P&L: Priorities & Lifestyle Episode 95

The Business Exit Rollercoaster: Emotions, Wealth, and Life After the Sale with Matt Michel & Brandon Jacob

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This week on P&L, I’m joined by Matt Michel, founder of Service Nation, and Brandon Jacob, an M&A advisor at Contractor CFO. Together, they are the co-authors of The Business Exit Rollercoaster. This episode dives into the intense, often overlooked emotional realities of selling a business. Matt and Brandon share insights from interviewing nearly 100 business owners, exploring the dangers of negotiating with private equity alone, the difference between a planned exit and a forced "catalyst" moment, and the unexpected loss of identity that plagues many founders after the wire hits.

Tune in this week on P&L to learn why preparing for your exit is just as much about mental and emotional readiness as it is about the financial multiple.

Learn more about Brandon at contractorscfo.com or email him at brandon@contractorscfo.com. You can reach Matt at mattmichel@mail.com and find their book, The Business Exit Rollercoaster, on Amazon.

"The whole process of selling a business when you close, it's just surreal... all of a sudden it's like bang. 8:00, you're on the phone, 8:05, you've just sold your company. And it's like, what just happened?" - Matt Michel

This week on Priorities & Lifestyle:

Transforming the Trades: How Service Nation elevated the "bottom 95%" of mom-and-pop contractors into highly profitable enterprises.
The Danger of Going Solo: Why sitting across the table from seasoned private equity buyers without an M&A advisor is a massive risk.
The "Pre-Game" of Exiting: The stark difference between a planned, strategic sale and an exit forced by a life-altering catalyst.
The Psychology of the Sale: Navigating the loss of identity, adjusting to sudden wealth, and the unique post-exit struggles of Type A extroverts.
Protecting the Payout: Why the very first calls you make after funding should be to your financial planner and your estate attorney.

Our Favorite Quotes:

"You're selling your business, you have no experience in this, and you're dealing with a guy, especially from private equity, who does this all day, all the time." - Brandon Jacob
"There's an inverse relationship between risk and reward in terms of selling a company. If you can lower the risk, you raise the reward." - Matt Michel
"It's not necessarily how much money you sold for. It's really who you are, and understanding who you are and how you're going to deal with it prior to the close." - Brandon Jacob

About Rob Schulz and P&L Priorities & Lifestyle Podcast

The P&L: Priorities & Lifestyle Podcast is a show for business owners. In each episode, host and financial planner Rob Schulz sits down with business owners and the professionals that serve them to talk about business building, life, money, and the all-important transition out of the business, which inevitably happens to everyone who has ever founded a company.

P&L: Priorities & Lifestyle Episode 95