The Growth-Drive Hot Seat

(00:00)
Hi, this is George Samman. I'm the founder and CEO of Growth Drive. Growth Drive is the number one best -selling business advising platform, and this is our podcast, The Business Advisor Hot Seat. Now in the hot seat, you're going to hear from industry leaders, thought leaders, your colleagues who are going to share tips, techniques, war stories about building a thriving advisory business based on delivering client wins. We're going to get into it. We'll get into it about the Growth Drive methodology, the clarity software, what we see out in the world.

so much more than just the system. And I'm also the author of The Growth Driving Advisor, which is based on over a decade of being an advisor to advisor, working with you and your colleagues, helping them build their practices, helping them through client engagements. And it's really proven strategies for leading businesses from stuck to best in class. Check it out. So strap in. We're going to light this up. Here we go.

George (00:57)
Our guests this week are my good friends, Anna Halleberta and John Carter and Kelly Malagala Carter, who have joined forces to become Be Ready Exits. Be Ready is a virtual firm. It's a very exciting play. It brings a lot of juice to business owners and other advisors, specifically wealth and insurance advisors, to help deliver successful exits. So with that,

We're going to jump in. Here we go.

(01:31)
This week's episode is brought to you by Growth Drive, highlighting the Growth Drive Summit, held this year in Charleston, South Carolina, September 23, 24, and 25. The theme is business advisory and quantum age, harnessing technologies and delivering client wins. This is unique content. You can't get anywhere. And to learn more, go to growth -drive .com. Look under events.

Thank you. See you there.

George (02:03)
Well, welcome ladies and gentlemen, as you can tell, we've been having a couple of laughs while we were in the proverbial green room. Welcome this week. It is my incredible pleasure to have Anna Halliburta, John Carter and Kelly Malaga -LaCarter. And they are together, they are the members of Be Ready Exits. It's a virtual firm. And before I start describing you, instead of you doing it yourself, I'd love to toss it over to you.

And maybe we'll start with, if you could each introduce yourselves, give us just a high level description of why clients hire you. And then we'll jump into this exciting project you guys have embarked on. Does that make sense? Awesome. So Anna, I'll start with you as the founder of Be Ready.

Anna Halaburda (02:46)
Sure does.

Kelly Malaga-LaCarter (02:46)
Mason.

Anna Halaburda (02:52)
Thank you, George. Well, Anna Halliburta here. I am the founder of Be Ready. I'm a CPA, CFP, CBEC. There's a few more letters after that, but after a while it becomes gibberish and self -serving. So one of the things I'd like to say is that as far as business exit planning goes, I've been doing it for decades, you know, like not 10 years, not 20 years, but 30 years, because as a CPA I've helped

clients buy businesses, sell businesses, and I realized early on, especially in 1986 after I accomplished and got my CFP certification, that the business and the personal aspects of a business owner's life are intricately and always intertwined. And so what people now call exit planning, that was just part of the services that I offered.

And the reason why people come to me is I've been doing this for a long time. I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but after doing this for decades, I have a real good idea on both the emotional part that business owners go through and as well as what is financially going through an exit strategy mean for a business owner. And I've...

George (04:20)
now.

Anna Halaburda (04:21)
put that in, wrapped all of that into a package with over 40 years of experience. And that's in a nutshell what I bring to the table for the exit planning profitability and growth consulting and transaction services.

George (04:36)
In a nutshell. Awesome. Yeah. Yeah. And Anna, you and I have been friends for a long time and you just you haven't even scratched the surface. Terrific. Well, John, why don't we turn it over to you?

Anna Halaburda (04:38)
That's a pretty big nut to swallow.

John T. Carter (04:50)
Okay, thanks, George. John Carter, somewhat like Anna, but a little bit differently. I've been involved in the business transaction exit planning arena for decades or quite some time as well. My background was actually in law. I was a mergers and acquisitions attorney for several years and frankly just kind of got burned out as being an attorney and kind of fell into the world of exit planning. And really like Anna, I have spent a lot of time, many years,

helping business owners try to figure out what their end goals were from a sale or a transition perspective. And then from a legal or organizational perspective, help them create the best path forward so that they can get out of their business on their terms. And I'm really excited to be part of the Be Ready, Exit team. I think as you'll learn, we really create a holistic team of professionals that provide all different types of services and skills and experiences. So,

Glad to be here and looking forward to the future.

George (05:53)
Awesome, thanks, John. And Kelly, if you come out of enterprise, you have a very different background. How would you describe yourself?

Kelly Malaga-LaCarter (06:01)
Well, that's a great question. So hello, everybody. I'm Kelly Mulagala -Carter. As we're talking about transition planning and exiting, I had the privilege of exiting myself out of corporate America. I bring 30 plus years of finance, control, total rewards, and HR operations so that all those experiences segue very nicely in this space. My passion is for the people.

We hear a lot about owners not having the time to work on their next chapter because they're so busy working in the business that they don't have time to work on the business. That is part of my forte and my passion. So helping business owners get the right people in the right seats so that they can start to step away and focus on planning their exit. I am really excited to be working with a team of professionals to build

a brand new virtual firm that brings a lot of services and amenities to clients across the country.

George (07:08)
Awesome. Kelly and you and I have known each other for a while as well. And you know, honestly, you haven't scraped the surface. You guys are a, you're a dream team and it's only going to grow from here. That's awesome. Thanks guys. You know, something you just said, I'd like to pick up something you just said, Kelly, a virtual firm. So who, not who, what is Be Ready? What is Be Ready Exits the Firm?

Don't be shy.

Kelly Malaga-LaCarter (07:38)
Looking at you, Anna.

George (07:40)
Hahaha!

Anna Halaburda (07:43)
waiting for another sign from you but...

Needless to say, we do have a good time with what we do. So, the virtual firm of Be Ready, the Be Ready business model started out a number of years ago, eight years ago with the model that Be Ready would collaborate with other professional business advisors. And we would provide the heavy lifting, the expertise for say if you were...

asset manager and you had a business owner that was going you know thinking about exiting their business oftentimes you know you wouldn't have the skill sets to counsel your your business owner client so I be ready would step in protect your relationship with your client and that's key to us

When we collaborate with other business advisors, we protect their client relationship. We walk in, we do the heavy lifting. We provide the exit planning process. And you notice I didn't say services, but the exit planning process. We come up with a...

George (08:48)
Yeah.

Anna Halaburda (09:09)
all of the information that the business owner needs to start to make decisions about his business. Can he go to market? Does he want to go to market? How far out is it? Is the business worth what he thinks it should be worth? And if it's not, we help grow the value of the business all the way up to somebody walked in and offered me X number of dollars for my business.

George (09:28)
Amen.

Anna Halaburda (09:36)
is that a reasonable offer? Should I accept it, depending upon the deal structure? And this is one of the things I'm really happy that John has joined the team here, is he has that expertise to enhance our analysis of deal structures. And so within that collaborative format, we've really built the foundation of having

John T. Carter (09:46)
Thank you.

Anna Halaburda (10:04)
Other professionals rely on the Be Ready process, the methodology, the expertise. And I have collaborated or Be Ready has collaborated with firms from Texas, California, Massachusetts. Obviously, I'm located in Denver, Colorado, Florida, and other points throughout the nation. So we are a national virtual firm at this point. And...

We have the depth within this team and within other collaborative partners that we work with that we've known over the years so that we bring to bear best in class services approach expertise in order to have a good positive outcome for both the business owner client as well as the

John T. Carter (10:50)
Thanks.

Anna Halaburda (11:04)
advisor that refers the business over. So, positive outcomes all around.

George (11:08)
Yeah, I love that, Anna. I love that because technology has allowed us, and maybe this is something that we all learned through COVID, but technology allows you guys, you know, Kelly and John, you're in Michigan, Anna's in Denver, and you have other people with whom you collaborate who are across the country. And from an outsider looking in, it would appear that you're able to not be constrained by

local expertise, but you have assembled national expertise, the best people anywhere who are able to collaborate on an outcome, because exit planning is a team sport. John, I saw you nodding your head. What do you have to add?

John T. Carter (11:53)
Well, I would just concur with what you're saying, George, and what Anna mentioned is that exit planning is a team sport. It does require a holistic approach to getting an owner out on their terms. To my knowledge, there are not many, if any other firms that have the dynamic expertise and the packaging, if you will, of all this together. You know, so many times, I think a couple of things. Number one, as

The world becomes more complicated, more sophisticated. The needs of business owners is more pressing. I think there's a higher demand today for more of a turnkey approach, right? To doing the planning, to creating the value, facilitating the transaction, all the different aspects related to exit planning really does require more of a turnkey approach. And so I think there's more of a need and an impetus for people to work together and collaboratively like Anna has mentioned. So I'm really excited again to see

George (12:33)
Great.

John T. Carter (12:51)
the outcomes and the value that we bring to clients because they're going to have all of that at their disposal.

George (12:57)
Yeah, absolutely, and collaborating. You know, I always say that referral is a dirty word. We really want to promote collaboration. And I love the fact that that's one of your central, one of your guiding principles. You know, Kelly, you're a fractional CFO, something you didn't mention in your intro. And you and John have worked together for a while. What's your perspective?

Kelly Malaga-LaCarter (13:24)
Well, one of the things I was trying to parachute in to say when Anna and John were talking about is they talked a lot about successful client outcomes. One of the things that I know we've all talked about and we're passionate about is that white glove, red carpet client experience. And sometimes that can be perceived to be difficult when you're virtual, but that is one thing that, you know, part of our guiding principles.

is to ensure that it's not just the outcome, it's the experience. And I think that's really important, not only for us, but the client and all of the collaborative partners that we bring into play.

George (14:09)
Absolutely, that's a great point. And what I, you know, sort of the subtext here is that, you know, planning an exit, an exit plan is a strategic plan, right? It's just one flavor of a strategic plan. And you guys are bringing this, these complimentary expertise and we have access to other partners as well, right? You have known entities with whom you collaborate.

to help deliver that high touch service at Kelly and the successful out -ons.

Kelly Malaga-LaCarter (14:41)
Yeah. And as you talked about, I didn't mention the focus CFO, but there was one thing that as I've worked with John on this transition or exit planning is that a lot of these small businesses, they've done a great job growing their business initially and becoming profitable. But what most of them don't have is that sound financial

George (14:45)
Go ahead.

Kelly Malaga-LaCarter (15:11)
strategic partners sitting at the table. And at the end of the day, you know, everything comes down to the numbers and getting the people to operate against, you know, one single direction, one single plan. And so that's a way that we can collaborate cross functionally with different partners. That's another reason that or a reason that I got involved in focus CFO, a lot of nice intersections there and.

both focused on building value and sustainability.

George (15:48)
Yeah, absolutely. Exit planning is one of those words that gets used so often. It's like strategic planning, right? It's a word that gets used so often that it starts losing its meaning. And if we deconstruct it through the lens, through the perspectives that you guys are voicing here, it's interesting because if we deconstruct, what is an exit plan? An exit plan is a plan to monetize at a date certain the value of the business. So we need to...

plan the future equity value of that business. We need to then perhaps grow revenues in order to hit that value. And turning to John, you're an attorney with &A experience. We also need to make sure that we're ready for whatever the transaction is. We always talk about third party sales, but that's one of the many ways, one of the six perhaps ways that we can transition out of a business. And there's some other really cool tax advantaged ways.

maybe more tax advantage ways of doing it. And you guys bring the expertise to say, hey, this is how we do it. Does that make sense?

Anna Halaburda (16:54)
It certainly does. And the one thing that I did want to point out here is that John and I have been in this space in our own individual companies. And so we're involved in a variety of industry leading conversations, either with the IEPA, there's other organizations out there, but we present.

We have presented individually and have provided thought leadership presentations that move everybody's understanding forward. And being part of the group of presenters of the thought leaders doesn't innately give us additional knowledge, but rubbing elbows with folks like you, George,

with other people in the industry, we get a lot of advanced planning knowledge that the normal advisor who isn't engaged at that level does not have the advantage to take or the opportunity to take advantage of that. So just by our activity within the industry, that moves us forward.

and gives us a little inside information, tools and skills that other folks out there providing the same types of services that we do, they don't have that same advantage because they are not engaged in the industry at that level.

George (18:38)
Well, it's interesting. And John, I'm going to toss this one over to you. You know, Anna, picking up on what you just said, if I'm an advisor, let's say I'm a wealth advisor or a CPA or a business coach, and I want to make sure that I'm delivering the ultimate outcome for my client, you guys want something that we've talked about in other conversations is honoring that person's relationship and role. Right. And John, this is something you and I have talked about.

John T. Carter (18:44)
Thank you.

George (19:06)
If you're listening in, the conversations the three of us have individually tend to be super fun, fruitful, and long because we have a lot we kick around. So John, in terms of, you have a legal background, in terms of why other advisors should not just be comfortable, but should be actively looking to bring you,

and Be Ready Exits into to help serve their client, right? It's collaborative help serve their client. What are your thoughts?

John T. Carter (19:45)
Well, as I mentioned, as Anna and all of us have mentioned, this is a team approach, right? It's very much a holistic effort. And as smart and as brilliant as experts are, as advisors are, they see the world through their lens in their lane, right? So as an attorney, I saw the world from my lens as a lawyer. CPAs, insurance professionals, financial advisors, they see the world.

and they see their role with business owners through their lens. So the idea of collaborating and working interchangeably through the exit planning process allows us to incorporate all of their expertise into this one uniform approach. And so it really, unlike other professional services, it really is highly unique in the sense that it's much more collaborative than anything I've ever witnessed or been a part of because it requires.

so many different professional disciplines working together in concert. Unlike a normal transaction where there's a buyer and there's seller, there's an attorney, by the way, who have adversarial roles, because in a transaction, we represent the interests of our client. In an exit planning process or an exit planning engagement, we're all really one team working together for the benefit of the client organization. So there's no adversarial role.

So again, it's extremely collaborative. It's very team functioned. And I think the ultimate beneficiary is the client because they get the benefit of all of the expertise and the collaborative effort.

George (21:11)
Okay, we lost John there for a sec. He'll be back. Something that John just said I'd like to pick up on. He talked about process. And so when it comes to process, guys, is it fair to ask if you can describe or discuss the Be Ready process?

Anna Halaburda (21:14)
Time had stood still.

Absolutely, and I wish John wasn't quite so frozen here now, but one of the, and he's back.

George (21:41)
There he is. He's back.

John T. Carter (21:41)
Here I am, sorry about that. This is the best part too, you know.

Anna Halaburda (21:47)
Jonathan, I'm going to let you pick this right up.

Kelly Malaga-LaCarter (21:47)
I got the picture, John, just so you can see.

George (21:54)
So John, you're in the middle of your thought. Go ahead.

John T. Carter (21:55)
I'm sorry, what was the question?

Well, what I was saying is, I think, you know, what's really cool about the exit planning process is it's highly collaborative, right? And it requires all the different professional disciplines working together in concert for one outcome for the benefit of the client. Unlike in a normal transaction where you have two lawyers or two different teams, so to speak, that are theoretically working against each other, exit planning and the process that we use at Be Ready Exits,

is really about collaborating and utilizing all of the resources together as a team. And again, as I mentioned, the ultimate beneficiary is the client because they get the outcome of all of our expertise throughout the whole process.

George (22:33)
Yes.

You know, as a guy on the outside looking inside at Be Ready, and I'm really excited about what you're doing, and you're going to be successful. I mean, you guys are, all three of you are already successful, but you know, a frustration that happens inside firms, and it's a frustration for the professionals inside the firm, is the partnership model, right? And the partnership model itself actually does not, sometimes does not inure to the benefit of the client, because individual partners may see,

the client as their client, not the firm's client. And even if they see the client as the firm's client, they still feel some territoriality. And that may lead, and so I'm an attorney too, that may lead to, so I'm being, but that may lead to a lack of collaboration where you guys have turned, you have literally turned the model on its head.

And you're saying, hey, it is Be Ready's client and Be Ready will help the client pulling whatever asset, fractional CFO, account and wealth planner, tax expert, attorney, transaction expert, whatever you needed at the phase of the journey, we're gonna bring it to bear. That's insanely powerful guys. And hats off, hats off. So John, you technology ladies and gentlemen, I'm sorry. So while you were off air there for a moment, thank you internet.

I had picked up on your, you commented on process, right? And I had said, you know, let's, if you're willing to dig in and you're willing to share, what is the be ready process, the be ready methodology? Have I asked a question that's going too far? You're happy to jump in.

Anna Halaburda (24:28)
Well, this is the hot seat. There is no doubt about it. Well, the be ready process, whenever you engage with a new client, you have base level information that you need to gather. And John has used these in &A transactions. But when you do a full due diligence process, the &A

George (24:29)
This is the hot seat.

Anna Halaburda (24:56)
or the due diligence checklist is pages and pages with drop downs. And it gets to be almost overwhelming with the amount of information you need to assemble. But because we've been through this process many times, both, you know, all of us individually and then now together, is that we understand what information we need to start.

doing our analysis to be able to have those discussions with the client. There's psychographic analysis that we gather as well as financial information. So the tools that we have at our fingertips and we all have different understanding and have used different financial planning, exit planning.

financial analysis tools and profitability and growth consulting tools over the years. We dig deep enough so that we understand what the tool is producing from the input and internal process. So from auditing, the analogy would be.

You either audit around the process or you audit through the process. We audit through the process. And so we understand.

George (26:24)
Can you explain what you mean by audit through the process? And John and Kelly, feel free to jump in.

Anna Halaburda (26:29)
Auditing through the process basically says that you, when you have a tool, you come up with a set of inputs for it and you understand exactly what those inputs are and you run them through the system. Let's look at a business. An order comes in, it gets taken, it gets processed all the way through the system. But for the evaluation of software,

This is something that I've done exhaustively over the past several decades is that I need to understand how a software, or the output of a software, you need to understand what the methodology is. Like for instance, if you're doing an estimate of value, is it a discounted cash flow or is it a multiple of earnings kind of approach?

George (27:13)
I get it. I get it. Yeah. I see what you're saying.

John T. Carter (27:25)
Thanks.

Anna Halaburda (27:26)
Because depending upon the industry, the size of the business and other variables, they will produce different results. But you have to understand that you're not necessarily comparing apples with apples. And so the tools that we use are not universally applicable in all our...

George (27:48)
Yeah, just because you have a hammer doesn't mean the client's a nail. I know it's a tried, you know, it's almost, it gets used all the time, but I love what you're saying, Anna. And you seek to understand what's going on to the extent that you can inside the tool so that you bring the right tool to bear. That's very cool.

(28:07)
This week's episode is brought to you by Growth Drive, highlighting the Growth Drive Summit, held this year in Charleston, South Carolina, September 23, 24, and 25. The theme is business advisory and quantum age, harnessing technologies and delivering client wins. This is unique content. You can't get anywhere. And to learn more, go to growth -drive .com. Look under events.

Thank you. See you there.

George (28:38)
How about Kelly, John, any comments on that?

Cause I was gonna ask, I was gonna shift gears and ask about, okay, so what's the client, what do you guys, what's your promise to the market? What's the client experience that you're committed to delivering? I think that picks up Kelly, if you want to take a stab, that goes to your, you mentioned client experience, so I'll pick on you.

Kelly Malaga-LaCarter (29:00)
Well, let me go back to the... Well, now I'm gonna go back because you left it kind of open. I think one of the things that I appreciate about the Be Ready model is that while it is a standardized process, there are enough tools in the toolbox to allow us to pick, to Anna's point, the one that's right for the client and the client's business.

and where the client is going. So it's not a one size fits all. So while the straw man per se may be similar, and that allows us, again, think about client experience and time is the one thing that none of us seem to have enough of. So we're trying to be incredibly efficient and effective, but Be Ready has a number of tools that we can access.

George (29:37)
Love that.

Yes.

Kelly Malaga-LaCarter (29:56)
to provide, again, the right solution set and the right experience for the client. So I just wanted to add a little bit of color commentary there, George.

George (30:06)
I love that. Thank you very much. And I love that perspective. I applaud it. Yeah, you guys. John, you're nodding your head. Do you have anything to add there?

John T. Carter (30:20)
would just add by saying it really is a consultative approach, right? Unlike, again, like a lot of other services that are the hammer and nail analogy, this is really consultative where we have to really understand what the end goal of the client is and then use the right approach, the right tool, the right application. So we're always thinking about how we provide the client the end game or provide them the result that they want. And then we use the approach that's appropriate.

George (30:38)
Yes.

Yeah, and that's awesome. That's awesome. Starting with the end in mind, on the growth drive side, that's kind of our mantra. If I don't understand where you're going, how the heck can I draw a map to get there? And I lost. I had an idea and I lost it. Go ahead.

Kelly Malaga-LaCarter (31:07)
So I think George, you were going.

Anna Halaburda (31:08)
John Earth.

George, let me throw something else in there as part of our process since we are talking about process. And I like the analogy you just used because on the Be Ready website, I use a similar analogy. At the beginning of our process for most, if not all of our engagements, we need to understand where the client is starting from.

as well as where they're going. So the first step in our process is, if somebody says, I wanna go to Wisconsin, I wanna go to Green Bay, Wisconsin, and I'm a Packers fan since I've been a child, so I'll just use that. So draw me a map and the first question is, well, where are you starting from? So that's part of our process is we understand,

George (32:03)
Yeah.

Anna Halaburda (32:07)
not only financially, emotionally, and wrapping it into their personal finances because again, these are private businesses, not public, and so you have to holistically look at everything at the same time. So we need to know where their starting point is, and that's part of the process.

George (32:27)
Yeah, that's, you know, I teach an entire course on that and I'll just give you a, let's just say, amen. You know, it's interesting guys, because we think in terms, we always talk about, we generally, when we talk about exit planning and there are people in the market who are saying, okay, we can have any business ready to sell to a third party in 18 months.

And I'd hate to see the terms and the price on that deal. So, exit planning, there are a couple of comments and I'd love for you guys to comment on a couple of ideas. One, exit may not mean leave, right? And two, a third party transaction may not actually be in your best interest, madam business owner. So, anybody wanna pile on to those two comments?

Kelly Malaga-LaCarter (33:23)
So I'm going to pile on real quick. And this is probably one of the things that really attracted me to transition or exit planning is that I think there's this real need for education. And that's yet another thing that I really appreciate about the Be Ready model is helping business owners understand their options, the advantages and the challenges to every option because to your

George (33:27)
Please.

Yeah.

Kelly Malaga-LaCarter (33:52)
point, George, many people think that their option is either it's going to a family member and we don't see that very often anymore, or they're going to sell it. And that may not be the best option. So really walking through clients based upon where they're at from a financial readiness, from an emotional readiness perspective, what their options are is super important and part of the first stage.

of this process with our clients.

George (34:24)
And Kelly, if I am I hearing you correctly, you might be saying to a client, listen, don't think about the noise. Don't think about preconceived notions. What would be ideal for you if you could just script it from, you know, write it down on a blank piece of paper. You think you have to sell your business, but what would you rather do? What's another option that's appealing to you? Is that what you're do I have that right?

Kelly Malaga-LaCarter (34:45)
You absolutely or again, we have some models that I believe within 20 questions that you could take over a cup of coffee. It will tell you and they're not hard, right? Kind of where you fit from a business or a financial readiness as well as a mental readiness and introduces very easily what the options will be that we can.

George (34:48)
Okay.

Kelly Malaga-LaCarter (35:13)
build on in a very consumable way because remember these individuals have been highly successful running a business but we're about to introduce some topics that they may not know anything about.

George (35:27)
Absolutely. Yes, that third dimension of growth. And oftentimes it's linking sales, what is to the outside world, a very successful business, linking that success to the value of the business. And that linkage is not automatic. And that's where we need to educate our clients. It is not automatic. It's like culture. It's purposeful. It's planned. It's nurtured. It's worked on. It's hard. Yeah, Kelly, I love that.

Kelly Malaga-LaCarter (35:56)
It's hard. Yes.

George (35:57)
Okay, I'm trying to dive in. I'm in violent agreement. Anna and John, comments?

John T. Carter (36:04)
Go ahead Anna, jump in.

Anna Halaburda (36:06)
Well, Kelly, I agree 100%. For many business owners, the process is very hard. A lot of business owners are guarded for a variety of reasons. They don't want you to see their perceived business failures of how they run the company. Getting somebody to...

And I'm not sure about this analogy, open the kimono, so to speak. You know, having these kinds of surveys that Kelly was just talking about that comes back to them from their own words. It's not like they're telling us and we're giving them our interpretation of it. These are well thought out surveys that come back and we can talk to the client.

in their own words and sometimes that helps them to open up, understand that you're there to help them, you're not there to judge them in any way, shape or form. And through the years I've seen clients bury into a business an apartment for a mistress.

George (37:29)
It never happened. Yeah, that's it.

Anna Halaburda (37:32)
you know, when you get in and you start digging in, if they feel that they can trust you. And I think that's really part of the Be Ready process is establishing that confidentiality, the trust and the teamwork that a lot of other people, a lot of other advisors seem to grapple with. And for some reason, this team has come together.

George (37:48)
Yeah.

Anna Halaburda (38:00)
And we've all had success in gaining people's trust for their benefit. And so a lot of these initial surveys give us information right from the client's mouth. And sometimes they're honest and truthful and sometimes they're not. And when you compare several of these together, you'll see in the Venn diagram methodology what overlaps.

George (38:07)
Yes.

Anna Halaburda (38:28)
and what seems to be contradictory. And that's really powerful when you sit down with a business owner and you say, well, over here, you said this, over here, you said that, but over here, you know, your actions are in the opposite directions. Let's talk about that a little bit. So.

George (38:51)
Well, and having the maturity and the stature to be able to positively confront, you know, confrontation doesn't have to be negative, but to be able to call someone out and say, hey, you know, what gives? Hey, you know, that kind of brings me to another topic. You know, clients will somehow sometimes disappear from where you thought they were going and reappear somewhere else, just like they, you know, they just subject to change without notice.

Maybe that'd be a, I think your business model lends itself very well to that very, very common client behavior. Maybe we can make that this our last topic or our closing topic here. Anybody care to comment?

Kelly Malaga-LaCarter (39:42)
I will because I'm the freshman here. I haven't been doing this as long. But if there's one thing I've come to understand and respect is that for many and most clients, so much of their business is really tied up into their own personal brand. And so they may go through the process and then they've got to come to terms with it.

George (40:03)
Yes.

Kelly Malaga-LaCarter (40:09)
And, you know, one of the things that we do is we understand change management is a process and it starts with the owners and getting them comfortable with where they are and where they're going. And everybody is going to be on a different journey personally, George. And it's not just them, right. It's their family. It's their persona and brand that they've cultivated within the community. It's their employees. So.

George (40:30)
Yes.

Kelly Malaga-LaCarter (40:37)
You know, I think what we've done is we've given them through this process enough runway to come to terms and then help them along on this journey. And it's not just the it's not just the owner. You know, we wrap our arms around the employees. We wrap our arms around the advisor team. So we are making sure that we bring the best and the brightest.

to support that owner. Again, I'll go back to the word consumable. They need it to be consumable. And we have business owners that they wake up and they decide they want out, they want out immediately. And once they start going through the process and we start getting them working on the business versus in the business, they end up starting to have some fun.

and they decide they're not going to leave. So we started to go down different kinds of clients, but you know, everybody's outcome is a little different and everybody's going to have their own timeline and that timeline George may be subject to change. And that's why the sooner we get people talking about their transition plan, their strategy, it is a living breathing document. You can put it on the shelf, pull it back off. And again,

We want to be there to help you through the process. And then John, sorry, I say a lot, but I'm super passionate about that.

George (42:05)
That was great, Kelly. Thank you.

Yeah, that's exactly right. Because when we create a business that's stable and easier to run, we may create a business that's suddenly, and we see the data here at Growth Drive, we see the data, but you start moving in that first dimension of growth. You start creating predictable profits and cashflow and revenue pops. It pops up. And suddenly people are saying, well, hey, you know, this, to your point, this is getting fun again. And maybe the why behind I want to sell it tomorrow becomes.

I still want to sell it, but now I can see a path to getting it down the road. John, thoughts?

John T. Carter (42:47)
Yeah, I mean, that's again, the beauty of this whole process. One of the residual outcomes is it gives owners options. It gives them life, it gives them life and it gives them options, right? Again, unlike the traditional transaction model, which is hair on fire, get to the finish line, damn the torpedoes as fast as we can. This is a much more slower methodical, a much more thought provoking process.

George (42:57)
Yes.

John T. Carter (43:15)
And as Kelly mentioned, along the way, not only does it increase value and make things more fun, but it tends to create a lot more energy, I think, in the minds and the spirits of most of our clients and the people around them. And so it creates a new culture. It creates a culture of win. It creates a culture of legacy. It creates all these options that the owner didn't have necessarily before they began their journey.

George (43:41)
Heck yeah.

John T. Carter (43:42)
So again, that's the reason why I love it so much more than the practice of law or just doing a transaction is it truly is, again, a holistic process that is a journey that requires multiple professional disciplines. And the outcome is the client has lots of options, generally much more financial freedom and much more personal freedom.

George (44:02)
I love that. You know, what you're describing, John, if I hear you correctly, is an adaptive process that says, okay, I know we started with X as our destination, you now think that we should shift from X to Y. Great, let's sort out what needs to be done on and in the business to get there. And that's incredibly powerful. You know, that's one of the, that's where exit planning or...

equity value monetization planning, I don't know, is different than a traditional strategic plan. It's a very specialized strategic plan, but it's a strategic plan that says, hey, we are not simply going to, our plan isn't just to get to $3 million of net income. Our plan is to deliver these other qualities for you. And frankly,

It's about creating options. If I'm hearing you correctly, John, you're creating options for your clients saying, okay, you know, when we get to this phase line, to this horizon, you're going to have options and then we can have sit down and talk about which of those options is most appealing. Is that, do I have that right? Awesome guys. And that bring into full circle is why I, you know, I for one am such a huge, I'm so excited and such a huge fan about this unique.

John T. Carter (45:13)
Spot on, exactly.

George (45:23)
proposition that Be Ready Exits is bringing to the table. Hey, maybe one last, Be Ready Exits is going to be present at the BEI conference in August in Denver. And you're going to be present after that, you're going to be present at the Growth Drive Summit here in Charleston, South Carolina.

You're going to be present at the International Exit Planning Association Summit. Is that in October in Boston, I believe. So you already have, you already have, you know, if people want to learn more and they want to meet you in person and poke and prod and press the flesh, you guys are going to be at three of the biggest events or three of the most meaningful events in the space. That's exciting. Any other plans for the balance of the year in terms of getting out out out in the world?

Anna Halaburda (45:55)
It is.

Well, John, well, number one, I'd like to say with the addition of John and Kelly to the Be Ready team, I couldn't be more pleased. And this is the launch pad. And what we're doing is, and let me say it this way, John has run his own firm, Absolute Succession.

George (46:38)
Yeah, it is.

Anna Halaburda (46:50)
and we are in the process of becoming our first, best, most important client. And I think this is important that, you know, call it, you eat your own cooking. We're building this so that it is a sustainable model that will benefit both advisors and their business owner clients. And yes, we take clients.

you know, business owner clients directly. We are agnostic there because we're out to help as many folks as we can. But I believe that this is new in the industry and we are out in front and both Kelly and John are visionaries in this space and I couldn't be more pleased that we are together now.

George (47:43)
Yeah, awesome. Awesome. Thanks, Anna. Maybe that's a great place to cap it. This was a fantastic conversation. I want to thank each of the three of you. And if people want to know more, be ready exits .com. Is that right? Be ready exits .com.

Anna Halaburda (48:00)
That is correct. There is also BeReadyAdvisors .com for any advisors out there that want to take a look at how we talk to them with them. So there's actually two different BeReady websites and they are being upgraded now, but go on play, take the surveys.

George (48:21)
Great.

Anna Halaburda (48:29)
You know, it doesn't cost you anything. Start to understand what we do. And, you know, we welcome folks, you know, to ask us questions, reach out to us. And we'd love to be able to work with as many folks as possible.

George (48:47)
Well, you know, I'll build a shameless plugin. Come to the Growth Drive Summit. We're going to have a ton of fun and Be Ready Exits is going to be there. So listen, thank you guys. I'm going to thank each of you. And with that, I'll wrap it up. I'll say ciao for now. And I know I'll be talking to each of you soon. Thank you. Thank you very much.

John T. Carter (49:06)
George, appreciate it. Bye.

George (49:07)
Sure enough, have a great afternoon.

(49:12)
Hi this is George, thanks for listening. If you like what you heard, you can subscribe, like, and please take two seconds to leave a review. It tells the world that you like what we're doing and it helps us understand how we can improve the show. Thank you and see you next time.