On this episode - Dale Hobbs founder of Hobbs Madison - consulting firm discusses him and his partner (Gary Madison’s) journey to an esop.  Dale and I discuss the process that we worked through to sell 100 percent of their stock to a newly formed ESOP.

On this episode I have been re-inspired by this great song to focus on why holistic planning your ESOP should minimize your worry of selling your stock during your journey to an ESOP.  As we go through the planning process, there simply are measures taken to balance all of the elements of your ESOP plan to provide a win-win-win…yes a triple win - one for the shareholder - one for the company and one for the employees…and even the key managers so that could be four wins.  Check out why this approach will help you to do what Bobby Mcferrin says “Don’t Worry - Be Happy!!!”

I have been talking about EOS for years - so helpful to get to interview Mark O’Donnell, CEO of EOS Worldwide to discuss how Traction has made such an impact with companies executing  strategically and implementing innovation at the highest levels. The ESOP is a natural choice for EOS companies given the strong core values, culture, business processes, and most of all people leaving a long-term legacy of abundance for those that have contributed so much to get here and so much more to getting there.

This episode is focused on addressing a super common question with companies going through the ESOP process with their key people.  Proactive communication is really the best way to approach your key people - however the question is when should you talk with them and how much can you tell them.  This is really difficult to answer as it deeply depends on your company culture.  But there is some guidance here based on experience with different clients!

In this episode - I interview Steve Storkan and their approach at EOX, an organization founded out of the NCEO to develop state employee ownership educational resources to support companies considering ESOP as an option.  Their approach is in response to research that shows - states with education on ESOPs have a lot more ESOP companies.  Steve has an interesting ESOP background and leading the initiative to have more state centers throughout the U.S.

In this episode, we jump right into the expanded version of Season 5 by dealing some factors related to communicating the ESOP to your employees.  Jumanji is an ideal movie to explain that there is something that changes after an ESOP that can change the outlook on how employees see themselves - who they are and who they want to be - we want them to move from employees to employee owners on this journey to an ESOP & beyond!

This episode is really meant to get at the heart of what defining employee communication for ESOPs.  We interview employees that are volunteering at Smooth Fusion - an ESOP company out of Texas - to participate in a newly formed esop committee.  We discuss the roles in the company, their ESOP communication strategy as well as extras that they are aspiring to that align well with company culture.  There company is on a journey to an esop & beyond!

This episode officially kicks off the Season 5 and the expansion of the podcast as a direct resource for Employee Stock Ownership Plans.  The Journey to an ESOP just became better because we are incorporating “& Beyond” to discuss not only pre-esop topics but go beyond that and deal with post-esop topics and issues that come up.  This episode provides a high-level understanding of what is to come and what we have dealt with in the last four seasons.  The value of listening will be to grasp some overall ESOP concepts that may be helpful for you to think about whether you are exploring your own journey to an ESOP or thinking about existing ESOP issues that are beyond the ESOP closing.

This episode takes advantage of the opportunity that we have during Christmas to stop and celebrate the reasons why folks decide to go towards ESOP… In this episode, we cover the ghost of Christmas past and thinking about the people that have helped your business get to where you are and how an ESOP can be the perfect way to reward them.  The Ghost of Christmas Present reminds us of what is happening right now that includes the current tax benefits of an ESOP and other benefits to reduce the workload and spend more time with the family.  The Ghost of Christmas yet to come makes us think of the future legacy of the business and how much better it will en to be an ESOP company.  MERRY CHRISTMAS - The ESOP Guy!

In this episode we finish the series we started to help prepare folks for the ESOP site visit.  The focus of the episode is to understand in covering first the financial highlights and how they connect to points you will want to make with the trustee and their valuation  firm.  In addition to the financials - the remaining part of the presentation will be to cover the ESOP deal structure and anything specific to the transaction.