Poised for Exit
Welcome to the Poised for Exit podcast! Poised for Exit is an under 30-minute strategic planning guidance podcast for busy small business owners. Each week you’ll hear certified exit planning advisor, Julie Keyes, talk with a range of entrepreneurs and professionals about preparing your business for a future transition. Guests at every stage of company ownership will share their personal stories and lessons learned about topics such as the anatomy of the exit planning process, developing a growth strategy, how to sell on your terms, exit planning for women small business owners, handling business diversity, and how to sell a family business. Whether you’re planning an exit in the near future or not, this show will provide you with the same action-oriented content that Julie utilizes while consulting with Keyestrategies clients. Building an exit strategy can be overwhelming, especially with all the decisions and details you have to consider. “Poised for Exit” will simplify the process and help you unwrap the unknowns, giving you more confidence in your planning process. Previous episodes are available for download, so if you are new to our show, you can listen to them in any order that suits you. Join us each week for timely, relevant content that will surely impact your business exit outcome! Subscribe to our newsletter below to receive your weekly episode link and stay updated on new strategic planning content. Find “Poised for Exit” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, and others. Thank you to our Sponsors: Sunbelt Business Advisers and JAK CPA's. A special note of thanks to Tyler Keyes who produced the music for the “Poised for Exit” show.
Episodes
We had the pleasure of welcoming Barb Lau to the show in this episode. Barb is the Executive Director of the Association of Women Contractors. Barb has been the ED for AWC since 2008 and lots has changed since then.
AWC was founded by 10 trailblazing women in the construction industry back in 1995; that's right, AWC turns 30 years old in 2025! Because it's been such a vital organization for a niche group of entrepreneurs,...
Christopher Burns, Estate attorney and partner with Henson Efron returned to the show in this episode to talk about a couple of current matters pertaining to business owners.
First, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) will sunset on Dec 31, 2025. Since we're post election, the concern over the sunsetting of this law will likely be eliminated, since President Elect Trump is expected to extend it. That said, it's still import...
Our guest today is a man who epitomizes entrepreneurship; Dan Bowling, President of The Genesis Company. The Genesis Company provides end-to-end solutions for entrepreneurs by bringing their brands and ideas to retail. The framework they use is one Dan adopted from Marc Lore, a markedly famous serial entrepreneur he's followed for many years. Using the acronym VCP, which stands for Vision, Capital and People, Dan has utilized...
Our guest in this episode is Mark Cheeley, Financial Advisor and President of Synergy Wealth Management. Mark and his Ameriprise team work with a lot of business owners, many of whom are in the throes (or should be) of exit planning.
Most financial advisors work with individuals, so their knowledge of the exit process is limited or non-existent, and that's OK. Most clients fall under the individual category. But for owners of ...
In this episode, Julie shared the content of her popular virtual programs for advisors.
But why? As Julie says “when you lack a process for this work, you will lose opportunities to generate additional revenue. Not only that, but your client also misses out.”
She says "Your clients need you to know how to navigate the exit planning process and for you to direct them along the way. If you plan to execute any p...
Our guests for this episode are David Matenaer and Erik Gabrielson, two of the Co-founders of ProjectWE, a firm that creates customized AI platforms for SMB's.
David and Erik have been collaborating on projects for many years, and when they came together to form a partnership around some online education they were developing, they realized it needed to be AI generated. So, they put their launch on hold and went back to the draw...
Our guest in this Poised for Exit episode is Ryan Haag, who has been a financial advisor for over 20 years. Ryan has spent his career working with family businesses and a variety of entrepreneurs, learning a great deal about the pitfalls they face as they navigate their lives from start up to retirement. So many of the experiences he's faced with clients mirror those of others. Business owners seem to have a lot of the same pr...
We featured two special guests in this episode: Don Raleigh, RevOps Manager at Evolve Systems, and Chris Steffl, partner with CyberFin. The collaborative work they're doing in the ADA and Cyber Compliance space was our topic of discussion.
ADA Compliance, as we know, is the lawful way to accommodate people with disabilities who wish to peruse your website and possibly do business with you. However, noncompliant sites are a ho...
We had the honor of hosting John Francis on the show today, who is a long time entrepreneur, advisor and Board member. John grew up with a family business that started a franchise operation in the salon business and then launched another brand in the same industry. They grew it so well that it eventually went public. John attributes that outcome due to the expertise and dedication of their company's Board of Directors. The sal...
No Plan B: The All-in Approach of a Boat Burner
It's not often that we feature our clients as guests on the show, but every now and then we have to ask! boatBurner has such a compelling story, we hoped they'd say yes, and they did. They're a creative services agency, who focuses on CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) from an all-in perspective. No plan B for them, or their client work. They found the story of Alex...
What does it take to be a female CEO of a Regional Bank? Tenacity!
Our guest in today's episode is Angie O'Neill, President and CEO of MN Bank & Trust. Angie shares some very interesting stories and perspectives that were inspiring and motivating as well. How many female CEOs of a bank do you know? We didn't personally know any until today's show!
Angie's primary focus is on the people; custome...
Avoid M&A Pitfalls with Trust as a Guiding Principle
We had Matt Hartranft in the studio today! Matt is a partner and M&A attorney with Brutlag, Trucke and Dougherty. We spent a great deal of time discussing how established trust is essential in shortening the duration of the deal to closing, and in deal negotiations in general.
Matt says that in the dealmaking world, trust is his guiding principle and is more tha...
Private Investigators and Dealmakers are Teaming up More Often than Ever!
We covered an unusual topic in this episode, that we learned wasn't so unusual afterall. Private investigations within the M&A space. As buyers and sellers become more leary of the trustworthiness between them during dealmaking, the advisory team is completing the circle of trust by having what they disclose verified. Our guest today is Tom Jaeb, Foun...
Trust Matters Now more than Ever: Learn from the Experts
We had the privilege of interviewing Brian Slipka and David Horsager together in the studio today to talk about the books they’ve both recently written! The conversation eventually lead to the concept of trust and how it can be so quickly depleted in today’s society.
David is an author, speaker and researcher on the topic of trust and has not only written several bo...
Sold over 330 Businesses and He's just getting Started!
On the #Poised for Exit podcast this week we had the honor of hosting Manoj Moorjani today, who's a Dealmaker at Calhoun Companies. Manoj has sold over 330 companies since starting his career as a business broker. He's about as well known as they come in the Midwest, and for good reason. He's got a network of former clients and professional advisors that&apo...
Overview of the 7th Annual Owner's Forum: "Go or Grow!"
We had the pleasure of hosting Todd Krough in the studio today. Todd is a wealth manager for MN Bank and Trust, and is also the incoming President for the Twin Cities Metro Area Chapter of the Exit Planning Institute. We discussed highlights of previous Owner's Forum events and what to expect from our upcoming event on October 3, 2024 at Midland Hills Countr...
Business Succession Research Completed by the University of MN
Our guest for today's show is Michael Darger, U of M Extension Specialist, who focuses on community economics and Business Succession. His background in years with Economic Development agencies led him to focus on Business Retention and Expansion work, which eventually landed him at the U of M conducting and publishing important research on entrepreneurs a...
Women Contractors Who Grow Their Companies by Growing Their Networks
We had the honor of interviewing two women from the Association of Women Contractors in today's episode! Barb Lau, its Executive Director, and Missy Scherber, an AWC member and Co-founder of Scherber Excavating. It was a fabulous conversation!
AWC was founded by a small group of women contractors in 1995, since then it has grown to 230 members, made ...
The Corporate Transparency Act: What you Need to Know
Our guest for today's show is Scott Seiler, Founder and Partner at Seiler Law. Scott and his team practice in the areas of business M&A, employer representation, and several other related practice areas that pertain to the needs of entrepreneurs.
The requirements for filing under the Corporate Transparency Act are important to know and understand exac...
RISR: Empowering the Business Owner's Most Trusted Advisor
We talked today with Jason Early, the Founder and CEO of RISR, a tool used by advisors to business owners looking to understand the value of their companies and what they can do to maximize a future exit. Jason is not new to the M&A space. Through his various leadership roles, he's become well versed in what buyers of companies are looking for and wha...
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