Episode Description:
In this episode, Elizabeth is joined by Sherrye and Steve Merriman, the past owners of Clergy Advantage, which is one of the largest firms in the United States that provides tax services to the clergy community. They have been working with Elizabeth for over 20 years, and have recently completed their exit from Clergy Advantage to move on to their next adventure- guilt-free skiing! Tap or click the play button below to listen to: Building a Business Ministry and Growing Beyond with Sherrye and Steve Merriman.
You’ll get the full story of founding Clergy Advantage to transitioning out of a successful business. Sherrye and Steve share their roles, responsibilities, and strategies during this transition and give great insight into running, growing, and exiting a thriving business with your spouse.
Connect with Sherrye and Steve:
Clergy Advantage Website: https://www.clergysupport.com/
Connect with Elizabeth and the Transition Strategists:
Website: https://transitionstrategists.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetransitionstrategists
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/transitionstrategists/
This episode was produced by Story On Media & Marketing: https://www.successwithstories.com.
Building a Business Ministry and Growing Beyond with Sherrye and Steve Merriman Transcript
[00:00:00] Elizabeth Ledoux: Hi everyone and welcome back to the Business Transition Roadmap Podcast. Um, today I am very excited because I’m here with two of my most favorite people, Steve and Sherry Merryman. Um, they are the past owners of Clergy Advantage, which is a Colorado firm, and what they do, One of, if not the largest firm in the United States that provides tax services to the clergy community.
[00:00:35] And, um, just, yeah, our story goes back so many years. So, welcome, Stephen Cherry, thanks for being here. Thank you. Yeah. So I thought we’d start by just having each one of you tell us a little bit about yourselves and also how you got into this business in the first place and how you worked inside of the business.
[00:00:56] Could you worked as a husband, wife for many, many years? Yes.
[00:00:59] Steve Merriman: Yes. Yeah.
[00:01:01] Elizabeth Ledoux: So
[00:01:01] Steve Merriman: tell us a little bit about you. I married a preacher’s, I married a preacher’s kid and her father Wa was a minister. And when I was going to college and majoring in. Uh, he asked me a bunch of tax questions for ministers that he was never able to get the answer for.
[00:01:18] So I re spent lots of time researching that, uh, clergy tax issues. And then I spent one Saturday morning with him and said, here, I think I got answers to everything. He was so impressed that he told all of his minister friends that he had this wiz kid. That knows everything about clergy taxation. And before I knew it, I had hundreds and hundreds of minister tax clients that just kinda fell in my lap, all because of Sherry and her dad.
[00:01:45] And then from there, um, that was back in 1977 when we started that and. Moved to Colorado in 91. Kind of had my business out here and I linked up with somebody and we kind of combined our practices. And then in 1999, uh, Sherry and I fully bought the tax practice from that individual. And, and in 1999, I, we sold it in 2019.
[00:02:15] And I think it was around, um, maybe our first time was around 2003 when we started working with you, Elizabeth. And really when we, we built an office building, moved into that in 2006, and I think that’s my memory is that’s when we really started working closely together. It was around 2006.
[00:02:37] Elizabeth Ledoux: Yes. I think that that’s correct.
[00:02:39] Yeah. Because I remember, I remember we were doing a little bit of work prior to that, but when you Yes. When you went into the building and
[00:02:47] Steve Merriman: That’s right. Oh, yeah. You, you helped us a lot with. How to, uh, structure a, a commercial lease and that sort of thing. So yes, you were very instrumental in that. At the time we sold the business, we had, uh, 7,500 minister clients spread out among 50 states and numerous countries abroad in missionaries.
[00:03:07] And we also. Specialize in nonprofit, um, tax returns as well as, um, uh, retirement plans, uh, specialized retirement plans for ministers. So that was, that’s kind of our core business.
[00:03:23] Elizabeth Ledoux: That’s great. That’s great. And so you sold in 19. Or in 2019? Correct. Um, let’s go back Yes. And talk a little bit about, um, your journey towards this transition.
[00:03:38] Because you two, when we first met, were. Completely immersed in this company. Completely, um, working on it. Mm-hmm. So tell us a little bit about what that was like.
[00:03:50] Steve Merriman: I think Sherry probably has the first significant story, and this is going to sound flippant, but really it’s quite serious. Uh, and, um, Elizabeth, you taught Sherry.
[00:04:04] How to have guilt-free skiing. So just just as a little backdrop to that, we would try to get off to go skiing during tax season and by the time we got to the interstate from Fort Collins, Sherry was in tears saying, we can’t go. I have too much to do. Turn around that guilt-free skiing journey. Okay.
[00:04:25] Sherrye Merriman: Well, I’m gonna back up just a little bit further because when we took over the business in 99, we had five employees and $1,235 in the bank for the first payroll.
[00:04:40] Elizabeth Ledoux: Okay. Wow. It’s
[00:04:42] Sherrye Merriman: a little frightening. Yeah. And grew that. Um, to the point of having to, um, build a building. And, um, we had 36 employees when we sold it. Right? And all of a sudden, like overnight, I became, I was already cfo, but then I became a property manager leasing HR manager, hr.
[00:05:13] Steve Merriman: Yeah. Corporate filings,
[00:05:15] Sherrye Merriman: all of that, and I couldn’t breathe.
[00:05:19] Yeah. One key. Yeah. Um, so I, I remember when I first started really having one-on-ones, um, consulting with you, a lot of it was spent crying. Yeah. Because I was so stressed out. Yeah. And you walked me through these. Paths of just being able to figure out what I do, how I can delegate, who I can delegate to.
[00:05:51] And my overarching goal on my Pathfinder, which was very instrumental with us as well, um, was guilt-free skiing. Mm-hmm. And it’s been up there on the top of my. To the point where when I finally got to where I had days marked off on my calendar to ski, I put a sign on my desk and it said I ski, therefore I am not here
[00:06:22] Steve Merriman: in our living room.
[00:06:23] Yeah.
[00:06:25] Sherrye Merriman: And everyone knew that’s where I was. I wasn’t sick, I wasn’t in meetings, I was
[00:06:29] Elizabeth Ledoux: gone. They were done,
[00:06:32] Steve Merriman: explained, Elizabeth went through for prob, I dunno. How long did it take you to help guilt free skiing? I, it didn’t happen overnight. It was like
[00:06:40] Sherrye Merriman: a couple years. Yeah. It was not overnight. I mean, I had assignments all the time of Yeah.
[00:06:46] You know, write down, write down what I do. Yes. And that took a while, um, because I. Way too many things. Yep. And then I had to make a column the next time of, um, what I could delegate or what I could get rid of completely. And then the next step was who to delegate to. And then I started having to train people.
[00:07:15] Yeah. And yeah. Mm-hmm. So by the time. We had, well, that’s another step, but by the time we had an offer on our building, um, I was ready to dump and go. Yeah. Because I was prepared. Yes.
[00:07:31] Steve Merriman: Yeah. So,
[00:07:33] Elizabeth Ledoux: so I remember.
[00:07:35] Steve Merriman: Yeah, sounds like entries being, might be a, um, flippant thing, but that was the first step that you, you gave us that added value to the business.
[00:07:45] Thank you. And it really did add value to the business.
[00:07:49] Elizabeth Ledoux: Thank you. And the, and two things about that. Um, one is, Having a next adventure that you really want to do is very, very important to being able to transition. And the other thing that I remember, Sherry, when you, you transitioned your role without adding any employees.
[00:08:11] So when we first started working, your mindset, your belief or feeling was that your. Employees. You had two at the time, if I remember correctly. Mm-hmm. That your employees were so busy that you couldn’t put one more thing on them. But we also, I know, and, and so we started down the road of an invitation for them to grow and an invitation for them to learn more and an invitation for them to, um, be able to take more respons.
[00:08:44] And you kept those employees all the way through. Mm-hmm. Never added, never changed them, but they grew into it and you were able to grow out of it. And I think that that’s really important to, yeah. To think about. That’s true. Because yeah, we make assumptions that people can’t do more when truly, um, with the right support and the right technology and the right, the right training.
[00:09:08] And that they actually have the ability sometimes to take on a little bit more and, um, take a little off your plate.
[00:09:17] Sherrye Merriman: That’s true. Yeah. And I remember, uh, in reading your book on transitions, um, it was interesting to me to see. As I went through the book, it’s like, oh, we did that. We did that. That’s the exact steps that we went through and yeah.
[00:09:34] Yeah, it was just, it was really neat to see. And there are a lot of steps. Yeah. Like Steve said, it’s not overnight. None.
[00:09:42] Steve Merriman: It took a while and it’s not intuitive. Uh, at the ta, same time you’re coaching her on guilt-free skiing. You were changing my mindset when we first started working together. I thought as owner, I had to set the example for all of the employees as being the hardest worker.
[00:10:01] First one there, last one to leave. Um, and you said no, that’s not how you build value for the business. Who would want to buy a business? That completely depended on me and Sherry, and that completely changed my mindset. I go, wow. Um, and so that, that was critical then that was kind of going on with the guilt-free skiing.
[00:10:25] So that was part of that whole preparation there.
[00:10:29] Elizabeth Ledoux: Right. Which that gave you the opportunity to go on guilt-free ski days with Sherry. Yes. Which worked out perfectly. Yes, yes, yes. Exactly. So, um, So you were going along and guilt-free ski days, you’re shifting your mindset, Steve, so that you’re not working.
[00:10:51] You’re not the first one there. Last one to leave. Yes. Um, so you’re transitioning then responsibilities also. Yes. So you’re both doing that. Um, at what point did you start really thinking about. Transitioning because all along you’re transitioning your roles, right? Your roles, responsibilities, and tasks.
[00:11:12] But then there’s this thing called equity and ownership, right? And that’s a different kind of a transition. So what, when did you start thinking about that? Well, and your thoughts,
[00:11:23] Steve Merriman: this will probably sound silly to both you and your listening audience, but one of the key things you did was, um, you, you almost forced me to hire an a.
[00:11:35] And I’m thinking at the time, well, why would I want to give up roughly $40,000 of our net income for an assistant to do things that I can already do? That just doesn’t make any sense. And I think it, my guess is it probably, I’m so stubborn, it probably took you about two years before I pulled the plug and did that.
[00:11:55] I needed
[00:11:55] Elizabeth Ledoux: Sherry to help me with that cause it wouldn’t have happened without her.
[00:12:00] Steve Merriman: Uh, but when I finally did that, I go, okay, I, I don’t really know if this is worth 40 grand or not. But all of a sudden, what it did, it took all so much minutia off of me that that’s, that’s about the time that we started more exclusively.
[00:12:19] Um, cause now I wasn’t just mired in this minutia. I could actually think kind of at a 50,000 I had time to, to actually think. Yeah. Which, uh, which is, which sounds, uh, kind of silly. But that was, that, that’s exactly what happened on that.
[00:12:40] Sherrye Merriman: Nice. Yeah. And it freed you up to where, freed me up. You do more creative things for your clients
[00:12:45] Steve Merriman: and, and I was just more relaxed.
[00:12:48] Being more relaxed is, uh, is a pretty key thing in running a business.
[00:12:53] Elizabeth Ledoux: Absolutely. So, so you sold in 19. Um, how, I think it was maybe a year or two before that, that we put together kind of a transition strategy and when I was thinking about this podcast and preparing for it, um, I wanted to. It seemed to me that you did the strategy, your strategy was much longer.
[00:13:20] Mm-hmm. The written strategy was much longer, but as soon as you found that strategy, you were able to execute it and, um, navigate it pretty much with ease. You put the whole thing together in a shorter period of time than you anticip. Well,
[00:13:37] Steve Merriman: you, we went to a, um, retreat with you that you, um, that, that you headed up.
[00:13:44] Uh, it was a path Pathfinder re, uh, retreat and it was outside of Reno in this beautiful little quiet area. Mm-hmm. And it, I, my memory is, it was three, three really intense days and we had to write down goals and, and, and it was brutal for me cuz the whole thing was, Which is, which is rough. Um, but you said something really interesting that turned out to be true.
[00:14:11] You said just by writing down your goals on, on an organized format will, just, by doing that, will help those goals actually happen. And I couldn’t believe it. I, we, we looked at that five years later, our big, big pathfinder map. Every single thing that any significant goal we had was met or exceeded in less timeframe than we thought was a ridiculous goal at the time.
[00:14:41] And, uh, and so then by doing all of that, when opportunities came, we were ready.
[00:14:50] Sherrye Merriman: Yes, I was, uh, supposed to retire at 68 and I’m 68 now. Yeah. Well, I’ve been retired for three years. Yeah.
[00:15:04] Elizabeth Ledoux: See? Yeah. So it’s kind of nice. I mean, it does help to, when you write something down, their mind starts to look for it, and it, yes, you can do it.
[00:15:14] And also though, um, knowing where you’re headed, Helps you to make the decisions to get there. And I think it’s, yes. I think it’s harder if you go, yeah, I think I’ll, you know, transition someday, or I think I’ll do this someday, because someday, um, isn’t defined enough. No, no. In order to make that happen, because someday
[00:15:36] Sherrye Merriman: all of a sudden landed in my office one day.
[00:15:41] Steve Merriman: Julius, if there was probably just one thing I could tell, um, a business owner or a couple, it, it would be I had a mindset that someday I was gonna sell the bus, we would sell the business. Um, and then I would get ready to do whatever that is. That is just completely the wrong way to look at it. Now what you helped us to.
[00:16:05] Was to build that over really about a 15 year period so that then when opportunities come, Pam, you’re ready to jump on ’em. And, and you did all the little things that helped build value along the way. One, one significant thing you helped us do, Elizabeth, that I think built. As much value as anything in our business was putting together what we call policies and procedures, and that took us about three years.
[00:16:33] And what that is, is like, let’s just say the receptionist job, okay? A new receptionist comes in, we’ve got all of the policies per, she can look at that and say, okay, this, this is my roadmap. Of what my job description is, what, um, what the details are. This is what’s expected of me. And we had that on every process in the business and it really became a living document that we stored in one note.
[00:17:00] And I would say today, that’s probably, uh, I, I would guess maybe a 300 page document and every process in our business is written down. And yeah, that was enormously valuable and it gave value to the business.
[00:17:15] Elizabeth Ledoux: Well, and it, it gives value to the business and it also makes. It makes the business transferrable.
[00:17:22] And it also makes each role transferrable too. Yes, because many, yeah, a long time ago. Um, you really want, instead of having people run the business, people always are needed in the business, but instead of having the people run the business and it’s up to the person to decide, you know what they’re gonna do in each role, you have the people run the processes.
[00:17:43] And the processes run the business. And so then it makes it more, it makes it more valuable and um, and usually you can grow at a higher level Yeah. When you do that. Yeah.
[00:17:53] Steve Merriman: I’m just curious, Elizabeth, you’ve done this a lot. Were we one of your most difficult clients?
[00:18:00] Sherrye Merriman: No.
[00:18:02] Elizabeth Ledoux: No, you were not. You’re an amazing, one of the things about you, um, is you were.
[00:18:10] You just stayed on track. Mm-hmm. Um, I think sometimes people try to do too much too quick and, um, you, you know, work step by step and you actually got the steps done. Mm-hmm. And so I think that you were a little hard to get going in the beginning. Yeah. Right. But that’s because you were stuck. And people do, they, they get into their business and they love it, and they think it has to run in a certain way.
[00:18:38] Right. Right. And they, they don’t see the opportunity. Yes. So, um, and that’s normal for everybody. We, it’s hard for us as individuals to see our blind, our own blind spots. Um, yeah. But it’s easier for an outsider to see it. Yes. So sometimes, That’s helpful. Yeah.
[00:18:55] Steve Merriman: Can you tell them? I, I kind of came up with a little skiing analogy on where we were.
[00:19:00] Uh, I don’t know how many of your audience are actual skiers. Um, and, and in case you don’t know, Elizabeth is the best skier we know. She is just an elite, an elite skier. Absolutely elite. Um, you’re very kind. There’s a thing in skiing that if you’re leaning back on the skis, which is really a defensive maneuver, like, like if you’re going, if the tour terrain gets steep, What you really need to do is lean down the hill so that the tips of your skis have more control.
[00:19:30] But intuitively what we do is lean back, then the tips of the skis lose control of the mountain. And then when you’re on the back of the skis, what happens is the skis take over and the skis take you for a ride and, and you really don’t have any control. They just take you for a ride. Well, that’s what, that’s where we were when you first started working with us.
[00:19:51] We were on the backside of the skis, and the skis were just taking off, and we were just trying to hang on to the skis. We don’t, we didn’t know exactly where the skis were gonna go, but we were hanging on hoping we wouldn’t crash. But, uh, but eventually we learned to lean down the hill and, uh, and get better control and, uh, and so I think that analogy is just exactly where we work.
[00:20:16] Elizabeth Ledoux: Absolutely. And I love, I love skiing analogies cuz um, skiing is a little counterintuitive when you think about it. Yes. Yes. For those of you who don’t know, um, so when you businesses too, they have businesses too. Business is, business is tough. Um, and so is transitioning, letting go and hoping, you know, well, I, I, instead of hoping, I like odds in your favor.
[00:20:40] Odds in your favor, um, with all the work that you do, that the business is gonna go forward well, and the community’s gonna stay healthy and, you know, employees have their jobs and all of those things, I think. Probably the audience gets tired of me saying that, but um, it really is a foundation of our country and a foundation of our world.
[00:21:00] These small businesses make a big difference for us. So when you were, when you were thinking about actually selling the equity side, um, how’d you do that? Like, what did, what happened? Um, cuz I know. It was, it, it all came together? Yes. Yeah.
[00:21:21] Steve Merriman: Well, um, a lot of it was three years of intense thinking about it and, and planning for it.
[00:21:28] The pathfinder that you did was a real key that had, that was probably two years before we actually sold it. But one of the things that I think made our sale a little more difficult is that I just didn’t. Go out and sell it to the highest bidder. And, um, and then whatever happened in the business after that happened, it was very, um, for, for us, we were, we didn’t feel we were just the owners of the, of this business.
[00:22:01] We felt we were the stewards of the business and we really felt called by God that that’s what we were supposed to do is help these ministers. And so there was a real calling in. And that kind of translated into our unique culture with, with our clients. And we had a very unique culture where people felt like they had a purpose, uh, and their purpose was to really help these ministers take the tax burden off of them so that they could focus on their ministry.
[00:22:33] And so the cell was, it was important to us that we maintained that culture because I felt without that culture, Our niche market would not survive without that type of culture. I thought it was that important. So we had, uh, an employee that ran that really was the operations that ran the operations for, you could call it five years, but for three years she really ran the business, um, from an operational standpoint.
[00:23:06] So we transitioned to her. She wound up buying the business. We structured it so that she would be able to do that so that we all got our financial needs met and all of that. And so, um, And that was kind of a surprise to her too. So it, it was a, but when it came together, you’re right. It came together very quickly because of all of the prior preparation to it.
[00:23:31] And three, it’s been over three years now. I Elizabeth it, it is, it couldn’t have gone any better though. Well, let me
[00:23:40] Sherrye Merriman: share about Julius, um, okay. Because this is really what prompted everyth. Was, uh, when our, our German, very, very German, uh, broker. Commercial broker. Commercial broker, yeah. Walked into my office and pretty much stormed in and slammed his portfolio on my desk and said, I need to tell you something and you need to say yes now.
[00:24:11] And he had a buyer for our building. And we’d been watching the prices kind of gradually going up and, um, he had a, a client of his that needed to do a 10 31 exchange and, uh, they chose our business. And so all of a sudden it was like we sold the building within a few months. Oh, less than that. It was really quick.
[00:24:37] So we had to, uh, make a decision,
[00:24:40] Steve Merriman: but, but without all the prior preparation and thinking, we would’ve been immobilized and we would’ve missed that opportunity. We might up selling, selling the business at absolute top. Um,
[00:24:52] Elizabeth Ledoux: and the building and the business both, well,
[00:24:56] Steve Merriman: it wasn’t to the same person, but it
[00:24:57] Elizabeth Ledoux: was Yeah, no, they were two different people.
[00:24:59] But you did well, you did well on both sales. Yeah, they
[00:25:02] Steve Merriman: maybe six months apart. Certainly in the same year we sold a 10,800 square foot office building that we built and the business all in one year. And it. Smooth. I, I would say it was very stress free. I didn’t, I didn’t, did did you feel stressed at any point during that?
[00:25:22] Sherrye Merriman: Um, probably a little, but I have to say, I mean, we, we were prepared though. We were prepared and when that happened with the building, yeah. Then all of a sudden we’re going, yeah, well maybe I should just retire and, you know, yeah. Maybe we should. Business and everything just started rolling and happening really quick and we were ready to roll and, um, everything was in place.
[00:25:50] I had to do a little bit more training and, um mm-hmm. You know, more delegating and, uh, Cynthia took over a CFO and yes. All of a sudden I was out of a job. Oh my gosh. Your grandmother. I be
[00:26:08] Elizabeth Ledoux: a grandma. Well, and Steve, you’re still active in the business, but in a whole different way. Um, and, and sure. You, your transition was, Shorter, but you know, just there to help out until they didn’t need help because they still had a couple, they needed to replace a couple things that you needed to do, but that was relatively quick.
[00:26:30] Yeah. And Steve, you’re still active doing what you’re enjoying? Yeah,
[00:26:35] Steve Merriman: somewhat active. I work one day a week Thursdays. Mm-hmm. And that’s during, during tax season. And so I’ve kind of become more of, we have, uh, 14 tax accountants. I’ve kind of, my main role now is kind of a mentor to them. I’ve got 47 years of experience of tax preparation and IRS representation and all of that.
[00:26:57] So it’s really rewarding that I’m passing, passing that along to, um, tax advisors and, um, so it’s working out great. I’m full. I’m full. I’m, I’m kind of playing at work and I’m getting to ski. I’m our, we’re, we’re on track to ski 40 days. That’s, or the ski season. So that’s exciting. We would’ve never dreamed that we could ever ski 40 days in the ski season.
[00:27:23] Elizabeth Ledoux: Well, and, and I think the neat thing is you’re, you’ve kept the relationships together. Yes. Um, everybody, I think that the way that you structured it, it was a win, win, win for everyone. Yes. And um, I think that, yeah. And the other thing is, um, from what. No, um, because you’re still engaged with a couple of different clients, you two get to go different places and are enjoying a little bit of travel with regard to that as well.
[00:27:51] Some little adventures here and there. Yeah.
[00:27:54] Steve Merriman: I only do what I wanna do and work with the people I wanna work with and, uh, help mentor other people and, uh, I feel, uh, I, I like, I like doing it this way. I, I don’t think I would’ve liked to just quit cold Turkey.
[00:28:10] Elizabeth Ledoux: No, no. And, and you can actually, y you know, this was not a family transition, but because of the way that you do it or the way you did it, And your relationships are intact.
[00:28:21] You two are both welcome back at the business and you both get to go and visit. Yeah. And um, yeah. And so it allowed you to have the next adventure that you wanted. Yeah. Where you stayed engaged and, and kept those clients going as well.
[00:28:34] Steve Merriman: Kind of a funny little story on family business. Our daughter, we have a very bright daughter, very personable.
[00:28:39] People really like her. Um, and I thought maybe. Could groom her doing this at some point. And so we’re sitting in my office and um, and I said, um, Tricia, would you ever like to run this? And she looked at me and she said, dad, I’d rather dig a ditch. So I, that is no. So yeah, absolutely not. There’s not a family.
[00:29:04] There was. There was no family person there.
[00:29:09] Elizabeth Ledoux: Right, right. So, um, so I wanna ask you one last question, and I want Sherry to answer first and then Steve, you answer second. Um, if you had to leave our audience with a lesson learned or just one piece of advice, what would that be?
[00:29:34] Sherrye Merriman: I think it would be, um, don’t underestimate what your employees will do for you because they will step up and do whatever you ask them to do and they’ll be glad to do it and they would be happy for a new challenge and their first reaction will not be, I’m too busy.
[00:29:57] It will be, I’d love to help you.
[00:30:01] Elizabeth Ledoux: Yeah, so that’s awesome. Thank you. Be open to that. Be open to helping. And I love the idea of when you transition out of any role or any task, you give another person the opportunity to learn and grow. And I think that that’s so important. Absolutely. So, yeah. Thank you so much, Sherry for that.
[00:30:21] And then Steve, what’s yours?
[00:30:23] Steve Merriman: I would say start early doing things to build value for your business. Don’t have a mindset that someday I’m gonna sell the business and, uh, I’ll figure it out then. Just do the little things along the way, like policies and procedures, uh, get better at cash flow, the get better at things that, that don’t involve you as an owner and, and do everything you can.
[00:30:50] Do that as an owner. You can step away from things and continue to build value. And then when the opportunity comes, um, you’re ready. And don’t, don’t wait. Till the end. Just build, build it as you go. Build value as you go.
[00:31:08] Elizabeth Ledoux: Thanks. Nice. All right. Well I just, we’re at our time, so I wish I could go on longer with you too.
[00:31:15] You’ve been amazing and I just appreciate you so much. It’s been so much fun for me to be able to work with you over all the years, and I’m so excited and proud of you. You did such a great job, and um, you know, you really made. You made a big difference in so many lives, and I think that as owners, you know that mm-hmm.
[00:31:37] That’s something to, to take to heart. So yeah. Thank you for all you did. For everyone that you touched.
[00:31:43] Steve Merriman: Yes. And thank you, Elizabeth. Thank you.
The Business Transition Roadmap with Elizabeth Ledoux
How do communities thrive? When businesses experience healthy growth and transition. Join CEO of The Transition Strategists, Elizabeth Ledoux as she and her guests identify what makes a successful business transition roadmap. If you know you want to transition or exit your business “one day”, today is the right day to start planning. This show will give you the roadmap.
