Poised for Exit

How to Groom Awesome People Leaders Our guest today featured Heather Polivka , Founder and CEO of Awesome People Leaders and HeatherP Solutions . Heather is an award winning business leader, speaker and change agent for privately held companies looking to grow their bottom line by growing their teams and leaders. Heather's methodology is wrapped in neuro-science , with a focus on how beliefs...

Value Acceleration meets HR Strategy: How they work hand in hand In today's episode, we talked with Steve Schad , President and CEO of Optima HR Solutions , which is a fractional HR services organization. Steve's firm specializes in helping owners grow the value of their business through HR strategies that drive enterprise value and goes well beyond the basics of benefits, hiring practic...

Business Succession from a Forensic Accountant's Perspective In this episode we had the pleasure of interviewing Ryan Stremater , Senior Manager at SDK CPA 's and forensic accounting specialist . Ryan's job puts skepticism before all else . He's an expert at digging deep into the details of the story that financials tell about a business and he's been an expert witness in...

Big Transitions Call for Maximum Influence with your Employees  In this episode of #PoisedforExit I had the good pleasure of interviewing Dr Heather Johnson , President of Klassen Performance Group .  KPG specializes in soft skill leadership development and works with many clients in the throes of significant transition that many times involves a merger or acquisition.  Dr Johnson is a clinical ps...

Customers + Teams = Amazing Business Outcomes In today's episode, we talked with Angela Christman , Founder of Lift Bridge Strategy , an HR firm that provides people development that fosters enterprise growth .  Angela got her start in HR working in the corporate world of Walmart, and then for Marvin Windows. She's taken what she learned all those years to apply to privately held company...

Poised for Exit Celebrates 3 Years! A Look Back and a Look Ahead  What a journey it's been! Launching, growing and delivering great content for our growing audience!  We reminisced a bit about our favorite episodes over the last twelve months; it was so hard to choose but we picked 4.  Check them out here: Dr. Teresa Ashby 'Systemize your Revenue Streams' - Episode 115  Michael Hubs...

Expanded Options for SBA Financing! We talked today with Jeff Campbell , Sr Vice President of Fidelity Bank . Jeff is a long time lender and has recently expanded their SBA department with the addition of Ann Franklin, an expert in SBA lending .  We started off by talking about a client of theirs, Ben Cowan, who was a guest of Poised for Exit podcast in the past and is owner of the 1-800-Got Junk...

Simple yet Savvy: Principles to Navigate Business Transitions Our episode today featured Amy Kiefer , President of Automotive Parts Headquarters , or APH.  Amy was hired by APH just 6 months ago as the company's first non-family member President ! The company is over 100 years old and in its 3rd Generation, so that says a lot about the value the owners believe she brings to the table.  Amy&ap...

Structuring Deals, Putting out Fires and Getting Clients to the Closing Table We delivered a Special Edition of Poised for Exit today and had the privilege of interviewing two experts on how collaboration works and why it can make or break a deal . Brett Larson , M&A Attorney with Messerli Kramer and Colin Johnson , Managing Director at Wipfli Corporate Finance were our guests and talked about...

From Teacher to Financial Founder: The Inspiring Journey of Stacey Stelter and GTS Financial Services #PoisedforExit met with Stacey Stelter , Co-Founder of GTS Financial Services .  Stacey is a former Elementary School teacher and learned some skills that were quite transferable from that career into becoming a founder of a financial services firm. Stacey, Tyler and Grant are the co-founders of G...

The Great LeadHERship Awakening" with special guest Linda Fisk, CEO of LeadHERship Global  #PoisedforExit was honored to have Linda Fisk as our guest, who has founded several companies, most notably " LeadHERship Global " of which Julie Keyes is a proud member! Linda is a multi award winning woman in business, a national keynote speaker, best selling author and enterprising entrepre...

African Family Firms Founder, Tsitsi Mutendi on how Family Business is like "Raising the Baobab" #PoisedforExit had the honor of interviewing Tsitsi Mutendi , Founder of African Family Firms , Nhaka Legacy, and host of " Enterprising Families " podcast!  Tsitsi grew up in family business; in her immediate family and among her extended family and friends. Many of those companies...

Leadership can be lonely: C9 Builds Your Tribe On #PoisedforExit we had the good pleasure of featuring Aaron Eggert on the show today! Aaron is the Founder and Chief Visionary Officer of Coalition 9 , a Peer Group organization that seeks to create communities of trust, diversity and growth for leaders of companies and executives in various industries from a span of backgrounds. In just three short...

Transitions: When is it time to bring in outside leadership?  In today's episode of #PoisedforExit we talked with Scott Sustacek , who is a "Free Agent CEO" . Scott has run and built several businesses as well as facilitated and grown several CEO Roundtables . His perspective on bringing in outside leadership comes at a time when many founders of companies are pondering that very th...

When should you engage a Family Office?  Our show today featured the Managing Director of the Trust Point Family Office , Christine Schmidt .  Christine got her start as a CPA , working in the insurance industry. From there she spent 16 years working as an accountant for a large Family Office with many types of holdings. She learned a lot and decided it was time to find a new endeavor. She found T...

From IRS Agent to Entrepreneur: One Woman's Compelling Story #PoisedforExit had the honor today of interviewing a client of KeyeStrategies , Peggy Hedgpeth , who is the founder and CEO of Golden Rabbit Enamelware .  Peggy had a very interesting journey to entrepreneurship , first working as an IRS Agent for 10 years and earning her CPA credential during that time, and then earning her MBA bef...

Tax Liability in your Future? Consider a Charitable Land Donation We interviewed Scott Jackson of Sandy Bay Partners today, who's background as a former Navy Commander has served him well in his leadership role at Sandy Bay. Scott's job is to build a network of private investors for their land development opportunities that utilize a tax mitigation strategy called Charitable Land Donatio...

Rollover Equity: What Sellers Should Know In this episode we featured a very seasoned M & A advisor, whose background as a serial entrepreneur proves to serve his clients in a big way, especially when the deal structure gets a bit complicated. Michael Hubsmith , Senior Advisor with True North M & A joined us to talk about Rollover Equity; what it is and why sellers should consider it as a...

There's More Than One Way to Structure Your Exit! Today's #PoisedforExit guest featured Mary Merrill , Principal of Heritage Capital . Mary brings so much knowledge and so many lessons to share , that we decided she has to come back to the podcast! From Buy Side, Sell Side, investor financing, bank financing and every possible way to structure a deal , Mary has the knowledge and skills t...

What to do about your 401K in a Sale In today's episode of #PoisedforExit we talked about what happens to the seller's 401K in a sale . Our expert guests were none other than the 401K experts at Trust Point ; Jon Marquet and Allyson Krause .  If you are thinking of selling your business, it's essential that you discuss this with the firm who manages your 401K plan well in advance of...

 3rd Generation and Going Strong with a "People First" Focus Our show today featured John Curry , a repeat guest of Poised for Exit. John is the CEO of Knutson Construction and is doing impressive things at the helm in the two years since his appointment.  John is the 3rd Generation in his family owned business and he's made some great strides in growing the infrastructure of the bu...

Build a High Value Authentic Brand #PoisedforExit had the pleasure of talking today with Jennifer Zick , Founder and CEO of Authentic Brand , a Fractional Marketing Leadership firm. Jennifer has CMO's for hire, who work with the internal leadership team of companies to quarterback the marketing strategy and implementation and provide resources and insights to build the company's brand th...

Seller Whisperer We had the pleasure of interviewing Denise Logan today, who is a national speaker, author and specialist in working with sellers of companies to determine and plan what's next for their life after business! Denise calls herself the "Seller Whisperer" and wrote a book in fable form called "Seller's Journey" that tells the story of a seller and his advi...

Should you Sell to the Employees? Taking a closer look at ESOP with Fiduciary, Neil Brozen We had the honor of interviewing ESOP Fiduciary, Neil Brozen , President of Ventura ESOP Fiduciary Services. We've had other guests talk about ESOP on the show in the past, but never one with his expertise.  Neil's background lends itself to stepping into his current role (some 20 years ago) being...

Merchant Processing: Let's Cut the Expense in 2023! Our #PoisedforExit guest in this episode featured Marnie Ochs Raleigh , Co-Founder and President of Evolve Payment and Evolve Systems . Marnie and Julie focused on Evolve Payment, Marnie's Merchant Processing company, to give business owners some ideas on how they can improve cash flow by utilizing a company with the right expertise and...