Your Next: A Guide to Finding Fulfillment After Your Exit Hosted by Jerome Myers

You know how to run your business. But do you know how to sell it? Mark Dorman, President and Managing Director of Succession Plus US, joins Jerome Myers on Your N.E.X.T. to discuss what founders need to know before selling a business and what often surprises them after the sale. Drawing on more than 100 exits completed by his team, Mark explains why business owners need the right exit-planning advisors, how to coordinate financial and legal expertise, and why even highly successful founders can struggle to relinquish control. He also shares a personal lesson from his own business exits: financial success doesn’t automatically replace the challenge, relationships, and purpose that came from building a company. In this conversation:• How to prepare your business for sale• Choosing the right business exit advisor• Why financial planning and exit planning aren’t the same• Founder identity and the emotional side of selling• Finding purpose after a business exit Are you selling your business to get away from something, or moving toward a future you’ve deliberately chosen? Mark: https://succession.plus/us/Exit to Excellence: https://exittoexcellence.com/#BusinessExit #ExitPlanning #BusinessSuccession Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Willow McIntosh left the real estate business in 2012 and entered the uncertainty many founders expect the exit itself to solve. What should I do now? His first answer was to build again. He created another business in the same industry, only to discover that a new company could reproduce many of the same deeper questions. The work had changed, but the search for identity and purpose had not. That experience became the beginning of a 14-year investigation into what remains true about a person when the familiar role disappears. After more than 12,000 hours of direct client practice, Willow began identifying four recurring foundations that can help people reconnect with purpose: fascination, natural gifts, the challenges and training embedded in their life journey, and the underlying “why” that makes contribution meaningful. In this episode of Your NEXT, Willow joins Jerome Myers to explore why exited founders can be especially vulnerable to rebuilding too quickly. The new investment, board seat, company, or project may feel productive. It may even be successful. But activity can also become a way to avoid the harder work of discovering who you are without the identity that achievement created. Willow and Jerome examine the difference between a role and an identity, why the clues to purpose often predate the business, and what becomes possible when a founder stops trying to invent the next chapter from scratch. The central question is not simply: What should I do next? It may be: What has always been true about me? For founders who have already proven they can build, achieve, and create value, that shift changes the assignment. The next chapter is no longer about proving capability. It is about deciding where that capability belongs now. Learn more about Willow McIntosh:https://willowmcintosh.com Take the Exit Readiness Assessment:https://www.exittoexcellence.com/era Learn more about Jerome Myers:https://www.exittoexcellence.com Thank you,Jerome Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wayne Bell’s first exit happened when he was 13.It was not the sale of a company. It was the night he was forced fromchildhood into responsibility, an identity transition that shaped thegrit, urgency and relentless drive he carried into business.Decades later, after serving as a founder, investor and CEO nine timesand helping scale and sell multiple companies, Wayne learned thatevery exit contains the same two movements: a transaction and atransition.The transaction may create liquidity.The transition asks who you are when the company no longer needs you.In this episode of Your NEXT, Wayne joins Jerome Myers to examine whyexit readiness must begin with the founder. Wayne explains his beliefthat every company should remain perpetually exit ready, whether theeventual path is a sale, ESOP, family transfer, employee purchase orcontinued ownership. A company that is always ready to transfer isusually a stronger company to keep.But business readiness is only one layer.After leaving a company he had helped build for 14 years, Wayneexperienced the silence that many exited founders never anticipate.The colleagues who had filled his days moved onto the new owner’sagenda. The urgent decisions disappeared. The phone stopped ringing.Freedom arrived as unstructured time, and Wayne filled the void withanother company, board seats and work he did not actually want.His financial outcome was successful.His identity transition was not yet complete.Wayne and Jerome explore how founders can prepare differently. Theydiscuss required and preferred deal outcomes, assembling an innercircle of advisors, creating a personal creed and defining freedombefore money and time make the question unavoidable.Wayne also shares the lesson he carried home from tracking lions onfoot in Africa: you cannot see the entire path from where you stand.You take the next step carefully, observe what it reveals and remainwilling to change direction.A long term vision still matters. But analysis cannot replace movement.The conversation ultimately moves beyond selling a company. A healthscare forced Wayne to confront how often he had postponed life untilafter the next achievement, the next number or the next liquidityevent.Time became real.And freedom became the ability to choose intentionally what to do, whoto do it with and when to do it.Learn more about Wayne Bell and STS Capital Partners:https://stscapital.comContact Wayne:wbell@stscapital.comTake the Exit Readiness Assessment:https://www.exittoexcellence.com/eraLearn more about Jerome Myers:https://www.exittoexcellence.comThank you,Jerome Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Peter Goldstein had what many founders would consider an enviable first exit.He started a specialty food distribution company at 24, builtrecurring revenue, strong margins and a respected customer base, andattracted three potential buyers by age 30.But he had never learned how to exit a business.In this episode of Your NEXT, Peter joins Jerome Myers to explain whybuilding a valuable company is not the same as building an exitableone. His first transaction included a two year earnout and a buyerwhose culture did not fit. The number looked good at closing, but thetransition revealed what the headline price had hidden.Peter and Jerome explore founder dependency, transferable enterprisevalue and the personal cost of making yourself indispensable. Theyalso examine reciprocal reliance: the business depends on the founderto solve every problem, while the founder depends on the business foridentity, purpose and importance.Peter shares how seeing a competitor’s product in a customer’s kitchenchanged his relationship with the company, why burnout pushed himtoward a sale and what happened when he left without a clear pictureof what came next.After four decades of entrepreneurship and several exits, Peter nowapproaches ownership differently. He does not simply build a companyto sell.He builds a company someone else would want to own.The episode also challenges founders to create more than one pathforward. A sale, recapitalization, ESOP, partnership, internaltransfer or partial exit can all be viable, but those choices must bebuilt before they are needed.As Peter puts it, his exits were not his only possible options.They were the only options he had created.Learn more about Peter:https://petergoldstein.coTake the Exit Readiness Assessment:https://www.exittoexcellence.com/eraLearn more about Jerome Myers:https://www.exittoexcellence.comThank you,Jerome Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A founder can be burned out enough to want an exit and still not beready to let the business go.Juan Ignacio knows that tension from both sides. He built a B2B SaaSlending platform from Madrid, raised tens of millions in venturecapital along with a $100 million debt facility, and exited four yearsafter launching. The deal created relief, but it also exposed aquestion the transition could only postpone: What do I do with my lifenow?In this episode of Your NEXT, Juan joins Jerome Myers to unpack whathis own near distressed exit taught him about preparation, runway, andthe danger of waiting until the company needs a transaction. He alsoexplains how that experience led him to found L40, a sell side M&Aadvisory firm focused largely on B2B SaaS companies.Together, Jerome and Juan explore why founders sometimes sabotage thetransactions they say they want, how valuation expectations and markettiming affect the likelihood of a sale, and why “I just need themoney” may be a signal to examine the real problem before hiring anadvisor.Juan also explains the Rule of 40, what makes an advisor a genuinefit, and why a healthy company is not automatically a desirableacquisition target.The hardest part of an exit is not always finding a buyer.Sometimes it is helping the founder become willing to leave.Learn more about Juan and L40:https://www.l40.comTake the Exit Readiness Assessment:https://www.exittoexcellence.com/eraLearn more about Jerome Myers:https://www.exittoexcellence.comThank you,Jerome Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if your business keeps growing, but your personal wealth does not?Phil Calandra built an insurance brokerage and an investment advisoryfirm with approximately $250 million under management before sellingboth companies in a single transaction to a $10 billion firm. The dealmade work optional. It also helped him see a problem that traps fartoo many founders.Most business owners have plenty of specialists: a bookkeeper, CPA,fractional CFO, financial advisor, and perhaps a business consultant.Each may be competent. But when no one coordinates the completefinancial system, the founder becomes the conductor, and the business,tax strategy, and personal wealth can begin working against oneanother.Phil calls this the coordination gap. It is how an owner can drivemore revenue, pay more taxes, assume more complexity, and still wonderwhy the wealth is not showing up outside the company.In this episode, Phil and Jerome Myers discuss the heart attack thatchanged Phil’s relationship with risk, the unsolicited offer that ledto his two exits, the emotional high after the transaction, and why hechose to build again. They also examine the revenue trap, the dangerof assuming “I’ll make it all when I sell,” and the three financialflywheels every founder must coordinate: business profitability, taxstrategy, and owner wealth.If your entire wealth plan depends on a future transaction, thisconversation will challenge you to start extracting the value of thebusiness before the exit.In This Episode:• Why an exit made Phil work optional but did not make him want to retire• How a heart attack at 51 influenced his decision to sell• Why more revenue does not necessarily mean more owner wealth• Where CPAs, CFOs, bookkeepers, and wealth managers can work at cross purposes• How the coordination gap turns the founder into the financial bottleneck• Why the business and the owner’s wealth must be planned as one system• How to coordinate profitability, tax strategy, and personal wealthbefore a saleResources:Wealth Creation Scorecard: https://wealthcreationscorecard.comExit to Excellence: https://exittoexcellence.comAll the best,Jerome Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Michael Filosi turned a neglected two-chair dental office with possums in the walls into the largest dental practice in Adelaide. Ten years later, the company could run without him, private-equity buyers were interested, and the business appeared to be an exit-planning success story. Then the joy disappeared. Michael went from emailing his accountant to closing the sale in only 81 days. He rejected the highest offer, selected the buyer he trusted to reach settlement, and walked away without an earnout or continuing role. When the money landed in his account, he felt as though he had escaped. The feeling lasted about one week. In this conversation with Jerome Myers, Michael describes the quieter challenge that followed the transaction: waking up without a company to improve, a team to lead, or a clear measure of progress. He had studied the risks of life after exit and avoided many of the obvious mistakes. He protected the capital, invested conservatively, maintained his relationships, and resisted rushing into another company. Still, knowledge did not eliminate the uncertainty. Michael shares how the loss of business achievement pushed him toward extreme discipline, why nearly a year passed before a new direction began to emerge, and why even a self-described lone wolf needs someone or something to lean against during the transition. The episode also explores his approach to enough. Michael believes wealth is created through concentration and protected through diversification. Rather than chasing another mountain, he is now optimizing for fulfillment, simplicity, family, health, and the ability to put his head on the pillow knowing it was a good day. His experience offers a field note every founder should hear before selling: being ready to leave the company is not the same as being prepared for the life the transaction creates. Thank you, Jerome Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The sale can change your bank account in a day. It cannot tell you who to become on Monday morning. Allan Crockett joins Jerome Myers to examine the void that appears when a business, title, team, and daily structure disappear. Drawing from two painful exits of his own, Allan explains why that empty ground rarely stays empty. Without an intentional purpose, it fills with busyness, unwanted obligations, and other people’s priorities. The conversation moves from retirement fatigue and founder identity to marriage, health, and Allan’s five pillars of quality of life: time, money, purpose, relationships, and health. Allan also offers a practical test for evaluating post-exit commitments: if something consistently gives you energy, it may be a flower; if it continually drains you, it may be a weed. The central lesson is one every founder should hear before signing the papers: the transaction does not equal transformation. Selling the company may create freedom, but building a life worthy of that freedom requires a separate decision. Learn more about Allan at AllanCrockett.com. Thank you,Jerome Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#FounderLife #BusinessGrowth #BusinessOwner #ScalableBusiness#BusinessSystems #BusinessStrategy #FounderJourney #Leadership#BusinessExit #ExitReadiness #BusinessMaturity #OperationalExcellence#ScaleUp #Entrepreneurship #ExitToExcellence Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After building Sacred Rides into one of the top mountain bike adventure companies in the world, Mike Brcic exited the business he had spent 23 years creating. The celebration did not last long. In this episode, Mike shares that the emotional high from the signed purchase agreement and wire transfer lasted about eight hours before the deeper question arrived: Now what? Mike joins Jerome Myers for a powerful conversation about founder burnout, post-exit identity, and the difference between building for achievement and building from alignment. They explore why founders often lose energy when they become disconnected from the customer, the company’s purpose, and the work that actually lights them up. Mike also shares how his post-exit journey led him to create Wayfinders, a company that designs immersive experiences to help leaders reconnect with themselves, others, nature, and something larger than achievement. From the mountains of British Columbia to monasteries in Bhutan, this conversation is an invitation to rethink what success means after the exit. Because the real question is not just whether you can sell the business. The real question is: Who will you be when it is gone? Learn more about Mike and Wayfinders: https://way-finders.comTake the Exit Readiness Assessment: https://www.exittoexcellence.com/eraLearn more about Jerome Myers: https://www.exittoexcellence.com #Podcast #EntrepreneurPodcast #FounderStories #LeadershipPodcast #BusinessExit #FounderJourney #LifeAfterExit #Entrepreneurship #PersonalGrowth #BusinessOwner #PurposeDrivenLife #FounderPsychology #MeaningfulSuccess #NextChapter #ExitToExcellence Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens after the business is sold and the calendar goes quiet? Kevin Nolan exited his business in February 2022 after 17 years of building. Like many founders, he expected freedom, relief, and excitement. Those feelings came, but after a few months, they began to fade. In their place came confusion, uncertainty, and the question so many exited founders struggle to answer: What now? In this episode of Your NEXT, Jerome Myers talks with Kevin about the part of the transition many founders skip: the Nourish phase. Rather than rushing into another business, Kevin gave himself space. He walked the Camino, traveled solo, learned to ride a motorcycle, wrote, reflected, and began listening to the intuition that had been buried beneath years of building. Kevin’s story is a powerful look at identity after exit, the fear of being untethered, and the possibility of discovering that there is still more inside you. This episode is for founders, owners, retirees, and high achievers who have achieved the thing they were chasing, only to realize the deeper question is not “What did I build?” but “Who am I becoming now?” Kevin Nolan shares how he navigated life after selling his business, why he resisted jumping back into familiar work, how solitude helped him gain clarity, and why he now mentors others who are facing the same post-exit uncertainty. Exiting after 17 years in business The emotional shift after the sale Why founders feel lost after achieving financial freedom The danger of rushing into the next venture Solo travel, reflection, and walking the Camino Listening to intuition after years of conditioning Finding identity beyond the business Helping other exited founders navigate the “what now?” stage The logical mind often pulls you back toward what is familiar. But the next chapter may require enough quiet to hear what is true. “The exit is not the end. It is the first time many founders are quiet enough to hear the question they avoided while building.” “Financial freedom solves the money problem. It does not automatically solve the identity problem.” “The temptation after exit is to run back to what made you successful. Kevin Nolan chose to create space instead.” “The logical mind says, ‘Go build again.’ The deeper voice may be asking, ‘Who are you now?’” “Kevin’s post-exit journey was not about finding another business. It was about finding himself.” In this episode:Topics covered:Memorable idea:Quotes / Social Clips Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens after the exit when success is no longer measured by the deal? In this episode of Your N.E.X.T., Jerome Myers sits down with Paul Farrell, a technology entrepreneur, investor, advisor, and repeat founder who has built, turned around, and exited companies across software, big data, and cybersecurity. Paul shares the story behind selling his cybersecurity company during COVID, the moment personal risk became too high, and why every exit carries its own lessons. But this conversation goes far beyond the transaction. Paul opens up about faith, family, generosity, culture, radical candor, and the decision he and his wife made to give away 50% of the net proceeds from major liquidity events. He also reflects on identity beyond the CEO role, learning to slow down, and why the fulfilled life is built through service, not accumulation. This episode is for founders, CEOs, advisors, and high achievers who are wondering what comes after the summit. Jerome and Paul explore: Why every exit feels different Selling a cybersecurity company during COVID The role Paul’s wife played in deciding when enough risk was enough Why generosity became central to life after liquidity Giving away 50% of net proceeds from major exits How identity gets tangled with the CEO role Why culture matters more than most founders realize Radical candor, truth-telling, and leadership Helping employees pursue their dreams Faith, surrender, and peace after achievement Why family dinners became one of Paul’s clearest pictures of success Paul Farrell is a technology entrepreneur, investor, advisor, and repeat founder with decades of experience building, turning around, and exiting companies across software, big data, and cybersecurity. His career includes leadership at AOL, the turnaround of a NASDAQ-traded company, the acquisition and sale of a London-based big data company, and the sale of a cybersecurity company during COVID. Today, Paul advises CEOs and founders, bringing together business experience, faith, culture-building, and a deep commitment to service. LinkedIn: Paul FarrellEmail: paul@paterholdings.com Your N.E.X.T. is the podcast for founders, executives, and high achievers asking what comes after success. Hosted by Jerome Myers, the show explores exits, identity, purpose, legacy, fulfillment, and the journey from achievement to alignment. Your dreams should be real. In This EpisodeGuest BioConnect with PaulAbout Your N.E.X.T. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most founders believe that because they built a successful business, they are prepared to sell it. Lewis Schiff believes that assumption can cost them millions. In this episode of Your N.E.X.T., Jerome Myers sits down with Lewis Schiff, Chairman of Birthing of Giants, to unpack why founders are entering one of the most important economic windows of our lifetime. An estimated $80 trillion in wealth is moving from older generations to younger ones, and that capital is looking for places to land. One of those places is founder-led lower middle market businesses. But there is a problem. The founder who built the company may only sell one business in their lifetime. The buyer across the table may buy ten companies a year. That imbalance creates risk. Lewis explains why private equity firms are aggressively pursuing founder-led companies, how professionalization can increase exit value, and why earn-outs often become traps for owners who were not fully prepared before going to market. Jerome and Lewis also explore one of the most important distinctions in the exit conversation: the difference between being an operator and being an owner. Operators make promises and keep promises. Owners build transferable, creditworthy assets. That shift changes how founders think about capital, leverage, decision-making, professionalization, growth, and the eventual sale of the company. This conversation is for founders, advisors, and business owners who want to avoid being outmatched during the exit process and build a company that is not only profitable, but transferable. Jerome and Lewis discuss: • Why the $80 trillion wealth transfer matters to business owners• Why private equity is targeting lower middle market companies• How professionalization can increase exit value• The hidden danger of earn-outs• Why founders often walk away with less than expected• How taxes, fees, and lost salary affect post-exit reality• Why capital does not automatically equal wisdom• The difference between operator thinking and owner thinking• How AI may help founders extend founder mode• Why selling a business requires a different skill set than building one “Operators make promises and keep promises. Owners build assets.” Learn more about Lewis Schiff and Birthing of Giants:https://birthingofgiants.com/prep Learn more about Jerome Myers and Exit to Excellence:https://exittoexcellence.com In This EpisodeKey QuoteLearn More Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adam Spector, founder of Chore, four-time entrepreneur, and startup investor, joins Jerome Myers for a conversation about building in a world where the tools are moving faster than most people can process. From San Francisco’s AI boom to the rising bar for young professionals, Adam shares why speed, focus, and delegation have become critical advantages for founders. He explains why entrepreneurs often become the “janitor” of their own companies, handling payroll, HR, finance, compliance, and other back-office work that pulls them away from the work only they can do. Jerome and Adam also explore AI’s impact on jobs, education, startup investing, and founder behavior. Adam offers a clear challenge to business owners and ambitious professionals: stop waiting for permission, start building proof, and protect your most valuable resource: time. This episode is for founders, operators, investors, and professionals who want to understand what it takes to compete in the age of AI without losing sight of the life they are trying to build. In this episode: Why San Francisco remains the center of the AI boomHow AI is raising the bar for founders and job seekersWhy speed is now a strategic advantageWhat Adam looks for when investing in foundersWhy founders get trapped doing low-leverage workHow Chore helps entrepreneurs delegate back-office operationsWhy proof of work matters more than a polished resumeThe real cost of spending your time on the wrong thingsWhy the gatekeepers are gone Guest: Adam SpectorAdam Spector is a four-time founder, startup investor, and founder of Chore. Based in San Francisco, Adam has invested in roughly 200 startups and helps entrepreneurs protect their time by delegating the back-office work that slows them down. Connect with Adam:Website: HireChore.comLinkedIn: Adam Spector, Founder of ChoreX: @ASPEC00 Your dreams should be real. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when the business exit is not the only exit happening? In this episode of Your NEXT, Jerome Myers sits down with Brian Roeder, founder of Bee Oak Partners and Managing Agent for Transworld Business Advisors’ Monterey office. Brian shares the story of building Barrel Oak Winery from raw land into one of Virginia’s busiest wineries, welcoming up to 1,500 guests on busy Saturdays, growing a committed team, raising more than $2 million through nonprofit events, and ultimately selling the business in 2022. But this conversation is not just about selling a winery. It is about navigating a double exit. Brian built the business with his former wife, and as the marriage came apart, the business had to be protected, investors had to be considered, and the dream they had built had to be carefully unwound. He describes the moment after the wire hit as a physical release, like a load had been lifted from his shoulders. But relief did not automatically create clarity. After the sale, Brian moved back to California for what he thought would be his next chapter in the family business. When that path did not unfold as expected, he faced another transition and another question: Who am I now? In this episode, Jerome and Brian explore: The emotional weight of selling a business Why the team is often what founders miss most How divorce, investors, employees, family, and identity can collide during an exit Why relief is real, but not the same as purpose What Brian calls “the hollow place” after success The difference between connectors and extractors Why the right advisor starts with the owner’s story, not just the numbers How Brian now uses his experience to help other owners avoid the mistakes he had to learn the hard way A successful transaction can close the deal. An excellent exit protects the person on the other side of it. Connect with Brian Roeder:https://beeoak.combrian@beeoak.com Take the Exit Readiness Assessment:https://www.exittoexcellence.com/era Schedule a conversation with Jerome:https://calendly.com/yournext/30-minute-1-on-1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens after the wire hits? For years, founders imagine the exit as the summit. The documents are signed. The legal teams are done. The congratulations pour in. The number in the bank account finally reflects the sacrifice, pressure, and grit it took to build the company. Then Tuesday morning arrives. No urgent emails. No executive team waiting for direction. No fires to put out. No company demanding your identity, energy, and leadership. Just silence. In this episode of Your NEXT, Jerome Myers explores one of the most overlooked risks in exit planning: the psychological and structural collapse that can happen after a successful transaction. Inspired by The Exit Expedition: Why the Deal Is Only the Summit, this conversation unpacks why so many founders prepare their companies for sale while doing almost nothing to prepare themselves for life after the exit. You’ll hear about: The Transaction Illusion The invisible role the business plays in a founder’s life The Depletion Window after an exit The Six Centers of Doubt Why “respectable noise” can become a trap How to design the descent before you reach the summit A successful transaction monetizes the business. An excellent exit aligns the life. If this resonates, here’s the next step. Take the Exit Readiness Assessment: https://www.exittoexcellence.com/era Schedule a conversation: https://calendly.com/yournext/30-minute-1-on-1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we break down the three nominees for the Excellence in Exit Planning Awards and evaluate them the way most people won’t: by looking at the actual criteria, the quality of their ideas, their public influence, and whether they’ve truly moved the profession forward. We examine the cases for Todd Yeiter, Kristen Carlson, and Jerome Myers, and compare them across seven dimensions, including originality, credibility, practical applicability, public-facing footprint, and ecosystem impact. But this conversation goes beyond an award prediction. It becomes a deeper discussion about what thought leadership really is in the world of exit planning. Is it mastering the structural mechanics of a deal? Is it helping owners build companies that can run without them? Or is it naming the invisible human problem no one else wants to touch: what happens to the founder after the deal is done? If you care about business exits, founder psychology, transition planning, or the future of the exit planning profession, this episode will give you a lot to think about. In this episode: The official criteria for Thought Leader of the Year Why thought leadership is harder to judge than business performance The case for each nominee The seven-part scoring framework used in the analysis The final prediction for who wins in 2026, and why The bigger question: If the money were no longer the issue, and the transaction was complete, would you actually know who you are on day two? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most founders believe the liquidity event is the finish line. It isn’t. In this episode of Your NEXT, Jerome Myers sits down with Colin Hodge, a founder who grew a dating app to millions of users with virtually zero ad spend, navigated a first exit, joined the acquirer, and then experienced the part nobody markets: the emotional “now what?” that follows the deal. Jerome unpacks what he calls the Transaction Illusion: the belief that money automatically brings relief, identity, and fulfillment. Colin shares how vulnerability became a growth catalyst, how his company was forced into a fire sale, and the unbelievable twist of buying his own business back and scaling it again. If you’re building toward an exit, recovering from one, or quietly wondering why success feels… weird, this conversation will land. Key topics: Why money doesn’t solve the post-exit questions it exposes Identity shifts, shame, and the silent side of “success” Organic growth through user psychology The boomerang story: sell it, buy it back, grow it again Why founders need a “descent protocol” before they summit Links: Learn more: exittoexcellence.com Explore the work: [NEO Assessment / Exit Readiness Assessment link] Guest: colinhodge.com (book + latest projects) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Josh Mastel did not exit because he hit some magical finish line. He exited because the business stopped giving him energy. In this episode of Your NEXT, Jerome Myers sits down with Josh to talk about betting on yourself, walking away from comfort, and building a life in alignment with what matters most. Josh shares the story of cashing out his 401(k), getting fired early in his career, losing his brother at 18, building a business he eventually outgrew, and then helping his wife scale her company into a $100M ARR technology services firm. This conversation is about more than entrepreneurship. It is about resilience, identity, priorities, and the courage to stop being a prisoner of something you built. If you are trying to decide whether your business still fits who you are becoming, this episode will stay with you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most advisors think the goal is to build a great firm. The best ones realize the real challenge is what happens when it’s time to step away from it. In this episode of Your NEXT, Jerome Myers sits down with Jon to explore the full arc of building, scaling, and ultimately exiting a wealth management firm that reached $2.5 billion in assets under management. Jon shares his journey from professional football to financial advisor, what drew him into the industry, and how he and his partner built a firm focused on serving athletes and entertainers. As the business grew, they shifted into an aggregator model, acquiring other advisory firms to expand their reach and capabilities. But growth is only part of the story. Jon opens up about the realities of being acquired, navigating integration, stepping away from day-to-day leadership, and redefining his role after the transaction. This is a conversation about more than strategy. It’s about transition. If you’re building a firm, considering acquisitions, or thinking about an eventual exit, this episode offers a grounded look at what the process really requires. From NFL career to financial advisor Why Jon chose to serve sports and entertainment clients Building and scaling an RIA to $2.5B in AUM Transitioning into an aggregator model through acquisitions Lessons learned from inorganic growth The acquisition process and integration challenges Letting go of day-to-day operations Redefining identity and role after the exit Advice for advisors planning their own transition What We CoverKey Moments00:00 Family stories and St. Patrick’s Day traditions03:45 Family travel and keeping kids engaged12:18 From NFL to financial advisor19:27 Building an RIA for athletes and entertainers35:00 Scaling through acquisitions45:15 The acquisition and integration process01:05:00 Life after the deal01:17:32 Advice for advisors considering an exit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices