Succession Stories

Hosted by Laurie Barkman

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Oct 2026

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Succession Stories is an award-winning podcast guiding entrepreneurs through the journey of transition to transaction, with an exclusive limited series called The Entrepreneur Gene™ Hosted by Laurie Barkman—The Business Transition Sherpa®, nationally recognized business advisor, and Amazon best-selling author of *The Business Transition Handbook*—the show explores the full entrepreneurial lifecycle: from growth to maturity, value creation to exit planning, succession, and M&A for owner-led companies. If you're an entrepreneur looking for inspiration to build a more valuable business, or a business owner seeking the best way to transition or sell your closely held company, this podcast is for you. Each episode provides actionable insights, expert conversations, and real-world stories to help you navigate one of the most important chapters in your entrepreneurial journey. 🎙️ Learn more at https://btsherpa.com

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November 8, 202634 min

239: Navigating Family Business Succession, Ownership, and Leadership, with Kristi Daeda

Episode Description What does it truly take to keep a family business thriving across generations? Succession is often framed as a simple handoff, but successful transitions require aligning owners, preparing leaders, preserving relationships, and sometimes rethinking what it means to be a family business. In this episode, host Laurie Barkman sits down with Kristi Daeda, President and CEO of the Family Business Consulting Group, to challenge common myths about family enterprises. They explore why leadership succession is more than just "passing the keys," how companies are successfully separating ownership from management by hiring outside non-family CEOs, and what business owners can do today to build a resilient future. Key Insights Busting the "Mom-and-Pop" Myth: F amily businesses make up the vast majority of our economy, ranging from small startups to multi-billion-dollar global enterprises that lead their industries. Many are highly sophisticated in their planning and operational structures. Succession is a Rare Event: Because a single leader often stays for 20+ years, succession is a once-a-generation milestone. It is new for everyone involved, meaning founders and next-gen leaders often bring unexamined, rigid expectations to the table. The "Accidental" Family Business and Separation of Roles: Many companies do not start out intending to become multi-generational family businesses; they evolve into them over time. Increasingly, families are separating ownership from executive leadership, with about 25% exploring professional non-family CEOs while retaining family equity ownership. Balancing Tradition and Change: The most successful family businesses manage to honor tradition while vigorously adapting to fast-moving market pressures, technological shifts like AI, and modern growth strategies. Engaging the Next Generation Outside the Business: Not all next-gen family members want to work inside the operating company. Families can keep them engaged and build "emotional ownership" through family councils, owner councils, holding companies, philanthropic initiatives, and regular family retreats. Kristi's Golden Rules for Succession: Start earlier than you think you need to (ideally 2 to 5 years out). Put the hard conversations on the table to avoid kicking the can down the road and creating future conflict. Chapters & Timestamps 00:00 – Introduction: The complexities of family business succession 01:17 – Busting the myth: Are family businesses unsophisticated? 02:29 – The misconception of simplicity and why succession is a rare event 04:51 – What is an "accidental family business"? Separating ownership from leadership 07:34 – Lessons from Berkshire Hathaway's long-term succession trajectory 09:08 – Surprising findings from the 30-year family business benchmark study (Plante Moran partnership) 11:39 – Getting unstuck: Why choosing the next leader isn't enough (onboarding & off-boarding) 14:52 – Overcoming the "Don't F it up" status quo trap and embracing innovation 18:12 – The role of boards and graduating the founder to Board Chair 19:44 – Kristi's personal experience as an internal successor at FPCG 22:51 – The rise of non-family CEOs and making the professionalized model successful 25:22 – Engaging next-gen family members who work outside the core business (Family councils, philanthropy, and holding companies) 30:16 – The emerging planning gap: Why documented estate and buy-sell plans need active understanding 32:03 – Kristi's top two takeaways: Start early and have the hard conversations 32:55 – How to connect with Kristi Daeda and the Family Business Consulting Group Is your business truly ready and are you? Take the Succession Readiness Assessment to get a clear snapshot of where you stand and what to focus on next. https://btsherpa.com/ succession P.S. Most owners don't realize where they stand until they're already in a transition. Take a few minutes now to understand your readiness and give yourself more options later. Connect with Laurie Barkman: Website: https://lauriebarkman.me LinkedIn: in/lauriebarkman YouTube: @LaurieBarkman_BTSherpa Connect with Kristi Daeda Website: https://www.thefbcg.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristidaeda

October 25, 202638 min

238: From One Truck to $70M: Building Recurring Revenue in Construction, with Bryan Mitchell

Description: "If you'd like to begin the year with $3 to $5 million in revenue already for you to do, then you should be investigating this." Bryan Mitchell helped transform a struggling commercial roofing company into a $70M business by building something the industry said couldn't be done: meaningful recurring revenue in a project-based business. What started with one service truck grew to 32, generating approximately $14 million in recurring maintenance revenue. The company later completed a significant transaction, and a client Bryan coaches in Texas sold at a multiplier three times higher than comparable contractors, directly because of the service model. In this episode, Bryan and Laurie break down exactly how it was built, and what any construction or project-based business owner can take from it. Summary: "If you'd like to begin the year with $3 to $5 million in revenue already for you to do, then you should be investigating this." Host Laurie Barkman sits down with Bryan Mitchell, a longtime commercial roofing executive who helped transform a struggling contractor into a $70 million company by building a service and maintenance division that generated approximately $14 million in recurring revenue. What started with one truck, door-knocking, and personalized cartoon postcards grew into 32 trucks, over 1,000 ongoing maintenance contracts, smoothed seasonality, and a natural pipeline that grew the core reroof business five to six times. The company later completed a significant transaction, and a Bryan's Texas client who followed the same model sold at a multiplier three times higher than comparable contractors. Laurie and Bryan unpack how to find recurring revenue where everyone else sees one-and-done projects, what "leak tolerance" reveals about your client and your pricing, and the three things construction business owners must get right to make this model stick. Key Insights: The assumption that construction can't have recurring revenue is costing owners millions. Bryan built $14M in recurring maintenance revenue on commercial roofs, and a client he coaches in Texas sold his company at a 3x higher multiplier than peers because of the same model. Most contractors never try because early conversion rates are low and they get disheartened, but the math becomes undeniable once it builds. The NRCA data makes the ROI conversation close itself. According to the National Roofing Contractors Association, a low-slope roof with no maintenance lasts about 15 years. Occasional maintenance pushes that to 20. A managed maintenance program? 30 to 35 years. On a $500,000 roof, that 25-year spread is worth having the building owner's CPA in the room. The cost to maintain is two visits a year, versus a $350,000 average re-roof. Never get on the roof before meeting the decision-maker first. Bryan's team learned that skipping the pre-inspection meeting dramatically dropped close rates. Once their brand was established, they simply refused to do a roof walk without a sit-down first. That constraint became a credibility signal, and it ensured the value conversation happened before money ever came up. Know your client's "leak tolerance" before you propose anything. A building protecting a pile of bricks has high tolerance. A building housing radiology equipment has none. Bryan had a NASA client who required monthly visits because not one drop of water could enter the facility. Understanding tolerance up front shapes the entire offer, including price and contract frequency. Service revenue should be your business, not an emergency response. Emergency repairs should represent less than 15% of a service operation. The real model is bringing roofs to a maintainable condition, then generating consistent revenue through regular visits. Prioritizing problems into three tiers, critical, urgent, and maintenance, gives new clients an easier entry point and keeps them from being overwhelmed by the first inspection. The service division became the engine that grew everything else. As the service business scaled, it grew the core re-roof business five to six times. Maintenance contracts put Bryan's team on roofs regularly, which surfaced replacement opportunities that competitors never even had a chance to bid on. The service model also resolved seasonality by giving crews productive work year-round and letting them choose when to schedule maintenance jobs. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction & Busting the myth: recurring revenue in construction 02:18 Bryan Mitchell's background and how he joined the company 03:50 What the struggling company looked like and the opportunity Bryan saw 06:10 The bidding race to the bottom in construction 07:20 Starting to build the service division from scratch 08:28 The drip marketing strategy: personalized cartoon postcards 10:06 The moment 12 framed postcards confirmed their brand 11:48 The service and maintenance offer explained 12:07 NRCA statistics on roof lifespan with and without maintenance 13:07 The ROI conversation: $350K average re-roof vs. two visits a year 14:42 Selling the program: meet the decision-maker before the roof 15:40 Structuring the maintenance program correctly 17:11 Prioritizing roof problems in tiers for new clients 20:04 Connecting customer pain points to the value proposition 20:33 What is your client's "leak tolerance"? 21:37 Growing from 1 service truck to 32 22:04 Building a sales team and training non-roofers to sell 25:11 How recurring revenue addressed seasonality 26:24 Connecting recurring revenue to enterprise value and the transaction 27:02 The 3x sale multiplier from a Texas client 28:24 The goal: 25% of clients on ongoing maintenance 28:55 Key mistakes and what Bryan underestimated 29:04 "Where do the leads come from?" and why you can never stop marketing 30:47 What questions AEC owners should ask themselves to find their version 32:38 The service business grew the reroof business 5 to 6 times 33:28 Customer retention and lifetime value 34:16 Bryan's top 3 things construction owners need to understand 35:44 How to connect with Bryan Mitchell Is your business truly ready—and are you? Take the Succession Readiness Assessment to get a clear snapshot of where you stand and what to focus on next. https://btsherpa.com/ succession P.S. Most owners don't realize where they stand until they're already in a transition. Take a few minutes now to understand your readiness—and give yourself more options later. Connect with Laurie Barkman: Website: https://lauriebarkman.me LinkedIn: in/lauriebarkman YouTube: @LaurieBarkman_BTSherpa Connect with Bryan Mitchell: Email: bryan@serviceadvantedge.net LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryan-mitchell-850bb985 Website: https://serviceadvantedge.net

October 12, 202634 min

237: What Buyers and Sellers Must Know About SBA Financing in 2026, with Aaron Aldrich, Northwest Bank

Podcast Episode Description "It is never too early to come and talk to a lender." SBA lending rules are changing in ways that every business buyer, seller, and advisor needs to understand before they get to the closing table. Aaron Aldrich of Northwest Bank breaks down what is new, what it means for deal structure, and why a conversation with a lender three to five years before a transaction could make the difference between a deal that closes and one that falls apart. Summary "It is never too early to come and talk to a lender." Host Laurie Barkman sits down with Aaron Aldrich, SBA lender at Northwest Bank, for a practical and timely deep dive into everything business owners, buyers, and advisors need to know about SBA financing for ownership transitions. Aaron covers the four types of ownership changes SBA can finance, why the new SOP changes matter for equity requirements and quality of earnings, how lenders evaluate risk in a business acquisition, and what both buyers and sellers should be doing years in advance to improve their chances of getting a deal done at the right terms. This is the episode to share with every client who has a transaction on the horizon. Key Insights SBA lending covers four types of ownership transactions, not just one. Most people associate SBA loans with someone buying a small business outright. But SBA financing also covers partial ownership buyouts, business expansions through acquisition, and employee stock ownership plans. The two most common are initial acquisitions and business expansions. SBA allows buyers to put down just 10% versus 20% with conventional lending. The 75% federal guarantee on SBA loans allows banks to take on riskier transactions like ownership changes, which conventional lenders often avoid or require more collateral for. That lower equity requirement preserves cash for buyers coming into a new acquisition. New SOP rules require buyers to have at least 5% of their own personal savings in the deal. Under the updated rules effective October 2026, the remaining 5% can come from a seller note or outside investors. But the days of buying a business with none of your own money are effectively over. The SBA is requiring skin in the game from every buyer. Quality of earnings reviews are now required on transactions of three million dollars or more. A QoE costs around $20,000, takes four to six weeks, must be completed by a bank-vetted vendor, and is non-refundable once completed. A seller-commissioned QoE cannot be used. Buyers pay for it, and it must be factored into both the timeline and the budget for any qualifying transaction. Debt service coverage ratio is the first filter on every deal. The SBA minimum DSCR is 1.25 for ownership changes. Most banks layer their own requirements on top of that. Northwest Bank looks for 1.30 for the most recent tax year. If the math does not work at the asking price, the deal does not work regardless of how good the business is. S ellers should start building their team three to five years before going to market. That team should include a broker or M&A advisor, a CPA, and an attorney. The business should be trending upward during that window. A lender can also prequalify a listing before it goes to market, giving brokers a financing confirmation letter they can include in their marketing materials. Chapters: 00:04 Introduction of Aaron Aldrich 01:57 The Four Types of Ownership Transactions SBA Can Finance 03:34 Why SBA Loans Are More Attractive Than Conventional Lending 04:46 The 10% Equity Requirement and How It Works 05:22 New SOP Changes: What Is Changing and Why 06:34 Seller Notes, Investor Equity, and the New 5% Personal Savings Requirement 08:00 Why the SBA Is Requiring Skin in the Game From Buyers 09:37 Risk Factors Lenders Evaluate in a Business Acquisition 11:00 Industries With Higher Risk and How Banks Think About Them 13:19 What Is a Quality of Earnings Review and Why Is It Now Required 15:42 How Much a QoE Costs and How Long It Takes 16:33 Who Pays for the QoE and Who Chooses the Vendor 18:41 Can a Seller-Commissioned QoE Be Used by the Bank 19:11 Debt Service Coverage Ratio Explained 20:26 The Minimum DSCR Requirements and How Northwest Bank Applies Them 21:24 A Real Deal That Fell Apart Because of DSCR 24:01 CapEx and Add-Back Considerations During Due Diligence 24:39 Pari Passu Structure for Transactions Above the $5 Million SBA Cap 26:49 When Sellers Should Bring a Lender Into the Conversation 29:26 Pre-Qualification Letters for Brokers Going to Market 29:47 When Buyers Should Start Talking to a Lender 30:09 Post-Transaction Liquidity and What Lenders Look For From Buyers 32:08 Business Plan and Projection Requirements for SBA Loans 33:01 How to Connect With Aaron Aldrich Is your business truly ready—and are you? Take the Succession Readiness Assessment to get a clear snapshot of where you stand and what to focus on next. https://btsherpa.com/ succession P.S. Most owners don't realize where they stand until they're already in a transition. Take a few minutes now to understand your readiness—and give yourself more options later. Connect with Laurie Barkman: Website: https://lauriebarkman.me LinkedIn: in/lauriebarkman YouTube: @LaurieBarkman_BTSherpa Connect with Aaron Aldrich: Email: aaron.aldrich@northwest.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-aldrich-mba Website: https://www.northwest.bank

September 27, 202641 min

236: Stop Delegating. Start Offboarding, with Michele Hecken, Author of The Art of Offboarding

Description "We build the business for freedom and then we become the slaves of it." Michele Hecken built a global language services company from a fax machine and a kitchen table in 1993, grew it while raising two kids under three, and eventually got it down to four to ten hours a week for fifteen years before selling it to a strategic buyer at seven times EBITDA in an all-cash deal. The turning point was not a strategy. It was not a system. It was a 40-foot roll of fax paper on the floor and a hairdresser who fired her as a client. And it changed everything about how she thought about what it means to truly let go. Summary "We build the business for freedom and then we become the slaves of it." Host Laurie Barkman sits down with Michele Hecken, entrepreneur, advisor, and author of The Art of Offboarding, a book that challenges everything business owners think they know about delegation, freedom, and letting go. Michele started a language translation company in 1993 using fax machines before the internet existed, grew it into a global business serving major law firms, and burned herself so completely that her hairdresser, her doctor, and her best friend all gave her the same message in a single night: you have disappeared. That wake-up call led her to rebuild her company from the ground up, not by delegating tasks, but by offboarding entire responsibilities, until she was working just four to ten hours a week. Fifteen years later, she sold to a strategic buyer at seven times EBITDA in an all-cash deal that closed in three months and came in at more than double what her accountant told her she could get. Key Insights Stop delegating tasks. Start offboarding responsibility. Delegation gives someone a task while the owner keeps the mental load and the ownership. Offboarding transfers the entire responsibility permanently. As long as you still own everything you have delegated, you are not free. You are just managing from a distance and waking up at 2am wondering who has the deadline. The line in the sand only works if you hold it. When Michele's husband asked her to proofread one paragraph before she left for the gym, she said no and felt guilty about it. But she knew that saying yes would have undermined six months of trust-building with the team and pulled her straight back in. Once you step out of a role, you cannot step back in. Even once. Draw the line and hold it. Your team cannot follow a role transition you never announced. Michele changed her role from translator and proofreader to Chief Revenue Officer and forgot to tell the team. Everyone kept coming to her with the same questions. The lesson: have a job description, share it with your team, and explicitly communicate what you are no longer responsible for. Less than 5% of founders have a job description for themselves. Business runs on owner relationships until it does not have to. The biggest objection Michele hears is "I cannot give this client to someone else." She built every relationship with every lawyer her firm served and then hired a salesperson, introduced them to each client personally, and walked away. The mindset is what matters. You can only create what you believe is possible. Know your number and do not let your accountant set your ceiling. Michele was told she might get three to four times EBITDA. She walked away with seven, in an all-cash deal, with no earn-out, that closed in three months. She set her own number, built her pitch around the value she had created, and walked away from offers that did not meet her criteria. The business running without her was a core part of that premium. Offboarding your brain is as important as offboarding your tasks. When you never stop, your brain never gets the rest it needs to generate insights and ideas. The cycle of idea to execution without celebration or rest depletes the nervous system and keeps founders from seeing what is on the horizon. Slowing down is not a luxury. It is how the business grows faster. Chapters: 00:04 Introduction of Michele Hecken 02:05 Stop Delegating and What Offboarding Really Means 04:29 The Difference Between Delegating Tasks and Offboarding Responsibility 05:14 How to Test Whether Your Team Is Truly Independent 07:35 Michele's Origin Story: A Fax Machine and a Global Business 09:14 The 40-Foot Fax Roll That Changed Everything 10:09 Getting Fired From Her Own Life: The Wake-Up Call 11:29 The Decision to Build It Differently 13:06 Giving Yourself Permission: The First Step Nobody Talks About 14:07 The Line in the Sand: Saying No to the One Paragraph 15:37 Communicating the Change in Your Role to Your Team 18:09 "My Business Can Never Run Without Me" and What Michele Says to That 19:32 The Decision to Sell: Technology, AI, and a New Adventure 22:05 Finding a Strategic Buyer Without an Investment Banker 23:46 Seven Times EBITDA: More Than Double What the Accountant Said 25:28 Multiple Offers, All-Cash Deal, Out at Close 26:31 Telling the Team About the Sale 27:20 The Guilt of Selling a Business Built on Family 29:53 What Culture Criteria Mattered More Than Price 31:07 What Michele Wishes She Had Known Earlier About Freedom and Value 34:00 Why Business Owners Need to Rest Their Brains 36:54 Three Things Every Owner-Dependent Founder Should Do Right Now 39:05 The Art of Offboarding: The Book and What It Covers 40:10 How to Connect With Michele Hecken Resources Mentioned: 📘 The Business Transition Handbook by Laurie Barkman 📘 The Art of Offboarding by Michele Hecken Is your business truly ready—and are you? Take the Succession Readiness Assessment to get a clear snapshot of where you stand and what to focus on next. https://btsherpa.com/ succession P.S. Most owners don't realize where they stand until they're already in a transition. Take a few minutes now to understand your readiness—and give yourself more options later. Connect with Laurie Barkman: Website: https://lauriebarkman.me LinkedIn: in/lauriebarkman YouTube: @LaurieBarkman_BTSherpa Connect with Michele Hecken: Website: https://michelehecken.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelehecken Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mhecken Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mhecken Email: michele@michelehecken.com

August 9, 2026Episode 23538 min

235: Why Execution Beats Strategy Every Time with Patrick Thean, Rhythm Systems

Podcast Episode Description "You are the leadership lid of your company. If you don't grow yourself, you will top out the growth of the company." Host Laurie Barkman sits down with Patrick Thean, co-founder of Rhythm Systems and author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller Rhythm and The Journey to CEO Success. Patrick started his career at Oracle, founded Medicis — a supply chain software company — in 1991, grew it to $25 million in sales in seven years while making the Inc. 500 at #51, and sold it at 32 feeling not victorious, but lost. He then survived the dot-com bust, sold his stake in a second company he no longer felt passionate about, and eventually discovered his true calling: helping CEOs avoid being blindsided by the things that destroy companies not because of bad strategy — but because of poor execution. Patrick shares the lessons that only come from living through it: cash flow, burnout, identity crisis, accountability, self-awareness, and what it really takes to build a business that can thrive without you. Key Insights Cash is oxygen — and revenue without collection is just a number. Patrick never missed payroll across all the companies he ran. The reason: he learned early that profit on paper means nothing if you haven't collected. Sales go up, profitability goes up, but if cash doesn't follow, the business dies. Cash is king — not revenue. A burnt-out founder CEO is not good for anyone. Patrick burned the candle at both ends and in the middle — and thought it was a badge of honor. It wasn't. He initially believed taking care of himself was selfish. The reframe: you are the leadership lid of your company. If you don't grow yourself, you cap the company's growth. Putting your oxygen mask on first isn't selfish — it's strategy. Most companies don't fail because of bad strategy. They fail because of poor execution. Strategy is fun — you can sit in a room and come up with ideas all day. The hard work hasn't started yet. Patrick's niece wanted to be an Olympian at 12. She made it — after a decade of consistent daily commitment. The gap between decision and getting it done is commitment. And most organizations can't close that gap. Accountability is about helping someone succeed — not punishing them for failing. Most leaders define accountability as consequences after the fact. Patrick reframes it: accountability starts at the beginning, helping the person understand what they need to do to succeed. If you're whacking someone on the head, it's already too late. Both parties must share the same philosophy — otherwise one sees coaching, the other sees micromanagement. The fish rots from the head — and that means you. When Patrick works with a struggling CEO, the first question he asks is: what part in this movie did you play? Not to assign blame — but to open the possibility that the leader is part of the problem. The leaders who grow the fastest are the ones willing to look in the mirror before they look at their team. Build a business that can run without you — before someone forces you to. Patrick's friend sold his company with one specific request: he didn't want to stay after the transaction closed. He got his wish — because he had trained a strong president who could run everything. The buyer didn't need him from day one. That's the goal. Build the machine, then make yourself optional. Chapters: 00:04 Introduction of Patrick Thean 01:28 Patrick's Background — From Cornell to Oracle 02:01 Early Career Lessons at Oracle 02:56 Founding Medicis: Zero to $25M in 7 Years 03:22 Cash Is King — The Lesson Every Founder Learns Too Late 05:08 Selling Medicis at 32 — And What It Actually Felt Like 07:29 Burnout, Self-Care, and the Oxygen Mask Principle 10:18 Identity After the Exit — "I Don't Know If I Can Program Anymore" 12:53 The Dot-Com Company: Saving the Child You Don't Love 14:32 The Question That Changed Everything: What Do You LIKE To Do? 16:05 Why Transitions Are Hard Even When They're Positive 19:33 Execution vs. Strategy: Why Most Companies Fail 20:08 The Olympian Analogy — What Real Commitment Looks Like 23:09 Accountability: Helping People Succeed, Not Punishing Failure 25:27 The Fish Rots From the Head — And That Means You 25:53 What Part of the Movie Did You Play? 28:03 Do Most Leaders Have Self-Awareness? 29:22 Questions Every CEO Should Ask Themselves Regularly 32:41 The One Lesson for Founders Five Years From Transition 34:57 Patrick's Legacy: Helping Entrepreneurs Make Better Decisions 36:41 Books, Resources, and How to Connect with Patrick Thean Is your business truly ready—and are you? Take the Succession Readiness Assessment to get a clear snapshot of where you stand and what to focus on next. https://btsherpa.com/ succession P.S. Most owners don't realize where they stand until they're already in a transition. Take a few minutes now to understand your readiness—and give yourself more options later. Connect with Laurie Barkman: Website: https://lauriebarkman.me LinkedIn: in/lauriebarkman YouTube: @LaurieBarkman_BTSherpa Connect with Patrick Thean: Website: http://rhythmsystems.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickthean Email: patrick@rhythmsystems.com

July 26, 202638 min

234: The State of Exit Planning in 2026 with Scott Snider, Exit Planning Institute

Podcast Episode Description "A successful exit isn't about leaving your business. It's about leaving the world a better place after you leave it." Host Laurie Barkman welcomes back Scott Snider, President of the Exit Planning Institute — the organization behind the Certified Exit Planning Advisor designation and the Value Acceleration Methodology — for a return conversation four years in the making. Since their last episode in 2022, EPI has grown from 3,000 to 11,000 CEPAs, Scott has navigated his own leadership succession from his father Chris, and the exit planning profession has undergone one of its most significant evolutions yet. Scott and Laurie unpack what has changed — and what hasn't — about how business owners think about exit planning, why personal planning remains the weakest leg of the stool, and why exit strategy and business strategy are not two separate conversations. Key Insights: The leadership transformation nobody talks about is the internal one. Scott went from a militant, gritty leadership style — forged running a landscape construction company — to leading a 56-person team of highly educated, motivated professionals who needed to be led completely differently. His biggest surprise? Discovering he was capable of leading with empathy, grace, and love. The style that built his first business would have destroyed this one. Decades of success does not equal transferable value. Business owners can have profitable products, great people, loyal customers, and a lifestyle they love — and still have nothing a buyer actually wants. Scott draws a sharp line between income and value, between success and significance. The gap between the two is exactly why exit planning exists — and exactly why owners keep kicking the can. Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials are asking completely different exit questions. Baby Boomers — who own 51% of privately held companies at an average age of 67 — are navigating a 50-year identity crisis. Gen Xers want out early so they can actually live, with 38% between 45 and 59 planning to exit earlier than their predecessors. And Millennials have grown up inside value acceleration thinking — they're already building to sell. Personal planning is still the weakest leg of the stool — and that needs to change. Despite all the evolution in exit planning since 2005, personal planning remains the area most business owners defer, dismiss, or avoid entirely. Scott's challenge to the profession: stop treating it as the soft stuff. Who am I with and without my business is the most important question a founder can answer — and most never do. Exit strategy and business strategy are the same conversation. Every decision a business owner makes today is already affecting their future exit value. Scott reframes the entire conversation: instead of positioning exit planning as something you do when you're ready to leave, position it as what makes your business stronger, more financeable, and more valuable right now. The foot in the door is helping owners grow a better company — the exit conversation follows naturally. The profession is growing — but awareness is still the biggest gap. With 11,000 CEPAs and a path to 20,000, EPI's CEPA credential could become the second largest professional credential in the country. But even at 20,000, it would still be a fraction of the 250,000 CFPs. The next five years are about activation — helping advisors start the conversation with owners earlier, and meeting owners where they are before a triggering event forces their hand. Chapters: 00:04 Introduction and Four Years Later — What's Changed 01:56 Welcome Back: Scott Snider Returns to Succession Stories 02:57 What Scott Did When He Got the Baton at EPI 04:10 First Year Priorities: Structure, People, and Culture 05:58 The Challenge of Succeeding a Founder — Even a Non-Traditional One 09:28 The Biggest Personal Surprise of Scott's Leadership Journey 10:55 Head, Heart, and Wallet: The Balance of Leadership 12:16 How the Exit Planning Conversation Has Evolved Since 2022 14:34 Are Business Owners Asking Different Questions Today? 17:00 Gen X, Baby Boomers, and Millennials: Three Different Exit Mindsets 19:18 The Biggest Misconception About Exit Planning That Still Frustrates Scott 22:19 Personal Planning and the Card Sorting Exercise 25:13 Decades of Success But Zero Significance — Why Owners Kick the Can 26:15 What Needs to Happen to Make Exit Planning Mainstream 29:50 How Advisors Should Start the Conversation With Business Owners 30:32 Exit Strategy IS Business Strategy 32:42 Lightning Round: Books, Advice, and Finishing the Sentence 34:13 What Scott Hopes His Dad Would Say About the Last Four Years 🎙️ Missed Scott's first appearance? Catch Episode 89 with Scott Snyder — the conversation that started it all. Watch here: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/make-your-business-independent-of-you-scott-snider/id1507050698?i=1000558509078 Is your business truly ready—and are you? Take the Succession Readiness Assessment to get a clear snapshot of where you stand and what to focus on next. https://btsherpa.com/ succession P.S. Most owners don't realize where they stand until they're already in a transition. Take a few minutes now to understand your readiness—and give yourself more options later. Connect with Laurie Barkman: Website: https://lauriebarkman.me LinkedIn: in/lauriebarkman YouTube: @LaurieBarkman_BTSherpa Connect with Scott Snider / EPI: Website: https://drivevalue.com/ Website://earncepa.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-snider-epi

July 12, 2026Episode 23344 min

233: What It Really Takes to Build a Business Ready for Transition with Alan Bennett, Trust Built Solutions

Podcast Episode Description: "It's an exit plan, not an exit due." Host Laurie Barkman sits down with Alan Bennett, founder of Trust Built Solutions and exit planning coach who has lived through three very different business exits — a retail meat market that he closed in 2008, a contract catering business that a seller-financed deal and COVID unraveled in 2020, and a psychiatric practice exit to private equity where he finally got to use every lesson he had learned the hard way. Alan's story is one of the most honest and unfiltered accounts of what owner dependency really costs — not just in valuation, but in hours, health, relationships, and missed opportunities. He shares the trust cycle that unlocks delegation, the trap that keeps owners perpetually in the weeds, and why exit planning isn't about selling — it's about building a business that actually works without you. Key Insights You can build a $2 million business and still have nothing to sell. Alan's first business did over $2 million in combined retail and catering revenue — but without systems, processes, or a team that could run without him, he had no transferable asset when the time came. When the landlord forced the issue in 2008, closing was the only option. The business had value in revenue but none in structure. The tape measure at 2am is the moment owner dependency becomes visible. Alan snuck into his meat market at 2am to measure steaks with a tape measure — and his team saw it on the security camera. That moment destroyed their trust in him. Owner dependency isn't just about overwork — it's about the signal you send your team every time you step in to fix what they should be handling. Trust is the real solution to owner dependency — and it flows both ways. Owners think the problem is whether they trust their team. The real problem is whether the team trusts the owner. Trust must be rebuilt the same way it was broken, consistently over time. Once the team sees the owner trust them, delegation follows — and with delegation comes purpose, accountability, and a business that runs without the owner in every room. Recurring contract revenue changes everything about valuation. Alan's second business had almost the same revenue as his first — but seven school contracts and two summer camp agreements made it dramatically more valuable on paper. The nature of the cash flow matters as much as the size of the revenue. Predictable, contracted income is what buyers pay premiums for. Seller financing without protective deal structure is a catastrophic risk. Alan's chef bought the catering business on a 10-year seller note — and COVID made him unable to pay after four months. Because the right protective language wasn't in the agreement, Alan had no real recourse beyond liquidating equipment at pennies on the dollar. The deal structure must be built before the agreement is signed, not after something goes wrong. Exit planning is not the same as selling — and most owners don't know the difference. Many business owners, especially in the trades, recoil at the phrase "exit planning" because they think it means they're selling. Alan reframes it: a well-executed exit plan makes the business easier to grow, easier to finance, and easier to scale — whether you ever sell or not. The best time to start was 20 years ago. The second best time is today. Chapters: 00:05 Introduction of Alan Bennett 01:13 Business #1: The Retail Meat Market 06:34 100 Hours a Week and the Physical and Mental Toll 08:45 The $30,000 Consultant and the Map He Couldn't Read 10:23 Closing the Business: No Runway, No Plan 12:30 The Anger After the Close — And What He Learned 14:00 Business #2: The Contract Catering Company 15:51 How Recurring Contracts Changed the Business Model 18:30 Working 25 Hours a Week in Flip Flops 19:30 The Seller-Financed Deal with His Chef 21:21 COVID Hits: Four Payments In, Everything Stops 25:18 Liquidating the Assets and Licking the Wounds 27:54 Business #3: The Psychiatric Practice Exit to Private Equity 29:30 Owner Dependency — Calling It What It Is 30:55 The 2am Tape Measure Story That Changed Everything 33:30 How Trust Is Broken — And How It's Rebuilt 35:57 The Owner Dependency Trap: Bridging the Gap 40:31 Exit Plan vs. Exit Due — The Reframe That Changes Everything 41:44 Key Takeaways for Business Owners Thinking About Transition Is your business truly ready—and are you? Take the Succession Readiness Assessment to get a clear snapshot of where you stand and what to focus on next. https://btsherpa.com/ succession P.S. Most owners don't realize where they stand until they're already in a transition. Take a few minutes now to understand your readiness—and give yourself more options later. Connect with Laurie Barkman: Website: https://lauriebarkman.me LinkedIn: in/lauriebarkman YouTube: @LaurieBarkman_BTSherpa Connect with Alan Bennett: Website: https://www.trustbuiltsolutions.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanbennettcepa Email: alan@trustbuiltsolutions.com

June 28, 202644 min

232: A Family Business Succession Done Right with Jennifer Wilson, Oak Bay Coaching and Consulting

"These are long-term decisions that have far-reaching impacts — not just for us, but for future generations." Host Laurie Barkman sits down with Jennifer Wilson, founder of Oak Bay Coaching and Consulting and former CEO of the Canada Homestay Network — a family business her mother started in 1995 from a bed and breakfast in Toronto that has since placed over 100,000 international students across Canada. Jennifer joined the company as an accidental second-generation leader, grew into the CEO role after completing her MBA, and spent 17 years building the organization before transitioning to chair in 2022. She built a co-CEO structure, created a board of directors from scratch, and navigated a partial management buyout — all while keeping the family intact. Here's how she did it. Key Insights The CEO handoff is as much symbolic as it is structural. Jennifer's mother passed her a vintage recipe box — the company's original "analog database" — in front of the entire team at a company retreat. That moment publicly transferred authority and gave the whole organization clarity about who was leading. Succession isn't just paperwork — it's a signal. A co-CEO structure can work — but only under two conditions. Different skill sets and clearly separated accountabilities are non-negotiable. Jennifer hired an HR consultant who specializes in co-CEO models, created distinct strategic plan line items for each CEO, and built separate performance reviews. When both conditions are met, both leaders say they wouldn't want to do it alone. Leadership succession and ownership transition are not the same thing — and confusing them is costly. Jennifer separated the two processes deliberately. She transitioned leadership years before she transitioned ownership, and treating them as distinct conversations gave the family time to think clearly about equity, estate planning, and sibling fairness without the pressure of an operational handover happening simultaneously. Give your successors enough time. Jennifer gave her two internal candidates 18 months of lead time before officially stepping back. That window allowed for trust-building, task delegation, and honest conversations about whether each person actually wanted the role. One of them said no — and that was crucial information to have before the transition, not after. Family-to-management buyouts require a mind shift, not just a legal agreement. The reframe that unlocked Jennifer's MBO: instead of "they're paying for the business with our revenue," think "we sold it on day one and they're paying us back." That shift changes the emotional dynamic — and the 80/20 split they landed on was driven in part by Canadian tax thresholds that required each buyer to hold over 10% equity. Chapters: 00:04 Introduction of Jennifer Wilson 02:08 Origin Story: How Canada Homestay Network Began 04:30 Jennifer's Unexpected Path Into the Family Business 07:12 Flash Forward: When Succession Conversations Started 08:40 The Recipe Box Ceremony: A Symbolic Handoff 09:36 The Trio: Running the Business as a Family Team 12:00 Deciding to Think About Her Own Succession 13:12 Building a Self-Managed Organization 16:05 Identifying and Developing Internal Successor Candidates 18:24 The Big Reveal: A Co-CEO Structure 18:53 How the Co-CEO Model Works in Practice 21:15 Governance: Building a Board and Separating Strategic vs. Operational Plans 24:28 Pitfalls and What Went Wrong: When One Candidate Said No 25:21 COVID: Laying Off 100 People in Six Months 29:01 Ownership Transition vs. Leadership Succession 29:37 Equity, Estate Planning, and Sibling Fairness 38:17 The Management Buyout: How the 80/20 Split Was Determined 40:23 Top Takeaways for Founders and Next-Gen Leaders Is your business truly ready—and are you? Take the Succession Readiness Assessment to get a clear snapshot of where you stand and what to focus on next. https://btsherpa.com/ succession P.S. Most owners don't realize where they stand until they're already in a transition. Take a few minutes now to understand your readiness—and give yourself more options later. 📘 The Business Transition Handbook by Laurie Barkman — grab your copy at lauriebarkman.me/book or search on Amazon. Connect with Laurie Barkman: Website: https://lauriebarkman.me LinkedIn: in/lauriebarkman YouTube: @LaurieBarkman_BTSherpa Connect with Jennifer Wilson: Website: oakbaycoachingandconsulting.ca LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferrobinwilson Email: jennifer@oakbaycoachingandconsulting.ca

June 15, 2026Episode 23140 min

231: Leadership Mistakes Destroying Your Succession Plan with Chip Scholz, Scholz and Associates

"There's a time when an exit is going to be inevitable — there may not be a time certain, but there is a time." Host Laurie Barkman reunites with Chip Scholz, founder of Scholz and Associates and author of Small Decisions, Big Shifts and the upcoming Handoffs, for a deeply personal and insightful conversation about the hidden leadership mistakes that quietly destroy business succession plans. Chip has spent nearly 30 years coaching executives and family business leaders through some of the most complex transitions in business — and he first met Laurie 13 years ago when she was a CEO candidate in a third-generation family business. Together they explore what great leadership evaluation looks like, why founders hold on too long, how hubris silently collapses delegation and decision-making, and the three stages every leader goes through on the road to retirement. Chip shares what he's learned — and what he's still learning — about the small decisions that ultimately create the biggest shifts. Key Insights Culture fit is the foundation of every great leadership hire. T he best organizations are people-oriented and performance-driven — in that order. When performance leads and people follow, bad things happen. Every hire, especially at the CEO level, should be evaluated through three lenses: strengths, motivations, and fit. Viewing the business as an asset — not a legacy — is what makes a clean exit possible. Founders who treat their company as an asset can make clear-headed decisions about growth, transition, and sale. Those who treat it purely as a legacy often hold on too long, stall the next generation, and turn what was once a strength into a bottleneck. Hubris is the silent killer of succession. When leaders believe they are the only ones who can run the business, delegation collapses, decision-making centralizes, and the organization becomes dependent on one person. Chip has seen companies where no one could spend $100 without CEO approval — and half the leadership team couldn't survive the transition when that CEO finally left. Retirement has three stages — and most founders only plan for the first one. Vacation, depression, and meaning and purpose. The honeymoon phase fades fast. Founders who haven't built outside interests, hobbies, or identity beyond the business hit a wall — and without a plan, depression follows. The goal is to reach meaning and purpose before a crisis forces the issue. Crisis is often the catalyst for transition — but it doesn't have to be. Whether it's a health scare, a lost client, or a market shift, crises force the introspection that should have happened years earlier. Chip advocates for doing that work proactively — in your 50s or early 60s — before external pressure removes your options. A hobby isn't a luxury — it's a succession strategy. Finding something outside the business that gives you purpose, community, and a sense of leadership is one of the most practical things a founder can do to prepare for transition. For Chip, it's woodturning. The point isn't the craft — it's the identity that lives outside the company. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction of Chip Scholz 02:26 Reconnecting After 13 Years — A Personal Story 03:02 Leadership Evaluation: Strengths, Motivations, and Fit 06:37 Family Business Succession: Common Challenges 07:33 Asset vs. Legacy — The Mindset That Changes Everything 12:16 The Third-Generation Company: A Shared Story 14:04 Phantom Stock and Making 100 People Millionaires 16:00 The Five C's Framework for Leadership 17:42 Why Letting Go Is So Emotionally Hard 18:11 Hubris and Delegation: When Founders Won't Step Back 20:14 The $100 Approval Story 21:50 Why "Retirement" Triggers an Allergic Reaction 22:25 The Three Stages of Retirement 23:34 15 Years Preparing for Retirement — A Coaching Story 24:52 The Real Risk of the Depression Phase 26:44 What Does Retirement Really Mean? 29:33 Finding Purpose Outside Work: Woodturning 30:51 Handoffs — The Upcoming Book 35:02 Three Takeaways for Every Business Owner Is your business truly ready—and are you? Take the Succession Readiness Assessment to get a clear snapshot of where you stand and what to focus on next. https://btsherpa.com/ succession P.S. Most owners don't realize where they stand until they're already in a transition. Take a few minutes now to understand your readiness—and give yourself more options later. Connect with Laurie Barkman: Website: https://lauriebarkman.me LinkedIn: in/lauriebarkman YouTube: @LaurieBarkman_BTSherpa Connect with Chip Scholz: Website: https://scholzandassociates.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chipscholz

May 31, 2026Episode 23031 min

230: The Multi-Million Retirement Opportunity Advisors Miss with Susan Latremoille

"Don't just sit there and coast along thinking your financial prowess is going to win the day." Host Laurie Barkman sits down with Susan Latremoille, Founder of Next Chapter Lifestyle Advisors, and discusses the retirement myth and the conversation that the advisors are missing. Susan spent nearly four decades in financial services watching well-prepared clients fall apart emotionally after selling their businesses — and watching their assets walk out the door with them. After losing a $100 million client post-transaction to the bank that handled the deal, Susan pivoted her entire career to answer the question the financial services industry had been avoiding: what happens to your client — and your relationship — after the money lands? Laurie and Susan unpack the ugly myth of retirement, the factors affecting exit regrets, and exactly how financial advisors can turn this gap into their greatest differentiator. Key Insights The Hollywood version of retirement is a myth — and your clients believe it. The idea that selling the business means sailing off into unlimited golf, travel, and happiness is exactly the opposite of what many business owners actually experience. The sooner advisors challenge this narrative, the better positioned they are to serve their clients. 75% of business owners regret exiting within the first year. This figure has been consistent across surveys since 2013. It points directly to a planning gap that advisors are uniquely positioned to fill — if they're willing to have the harder conversation. The conversation about identity and purpose is not "soft" — it's the most critical planning work an advisor can do. When a founder exits, they don't just lose a company — they lose their social circle, their daily structure, their title, and their reason to get up in the morning. Laurie and Susan emphasize that advisors should stop dismissing this as someone else's job and start treating it as a core part of the transition conversation. Silence on the personal side has real, measurable consequences. The aftermath of an unplanned exit can show up as depression, broken marriages, health decline, and worse. This key message to advisors is clear: you are in the room, you have the relationship, and you have the responsibility to ask the harder questions — not just review the portfolio. The higher the achiever sitting across from you, the more they need someone to have that conversation with them. A $100 million wake-up call: the relationship ends at the transaction if you're not in the room. Susan lost her biggest client the day he sold his company because she had no role beyond managing his retirement money. Advisors who aren't engaged in the personal planning conversation have no seat at the table — and no leverage to retain assets after a liquidity event. Up to 80% of business owners change financial advisors within one year of a liquidity event. The advisors who survive that window are the ones who went beyond portfolio management and helped their clients build a life plan that outlasted the deal. This is the next frontier for advisor differentiation — and AI is accelerating the timeline. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction of Susan Latremoille 01:40 - The Retirement Myth 02:21 - Bucket List vs. A Real Plan 03:00 - The Ugly Truth About Retirement 06:25 - Personal Planning to Avoid Exit Regrets 07:31 - The Four Core Losses After Exit 12:41 - The Five Consequences of an Unplanned Exit 15:29 - Personal Transition Process and Coping with Exit Regrets 20:09 - The Financial Implications of Exit Regret 20:46 - When Should These Conversations Start? 23:24 - The $100M Lesson: What Susan Lost and Why 25:51 - How Financial Advisors Can Stay in the Relationship 26:28 - Why Early and Consistent Transition Conversations Matter 27:31 - The Financial Advisor's Role Is Shifting Is your business truly ready—and are you? Take the Succession Readiness Assessment to get a clear snapshot of where you stand and what to focus on next. https://btsherpa.com/ succession P.S. Most owners don't realize where they stand until they're already in a transition. Take a few minutes now to understand your readiness—and give yourself more options later. Connect with Laurie Barkman: Website: https://lauriebarkman.me LinkedIn: in/lauriebarkman YouTube: @LaurieBarkman_BTSherpa Connect with Susan Latremoille: Website: https://nextchapterlifestyleadvisors.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanlatremoille Email: Susan@nextchapterlifestyleadvisors.com 📣 Write a Podcast Review: ratethispodcast.com/successionstories 📖 Grab a copy of The Business Transition Handbook, go to https://lauriebarkman.me/book or search in Amazon. This Show Is Sponsored by The Business Transition Sherpa® Learn what every entrepreneur needs to know about building value and avoiding pitfalls!