Youre in the Valley of Death

Published: July 11, 2023, 9 a.m.

This week, in episode 159, Shawn Busse, Jay Goltz, and Jennifer Kerhin talk about that difficult transition most growing businesses endure when the owner can no longer handle all of the most important tasks herself but also can\u2019t quite afford to hire the people she needs to lighten her load. It\u2019s part of the reason Jennifer, as she\u2019s told us in previous episodes, has been working 12-hour days, six days a week. It\u2019s a challenging transition, and it has a name: It\u2019s the \u201cvalley of death,\u201d says Shawn, who compares it to crossing a desert. We also discuss how big the owners want their businesses to get, why important tools and processes seem to break with every $500,000 of revenue growth, and what constitutes the proper care and feeding of salespeople. Plus: Jay has an idea for owners who are having a hard time selling their businesses. The idea involves selling the business to a key employee in a transaction Jay is calling a WE-SOP. Get it? It\u2019s kind of like an ESOP, but it\u2019s a lease-to-own version of an ESOP. A WE-SOP.