Posts
No. 31: Words Matter More Than We Know
We live in a world shaped by words—what we know, what we think we know, and what we haven’t yet realized we don’t know. Words are more than tools of communication; they frame our understanding, guide our decisions, and shape how we relate to others. The average American high school graduate has a general vocabulary…
No. 30: Keeping Up With Technology as a Writer…
A little over forty years ago, I took a Basic Computer Programming class at Purdue University. I was at the age where everything was still possible and I wasn’t quite sure what I might be good at or where my passions might lie. This class quickly eliminated one or more of those possibilities! The one…
No. 29. All in Good Time…
One of the unusual benefits of a Succession Plan is that it slows…..things…..down…., often a big advantage to both the founders (G1s) and the successors (G2s and G3s). If you want a fast exit, sell to a third party. If you want to retire on your own time table and at a more gradual pace,…
No. 28. Achieving Clarity
In the past eight months, I wrote and published two companion books about succession planning, one for each generation of the process. But my ultimate goal isn’t to talk you or anyone else into building a multi-owner, multi-generational business that might still be around 30 to 40 years from now, led by younger professionals that…
No. 27: How to write a book!
I just finished two books in eight months. Both books in this series were about 75,000 words. My wife says I make it look easy. It’s not. In each of my four total books so far, I find that I reach a magical place about half way through when I go into “total immersion mode.” …
No. 26: Postponing Your Last Day
In many succession plans, G1 (or the founding owner) gradually sells their equity all the way down to 0.00% ownership at some point before they retire. The successor team of G2s and G3s are tasked with gradually buying all of G1’s equity even as, especially as, the value and price of the equity grows. Let’s…
No. 25: When G1 says “No” to additional owners
More than a few times in my consulting career, G1, individually or as a group of similarly aged founders (or G1 for Generation One), says “No” to admitting new, next-generation owners. Alternatively, the answer is “Yes,” but for a relatively nominal amount of equity (i.e., 3% or less) and with no promises or hint as…
No. 24: Making a Living vs. Building Wealth
This is an excerpt from my new book, Acquiring Your Future Through a Succession Plan: A Primer for Next Gen Professionals (Chapter One, Section 3) – written specifically for today’s younger professional service providers: As a PSP, or a Professional Services Provider in your chosen venue, there is nothing like feeling the satisfaction of providing…
New book just published!
Exciting news – “Acquiring Your Future Through a Succession Plan: A Primer for Next Gen Professional Service Providers” has been published and is available on Amazon.com in paperback, eBook, and hardbound formats. An audiobook is due out next month. This is book No. 2 in a two book series. Acquiring Your Future Through a Succession…
NO. 23: THE BASIC PREMISE (of my newest book for next generation professional service providers, due out March 7th!)
This book is about one generation helping another. But as a thirty-something year old Professional Service Provider (or PSP), you actually have several good choices in front of you. Time is on your side. Your choices include working as an employee or a contractor indefinitely, buying another PSP’s practice and/or starting your own small business,…