business exit Archives - Your ExitMap

The 3% Problem in Advisory Work: A Guide for Business Owners

June 3, 2026 by John F. Dini

As a business owner, you belong to a unique group that makes up only 3% of the population. Yet, many advisors treat you like any other client—using the same approaches they apply to executives, professionals, or retirees. This is a fundamental misunderstanding that can impact your business and personal goals.

Why You’re More Than Just an Asset

You are not simply a high-income individual with concentrated wealth. Your business is not just an investment; it’s an integral part of your identity, your livelihood, and your daily purpose. It is the source of your authority, reputation, and even your personal satisfaction.

Navigating Identity, Not Just Assets

When traditional clients seek advice, the focus tends to be on optimizing their assets. In contrast, advising business owners like you involves navigating a complex web of identity and emotional attachment. This distinction is crucial and affects how you engage with advisors.

Understanding the Owner’s Perspective

The Structure of Your Business

Unlike executives who operate within established frameworks, you are the architect of your business’s structure. If a senior executive makes a mistake, it usually impacts their bonus. But for you, a misstep could jeopardize payroll, credit lines, or even your family’s financial security.

This creates a protective and cautious mindset that many advisors fail to recognize. Your business is not just an income engine; it’s something you’ve built, defended, and refined over years. Every employee, system, and brand element bears your imprint.

The Impact of Structural Suggestions

When an advisor casually suggests changes, it can feel less like strategy and more like criticism. Understanding this emotional landscape is vital; without it, you may resist recommendations that could genuinely benefit your business.

The Challenge of Decision-Making

As a successful entrepreneur, you are wired for decision-making. The constant loop of “What if we tried this?” fuels your creativity and drive. However, many traditional advisory engagements can lead to implementation failures:

1. Data Analysis: The advisor reviews your business metrics.
2. Recommendations: They develop a plan based on their findings.
3. Owner Response: You agree with the plan—but then take no action.

This isn’t about disagreement; it’s about ownership. You’re more likely to implement decisions you help create. This is why coaching before advisory work is essential, especially in exit planning.

Identity: The Key Variable in Exit Planning

Advisors often zoom in on valuation, tax efficiency, and succession logistics. While these aspects are important, the critical question you must consider is:

“What will you do when you no longer own this business?”

If your answer is vague—like “I’ll figure it out later” or “I’ll travel” —then your exit plan is likely incomplete. Liquidity without purpose can lead to regrets.

The Realities of Post-Exit Life

Research shows that 75% of former business owners report dissatisfaction a year after exiting. This is rarely due to financial shortcomings; it’s often because they haven’t redefined their identity.

As a business owner, you are exiting more than just an asset—you are relinquishing your relevance. Recognizing this early in your planning can lead to far better outcomes.

Conclusion: A Call to Action for Business Owners

Navigating the complexities of your business and its impact on your identity requires a unique approach from advisors. By understanding the emotional and psychological aspects of ownership, you can foster more meaningful relationships with your advisors.

If you’re contemplating exit strategies or want to redefine your post-business identity, consider engaging with a coach or advisor who recognizes these unique dynamics. Your business is your legacy; make sure your exit plan honors that.

John F. Dini develops transition and succession strategies that allow business owners to exit their companies on their own schedule, with the proceeds they seek and complete control over the process. He takes a coaching approach to client engagements, focusing on helping owners of companies with $1M to $250M in revenue achieve both their desired lifestyles and legacies.

Exit Planning: If Not Now, When?

May 14, 2026 by John F. Dini

You’ve probably said it yourself: “Talk to me in five years.”

It’s the most common response advisors hear — and it makes sense. You’re heads-down building, not winding down. Exit planning feels like a conversation for later. The business is performing. You have time. And honestly, it’s a lot to think about.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth: later is exactly when most exits go wrong.

You’re already doing exit planning — just not deliberately

Think about the early-stage tech founder. Obsessed with product, grinding 80-hour weeks, convinced the exit is the last thing they should be thinking about. Yet their investors demand an exit strategy on day one — not because they plan to push the founder out, but because articulating the end game forces clarity on everything else.

How does the business scale beyond you personally? What leadership structure does a bigger organization need? What changes in operations and governance will sustain growth? Which decisions build value, and how will that value eventually be realized?

These aren’t exit questions. They’re the right business questions — and exit planning forces you to ask them.

As a privately held owner, no investor is requiring this of you. That’s both a freedom and a vulnerability. Your emotional investment in the business is real. But the business itself has no such attachment. If it succeeds, it needs to run without depending entirely on you. In fact, the more successful it becomes, the less it can afford to.

“I’m focused on building the business,” but building toward what?

Once your personal financial security is solid, continued growth primarily serves the business, not you. That’s fine — but it’s worth naming. Businesses don’t fail because they reach maturity. They fail because transitions are mismanaged.

Exit planning isn’t just a pricing conversation. What your business is worth matters, of course. But equally important — and often ignored — is whether you are ready for life after the business, and whether your organization is ready for new leadership and ownership.

Miss either of those, and even a strong headline valuation won’t save the outcome.

A real exit plan works on three things at once:

1. Enterprise value: what drives it, and how to grow it
2. Owner readiness: your financial and personal preparation for what comes next
3. Organizational readiness: the people, systems, and structure that make the business transferable

It’s a serious undertaking. Which is exactly why the right time to start isn’t in five years.

It’s now.

Exiting Your Business Happily, Often Requires a Strong Personal Vision

January 28, 2026 by Steven Zeller

Some surveys conducted among business owners, find that approximately 75% of owners who exit their business are unhappy with the decision one year after they do so. There are several reasons for this, and some owners struggle with it more than others, but the main reason for the unhappiness after a business exit is because of their lack of “personal vision.” What will their life entail after the exit? What will be their new higher purpose (beyond playing golf)? What will be their new areas for personal growth? If they thrive on working with a team towards a common cause in the organization, how will they replace it? Do they have one or two other passions outside of their business that they could enjoyably and consistently pursue with significant satisfaction? These are some the questions that need to be asked and addressed, and if done, will increase the likelihood of a happy exit.

Exiting a business is probably the single most important decision an owner will make.

Planning for it is critical for maximizing the selling price, ensuring the company’s survival after the owner is gone, and exiting it in the most tax efficient manner – These are all important attributes. But if a business owner does not clearly understand what life will consist of after their exit, and does not embrace it, he or she will likely put off transitioning out. Doing so, could jeopardize the value and survival of the business.

So how does the business owner address the development of their personal vision for life after the exit? A good way to start is working with a skilled exit planning advisor who has the tools available to walk the owner through this planning process. As an exit planning advisor, I have a number of tools and processes that address this area of planning. But generally, a good place to start is to work with the owner and begin to drill down with more specific questions. By the way, it really helps if this is done a number of years before the goal date for the exit.

Here are some of the questions that could be asked during our dialogue:

When would you like to be free of day-to-day responsibilities?
If funding for your retirement requires selling the company, whether it is done internally or externally, when do you expect to receive the proceeds? What do you think is the company’s current value?
If your company was absolutely running the way you wanted it to, what would your job look like? How many days and hours would you work? How many days of vacation would you take? This is a transitioning related question.
After you exit your business, what material assets would you desire (home, vacation home, cars, boats, etc.)?
Epic travel after the exit – Where do you wish to travel, for what purpose, when and how long? Costs?
What would be your ideal monthly income after the exit? Costs to cover essentials, travel, hobbies, sports, charity and community, family, etc.?
How would you spend your time after your exit?
Speaking of filling their time after the exit, a good exercise is to determine how much time will be filled by all of the desires and causes mentioned above, as well as anything else. Will it equate to a filled week?

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, a business owner’s life, after the exit, needs to be filled with purpose driven causes and activities, and efforts within their passions. There are only so many days that one can go golfing and relaxing. Life will need to be filled other meaningful things in order to have a sustainably happy life after the exit.

Many owners thoroughly enjoy serving in their leadership role within the organization.

If so, will it be important to the owner and life satisfying, to continue to exercise and serve in a leadership role after the exit? If so, what are the possibilities?

Those are some of the basic topics to address for every business owner large and small.

For businesses and estates of larger significance, generating substantial liquid proceeds from the sale of the business will require more attention in relation to preserving the family throughout the generations, and applying the family wealth in a way that helps promote healthy, responsible thriving family members, and helps build their purpose. Not addressing significant family wealth outside of traditional means of inheritance, can set the family up for emotional hardships, lack of motivation, dysfunctions, conflicts, etc. in the generations that follow the business owner.

There are other issues to consider in having a happy business exit. These issues have to do with the nature of the owner’s inner world.

More than four decades of research has demonstrated that successful low to mid-market owners have distinct psychological attributes necessary for fostering their success. Unfortunately, these same attributes often lead to cognitive and emotional leadership struggles owners may not readily or easily identify. However, symptoms of the challenges are often readily identified through the business decisions they do (or do not) make. While a small percentage of owners handle the exit phase of the business exceptionally well, most experience internal struggles along the way, and a few find the struggles impossible to overcome.

Exiting a business is a very significant event for most owners.

Realizing the importance and giving attention to this step in the exit planning process, and doing so well ahead of the actual exit, will help position him or her to have a healthy, meaningful, happy life, after the exit occurs.

Steven Zeller is a Certified Business Exit Planner, Certified Financial Planner, Accredited Investment Fiduciary, and Co-Founder and President of Zeller Kern Wealth Advisors. He advises business owners with developing exit plans, increasing business value, employee retention, executive bonus plans, etc. He can be reached at szeller@zellerkern.com.

Creating the Perfect Business Exit Timeline!

January 8, 2026 by David Lupberger

When is a good time to start planning the eventual exit from your business?

Simply, you will be leaving your business and hopefully, this will happen in a planned and deliberate fashion. This is something every business owner will address. Unfortunately, things do not always happen in a planned fashion. Those of you in the remodeling industry deal with project-driven plan and schedule changes on a weekly basis. This is nothing new to you!

If we follow the advice from the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, we want to implement Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind! We can follow that recommendation due to another meaningful quote from Steven Covey “your most important work is always ahead of you, never behind you!”

Even if you are 40 years old and plan to work another 15 to 20 years, build your business with the end in mind! Plan for healthy and profitable growth, but also plan for the unplanned. Address the future of your business in good times but also address what will happen in case you are critically injured or die tomorrow. This is referred to as business continuity planning. Plan to do both. Let us begin to address the potential business exit timeline with the possible time frames that come with each milestone below:

Your Exit Timeline

If forced by circumstances beyond your control, you could likely exit your business within a year. Some business owners are here today and – literally – gone tomorrow, but usually not by their own choice. But leaving in style – with adequate cash and having achieved whatever other goals you have set— that takes time, far more than most owners expect.

So, you can leave whenever you choose if you are willing to settle for a less-than-ideal payday, or you can leave in style. The questions is: “do you want to control your own exit, or will it just be something that ‘happens’ to you?” Most owners prefer to control their own destiny but may not have an idea when to get started. Let us look at some tasks common to all exits, and how long they take to complete.

Design and Create Your Exit Plan:

Timeframe: 90 days to one year- While it is possible to create an exit plan in as few as 90 days, most plans require almost a year to create. Most owners need time to ponder and weigh alternative paths, and to think through the many issues that arise when they move through a comprehensive exit planning process for the first time.

Close the Gap:

Timeframe: depends on amount of growth in value needed, but often five to ten years- There is likely a gap between the value you want to receive for your ownership interest and the value you are likely to receive if you transfer the business today. Many owners are in denial when it comes to objectively quantifying the size of the value gap, and exactly how they are going to close it within their planned departure timeframe. The surest way to create sustainable growth is to create a written growth plan for your business with deadlines and accountability as part of your overall exit plan. There are a variety of ways to integrate growth plan development and implementation into your daily/monthly/yearly business management activities.

Tax Planning and Implementation:

Timeframe: three to ten years- Part of reaping full value for your company involves minimizing taxes. Keep in mind that one of the headwinds you may face is increased tax on income and capital gains. Fortunately, planning can not only manage taxation upon the transfer of ownership interest, it may help save taxes on an ongoing, annual basis.

The Ownership Transfer Transaction:

Timeframe: one to ten years- It is possible to transfer your entire ownership by simply transferring all your ownership in exchange for a promissory note right now in one grand transaction, with a big celebration that follows. This is a form of financial suicide. What will you do if the note payments stop coming and you have been absent from the business for a couple of years already? A methodical, possibly incremental approach to preparing the business, preparing yourself and preparing the next owner (especially if he/she is a child or employee) for a successful future tends to create a better outcome for all involved. Take the preparation and execution of the ownership transfer in whatever size bites you can manage, whether that is attaching one area per month or per year – you know your business well enough to know how quickly the recommended action items in your exit plan can be completed.

Conclusion:

Think about your exit as a process, not an event. Everything you have done in your life that was significant took time and multiple steps or stages. Your exit plan is no different. Your exit planning timeline is your bridge to the future that you envision for yourself, your business, and your family. Take control of your future and begin creating your timeline today.

For a free PDF on The Five Critical Elements of a Successful Exit Plan, contact me at david@remodelforce.com. I will forward that PDF report to you.

David Lupberger, CEPA is the President and Owner of Remodel Force. He is a nationally recognized speaker, author, and consultant who helps remodelers and contractors grow longer-lasting, more profitable businesses by developing lean and mean business systems. David believes that consistent results occur only with proven systems. He has worked with hundreds of contractors over the past 30+ years to increase their sales by expanding existing client relationships and develop lifelong clients.

The Inexperienced Advisor – An Exit Planning Horror Story for Business Owners

November 18, 2025 by John F. Dini

This is a cautionary tale for business owners—one that’s “based on a true story.” The facts are real, although the exact sequence of events might raise questions if the IRS were to take a closer look.

A small business owner received a $1,000,000 offer to sell his company. He had already been thinking about retirement, and the chance to cash out felt like a perfect opportunity. His original plan had been to sell the business to a long-time employee through a promissory note, but that changed when the cash offer came along.

The business’s profits had always been modest, and the employee couldn’t match the offer. But the owner felt deep appreciation for the employee’s loyalty and past contributions. The employee already owned 10% of the stock, and the owner decided to reward him further by gifting an additional 10% just before the sale.

When the deal closed a few weeks later, they divided the proceeds: the owner received $800,000, and the employee got $200,000.

Here’s where things began to unravel.

The company’s tax preparer was a long-time friend of the owner—also his bookkeeper—who had served him faithfully for over 30 years. Their arrangement worked well for general business needs, and the owner saved money on fees. But the employee used a different advisor. And when tax season rolled around, that advisor raised some critical issues.

Let’s break it down.

The Letter of Intent was signed in January. The additional 10% stock was granted in February. The transaction closed in March. The valuation had been set by the sale offer, but little formal documentation existed for the transfer. The employee’s advisor flagged that the gifted stock constituted a $100,000 bonus—meaning it was taxed as ordinary income. At a 25% tax bracket, that single item triggered a $25,000 IRS bill.

Next came the issue of the company’s structure-

For years, the tax preparer had advised switching to an S Corporation, but the owner never followed through—it seemed like too much hassle. So the company remained a C Corporation and was subject to 21% corporate tax before distributions.

That meant the employee’s $200,000 had to be recalculated. His share was now about $158,000 after corporate taxes.

Of that amount, the original 10% was eligible for long-term capital gains treatment (20% rate), but the recently gifted 10% was double taxed: as short-term capital gain (at his 25% rate) and hit with a 20% parachute payment excise tax because of its proximity to the sale.

He paid nearly $55,000 in taxes just on that second 10%. And the hits kept coming.

With total compensation now over $200,000, the employee’s payout was subject to the 3.8% Net Investment Income tax (the “Obamacare” surcharge). And he still owed that initial $25,000 from the stock bonus.

When all the math was finished, his $200,000 “windfall” ended up being worth only $70,746.

That’s an effective tax rate of nearly 65%.

And the owner? He was double taxed, too. His “cut-rate” accounting services and the decision to avoid S Corporation status ended up costing far more than they saved.

Could it have gone differently? Absolutely.

For a relatively small investment in expert guidance, they might have restructured the transaction. For instance, compensating the employee with a cash bonus instead of stock would have made the payment deductible to the company, taxed only once as ordinary income to the employee.

But none of that was considered—because there was no experienced advisor at the table.

If you’re considering selling your business, don’t go it alone.

Exit planning isn’t just about getting a good offer—it’s about protecting your value and avoiding costly mistakes. Engage with a seasoned advisor who understands the tax, legal, and strategic layers of a business transition.

The cost of advice is small compared to what it could save you.

-Special thanks to Steven A. Bankler, CPA, for his help with this article.