Your Next: A Guide to Finding Fulfillment After Your Exit Hosted by Jerome Myers

You know how to run your business. But do you know how to sell it?

Mark Dorman, President and Managing Director of Succession Plus US, joins Jerome Myers on Your N.E.X.T. to discuss what founders need to know before selling a business and what often surprises them after the sale.

Drawing on more than 100 exits completed by his team, Mark explains why business owners need the right exit-planning advisors, how to coordinate financial and legal expertise, and why even highly successful founders can struggle to relinquish control.

He also shares a personal lesson from his own business exits: financial success doesn’t automatically replace the challenge, relationships, and purpose that came from building a company.

In this conversation:
• How to prepare your business for sale
• Choosing the right business exit advisor
• Why financial planning and exit planning aren’t the same
• Founder identity and the emotional side of selling
• Finding purpose after a business exit

Are you selling your business to get away from something, or moving toward a future you’ve deliberately chosen?

Mark: https://succession.plus/us/
Exit to Excellence: https://exittoexcellence.com/
#BusinessExit #ExitPlanning #BusinessSuccession

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Willow McIntosh left the real estate business in 2012 and entered the uncertainty many founders expect the exit itself to solve.

What should I do now?

His first answer was to build again.

He created another business in the same industry, only to discover that a new company could reproduce many of the same deeper questions. The work had changed, but the search for identity and purpose had not.

That experience became the beginning of a 14-year investigation into what remains true about a person when the familiar role disappears. After more than 12,000 hours of direct client practice, Willow began identifying four recurring foundations that can help people reconnect with purpose: fascination, natural gifts, the challenges and training embedded in their life journey, and the underlying “why” that makes contribution meaningful.

In this episode of Your NEXT, Willow joins Jerome Myers to explore why exited founders can be especially vulnerable to rebuilding too quickly.

The new investment, board seat, company, or project may feel productive. It may even be successful. But activity can also become a way to avoid the harder work of discovering who you are without the identity that achievement created.

Willow and Jerome examine the difference between a role and an identity, why the clues to purpose often predate the business, and what becomes possible when a founder stops trying to invent the next chapter from scratch.

The central question is not simply:

What should I do next?

It may be:

What has always been true about me?

For founders who have already proven they can build, achieve, and create value, that shift changes the assignment. The next chapter is no longer about proving capability.

It is about deciding where that capability belongs now.

Learn more about Willow McIntosh:
https://willowmcintosh.com

Take the Exit Readiness Assessment:
https://www.exittoexcellence.com/era

Learn more about Jerome Myers:
https://www.exittoexcellence.com

Thank you,
Jerome

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Wayne Bell’s first exit happened when he was 13.
It was not the sale of a company. It was the night he was forced from
childhood into responsibility, an identity transition that shaped the
grit, urgency and relentless drive he carried into business.
Decades later, after serving as a founder, investor and CEO nine times
and helping scale and sell multiple companies, Wayne learned that
every exit contains the same two movements: a transaction and a
transition.
The transaction may create liquidity.
The transition asks who you are when the company no longer needs you.
In this episode of Your NEXT, Wayne joins Jerome Myers to examine why
exit readiness must begin with the founder. Wayne explains his belief
that every company should remain perpetually exit ready, whether the
eventual path is a sale, ESOP, family transfer, employee purchase or
continued ownership. A company that is always ready to transfer is
usually a stronger company to keep.
But business readiness is only one layer.
After leaving a company he had helped build for 14 years, Wayne
experienced the silence that many exited founders never anticipate.
The colleagues who had filled his days moved onto the new owner’s
agenda. The urgent decisions disappeared. The phone stopped ringing.
Freedom arrived as unstructured time, and Wayne filled the void with
another company, board seats and work he did not actually want.
His financial outcome was successful.
His identity transition was not yet complete.
Wayne and Jerome explore how founders can prepare differently. They
discuss required and preferred deal outcomes, assembling an inner
circle of advisors, creating a personal creed and defining freedom
before money and time make the question unavoidable.
Wayne also shares the lesson he carried home from tracking lions on
foot in Africa: you cannot see the entire path from where you stand.
You take the next step carefully, observe what it reveals and remain
willing to change direction.
A long term vision still matters. But analysis cannot replace movement.
The conversation ultimately moves beyond selling a company. A health
scare forced Wayne to confront how often he had postponed life until
after the next achievement, the next number or the next liquidity
event.
Time became real.
And freedom became the ability to choose intentionally what to do, who
to do it with and when to do it.
Learn more about Wayne Bell and STS Capital Partners:
https://stscapital.com
Contact Wayne:
[email protected]
Take the Exit Readiness Assessment:
https://www.exittoexcellence.com/era
Learn more about Jerome Myers:
https://www.exittoexcellence.com
Thank you,
Jerome

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Peter Goldstein had what many founders would consider an enviable first exit.
He started a specialty food distribution company at 24, built
recurring revenue, strong margins and a respected customer base, and
attracted three potential buyers by age 30.
But he had never learned how to exit a business.
In this episode of Your NEXT, Peter joins Jerome Myers to explain why
building a valuable company is not the same as building an exitable
one. His first transaction included a two year earnout and a buyer
whose culture did not fit. The number looked good at closing, but the
transition revealed what the headline price had hidden.
Peter and Jerome explore founder dependency, transferable enterprise
value and the personal cost of making yourself indispensable. They
also examine reciprocal reliance: the business depends on the founder
to solve every problem, while the founder depends on the business for
identity, purpose and importance.
Peter shares how seeing a competitor’s product in a customer’s kitchen
changed his relationship with the company, why burnout pushed him
toward a sale and what happened when he left without a clear picture
of what came next.
After four decades of entrepreneurship and several exits, Peter now
approaches ownership differently. He does not simply build a company
to sell.
He builds a company someone else would want to own.
The episode also challenges founders to create more than one path
forward. A sale, recapitalization, ESOP, partnership, internal
transfer or partial exit can all be viable, but those choices must be
built before they are needed.
As Peter puts it, his exits were not his only possible options.
They were the only options he had created.
Learn more about Peter:
https://petergoldstein.co
Take the Exit Readiness Assessment:
https://www.exittoexcellence.com/era
Learn more about Jerome Myers:
https://www.exittoexcellence.com
Thank you,
Jerome

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A founder can be burned out enough to want an exit and still not be
ready to let the business go.
Juan Ignacio knows that tension from both sides. He built a B2B SaaS
lending platform from Madrid, raised tens of millions in venture
capital along with a $100 million debt facility, and exited four years
after launching. The deal created relief, but it also exposed a
question the transition could only postpone: What do I do with my life
now?
In this episode of Your NEXT, Juan joins Jerome Myers to unpack what
his own near distressed exit taught him about preparation, runway, and
the danger of waiting until the company needs a transaction. He also
explains how that experience led him to found L40, a sell side M&A
advisory firm focused largely on B2B SaaS companies.
Together, Jerome and Juan explore why founders sometimes sabotage the
transactions they say they want, how valuation expectations and market
timing affect the likelihood of a sale, and why “I just need the
money” may be a signal to examine the real problem before hiring an
advisor.
Juan also explains the Rule of 40, what makes an advisor a genuine
fit, and why a healthy company is not automatically a desirable
acquisition target.
The hardest part of an exit is not always finding a buyer.
Sometimes it is helping the founder become willing to leave.
Learn more about Juan and L40:
https://www.l40.com
Take the Exit Readiness Assessment:
https://www.exittoexcellence.com/era
Learn more about Jerome Myers:
https://www.exittoexcellence.com
Thank you,
Jerome

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What if your business keeps growing, but your personal wealth does not?
Phil Calandra built an insurance brokerage and an investment advisory
firm with approximately $250 million under management before selling
both companies in a single transaction to a $10 billion firm. The deal
made work optional. It also helped him see a problem that traps far
too many founders.
Most business owners have plenty of specialists: a bookkeeper, CPA,
fractional CFO, financial advisor, and perhaps a business consultant.
Each may be competent. But when no one coordinates the complete
financial system, the founder becomes the conductor, and the business,
tax strategy, and personal wealth can begin working against one
another.
Phil calls this the coordination gap. It is how an owner can drive
more revenue, pay more taxes, assume more complexity, and still wonder
why the wealth is not showing up outside the company.
In this episode, Phil and Jerome Myers discuss the heart attack that
changed Phil’s relationship with risk, the unsolicited offer that led
to his two exits, the emotional high after the transaction, and why he
chose to build again. They also examine the revenue trap, the danger
of assuming “I’ll make it all when I sell,” and the three financial
flywheels every founder must coordinate: business profitability, tax
strategy, and owner wealth.
If your entire wealth plan depends on a future transaction, this
conversation will challenge you to start extracting the value of the
business before the exit.
In This Episode:
• Why an exit made Phil work optional but did not make him want to retire
• How a heart attack at 51 influenced his decision to sell
• Why more revenue does not necessarily mean more owner wealth
• Where CPAs, CFOs, bookkeepers, and wealth managers can work at cross purposes
• How the coordination gap turns the founder into the financial bottleneck
• Why the business and the owner’s wealth must be planned as one system
• How to coordinate profitability, tax strategy, and personal wealth
before a sale
Resources:
Wealth Creation Scorecard: https://wealthcreationscorecard.com
Exit to Excellence: https://exittoexcellence.com
All the best,
Jerome

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Dr. Michael Filosi turned a neglected two-chair dental office with possums in the walls into the largest dental practice in Adelaide. Ten years later, the company could run without him, private-equity buyers were interested, and the business appeared to be an exit-planning success story.

Then the joy disappeared.

Michael went from emailing his accountant to closing the sale in only 81 days. He rejected the highest offer, selected the buyer he trusted to reach settlement, and walked away without an earnout or continuing role. When the money landed in his account, he felt as though he had escaped.

The feeling lasted about one week.

In this conversation with Jerome Myers, Michael describes the quieter challenge that followed the transaction: waking up without a company to improve, a team to lead, or a clear measure of progress. He had studied the risks of life after exit and avoided many of the obvious mistakes. He protected the capital, invested conservatively, maintained his relationships, and resisted rushing into another company. Still, knowledge did not eliminate the uncertainty.

Michael shares how the loss of business achievement pushed him toward extreme discipline, why nearly a year passed before a new direction began to emerge, and why even a self-described lone wolf needs someone or something to lean against during the transition.

The episode also explores his approach to enough. Michael believes wealth is created through concentration and protected through diversification. Rather than chasing another mountain, he is now optimizing for fulfillment, simplicity, family, health, and the ability to put his head on the pillow knowing it was a good day.

His experience offers a field note every founder should hear before selling: being ready to leave the company is not the same as being prepared for the life the transaction creates.

Thank you,

Jerome

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The sale can change your bank account in a day. It cannot tell you who to become on Monday morning.

Allan Crockett joins Jerome Myers to examine the void that appears when a business, title, team, and daily structure disappear. Drawing from two painful exits of his own, Allan explains why that empty ground rarely stays empty. Without an intentional purpose, it fills with busyness, unwanted obligations, and other people’s priorities.

The conversation moves from retirement fatigue and founder identity to marriage, health, and Allan’s five pillars of quality of life: time, money, purpose, relationships, and health. Allan also offers a practical test for evaluating post-exit commitments: if something consistently gives you energy, it may be a flower; if it continually drains you, it may be a weed.

The central lesson is one every founder should hear before signing the papers: the transaction does not equal transformation. Selling the company may create freedom, but building a life worthy of that freedom requires a separate decision.

Learn more about Allan at AllanCrockett.com.

Thank you,
Jerome

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#FounderLife #BusinessGrowth #BusinessOwner #ScalableBusiness
#BusinessSystems #BusinessStrategy #FounderJourney #Leadership
#BusinessExit #ExitReadiness #BusinessMaturity #OperationalExcellence
#ScaleUp #Entrepreneurship #ExitToExcellence

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After building Sacred Rides into one of the top mountain bike adventure companies in the world, Mike Brcic exited the business he had spent 23 years creating.

The celebration did not last long.

In this episode, Mike shares that the emotional high from the signed purchase agreement and wire transfer lasted about eight hours before the deeper question arrived: Now what?

Mike joins Jerome Myers for a powerful conversation about founder burnout, post-exit identity, and the difference between building for achievement and building from alignment.

They explore why founders often lose energy when they become disconnected from the customer, the company’s purpose, and the work that actually lights them up. Mike also shares how his post-exit journey led him to create Wayfinders, a company that designs immersive experiences to help leaders reconnect with themselves, others, nature, and something larger than achievement.

From the mountains of British Columbia to monasteries in Bhutan, this conversation is an invitation to rethink what success means after the exit.

Because the real question is not just whether you can sell the business.

The real question is: Who will you be when it is gone?

Learn more about Mike and Wayfinders: https://way-finders.com
Take the Exit Readiness Assessment: https://www.exittoexcellence.com/era
Learn more about Jerome Myers: https://www.exittoexcellence.com

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