In this episode of The Transition Table, Diane sits down with Amy Kendall, founder of Hello Story, a marketing, messaging, and copywriting agency. Amy walks through the StoryBrand framework — developed by Donald Miller — and how business owners can use it to craft clearer, more compelling messaging. The conversation covers why customers should be positioned as the hero (not the business), how to identify the right ideal client and understand their emotional pain points, and how building a brand narrative around a guide-and-character structure helps businesses become more memorable and effective in the marketplace. Amy also shares practical tips for mining customer reviews and asking deeper questions to uncover what truly motivates your audience. The episode wraps with a discussion on why clarity is the ultimate competitive advantage — and why getting outside help often makes all the difference. 

You can reach Amy here:

email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amykendall-hellostory/

In this important repeat episode, Diane sat down with Jessica Fialkovich, the founder of Exit Factor during our first national conference in October 2025. Jessica discussed her newest book, The Exit Factor.

Jessica provides valuable insights as to why she wrote the book -- how she wants to help business owners obtain VALUE out of their business and exit on their own terms, and for owners to think of "the day after..."

We then we dove into the 5 key areas of the VORTEx model:

Phase 1 - Value Your Business: What is your business worth today in the marketplace, and what is the value gap for the owner?

Phase 2- Optimize Your Financials: Clean up extraneous expenses, and determine how to improve both gross and net margins.

Phase 3- Record What You Do: This part is the key to making a business saleable - we take a brain-dump from the owner and document all processes, key contacts and critical information to be able to run the business without the owner.

Phase 4 - Transform Your Growth: This is the fun part - how can you grow your business to create something with high value and attractiveness in the marketplace?

Phase 5 - Exit, But Not The End: Whatever your exit looks like, a key point is to know what you will do the "day after" - many people want to retire from their business but don't think about what they are retiring TO.

It was a great opportunity to learn from Jessica directly, and she makes obvious that her passion for helping business drives her. Thank you for visiting us at The Transition Table!

You can order the book by clicking here: https://tinyurl.com/32mffu7s

Ask

In this episode, Diane speaks with Emily Griesing to talk about how building your business branding is a good strategic move. They discuss what branding is, why it matters, and how to resonate with your target audience. There are some great tips for any business looking to stand out, and Emily's contact information is below.

Emily discusses how she determines how the business fits in its market, who is the target market, what can people expect from the brand when they interact with the business.

Her key takeaway is: Branding is meaning beyond a name.

Here is Emily's bio: 

Emily Griesing is a marketer and brand strategist with a passion for propelling organizations and professionals forward by crafting and amplifying their unique brand voice and positioning their offerings to stand out in a crowded market. As the Owner and Chief Strategy Officer of Bossible, a branding, marketing, and business development consultancy, she crafts custom strategies that grow clients' reputations in a competitive marketplace. She advises clients on how to develop their messaging to stand out, reach their target audience, and scale their businesses. By thinking strategically, managing projects effectively, and writing persuasively, she has established herself as the ideal partner for business leaders and professionals seeking to level up.

You can reach her at [email protected] 

Her social handles are @itsbossible

In this episode, Diane chats with Shawn Richards of Blue Sky Business Consulting all about how to develop young leaders while understanding the nuances of generational differences. Shawn provided great insights about 

All about Shawn:

Shawn Richards is passionate about helping new leaders learn the fundamental principles and skills required to lead high-performing teams. After all, what happens to high-performing leaders? They get promoted.

He has developed a proven curriculum and training system grounded in the most current research on human performance in the workplace. This system equips leaders with practical strategies to build confidence, elevate their leadership presence, and distinguish themselves as builders of high-performing teams.

How to Reach Shawn:
Website:  https://blueskybizconsulting.com/ 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnjrichards/

This week, Diane is joined by Paige Wiese of Tree Ring Digital to discuss the importance of maintaining and keeping track of your digital assets BEFORE you are ready to exit.

We cover what you need to know about all the following things:
1. website ownership and platforms
2. Social media sites - Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram
3. Google Business sites and reviews - who owns them

Paige then provides some great solutions for business owners, so that you have full control of these assets before you need to transfer them!

Here is the checklist Paige offered in the video: https://www.treeringdigital.com/tt

About Paige: Paige Wiese (W-ee-s) is the founder and CEO of Tree Ring Digital, a top-ranked Denver-based marketing agency that develops high performance websites and digital marketing strategies for businesses nationwide. With 16 years of industry experience, Paige has seen companies and CEOs struggle to manage and maintain their assets through growth or transition. She has recently developed a proprietary digital asset management service to track and protect companies’ over 200 data points. Paige is a dedicated speaker and mentor on the topics of brand protection and business growth.

Today we have Art Warsoff, President of Transworld Business Advisors of Utah County (and my business partner/life partner!). He gets into some great detail about what a business broker is looking for when putting a business for sale.

He starts with why Exit Factor is so effective for SMB's and why business brokers like Exit Factor graduates--cleaner financials, less reliance on the business owner, and effective processes. All of these improvements add significant value to a business, whether you are looking to grow or wanting to exit in the future.

Art also talked about some research that we did about the businesses we have sold over the past 10 years, and how pricing a business correctly and having all your ducks in a row impact sales price and time on the market. 

To read more about the details of our research, go here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-exit-planning-luxury-diane-hartz-warsoff-mba-cbi-cepa-gaodc/

You can reach Art at [email protected] or (385) 342-4200