How to Build an Exit Plan Before Selling Your Business | Business Valuation & Succession

John Schierman (00:00)

And the one thing that I kept hearing over and over again was kind of a mental exercise that says

Hey, you’ve built this business. Here’s where you’re at. Let’s figure out whether you’ve bought yourself a job or whether you’ve actually built a business. And what they recommended was what I want you to do is I want you to go ahead and take two weeks, go on vacation, leave your phone behind, then see what you come back to. So last spring, I unplugged and I went to Puerto Rico for a month.

John Schierman (00:29)

And the whole exercise, and you can do this mentally or in real, the whole exercise is what do you come back to?

Q Edmonds (00:35)

Yeah.

John Schierman (00:35)

Does this business operate without you? Or does it fall apart?

Q Edmonds (02:12)

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds, and I’m excited to be here today. I have another fantastic guest. And listen, 19 businesses either owned, transitioned, like this, this gentleman has been involved in a lot. He knows what he’s talking about. He’s experienced. And I’m looking forward to us.

peeking through his lens, learning from what he’s been involved in, learning from his success. And so I should have asked him about his last name, but I’m gonna go ahead and take my shot at it. I wanna introduce you all to Mr. John Schierman. How did I do, sir?

John Schierman (02:49)

My grandpa would love you.

Q Edmonds (02:50)

Yes,

John Schierman (02:51)

Yeah.

Q Edmonds (02:52)

yes, yes. So glad to hear that. How you doing today, sir?

John Schierman (02:55)

live in the dream.

Q Edmonds (02:56)

Yeah, yeah. That’s cute. man, I’m with you. I’m living a dream. I am intentional every day, and that’s enough for me. Yeah. because my intentions is now disruption follows intention. So when you you’re intentional, things are gonna change. But when you are intentional, your eyes on the prize and nothing can stop you other than yourself.

Really. And so I love that man. So listen, Mr. John, I’m glad you’re here, sir. I am the type. I like to dive right in. So I would love for you to tell the people what’s your main focus these days. If you don’t mind, give us a little bit of a origin story, kind of how you got into the spots that you’re in, and then tell us where you are in the world. People love to know where people are in the world. So Mr. John, sir, you got the floor, my friend.

John Schierman (03:37)

Thank you. Thank you, Q. Absolutely. My name’s John. I’ve got a umbrella corporation called Myriad. One of the things that excites me right now is I’ve developed along with a partner, an it’s a web app called Exit Intelligence. my background, Q hit on it a little bit on that. one of my favorite sayings is never start a business without an exit plan. I learned that about halfway in.

And what I’ve done is created a way for investors to go ahead and small business owners, medium, everything that are looking to the end. When am I going to get out of this? How am I going to leverage this and turn it into my retirement portfolio? And the reason I stumbled upon that is because I found out that there’s six million businesses that are going to be sold over the next 10 years just by baby boomers, not including everybody else.

And five million of those will be sold off market. So they’re not going to use a business broker, they’re not going to use an MAA firm, they don’t have a family member that they’re going to transition to. and what we’ve done is we’ve created a web app that allows businesses to go in and put their information in and it gives them a score beyond your eBay, beyond your factor and acceleration rates. it

It goes in and it gives you a score of what am I worth? how do I piece this out? And it’s good for everything commercial property, residential, long term, short term, your Airbnbs, your laundromats, your turnarounds, everything. And it’ll allow you to and it’s a free app. So no catches on this. we look at this more as a visiting the doctor.

So right now I’m curious. I don’t know. The exit grant for most companies when they’re looking to get out is three to five years. so we’ll give it to you free. We’ll take your pulse, check your blood pressure, all of that. tell you where you’re at. if you want to continue it and come back in for more, three months, six months, a year down the road, then you’re gonna have to pay. But you have baseline to compare it to. And the other thing is when you do your first one, just like at your doctor.

It’s going to tell you your cholesterol is high, this is fine, this is so we’re going to identify the areas for you that are going to make your business less saleable, worth less money, and give you a roadmap to work on those to where you get it to the dollar figure that you need to be able to sell and retire.

Q Edmonds (05:56)

Yeah, yeah. Love it, man. Thank you, man. Thank you for sharing, Mr. John. Thank you for kind of walking us through it all. I often say, destiny has no wasted moments, Mr. John. Right. Like, right? We we’re learning from every leg of leg of our journey in business, in real estate, and life, right? you’ve done obviously multiple things.

John Schierman (06:15)

I’ve done a myriad of things.

Q Edmonds (06:16)

It’s

a myriad of things perfectly said. So I would love to know throughout your journey, what has the journey revealed to you about yourself? Has it revealed discipline, humbleness? Like what has the journey revealed to Mr. John about John?

John Schierman (07:18)

that’s a great question. for me, it’s about learning something new every day. It’s about going in and recognizing I may not be the expert in this. and there are people out there that are. And then expanding your network to increase your net worth. Yeah. And that’s really about it. I used to say long before AI hit the market, everything that everybody’s done in this world, whatever you’re experiencing right now as far as a challenge.

Notice how I don’t say problem. Yep.

Q Edmonds (07:44)

Come on now.

John Schierman (07:45)

You bet. because challenges always have opportunities. They have the ability of something out of the back end that’s lemonade and not lemons. And you can go onto YouTube and you can learn how to change the brake pads in a nineteen eighty-eight Chevy Chevet. Yeah. Okay. So there’s people out there that can help you and they’re more than willing to help you. And anybody that owns a business, we’ve all come from the same

Humble roots of I got an idea, I see a need, I’m gonna fill it, I wanna do this, I wanna do that. We’ve all been there. That’s what we all have in common. And we can help each other. We can and that’s where I’m at. Pay it forward. How can I take the things that I’ve learned along the way as far as cause I’ve sold businesses that are way undervalued? I’ve actually started businesses that, I don’t want to talk about it unless you’re a licensed psychologist.

Q Edmonds (08:34)

Yeah.

Absolutely. Yeah.

John Schierman (08:34)

If you know I mean. But

others, you know what? my so blessed, so humble. So is that kind of what you were asking?

Q Edmonds (08:42)

Listen, I mean, so I just asked the question. You answered it brilliantly, but there was no real answer that I was looking for. I just like to propose the question so we can have, really good conversation. I always I ask that question because at the center of each business is the business owner. And so I always ask that question just to see like where you’re pulling from, from your journey and sometimes, beginning situations. And

Sometimes we need a little more fuel for the journey. So it’s like where are we pulling that fuel from? And so man, you answered it brilliantly. now when it comes to businesses, operations, systems are a big thing, right? And so I would love to know from you, sir, what is one operational thing you’ve put into place, let’s say the last year or two, that’s really helped you, the way you run deals and be successful.

John Schierman (09:30)

So this this hits home for me. So when my partner and I with int exit intelligence were looking at putting this thing together, I went out there and I watched YouTube’s and podcasts and everything about all the people that have that have come before me, all the other tools on the marketplace that allow you to do it. And the one thing that I kept hearing over and over again was a was kind of a a mental exercise that says

Hey, you’ve built this business. Here’s where you’re at. Let’s figure out whether you’ve bought yourself a job or whether you’ve actually built a business. And what they recommended was what I want you to do is I want you to go ahead and take two weeks, go on vacation, leave your phone behind, then see what you come back to. So last spring, I unplugged and I went to Puerto Rico for a month.

Q Edmonds (10:17)

Endica.

John Schierman (10:18)

And the whole exercise, and you can do this mentally or in real, the whole exercise is what do you come back to?

Q Edmonds (10:24)

Yeah.

John Schierman (10:24)

Does this business operate without you? Or does it fall apart? And that was my biggest that brought me to the whole idea of what can we do for these businesses other than telling them what their EBITDA score is? Other than telling them where they’re

strong because everybody knows where you’re strong. So I kind of look at a queue like this. Most everybody that owns a business has also bought or sold at home. Now, what’s that house worth? Okay. I can go on to Trulia. I can go on to Zillow. It’ll give me a snapshot. So why do I need a realtor? Well, I need somebody that knows the market. I need somebody that’s connected with the person that can haul the junk out from the hoarder house and do the landscaping and fix

The back deck and that can go in and do the house staging and get the most maximum amount that I can get for my house. And I’m willing to give them three percent. As a realtor, there’s realtors everywhere. They make some of them make a really, really good living. What do they bring to the table? But there’s nothing like that we’ve found for.

Selling a business. Okay.

Q Edmonds (11:22)

Yeah.

John Schierman (11:23)

Now you can hire a business broker, you can be working with an MA firm, but again, let’s go back to those people that are going to be doing a FISBO, a for sale by owner. I speak in analogies a lot.

Q Edmonds (11:34)

Yeah.

John Schierman (11:35)

So I took a look at it and what can we copy from the real estate market using MLS and using that whole idea? And that’s where we built the Exit Intelligence app and why we give it to you for free for the first time is because you need a benchmark. Okay.

You’ve built this or you’ve started it, and now you’re listening to John. Maybe I do need an exit plan. Where am I at? What’s it worth? Et cetera. And then more importantly, on that is, geez, that’s more than I thought my business was worth. Great. Maybe I’ll be able to retire early. Or what we see a lot is that’s it.

Q Edmonds (12:05)

Yeah.

John Schierman (12:05)

Okay. I did John’s mental exercise of taking a vacation for two weeks and yeah, now I see where now I see where the shortfalls are.

We then give you the roadmap of what can you do to build those things up, take care of those, because there’s so many factors in selling a business other than, what did you do last year? What’s your PL? What was your quarterlies? What was so it’s for me it’s kind of fun. It’s helping those people that want to sell and want to retire and they’ve built a portfolio out there, what is it worth, either as a whole or individually slice them off.

Q Edmonds (12:37)

Yeah, I love it. I think you’re dropping some real thought provoking nuggets. And really I’m appreciating this conversation. I would love to know from you what’s next for you. What’s your next real goal?

John Schierman (13:31)

My big thing right now is focus. I’ve learned that squirrel, shiny object. it’s so easy to get distracted, especially in this day and age. Yeah. So I’ve gone to the point of I’m gonna go ahead and look forward.

I’m gonna learn from the past. I’m gonna act in like you said, intentionally today. Yeah. And I’m gonna try stop trying to chase squirrels. So for me, it’s about that intentional planning of what are we doing third quarter this year? What do we have to get in place when we get to fourth quarter? What new initiatives are we gonna launch for the next year? Where do we see ourselves in two, three, five years? so for me, it’s taking that whole goal setting and

biting it off into those short term, medium, long term goals where, you can’t get to a five year goal unless you’re putting something into it on a daily, weekly, monthly basis. Otherwise to me, it ends up being like trying to drink from a fire hose or trying to eat an elephant all in one bite.

Q Edmonds (14:29)

Yeah. And you gotta eat that elephant one bite at a time. I love that expression because I it visually it paints the picture. But then I’m like, I’ve never eaten an elephant. Like, can we use something else that I like that’s got delicious that I can put barbecue sauce on? But no, that’s a whole another topic.

man, so I love to ask everyone that comes on, and I’m gonna love asking you this. I love giving everybody’s unique perspective when it comes to relationships. And so I would love for you to tell us what’s your perspective philosophy on building healthy business relationships, and what are some of the relationships that have helped you or some relationships that you have helped.

John Schierman (15:04)

I think that’s a twofold answer, Q. to me, everything in a business is about the relationship. And you can take that all the way down to I’m filling my Amazon cart. There’s a relationship there. It’s digital, it’s not personal, but I think as a society, I think we’re moving toward more of a community-based, whether it’s in networking, whether it’s in your hyperlocal community.

I think we’re moving more to a community base. We want to feel involved. We want to feel worthy. we want to surround ourselves with like-minded people. that old saying of, you know, the people you hang, the five people you hang around with the most are who you become. Okay,

Q Edmonds (15:42)

Yeah.

John Schierman (15:43)

their habits, their downfalls, everything. So when it comes to relationships, I go back to the KLN, no like and trust. So

Q Edmonds (15:51)

Yeah.

John Schierman (15:52)

you gotta get somebody to know you.

and know about you or your business, then they’ve got to like you, then they have to trust you. But beyond that, from a relationship standpoint, I believe that we’re all mini influencers. Okay. That every single business owner and every single person parked in the backyard doing a bonfire when it gets cold. hey, I noticed you put up a new deck. Who did that for you? bingo. You’re a mini influencer. You’re going to listen to your neighbors.

Somebody posts in a social media thing, hey, I just moved here from Texas. We’ve got a three-year-old that needs preschool. I have a six-year-old that’s going to need dance lessons, and where do I get my hair done? everybody in their woodwork comes out. That’s where the relationship starts. I think that every single business owner has in their head eight, 10, 12 people that do something that they’re good at. That when you’re having those conversations, you can ask them if you were in my shoes.

Who would you go to for this? And so without those relationships that you’ve got, it doesn’t expand. It doesn’t gain momentum. It doesn’t keep the momentum going. Me personally, I was lucky enough that when I went through a divorce, the day after the divorce was done, I started a job with a company that promoted personal and professional development.

Now these are from the masters, the Brian Tracy’s, the Tony Alessandras, Tony Robbins had just started with a things like that. And what they did is they packaged them all together. You’ve probably been to these. You go down to the convention center or a big, Indianapolis Superdome or whatever, and you listen to all these people, and then they’re selling their books and their CDs and their back then the DVDs and the tapes Yimeled. so I was lucky enough to walk into that.

And every single day we would pull everybody from every department into our big training room and we would put one of these on the screen from one of the masters, whether it was time management, negotiating skills, personal and professional development topics, things like that. So early on, I was lucky. I was blessed to walk into a situation where they say that motivation doesn’t last. Okay, but neither does a shower.

Q Edmonds (17:59)

Haha!

John Schierman (18:00)

So why do we need motivation every day? And it’s blessed me to the point where it’s become a habit for me that if I’m not learning something every day, if I’m not continuing to stay motivated, I’m falling behind and my competition is getting ahead of me.

Q Edmonds (18:12)

Yeah. So well said, man. You see, I audibly cannot keep my laugh in. That is so brilliant because a shower does not last, but we keep going back to it. So I love that. that was good. that will stick with me. I appreciate that.

John Schierman (18:25)

You can use that one too because it’s not mine.

Q Edmonds (18:27)

Thank you, sir. Cause I was planning on it. So I’m glad you came. I was gonna place where I say I got it at, but no, I appreciate you. listen, before we tell people how to get in contact with you, yeah. I want to just make sure we covered everything. So I know I’ve been asking you questions. Is there anything that maybe you came into this wanting to make sure our viewers know?

about you or about your business. I kind of just wanna if there’s anything that was on your mind when you came in, I want to make sure we get to land that. So if there’s anything you wanted to share, I kinda wanna open the floor up for that man.

John Schierman (18:59)

Great question. Well, everybody talks about their wheelhouse versus their target market versus their ideal customer. So when it comes to exit intelligence, I see the biggest need right now is those baby boomers that are out there that are looking at the end. How am I going to retire? How much money am I going to get for all of my efforts that I’ve put into this? I’ve got a free app out there that you can use and it’ll tell you where you’re at. It’ll give you that baseline, that that first doctor’s appointment.

And then if you want, we can link that into all the specialists that you need to work on your cholesterol and your A1C1. And again, I speak in analogies, but to get that business to where it needs to be in order for you to exit. That’s the big picture. Now, anybody else out there, if you want some ideas on that whole idea of never start a business without an exit plan, I’ve built a business, I’m not in that baby boomer one. what do I need next?

I love to mentor people. Just reach out. it’s exit-intelligence.com. Exit exit-intelligence.com. When you go in there, you’re gonna land on a page that says, hey, give me access to this, fill it out.

we’re working on another one that’s gonna allow you to go in and create a profile and then use it right away. That should be ready by I’d say mid-October, because we want to make this easy for everybody. And you know what? Go in, give me your name, give me an email address, give me a phone number, and then go in and use this app. and then a button at the end that says, Do you want to be part of our newsletter that goes out? great. We’ll keep in contact with you.

If it’s not you, the baby boomer that’s retiring, if you know somebody in that arena and you’ve had conversations with them about I don’t know what it’s worth, I don’t know how I’m gonna do this, this is a great place to start. It’s free, it’s our way of paying it forward to everybody.

Q Edmonds (20:45)

Yeah, yeah. Love it man. Listen, John, thank you so much, sir, for coming on. I want to say three things to you sincerely. One, thank you for your time. You’re welcome. I think time is our most precious commodity. So thank you for valuing us enough to give us some of your time. Thank you. Two.

Thank you for your gift of authenticity, the gift of your integrity. I would even say the gift of your vulnerability. So I’m saying thank you for coming and sharing, because I really believe when we share our story, what we do is spread seeds for people. And we never know when those seeds are going to take root and grow, but the seed is there. So thank you for coming, sharing some seeds. And number three, lastly, sir, thank you for your mindset. Thank you for the way you think and bringing that mindset to this platform. I appreciate you coming on today, sir. Thanks.

John Schierman (21:27)

you

I enjoyed this. you’re a special person and I hope you become one of my long term relationships.

Q Edmonds (21:32)

Man, you talking my language now. I appreciate that, sir. I really do. So listen, y’all heard Mr. John. His information is in the show notes. Exit Intelligence, please get in contact with him. It’s there in the show notes. The link is there. Definitely make sure you are subscribed here because I promise you we’re going to continue to bring up amazing people, just like Mr. John. So, sir, I say thank you again. And everyone else, you have an incredible day.