Exit paths: considering your options and life post-exit

Agency Health Podcast

Welcome to the Agency Health Podcast, where we dig deeper into key agency topics – the what, why, and how – mining actionable insights to help build a better firm.
This episode is part of a mini-series on beginning with the end in mind. As we’ll find, building for your exit from the start helps create a thriving agency that delivers great value for you, your team, and your clients.
On this episode, I’m talking to Sarah Durham of Compton Durham, comparing her experiences successfully selling two agencies.
Sarah started Big Duck early in her career, leading it for over 27 years. She purchased Advomatic 2 years before selling both firms, one via a merger and another via a worker-owned co-op. Now, as an advisor and ICF-credentialed coach, Sarah supports directors and owners at the apex of their leadership journey.
Key Insights:

• Running your agency so you can sell it is just running your firm well; it doesn’t commit you to selling it (2:38).
• Ask yourself: what would you want to do after selling your firm? Who are you if not an agency owner? Let reflection on these questions help guide how you think about and approach the idea of exciting your firm (6:17).
• To transition ownership to a worker-owned co-op, you need workers who (1) want that (2) are prepared to buy in (3) have the experience and capabilities to take on more responsibility. Building a strong, empowered leadership team is a good first step, something every agency needs anyway.
• Co-op vs. ESOP … for firms under $10 million, an ESOP may not be viable, but worker-owned co-ops can work for small firms and offer a lot of flexibility in how they are structured (22:00).
• Good coaching is about holding space for what’s really important, not letting that be crowded out by what is noisy or feels urgent (30:52).
• There are many ways to exit your agency well and it probably isn’t as complicated or challenging as you imagine; explore the options; it might be good (32:49).

References:

• ICA Group, a non profit Sarah recommends and worked with to develop Big Duck’s worker-owned cooperative
• Compton Durham, Sarah’s advisory and coaching practice

Coming up next in this series on beginning with the end in mind is a conversation with a co-founder of multiple agencies and an agency holding company. Don't miss it!
If you have questions or comments about this episode, a topic you’d like covered, or an agency owner or relevant expert we should invite as a guest, we’d like to hear from you! Email [e-mail]
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay in touch or follow Arlen on LinkedIn.
Thank you for listening!

Hoofdstukken

1. Intro (00:00:00)

2. A tale of two agencies (00:01:11)

3. The story behind the exits (00:05:25)

4. Co-op considerations (00:10:21)

5. Advice to those considering a co-op (00:19:32)

6. ESOP vs. co-op (00:22:00)

7. Life after the exits (00:24:00)

8. Exit timing and planning your seasons (00:25:30)

9. Coaching: holding space for the important (00:26:50)

10. Looking ahead (00:31:16)

11. Closing (00:32:18)