the recession, be sure you're prepared for all outcomes.

Stress is the gap between our expectations and reality. And the more the gap, the more the stress.

Step 1 of creating a 1000% growth in any economy: have optimism and persistence.

#ValueAcceleration #persistence #optimism #stress #recession #growth 

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

A business owner seeks new growth and opportunities and will eventually plateau.

Be strategic about cutbacks. 

Once growth slows, momentum is lost.

Loss in the short term tells us what to do differently.  When resources are less, time is of the essence.

How to avoid and embrace the Dip?

Recession is clearing out space for a new reality.  Create a 12-36 months roadmap now for success. Visit Exitology, for a copy of the Client Success Map.

#ValueAcceleration #persistence #optimism #growth #strategy #momentum #profit #lost #recession #sales #marketing

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Story of Benjamin Franklin and small business loans

Get as much credit as you can in the good times.  Leverage and protect your investments in the bad times.

Learn what a “good deal” looks like? - Debt, Equity, Donation, Bootstrap Through It.

Explore ways to find money and financing to fund growth

What skin are you willing to put in the game to raise capital?  

Think outside the normal lines of profit and loss.

#ValueAcceleration #deal #credit #benfranklin #SBA #money #growth #capital #profit #loss

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Explore the business life cycle - rebirth and turnaround decision points.

Explore the reasons businesses fail by generation.

Determine if the founder is ready to move away.  Does the business have standards in place to raise capital?

Keep your eyes wide open.  Ask yourself is this business worth keeping?  Are you going back to the Valley of Death?

Exitology helps a stable business with growth potential.  Have a formal, funded growth to exit plan.

Every year you have an 80% chance of one of these things happening - “5 Ds”

#ValueAcceleration #growtoexit #distress #capital #persistence #optimism #growth #strategy #profit #lost #recession #rebirth #turnaround

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

What is a perfect growth trajectory for exit?

Does your company have a disruptive solution to add value in the future?

Explore what to look for when a turnaround is viable for your company.

• Is it a startup? or Is it a game changer?
• If it’s not a 10x or more opportunity or a real genius opportunity, hit the pass button.

#ValueAcceleration #growth #rebirth #turnaround #opportunity #startup 

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Andy Moore & Moore’s Law  - Moore's Law is the observation that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit will double every two years with minimal rise in cost. 

Martec's Law is the principle that while changes in technology occur very rapidly, changes in organizations do not.

Martec’s Law: the greatest management challenge of the 21st century.

Cons - you might scare everyone away with startup culture thinking.

Definite Optimism vs. Indefinite Optimism.

#ValueAcceleration #startup #optimism #management #challenge #culture

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Streamline your business into a focus area. You need a structure and a path.

The way back to the top, is not the way you got there before.

Your old $10m/year business will look very different than your next $10m/year business.

Changing demographics and less labor invites new methods of work.

Value Acceleration Methodology = assessment for prioritized action plan and risk mitigation.

#ValueAcceleration #turnaround #growth #creativity #exitplanning #actionplan #risk #growtoexit

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Contact us to participate in an Exitology executive briefing.  Access the Exitology Business Growth Model on our website.

Ultimately, we want to help you choose your own exit. Exitology allows you to Buy back your TIME and FREEDOM.

Start with your own optionality.  As you get clear, you must choose a path or a path will be chosen for you.

#exitplanning #growtoexit #executivebriefing #time #freedom #optionality

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Epictetus - One of the most prominent lessons from the Stoic philosopher Epictetus, is that a key element of mental well-being is the ability to discriminate between what is within our control and what is not. This takes the power away from the areas of life that can’t be changed, no matter how much we suffer.

Circle of awareness is vastly bigger than the circle of control and an absence of clarity of thinking.

Your Inner Economy is the only thing that matters (good times or bad)

Circle of control financial metrics from a CFO Perspective 

• 6 weeks of payroll, additional 30 days of overhead (Business Owner)
• 6 months of overhead (Business Owner)
• 3 years of personal runway (Investor)

#economicchallenge #recession #valuecreation #clarity #exitplanning

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Be open to learning.

Find people that are better than you and hire them

Choice for Engineers - are YOU the Engineer, or are you the Rainmaker?

Be ready to let go and invest in your growth.

Be willing to not always be the smartest person in the room.

#planforexit #growrevenue #exitplanning #manufacturing #learning #engineer 

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

“You are only as good as your last job.”

“I don’t need a hundred contacts, I need two.”

Old way of business is not working anymore.  Time to reinvest themselves.

You want a small list to generate big profits.

Good sales people never give up.

Hired, tired or fired = grow to exit opportunities

Find ways for the sales time to build momentum

• Shorten time to sale, unbundle
• Get leads faster
• Hope = avoid the downward spiral
• Think, Think, Think

#psychology #exitplanning #sales #growforprofit #growtoexit

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

70% of construction firms are owned by baby boomers.

You’ve invested in a great marketing plan but it’s sitting on a shelf.

Engineers are introverts; they want to double down on innovative products.

• Instead of revenue generation
• Instead of process/optimization
• Instead of securing their supply chain and future

Unbundle in a recession. Bundle in a growth period.

Feel the emotion, but don’t let it guide your thinking.  

Follow proven strategies Page 135 in Exitology book - 36 month roadmap to grow in ANY economy and lookback 3 years for value.

#growtoexit #marketing #innovation #recession #exitplanning

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

“How much would I pay someone else to do what I’m doing?”

Every owner will exit his or her business in one of 6 ways

The best way to sell a business is an absentee owner. If your business is run successfully without you, you will have a more valuable business.

Assess what you provide to the business and how that is provided when you decide to exit.  

Basic steps to value your business include having an evaluation plan and evaluating the corporate culture of the business acquiring you.

Exitology: Unlock Your Profits, Unlock Your Potential

Definition of different types of buyers.

Expensive Mistakes, book by Stuart H. Sorkin - Learn what to avoid when positioning for a strategic or financial acquisition, management buyout or legacy exit.

Letter of Intent (LOI) is the best position for the seller. 

The biggest reasons for failure are due diligence and inability to deliver key employees.

Always be ready to sell. Actively build your due diligence library as early as possible and update quarterly or semi-annually.

Exitology: Unlock Your Profits, Unlock Your Potential

Organic growth - slower, potentially more consistent, probably requires innovation.

Acquisition growth is a series of questions - What are you acquiring? Have you built your due diligence library? Financing the deal?

See a path for the next 7-8 figures in your business, have a hungry sales team and have a growth mindset.

Establish a clear deal criteria.

Contact Stuart Sorkin at https://businessandlegaladvisors.com/ for a complimentary consultation for a holistic view of how the business and individuals link together.

Exitology: Unlock Your Profits, Unlock Your Potential

A bank is not going to finance 100% of your acquisition.  

Discover ways to generate internal cash.

Establish a credit line for growth after financing an acquisition.

Explore the two forms of bank loans (pros/cons), investors and preferred stock mergers.

It is important to have someone on your team who understands what you are trying to achieve and different ways to get there. 

Focus on a period of time to add value and reenter growth mode for your business.

Exitology: Unlock Your Profits, Unlock Your Potential

Business owners don’t spend the time thinking ahead and getting the business ready to sell. 

Ideally, meet with sellers years in advance but in most cases it’s last minute.

What are buyers looking for - good clean books, accounting software, the building clean and organized, and documented processes.

Bankers and buyers want to see 2-3 years of history of the business. Show cash flow and profit in financial statements.

Determine your exit strategy, set long-term goals, start with the books and then look at processes and evaluate your lease.

Understand your books from the broker side, potential buyers side, recast numbers and show the business owner the outcomes.

Choose a Business Broker before the transaction, during the transaction and after the transaction along with forming a team of people to help you.

Team - exit strategist, transaction attorney, bookkeeper, CPA (not just tax prep), lender, banker

Look at a business from the acquisition lens

• Perspective of potential buyers first 
• Pre-qualification
• A buyer wants some type of working capital - cash, inventory, receivables - left in a business

15 Go To Questions from a buyers perspective examples

• Seller financing
• Transition and training

A seller on a simple business should expect to stay in the business for at least 30 days, a licensed business might see up to 12 months or an employment agreement established.

Appraisals don’t really represent what the market is dictating in appraisals.

What is the multiple on cash flow of a business?

What are you going to do to get the value you want for your business? - Use an Exit Strategist, marketing, continue what you are doing and get the same results 3 years from now.

Educate yourself on what it takes to maximize your value and close the wealth gap.

Sellers pain points - burn out, tired of employees, retirement, sell and stay on.

Business brokers have tools, education and the knowledge to tell you what the business should sell for in the market.

Commission based, maximize your value, set realistic expectations.

Your business is worth what a buyer will pay for it.

Velocity of deal flow and money/lending into the environment is slowing down.

Reduction in a purchase price to support lender services.

Explore creative mechanisms for deal structuring and risk mitigation.

“The only thing that kills deals is trust.” - Gary Goldwasser.

Persistent, consistent, trust and magic can happen.

A grow to exit diagnostic session can help you evaluate and benchmark your company and uncover your best options to grow and exit.

Learn some of the anxieties that entrepreneurs and business owners, particularly over the age of 65, experience as they are looking to exit. 

What are the stressors around entrepreneurship anxiety around exit planning and the actual exit itself?

“You are the CEO. You are the Owner. You bring the weather. You bring the weather into the room, your people are going to look to you for good decisions.”

Effects of right behavior reversion - we go back to what we know when we are highly stressed that shows up in negative situations.

Prepare for stressful situations with tools that manage anxiety effectively.

Ready for Next Advisory Group methodologies - preframing, tools and conversations that you are not alone.

Value acceleration can be beautiful but a stressful environment for a lot of owners.

Exitology: Unlock Your Profits, Unlock Your Potential

Learn about the Ready for Next Curve Spanning Model.

Span Fealty - a relationship that is created between the successor generation and their customers. 

TImeframe and energetic transfer of trust, relationships, customers, suppliers between generations.

Begin with the end in mind - start fanning halfway up the growth curve

Exitology: Unlock Your Profits, Unlock Your Potential

Most Requested - Ready for Next Advisory Group Transition Options Analysis. 

Learn about the 7 ways to exit a privately held business other than an IPO.

When selling your business to a third party, 70% to 80% of the businesses that go to market with a good strategy for selling to a third party fail.

Transition Options Analysis is based on 4 dimensions including fit and feasibility.

Weigh relationships between liquidity and legacy.

Value acceleration methodology (7 value domains) is a proven process that allows an owner to become empowered for exit.

Hold everyone to a transferable value metric. You may fall in love with your business again and make your best choice to exit.

Exitology: Unlock Your Profits, Unlock Your Potential

Brain chemistry shows up in the value acceleration and exit process and helps us manage anxiety.

How do you separate an adrenaline junkie who decided to become an entrepreneur and separate the part of their brain that needs to take action?

Leverage the part of the brain that helps make good decisions. Pay attention to what is going on in your body and mind at the same time.

Owner dependency is a huge value discount - more owner involvement = less money.

More resources available on Ready for Next Academy

Exitology: Unlock Your Profits, Unlock Your Potential

The word “Hype” originates from hyperbole or exaggeration

In the Hip Hop community, the hype man is responsible for energizing the group.

People and businesses find creative ways to get your name out there.  

It is easy to say this is how you are successful. When you are dealt a certain set of cards, you have no option to find unusual solutions to get the word out there.

Optimism and persistence are needed for successful

Exitology comes from a measurable business growth dynamic and held to a transferable value metric. 

How to take the hype for a business owner and apply metrics for their success?

• Hype is any set of activities that gets people extremely emotionally so that they will take a certain action.
• Why use hype - because marketing use to mean what hype means - pushing the right metrics on the right platforms

Even the best hype artists don’t know what they are doing. You are guided by psychology and create a small experiment and evaluate results.

His book The Hype Handbook: 12 Indispensable Success Secrets From the World’s Greatest Propagandists, Self-Promoters, Cult Leaders, Mischief Makers, and Boundary Breakers, published by McGraw Hill, appears where books are sold including Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Dale Carnegie one of the greatest influencers with hype artists strategies . Charles Manson took a Dale Carnegie course in prison and used his strategies for his cult. Warren Buffet also used his strategies in finances. David Bowie used his strategies for his artistry and career.  

Believe in what you're doing and use a certain tool set to achieve fame.

The Oracle of Omaha - how Warren Buffet built his fortune - Woodstock of Capitalism

Examples of going from "boring to compelling" using this strategies

• Base camp was never going to be Sales Force. Turned weaknesses into strength. Simplicity is what you need in a CRM tool.
• REWORK https://basecamp.com/books/rework states “You don’t need an exit strategy, you need a commitment strategy” 

Have the story that people can buy in so that your brand can make the change it wants to make in the world

Reference The Hype Handbook: 12 Indispensable Success Secrets From the World’s Greatest Propagandists, Self-Promoters, Cult Leaders, Mischief Makers, and Boundary Breakers 1st chapter in book - Make War Not Love

By answering these questions, you will have a story to tell about their survival

• Ask yourself what is a point of view held in my field that is gossip that I disagree with?
• Ask yourself what is a point of view that you are 100% confident that other people disagree with you?

Be bold and you may become a Tribe leader!

Change the frame of language for your B2B and let the marketplace do the work for you

The way people behave in groups is wired in our DNA.

Reverse engineer and distill principles to make the world a better place

Never deceive and leave people better than you found them.

Adding a little bit of color into the world is not a bad thing

Manipulate the media, it’s desirable to be memorable

Flip your weaknesses into strengths, package yourself, draw your line in the sand.

On your mission, embrace what you are against so you can share what you are for.

It’s going to be uncomfortable but it's ok to be uncomfortable.

Silver Tsunami - baby boomers aging out of business ownership and management. 

Half of American private businesses are owned by individuals 55 or older. 

ESOP is one of many exit and succession planning options. ESOP is a way to do a legacy exit and pass a business on to employees after you decide to sell.

67% of lower middle market owners who put their businesses up for sale in 2022 did so without solidifying a formal exit plan in the year prior.

Millions of working-class Americans are relying on aging business owners to craft thoughtful exit and succession plans.

There are many considerations for structuring and ESOP: owner and company objectives, minority sales, ESOP Trust, selling ESOP in stages, tax benefits.

Soaring interest rates and shifting market conditions, though, make sensible, stable paths harder to find.

Origins of the ESOP

• Louis O. Kelso created the ESOP in 1956 to enable the employees of a closely held newspaper chain to buy out its retiring owners.
• ESOP gained traction after the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) established the framework for the modern ESOP structure.

ESOPS have grown from employee benefits strategy to comprehensive financial transactions.

ESOP Mechanics and Benefits

• Leveraged ESOP, buy out individual investors, stock appreciation, rights, warrants 
• Multiple funding options - cash flow, asset based, financing, seller note, 
• Owners get liquidity, companies receive tax benefits, 
• ESOP is responsive, non-discriminatory to employee needs

What are the commonalities with ESOP and Exit Strategies? - multi-generational and family owned and owners aging and easing out.

• Massive client concentration risk (manufacturing industries)
• ESOP can be a great fit for dozens of industries providing significant tax benefits and asset depreciation recapture.
• Firms with High Relative Payrolls
• Firms with Significant Hard Assets/High Depreciation
• Management Buyout Opportunities - when you sell to an ESOP all employees are participating in the ESOP transaction.

What happens when an employee participating in an ESOP leaves the company? (Golden Handcuffs)

Intersection of ESOPs and Office of Economic Development and International Trade and forward thinking of Jared Polis and Colorado legislature.

Colorado employee ownership tax credit passed two pieces of legislation for ESOP incentives.

Colorado believes in keeping business in Colorado and creating wealth across the spectrum.

CSG Partners is working with the Employee Ownership Commission to expand ESOP formation in Colorado.

CSG Partners know education is key for ESOP adoption and they will provide a series of weekly educational webinars in July & August 2023.

ESOPs are always worth looking at whether you are looking to exit your business or part of an employment management program that wants to take over a business. Consult experts for ESOP education and consultation.

“I’ve had exits from a few million dollars into nine figures.”

How do I get everybody fully aligned to create the most value, make the best decisions to do the right work at the right time and order?

Traditional goal setting doesn’t stand the test of time. 90% of goals are not thoughtful.

Every organization has one number that drives the majority of right behaviors in the profit world. Winning or losing the game will drive the majority of right behaviors.

What does etw stand for? 

Mindset - know there is a way to get through no matter how it goes.

WIth the MIND methodology, you can see numbers for each of the departments or functions and which one needs focus.

The leadership team should have an intentional way of creating value as an organization.

Exitology: Unlock Your Profits, Unlock Your Potential

Be a leader in your organization to get results, foster an environment where every team member is motivated and empowered to create more value over time.

Every team member can act like the CEO in their own role.

Goals should be thoughtful and designed to create value.

Discover the surgical approach to leadership.

“Never confuse enthusiasm for capability.”

Discussion of failure points and leadership development categories

Eating and dreaming concepts in Lee Benson’s MIND Methodology and book called Your Most Important Number.

Exitology: Unlock Your Profits, Unlock Your Potential

Take ideas that come from strategy and turn them into execution and consistency.

In the MIND Methodology , a strategic initiative is something you are going to do today.

What is the ROI of doing this strategic initiative? 

Do less better.

You can’t scale complexity but you can scale simplicity.

What are the 2-3-4 fundamental things that drive the most value?

Lee Benson’s MIND Methodology is a manual a reader can take and execute against it.

Exitology: Unlock Your Profits, Unlock Your Potential

Value creation macro buckets - creating material value, emotional energy value and creating spirit.

The most caring thing we can do for our team members is tell them exactly where they stand regarding their performance and what’s expected 100% of the time.

It’s not personal. Organization pieces need to fit together to create the ultimate value.

Leaders give people operating guidelines and tell them what success looks like.

Spirit of Exitology = legacy.

Everything is about creating value and win interactions which you can sustain and grow forever.

Learn more about becoming a CEO MasterMIND.   

Exitology: Unlock Your Profits, Unlock Your Potential

“We took the company from 90 million to 250 million dollars in three years and sold it to a large multinational at a significant premium.”

Perfect Exit - the quest on how could the process be repeated.

Discover The 4 C’s - intangible capitals that drive a business to a Perfect Exit.

Start with intention and goals to streamline processes, improve quality, lower pricing to position your company in the marketplace.

80% of the value of a premium business is attached to intangible assets not tangible assets. Figure out how to use them.

Exitology: Unlock Your Profits, Unlock Your Potential

Value acceleration methodology is a process that owners can follow to reverse their probability of being successful at harvesting their wealth.

“You work your entire life to find out that 80% of your wealth is still trapped in this business and you can get it out.”

Instead of studying failures, focus on the 20% to 30% of exits that are successful.

Learn how to convert yourself from a lifestyle business owner to a value creator.

Explore the cultural aspect around generation differences looking to exit (Baby boomer, GenX, Millennial). 

Exitology: Unlock Your Profits, Unlock Your Potential

Most business owners are not intentionally managing intangible assets.

Focus on improving the 4C’s and you’ll not only drive your multiple but also drive earnings and sales up.

Challenges and mitigations strategies of customer concentration risk

Learn about the 5 stages of value maturity - identify your potential, protect your value, lay the foundation and then build.

Exitology: Unlock Your Profits, Unlock Your Potential

Value Acceleration Methodology processes include a roadmap, gating processes,

Create a 3 to 10 year vision of your exit but implement 90 day sprints for your relentless execution phase.

Value Acceleration Methodology makes you fast and flexible.

Explore common challenges business owners are facing today

Wow Curve for value acceleration and time frames to jump on or off the bus

Walking to Destiny to find more about these concepts to grow value and unlock wealth.

Exitology: Unlock Your Profits, Unlock Your Potential

Statistics offer a way to see what is really going on and understand trends and outcomes 

Every process can always be improved. Processes exist today for growing the value of your business and then exiting your business one day. 

Owners have a hard time letting go and need to feel confident that the business is going to be in good hands.  

Owners need to see a picture of what the next chapter will look like and be excited about stepping away from their business.  

One mistake owners face is not acknowledging and discussing how emotional the exit process may be. 

Owner should understand the value of having a CPA, lawyer and a wealth advisor for assisting with the exit. Another resource is having an executive coach or succession planning advisor to talk about challenges and opportunities they have to consider. 

Exitology: Unlock Your Profits, Unlock Your Potential

Owners need to pick the best successor which isn’t necessarily the most obvious successor.

14% of companies have a written succession plan.  

Sometimes a family member doesn’t want to be a successor. 

Even if you know your business, there is always a blind spot. 

Stay rooted in the idea of finding your exit but be flexible to stay rooted and move with it.  

Build leadership and capacity to build more value and growth.

Adhere to a transferable value metric.

Exitology: Unlock Your Profits, Unlock Your Potential

Explore the Donnelly Method  

Strategic Planning is the owners choice - 1 year, 3-5 years up to 10 years.

Young successors who do not feel challenged or excited often fail.

If a successor is not coachable, it is hard to develop them to grow.

Fear, lack of confidence, sense of entitlement = successor challenges.

Trending today, an owner is transitioning to a much younger successor than years ago.

Exitology: Unlock Your Profits, Unlock Your Potential

Exit Planning Institute - 75% owners have profound regret after leaving their business.

72% of people who took the EPI State of Business Owner Ready Survey wake up without a sense of purpose in their lives.

Obesity, drug use, alcoholism and depression skyrocket within the 6-12 months after they leave their business.

Over the last 5 years, GenX is looking to exit. 

What is a portfolio life? 

Abby Donnelly - The Leadership & Legacy Group

Exitology: Unlock Your Profits, Unlock Your Potential

If you don’t plan ahead and sell your company, risks encountered may include attrition, loss of intellectual property, cultural issues, inefficient processes prior to integration.

Identify change management opportunities to reduce attrition.

Discuss on the importance of the right governance structure and clearly defined success criteria related to benefits realization of the investment thesis (escalations, decision making, communication flows.)

Value Creation: Technology cost reduction, Process optimization, Strategy Execution Roadmapping, Portfolio Business & Data Analytics.

Jen Thompson, Principal Consultant, ViTL Solutions and President, Women of Mergers & Acquisitions Network (WoMAN)

Exitology: Unlock Your Profits, Unlock Your Potential

People integration and change adoption should be a critical success factor for any integration.

Integrations are primarily focused on the financials and the transactional, but including culture and people integration should be a #1 driver to success.

Without clarity around roles and responsibilities and future-state organization design you risk burnout and attrition, loss of knowledge and IP, and longer time to realize the ROI.

Prior to sale, you want to realize benefits quickly and identify redundancies and plan the future state of the organization.

Exitology: Unlock Your Profits, Unlock Your Potential

80% of project/program management is art, 20% is execution.

Technology is involved in every aspect of an organization.

Assess the current technology redundancies, security risks, and cost optimization.

Design a future state technology architecture.

Design a future state architecture early on (even prior to close so that you can initiate the effort immediately on Day 0).

Support technology disposition and selection/implementation.

Exitology: Unlock Your Profits, Unlock Your Potential

Jen Thompson, President, Women of Mergers & Acquisitions Network (WoMAN) since January 2023.  

Members in WoMAN are from corporate development, business owners, service providers, intermediaries, private equity, venture capital industries.

WoMAN exists to cultivate relationships with other women and support each other to be successful in M&A.  

Favorite events this year – Supporting Girls, Inc. to a SERVE event to build take-home stress ball kits.

Support WoMAN by volunteering to be a guest speaker, sponsor an event, volunteer for an internal leadership position. 

Exitology: Unlock Your Profits, Unlock Your Potential

Negotiation is a conversation about a relationship. You cannot win a relationship but you can get more value out of it.  

Understand our counterparts, find common ground and build stronger relationships.

When you go into a negotiation, form and test a hypothesis.

Clarity - absolutely critical in negotiation

Understand what winning looks like to you. 

Christine McKay is an expert business negotiator with a broad range of experience in negotiating numerous types of business relationships. An expert in David & Goliath negotiations and having worked on deals valued at over $100 billion, McKay has negotiated with or for nearly half of the Fortune 500. In addition, McKay is a sought-after media guest, international speaker, and author of the book, Why Not Ask? A Conversation about Getting More.

Exitology: Unlock Your Profits, Unlock Your Potential

Clarity is needed on your most important relationship elements. Search for those in your sales process.

Establish a mechanism in your negotiations that allows you to renegotiate relationships.

Sometimes the best negotiation outcome is that you walk away.

Explore the risks with negotiation and measurements.

Really effective negotiators have a blend of loving and understanding the power of words, psychology of people and math.

VennNegotiation.com

Exitology: Unlock Your Profits, Unlock Your Potential

David and Goliath negotiation is when somebody perceives the party they are negotiation with has more power or leverage than they do.

Have clarity and know your values both as a company and as an individual during negotiations.

Negotiation is 100% emotional. The decision to do a deal or not is entirely how we feel about the deal and the people.

Negotiation is not a point in time. It’s all the work before the meeting you do to test your hypothesis and refine it to find common ground.

People are fairly predictable. Map the players and predict how they will respond.

VennNegotiation.com

Exitology: Unlock Your Profits, Unlock Your Potential

Exit your business and create transferable value and think about what is really important to you.

Be intentional - don’t just wait for a prospective buyer to call you.

Discover the obstacles of achieving clarity

Partners (life or business) need to be on the same page before talking to anyone about selling your business. Avoid a negotiator coming in to divide and conquer you.

Learn more at Venn Negotiation and Follow YouTube and TikTok channels and learn more at Venn Negotiation.

Exitology: Unlock Your Profits, Unlock Your Potential

Leaders need to manage by numbers and make data driven objective decisions.

A business owner will have a very good growth opportunity in front of them and feel overburdened.

Explore the reasons to look at the concept of a fractional CFO

#growtoexit #growthstrategy #growthacceleration

Patty Lawrence, CMA, Consulting CFO and Founder, Turbo execs

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Listen to a story of a client determined to grow and be profitable but their main issue was cash (commissions, inventory and customer deposits).

Explore how to build an easy, lucrative, fun business while also avoiding failure.

Most businesses fail because they run out of cash. 

If you don’t take that first step and get initial numbers in place, you don’t even have a chance for that promised land and unsolicited offers only come toward businesses.

Unmess your books and start to manage ahead of the power curve and grow your business.  

#growtoexit #growthstrategy #growthacceleration

Patty Lawrence, CMA, Consulting CFO and Founder, Turbo execs

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Be careful of losing sight because a business owner is so busy building sales, hiring people and assuming everything else will take care of itself.

You can’t let your receivables get away from you.

Use your cash to fuel your growth.

Explore ways to go through the decision making process of taking on new debt in order to fund growth.

#growtoexit #growthstrategy #growthacceleration #exitplanning

Patty Lawrence, CMA, Consulting CFO and Founder, Turbo execs

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

What gets measured gets managed.

Selection criteria for business value - impact, alignment and degree of difficulty (DOD).

Zero in on what is going to leverage more profits into your business or cash.

Most important number is your transferable value but you must understand there are probably several numbers or factors that will impact transferable value.

Evaluate areas of revenue and trends over the last 12 months.

Data visualization is becoming more available to small size businesses.

#growtoexit #growthstrategy #growthacceleration #exitplanning #wealth creation

Patty Lawrence, CMA, Consulting CFO and Founder, Turbo execs

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Building a business is to provide but what happens when it also becomes the identity.

Decentralizing (succession planning) techniques to follow.

Ask yourself, what does it mean to build this legacy?

Ask questions that show you really care, show appreciation, honor the human element under the drive.

Leah Zimmerman, https://steppingstoolcoaching.com/

#ExitPlanning #ExitMyBusiness #Succession #Retirement #Legacy

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

The conversation is the relationship.  Conversations are the connection.

Family businesses in particular need an outside perspective. Reflect on conversations.

Somebody has to get to the place where they say “I want something to change.”

Reference Tom Hubler’s book  The Soul of the Family Business

Leah Zimmerman, https://steppingstoolcoaching.com/

#ExitPlanning #ExitM Business #Succession #Retirement #Legacy #Conversation

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Characteristics of people who are in Engineering fields

Behaviors - where do I stand and who is trying to threaten my status here?

As a leader, you can’t grow your team any higher than your own maximum level of personal growth.

Explore the boundaries of leadership

Leah Zimmerman, https://steppingstoolcoaching.com/

#ExitPlanning #ExitMyBusiness #Succession #Retirement #Legacy #Conversation

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

What does it mean to be in touch with your emotions, your body and the rationale?

Reference Lisa Feldman Barrett book, How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain

Movement of emotions or energy in the body helps you become aware of other data going on. 

Your emotional reactions are always your responsibility.  Emotions don’t last forever.  

Learn how to leverage your emotions to become a more powerful, magnetic leader and have a stage presence in all other things.

Drive, desire and growth doesn’t come without having some kind of fear.

Leah Zimmerman, https://steppingstoolcoaching.com/

#ExitPlanning #ExitMyBusiness #Succession #Retirement #Emotion #GrowtoExit #Conversation

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

A problem can be solved for value exchange.

Explore 3 main things that buyers look for   

• To own a business with an incentivized management team that runs your day to day.
• A business with financials in order
• A growing business throughout the process

Ellen Long | Exit Planner | Long Business Advisors, LLC www.longbusinessadvisors.com

#exitplanning #entrepreneur #growtoexit 

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Think of your business as an investor.

Every investor or entrepreneur should have an exit planning coach.

Begin with the end in mind.

Strategic buyers will pay more than private equity (PE) investors.

Who is the strategic buyer? 

• someone who wants to get you out of the business.
• someone who wants to get into a new market.
• someone who wants to assume talent / employee / culture.

Common mistakes  

• Thinking you will sell your business in a year (M&A takes 9-12 months)
• Thinking you have all the time in the world to sell your business.

Download our Extraordinary Exit checklist:

Ellen Long | Exit Planner | Long Business Advisors, LLC www.longbusinessadvisors.com

#exitplanning #investor #exitplanningcoach #valueinvestor #strategicbuyer

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

“The 2 biggest lies in business is that the check is in the mail and that nothing will change after the merger.”

How is your management team incentivized to sell your company? What are the key metrics for management? 

What is a stay bonus plan? 

Entrepreneur prep work to grow to exit and sell the business is a top down approach.

Develop and share your vision and goals to exit with your employees for success.

Ellen Long | Exit Planner | Long Business Advisors, LLC www.longbusinessadvisors.com

#growtoexit #incentives #exitplanning #sellyourbusiness #vision 

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

It takes longer to transition to an inside person than an outside person.  

Explore the owner vs. employee mindset.

Entrepreneurs may give the company away before the person is ready to take it over.

Scaling to create a business vs. creating a lifestyle business exit planning.

Build your business to sell to a 3rd party even if you intend to transition to family.

Ellen Long | Exit Planner | Long Business Advisors, LLC www.longbusinessadvisors.com

#growtoexit #transitionplan #mindset #lifestylebusiness #growtosell

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Wealth goes into our relationships, goes into our time but you must be intentional about your values.

It's a good exercise to step back, write down and think about your dreams irrespective of where you are in life.

Ask your clients and owners, “what perspective are we missing as outside advisors that you would like us to have?”

Walk a mile in your customer's shoes.

Joe Seetoo | SVP, Partner and Wealth Advisor at Morton Wealth | 818-591-6219 | jseetoo@mortonweath.com | LinkedIn

#exitplanning #succession #wealth #dream #wealthadvisor #exitplanner #exitmybusiness

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

What are the mile markers in life for success that are success for you?

We are either working towards something or moving away from something.

Triage for burnout business owners 

Transparency = exit planning moves people through the value acceleration process.

Knowledge is power.  Know your options vs. denial.

Exit planning = have a journey with the end in mind.  Build enterprise value from day one so the business owner has options.

Joe Seetoo | SVP, Partner and Wealth Advisor at Morton Wealth | 818-591-6219 | jseetoo@mortonweath.com | LinkedIn

#investment #exitplanning #success #coaching #burnout #advisors #enterprisevalue

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Owners feel remorse 12-24 months after the sale due the psychological impacts of the sales.

Understanding the away from mindset vs. toward mindset.

Evaluate options to diversify your income and replace your income. (real estate, trust deeds, private credit funds).

Many owners run personal expenses through their business.  Do you have an accurate picture of what your lifestyle will be like in the future?

The best clarity wins during negotiations. 

Joe Seetoo | SVP, Partner and Wealth Advisor at Morton Wealth | 818-591-6219 | jseetoo@mortonweath.com | LinkedIn

#income #exitplanning #sellmybusiness #psychology #passive #realestate #trusts #loans #clarity #negotation.

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Business owner readiness surveys can trigger some honest self reflection of business owners.

“72% of business owners in Colorado are waking up every day without a purpose in life.”

What is a Strategist Offering?

Understand what your business looks like as part of your overall wealth.  Exitology can then help build your business and grow your business so you can exit.   

If you are growing, you have options.  Quantify your wealth gap and evaluate your options.

Everyone involved must track progress against transferable value metric.

Joe Seetoo | SVP, Partner and Wealth Advisor at Morton Wealth | 818-591-6219 | jseetoo@mortonweath.com | LinkedIn

#exit planning #valuation #triggeringevent #survey #businessreadiness #wealthgap #transferrablevaluemetric

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Quist Valuation, established in 1984, performing valuations for 40 years. First focusing on compliance events and evolving into tactical financial reporting.

Quist Insights an ongoing self assessment for business owners.

Learning center and knowledge base for clients to understand: 

• What do the numbers mean for me and what do I do next?
• How much value will this create in my business if I do that?  
• How do you de-risk a business so it can continue to operate?

Unbiased, objective analysis of your business is not a one-time event.

Shina Culberson, President, CFA, CEPA, Quist Inc.

#valueacceleration #exitplanning #derisk #value #analysis #growtoexit

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Obtain a business valuation as part of your regular strategic planning process.

Transferable value is that part of your business, soft assets, (value of customer base, employees, systems, processes, culture) that are not easily quantified.

Have an annual assessment, take high driving value opportunities, build a plan and evaluate regularly the incremental value in the business.

Quist Valuation tools will quantify the transferable value in your business.

Shina Culberson, President, CFA, CEPA, Quist Inc.

#valueacceleration #exitplanning #intangibleassets #transferablevalue #opportunity

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Explore the growth and value drivers to focus on for transferable value.

What are the biggest themes that drive or detract value from your business?

Learn signs and ways to manage customer concentration risk.

Systems and repeatable, documented processes are important for transferable value regardless of the business size.

How is your management team incentivized? Are they tied to organizational goals?

Shina Culberson, President, CFA, CEPA, Quist Inc.

#valueacceleration #exitplanning #transferablevalue #risk #processes #goals

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Use valuation partners to maximize the value of your business and maximize your exit.

Valuation is a practice/process something you do on a regular basis.

Quist Valuation - Break down the business owner journey in 4 phases.

Valuation is part of your entire business plan and business cycle.

One of the goals of a valuation advisor is to be educational and help business owners know where to drive value.

Clarity creates capital.

Shina Culberson, President, CFA, CEPA, Quist Inc.

#valueacceleration #exitplanning #clarity #capital #valuation #transferable value #businessplan

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

At age 23 , Rex Wisehart decided to not have any more jobs and fell into the turnaround business.

Acquiring 29 employees and never being a boss of anything in his life before, he tried to figure out how the business got into this much trouble.

Fired 20 of 29 people who worked there. The first time I’ve ever fired anyone in my life and still the hardest business day I’ve ever spent.

You make a decision to be an entrepreneur. 

You are crazy enough to say I can do this.

You don’t shy away from a different situation. Difficult situations are fun and when you solve them, you feel like you’ve won the world.

Face the situation head on and be clear with everyone in your chain.

Do your best and see where you end up. Figure out pluses and minus, decide which one has the highest probability of success and go for it.  

Rex Wisehart, entrepreneur and turnaround expert. LinkedIn

#entrepreneur #turnaround #success #exitplanning #growtoexit

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

You need people with different mindsets and different skill sets. You want the opposite of your clone. 

For Startup partners, if you don’t build the foundation correctly you are going to collapse.  

For Startup employees, hire anyone who is willing to work the hours for you.

“Hire fast and fire fast.”

Explore the Small Business Innovation Research program

Hire great technology people and people that can actually do the work.

Rex Wisehart, entrepreneur and turnaround expert. LinkedIn

#entrepreneur #turnaround #startup #mindset #hiring #exitplanning #growtoexit

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Any company that grows, needs 3 types of people - visionary and rainmakers and baggage handlers.

Be cautious if the founder thinks the company can be a lone wolf.

Don’t make a contact so complicated that you cannot perform on it.

Startup founders are often blindsided by bad contracts.

Client Concentration Risk - don’t let any customer have too much of your pie (under 30%).

CEO is the public face of the company and is the ultimate support person for all the people that work in the company.

Rex Wisehart, entrepreneur and turnaround expert. LinkedIn

#entrepreneur #turnaround #startup #contracts #founder #risk #networking #exitplanning #growtoexit

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

38 turnarounds with 28 succeeded under Rex Wisehart’s belt.

Grow, maximize and help the owner craft their perfect exit. 

Don’t try to sell a company without preparing it for sale.

• Know it will be a multi year (3-5 minimum) process
• Hire professional to help you sell
• Transferrable value metrics

Exit planning - start looking for your next act and your purpose to contribute.

Fear to step aside may be ego, family members in business, neglecting creative ways to sell your business and being wary of debt paper.

You shouldn’t put the burden of selling your business on your spouse.

Rex Wisehart, entrepreneur and turnaround expert. LinkedIn

#entrepreneur #turnaround #sellingabusiness #risk #exitplanning #growtoexit

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Be the person and the catalyst to change the things that you don’t enjoy in your work.

When a leader feels powerless, they are no longer in control of their destiny.  

When a leader does not take responsibility, a leader is resented, not liked and seen as weak.

Reference High Output Management by Andrew S. Grove which focuses on task relevant maturity for employees.

Defining your game = purpose, what do you do exceptionally well.

Playing your game = purpose, process, performance.

Brandon Allen, founder of New Work Revolution.

#leadership #decentralize #game #change #coaching #growtoexit #exitplanning

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

The most important thing to build stronger relationships is to be the kind of person that people want to be in relationships with.

You have to give people a little bit of who you are to create a common ground.

Look within.  An enneagram test helps confirm your personality attributes.

Talk about your vulnerabilities in business. Stay your needs in a partnership.  Have difficult conversations.

Brandon Allen, founder of New Work Evolution.

#relationship #strength #success #partnership #exitplanning #growtoexit

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

In business, we always think we are one tool from solving all the problems in our business.

The Root - what is it that gets in my way? 

If there is anything in your business that you rate low, watch your mental resistance.

Someone describes a problem, leaders tend to try to fix it immediately. If you don’t address your true obstacle, no amount of tools and processes will fix it for you.

Proverbs 20:5 - The purposes of a person’s heart are deep waters, but one who has insight draws them out.

You can do all the right things but not have the right intention behind it.

Ask yourself what is it that I want? and address the fear behind that question.

What is keeping you from getting there?

Brandon Allen, founder of New Work Revolution.

#root #obstacles #tools #processes #fear #resistance #partnership #exitplanning #growtoexit

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

A Coach treats you as an expert in whatever manner you need support and uses questions to draw out answers.

A Consultant is a subject matter expertise that tells people what to do.

In leadership you can have influence or control but you can’t have both. Influence is infinite and control is finite.

One of the biggest benefits of coaching is insight.

Decentralized business owners do the hard work to maximize profits.

Be clear about where you want to go and understand your obstacles.  Pay attention to how you feel.

Brandon Allen, founder of New Work Revolution.

#coach #insight #tools #processes #decentralize #clarity #obstacles #exitplanning #growtoexit

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

In the late 2000s, there were no documented processes around exit planning.

With roots in accounting and many advisors focusing on financial planning, there wasn’t a focus purely on exit and succession planning.

As an early adopter, Dr. Craig West traveled to the US To obtain his Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA) designation and expand his knowledge in exit planning.

Exit planning is a specialized area that helps business owners achieve the outcomes they need.

Transferable value metric - a business worth $8M sold for $22M and the owner donated $5M to charity. An outcome that is life changing for the family and the charity.

Some of the best successes are where people actually come back and decide not to sell their business.

Exit planning is just good business strategy and it proves itself again and again.

Dr. Craig West, CEPA, CEO and Founder of Succession Plus and Capitaliz. Author of It All Begins With Insights. Additional in the media references available.

#exitplanning #succession #accounting #worth #transferablevaluemetric #CEPA

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

An exit plan is structured and process driven.

• First - identify value in your business. 
• Second - fact find to determine what the business owner wants to achieve.
• Third - use business insights to determine the business owner’s starting point.

Business insights get facts and figures together and can be a confronting conversation.

Business owners want to know how they get from today to an exit and what does it look like?

A good advisor, using the right tool, should be able to make an exit a lot easier than it would be without it. Exit planning advisors are specifically trained to make that happen.

Exit planning can be challenging but it’s interesting and focuses on business value in businesses.

Dr. Craig West, CEPA, CEO and Founder of Succession Plus and Capitaliz. Author of It All Begins With Insights. Additional in the media references available.

#exitplanning #succession #businessinsights #exitplan #transferablevaluemetric #advisor #insight

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

20 years ago, a business owner needed to sell a business to fund retirement.

Most baby boomers around the world are independently wealthy and don’t need to sell anything to fund their retirement.

Business owners that have had their businesses for 25, 30, 35, 40 years have an emotional connection to their business.

Legacy / Stewardship type exit focuses on looking after employees and customers after exit.

Explore the meaning of creating significant companies

There is an increase in the use of exit planning advisors to determine what will actually drive your exit decision.  

A business owner needs to be able to clearly articulate and communicate their exit decision.

Dr. Craig West, CEPA, CEO and Founder of Succession Plus and Capitaliz.  Author of It All Begins With Insights.  Additional in the media references available.

#exitplanning #succession #businessinsights #exitplan #motivators #decision #advisor #legacy #stewardship

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Triggering event - if one day you want the option to sell your business, what are all the things that somebody would look at that’s part of the equation.

It’s a reality check to determine what your business is actually worth. Business insights then provide your value potential (trigger).

Gamerification - taking the current value of your business and exit now or accepting the challenge to achieve worth.

Most business owners have a personality that loves a challenge.

Exit strategy is good business strategy.  Begin with the end in mind.

Dr. Craig West, CEPA, CEO and Founder of Succession Plus and Capitaliz.  Author of It All Begins With Insights.  Additional in the media references available.

#exitplanning #succession #businessinsights #exitplan #triggeringevent #trigger #worth #exitstrategy

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Early stages required the CEO to be very involved driving everything forward. 

Clients need to show up in a specific way for business owners to create quantum level growth.

At any given moment, we have the choice for how we are showing up.  What most CEOs don’t understand is that we are choosing how we show up in every single moment.

Carve out time for strategic thinking and strategic growth.  Grow a lot faster with less work.

Constraints create creativity.

To elevate your business, you actually have to take that energy elsewhere.

Mandi Ellefson is the founder of Hands-Off CEO, a published author of The Hands-Off CEO and host of the Hands-Off CEO podcast.  LinkedIn

#mindset #quantum #growth #strategicthinking #energy #exitplanning #goldmiller #goldminer

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

The foundation to profitably scale services is that you have to have a really good offer.

Everyone wants to be the top 1% of the market because you get the highest fees.  

Understand the reasons why most people are not willing to do what it takes to become the top 1%.

Cast a bigger vision

Wealth is created by solving bigger problems.

Find an external outside party to push you to think bigger.

Look at ways to expand and reference the Value Versus Scalability Matrix in The Hands-Off CEO

Mandi Ellefson is the founder of Hands-Off CEO, a published author of The Hands-Off CEO and host of the Hands-Off CEO podcast. LinkedIn

#mindset #constraints #scalability #profit #exitplanning #vision 

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

The client does not actually care about quality, they want their problem solved.

All of your competition are dealing with the same constraints and same challenges as you. Find a way to innovate and stand out.

Name of the game is to build transferable value in your business.

If you are valuable in the marketplace, you have opened up so many options for you and your business.

“How do you become the kind of business that might put yourself out of business?”

Mandi Ellefson is the founder of Hands-Off CEO, a published author of The Hands-Off CEO and host of the Hands-Off CEO podcast. LinkedIn

#mindset #problemsolved #constraints #transferrablevalue #scalability #profit #exitplanning #vision 

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

How do you become the business who could put your business out of business and scale profits in your company by becoming the disruption in your industry?

Make a list of your constraints and look at how you can flip constraints for competitive advantage.

Explore the Find Time Now processes.

Take 100% responsibility for your actions in creating the culture around your business.

Show up differently to get different results.

“You cannot grow your company more than your own vision for what is possible in your company.”

Commit to a bigger vision and step into it.

Mandi Ellefson is the founder of Hands-Off CEO, a published author of The Hands-Off CEO and host of the Hands-Off CEO podcast.  LinkedIn

#mindset #constraints #transferrablevalue #scalability #profit #culturalcapital #exitplanning #conscientiousness #reality

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Explore the reasons for breakdowns in communication.

When we are the receiver, we want communication. We want fluency in our messaging as a receiver. Every time something is easy, something is fluent. If something is not fluent, it takes a lot of mental processing power to make sense of it.

What is additive bias in our own head?

Lead with simplicity in your business - emails, proposals, slogans, communications, stock ticker symbols.

Research has proven there is actual value in being fluent.

Ben Guttmann, professor, marketing executive, author of Simply Put Why Clear Message Win - and How to Design Them. Website | LinkedIn 

#communication #fluency #messaging #additivebias #vision #simplicity #value

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Make sure that there is as little friction as possible between what you are trying to say and what the receiver wants to hear.

Understand the motivators of what people care about and be more effective in sales, marketing and communication.

Ask So What? - find the functional, emotional, physiological benefits and features.

Find the emotional hook that’s actually going to drive a person to pay attention.

Ben Guttmann, professor, marketing executive, author of Simply Put Why Clear Message Win - and How to Design Them.  Website | LinkedIn

#motivators #benefits #communication #emotion #interrogate #value #simplicity

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Explore the 5 Design Principles: Benefit, Focus, Salient, Empathetic & Minimal

Many businesses know their stuff, know the language around it.  They know why they care about it but they have a hard time translating it outside of their walls.

If you can communicate to the marketplace, that’s the difference between multi-million dollar company growth and value versus probably going out of business.

Constraints breed creativity.

Choose constraints based on you individually, your project and medium pressure.

Ben Guttmann, professor, marketing executive, author of Simply Put Why Clear Message Win - and How to Design Them.  Website | LinkedIn

#principle #communication #language #marketplace #constraints #creativity #pressure

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Being young and at the beginning of our careers, we wanted to explore different things.

Our guiding piece was we wanted to make sure our clients had a home and employees had a job.  

Hire a broker.

Competitors may some day make you an offer.

If an internal successor does not exist, look in your industry for a potential buyer.

Branding and internal reorganization allowed for two separate offerings.

For some sellers, you go from being an owner to being an employee and the money that you thought you were going to have because you sold the business is really all tied up in these metrics that you don’t really have control over.

Portfolio life = consulting, projects work, become an author, serve as a board member.

If you have a service based business, you have to be prepared for it to no longer be your stuff.

Ben Guttmann, professor, marketing executive, author of Simply Put Why Clear Message Win - and How to Design Them.  Website | LinkedIn

#exitplanning #transferablevaluemetric #portfolio #sellyourbusiness #service #buyer

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

“I was getting a lot of trophies and awards and was speaking a lot but what people didn’t know behind the scenes was I was broke.”

He looked successful, he knew how to say the right things but behind the scenes was kind of a mess which he hid from his wife. 

Enlightening moment and single best financial decision he made was to turn the money responsibility over to his wife.

Entrepreneurs are often very delusional and have no relationship to actual results. 

Explore the details of the “purse throwing incident.”

Regardless of business or life, you don’t get what you hope for, you get what you expect.

Understand the importance of having a wife or partner that backs you up when you're an entrepreneur.

Chris Felton, 7-figure financial services entrepreneur and Amazon best selling author of Think & Grow You.   Website | LinkedIn 

#entrepreneur #optimism #delusion #success #responsibility #money #finances

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

The number one concept for a high performer world class thinker is called objective reality.

Hear examples of objective reality - the ability to own your results without getting emotional.

“Ego is not your amigo.”

96% of Americans are broke.

Margaret Lynch, author of Tapping into Wealth, says the biggest determining factor of your financial success is the vows you made to gain acceptance of your family at a young age.

Remember how much agency you as an individual have to choose how your life goes.

Get a Green Journal.

Tell a more empowering story and quit feeding the old story.

Chris Felton, 7-figure financial services entrepreneur and Amazon best selling author of Think & Grow You.   Website | LinkedIn 

#ego #objectivereality #broke #scorecard #empowerment #tranferablevaluemetric #delusion #optimism #beliefs #money

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

The number one characteristic of self made entrepreneurs is objective reality (staying out of delusion).  Maybe it’s not even in your business but you have delusions in your relationships.

Set a unifying goal to address delusions. 

If there is turmoil at home, it will bleed into your business and vice versa. 

Everything you want in life, you're hoping to get a feeling.  Put a feeling of financial relief and freedom around the goal.

Stop fixing and start creating wealth.

Find clarity and have a relationship to results.

Don’t ignore important gut feelings that are giving you data and feedback.  There is actual data and feedback that comes through the emotional channel not just the numerical channel that is part of objective reality.

Chris Felton, 7-figure financial services entrepreneur and Amazon best selling author of Think & Grow You.   Website | LinkedIn 

#clarity #objectivereality #wealth #goal #entrepreneur #data #emotion

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

“I had a lot to lose and I just encourage people to have objective reality now so that your back doesn’t have to get against the wall. I hired a coach and he had results in his life that I wanted.”

“What are you going to do for the next hour to change your life is one of the greatest questions I ever got.”

Put the past behind. Get clear and start moving forward.

Your need to be right will cost you your life.

When you are clear on the benefits to others, just be relentless. Find a coach that takes a stand for you.

Based on results, how is your way working?

“You can’t get to peace without forgiveness.”

Chris Felton, 7-figure financial services entrepreneur and Amazon best selling author of Think & Grow You. Website | LinkedIn 

#forgiveness #coach #past #objectivereality #benefits #peace

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Through mentorship, he was taught about selling through the written word. He learned the skill of copywriting and selling in print.

Took a pay cut to invest in his future.

If you want measurable real marketing that puts money in your pocket, it is salesmanship and print.

Began writing to 35,000 people a week through a weekly newsletter and designed successful company promotions. 

If the warehouse is mad because too much product is being shipped, the marketing and sales department are doing their job.

After obtaining his Series 6 license, quitting his job and not finding success as a financial planner, he became a freelance copywriter. 

Ryan Healy, copy writer and co-founder of Upsender.com | LinkedIn 

#entrepreneur #copywriting #mentorship #promotion #newsletter #marketing

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Explore the components of an effective email campaign.

It is important to evaluate your market (B2C or B2B) and price point of offer.

Number one - everyone loves a sale. Number two - what are your buyers most likely to buy?

Listen to some of the psychological triggers for internal promotions, selling and options for sales.

Ways to cash flow new offers, sustainable ways to upgrade the user experience and also make more money at the same time.

You need to be mailing your email list at least once a week. Have a reason to email them and share something that is valuable to them whether they purchase from you or not.  

What is infotainment?

Ryan Healy, copy writer and co-founder of Upsender.com | LinkedIn 

#email #campaign #promotion #market #sale #userexperience #mailinglist #infotainment

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Fundamentals for deliverability.

Learn about Email Service Provider (ESP) authentication for communications to go to inboxes.

If you are sending from a new domain, send a small number of emails and scale up.  

If you are rebranding or changing domain names or changing ESP or IP, be cautious as you scale and manage lists. .

If you want an effective campaign, hire a professional to navigate the setup.

Evaluate open rates, click through rates, and scale up your metrics.

• A healthy email list, regardless of market, should be getting 40% open rate.
• A good click through rate is over 1% based on clicked total sends.

Ryan Healy, copy writer and co-founder of Upsender.com | LinkedIn 

#valueproposition #deliverability #ESP #rebrand #domain #scale #campaign #openrate #clickthrough 

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Document processes and procedures using Google docs, Loom video - written instruction and video.  Break up processes and procedures into individual steps.

If you are given a detailed process and you're unable to follow it, either the process is broken or you're not following it.

Take a vacation while your company continues to grow.

Decentralize to the point where your business can keep going without you.  

Make it a priority to email your list once a week.  If you need a new client or a new deal, it will probably come from your email list.  

Document the processes you have in your company.  Allow someone else to run through them.  Iterate and improve processes until it is done to your standard.

Ryan Healy, copy writer and co-founder of Upsender.com | LinkedIn 

#processimprovement #document #growyourbusiness #decentralize #email #standards #scale

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Traditional planning has not created financial freedom for people. It has led to financial dependence.  

What's a different approach that people can take that helps them become financially free?

If we don’t have principles as the foundation for our decisions that we make in our life we are more subject to marketing, hype, and following the herd.

Decisions are made based on past fund performance in the marketing material.

Average is a terrible indicator to use, a median is a much better indicator.

What matters isn’t the average rate of return, what matters is that you made money or lost money.  

Incentives and education invite consumers to abdicate their own thinking.

Kyle J Christensen, founder of Fiveth, founder of Unique Advantage, and author of Principle Based Planning: A Better Approach to Financial Planning | LinkedIn 

#money #math #financial #freedom #principles #marketing #performance

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Principles make life easier.  A principle is something that doesn’t change.  It’s something that always points in a certain direction.  

“The most important thing he learned was to live his life based on principles that teaches him what is true and what to do about it.” - Ray Dalio, author of Principles: Life and Work.

Look up the definition of retirement.  A Traditional planning approach is designed to lead people to retirement. Retirement has an age associated with it. 

Almost 67% of Americans who are currently retired say that social security retirement income is a major source of income.  

Financial freedom is a capability.  Financial freedom means that you can do what you want when you want without restrictions financially.  

“An asset is something that puts money in my pocket.  The difference between an asset and a liability is based on the direction of the cash flow.” - Robert Kiyosaki

Kyle J Christensen, founder of Fiveth, founder of Unique Advantage, and  author of Principle Based Planning: A Better Approach to Financial Planning | LinkedIn 

#principle #retirement #financial #freedom #traditional #capability #income #asset #liability #cashflow

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Stock ownership = a company has no legal obligation to pay you.

Prior to Apple or Microsoft, it was common for stocks to pay dividends.  However, instead of paying a dividend, these companies put it back into the company.  

“If you ever want to acquire the fortune that you seek, the first thing you have to do is acquire the knowledge that is required to obtain that right.” - Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich.

Explore the 3 rules / principles of investing.

• Invest in what you know or become an expert so you can do so.
• Invest in what you can control.
• Don’t chase returns

Principles give us a filter to run decisions through.

Is there anything in your life that you have that’s been an enduring success that required no knowledge, no effort on your part, no accountability and somehow it worked out? 

Kyle J Christensen, founder of Fiveth, founder of Unique Advantage, and  author of Principle Based Planning: A Better Approach to Financial Planning | LinkedIn 

#money #invest #success #fortune #principles #decisions

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Financial institutions practice what they preach.

Financial institutions have become expert marketers.

The goal of all financial institutions is to get our money.  They want us to send them our money and they want to have control and use.

People have bought into the idea that somebody is going to take care of them.

People fly on autopilot financially.  Business owners track inflow and outflow for their business but not personally.

Accountability is a principle.  

People fail financially for the most part because they don’t have principles or they don’t know what the principles are that lead to financial freedom and they are not being taught what they are by most of the financial planning world.

If we viewed our money in terms of the principle of stewardship, would we gamble it?

Kyle J Christensen, founder of Fiveth, founder of Unique Advantage, and  author of Principle Based Planning: A Better Approach to Financial Planning | LinkedIn 

#compoundinterest #financial #institution #stewardship #gamble #principle #money #marketing #businessowner

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Josh’s decision to leave the "single-line insurance prison" marked a turning point, enabling him to offer better solutions to clients and unlock new growth opportunities. Reflecting on this leap, he shares, “The only thing I regret is not breaking out sooner.” His story highlights the importance of strategic moves, including partnerships that complemented his strengths and filled gaps in his business. By prioritizing client needs and aligning his business with long-term goals, Josh built a thriving enterprise with a clear path to success.

Through this conversation, listeners gain valuable insights, such as spotting when your business hits a glass ceiling and recognizing the need for a bold pivot. Josh explains how partnering with larger agencies can create scalable opportunities, while Wally underscores the importance of "beginning with the end in mind" when planning for an exit. They also discuss how a client-first approach builds trust, drives growth, and strengthens a business for the long term. As Josh puts it, “If you’re not doing a good job for your clients, you’re in the wrong game.”

Proven strategies include evaluating your current position to identify growth limitations, talking to experienced peers to learn from their insights, and preparing for your exit by planning well in advance. Josh also emphasizes leveraging your network to build partnerships that enable faster growth and better client service. These strategies, combined with intentional planning, create the foundation for scaling a business while setting the stage for a successful exit.

For business owners contemplating their next steps, this episode provides a roadmap for breaking free from limitations, scaling strategically, and planning an exit on your own terms. Tune in to Exitology: Unlock Your Profits, Unlock Your Potential and discover actionable insights that can transform your business and your future. Your journey to freedom and profitability starts here!

Guest Info:

Josh Fyhrie, Insurance Agency Owner

Connect with Josh on LinkedIn

Josh Fyhrie has over 20 years of experience in the insurance industry, starting his career with Farmers Insurance before founding his own independent agency. He successfully grew his business by offering a broader range of services to clients and eventually partnered with a larger agency to take his company to the next level. Today, Josh focuses on serving high-net-worth clients and helping them protect their assets.

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.

Josh’s story takes a compelling turn as he recounts the decision to sell his agency and transition into a new professional chapter. Partnering with a larger agency provided him with resources, stability, and the freedom to focus on what he does best—serving high-net-worth clients with tailored solutions. Reflecting on his decision, Josh notes, “It wasn’t just about the financial windfall; it was about removing the weight off our shoulders and creating opportunities for our team.”

Through this conversation, listeners gain insights into aligning personal and professional goals when planning an exit, understanding the value of your business through comprehensive due diligence, and navigating the human side of mergers, including staff retention and cultural shifts. Josh also shares how embracing new roles and redefining success can open doors to a fulfilling next chapter.

Josh highlights the importance of knowing your end game and preparing for it well in advance, leveraging the right partnerships to access resources and opportunities, and prioritizing transparency with your team to retain staff through a merger. His focus on serving high-net-worth clients exemplifies the power of aligning your role with your expertise and passion.

For business owners considering their next move, this episode provides a roadmap for navigating exits, scaling strategically, and finding renewed purpose. Tune in to Exitology: Unlock Your Profits, Unlock Your Potential to learn how to level up your business and create a future aligned with your goals. Your journey to significance starts here!

Guest Info:

Josh Fyhrie, Insurance Agency Owner

Connect with Josh on LinkedIn

Josh Fyhrie has over 20 years of experience in the insurance industry, starting his career with Farmers Insurance before founding his own independent agency. He successfully grew his business by offering a broader range of services to clients and eventually partnered with a larger agency to take his company to the next level. Today, Josh focuses on serving high-net-worth clients and helping them protect their assets.

Like this episode? Want to learn more? Visit www.exitology.com, or get your copy of Exitology: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Business Growth, 3x Your Company Value, and Exit the Smart Way today.