Succession Stories

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: [email protected] 

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: [email protected]    

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

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: [email protected]  

"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: [email protected]