Journey to an ESOP & Beyond

This interview is with the President and Owner of a family business that sold 100 percent to a newly created ESOP.  Sandy King took over the business from her parents and focused on company culture, business processes and a strong level of customer service.  She had built an effective leadership group and was ready for transition.  After working through a possible sale to third party, she settled on the ESOP as the best option.  This podcast will help the listener to go through Sandy’s thought process and selecting ESOP as her best option as well as her insight into her own journey to an ESOP.

This episode focuses on better understanding the role of a “quarterback” in an ESOP transaction on your journey to ESOP.  I often talk to folks about the complexities of an ESOP transaction and one point of discussion is what is the sell-side advisor’s role.  This topic will help solidify in your mind what questions you might ask and be aware of when hiring one of the most important advisors in the ESOP transaction - your Quarterback!

This podcast helps to outline an organization called ESCA-Employee Owned S-Corporations of America.  We interview Noelle Montano to better understand Esca’s role in helping Employee-owned companies.  We dive into what they do in relation to other ESOP organizations and the value their resources provide.

This episode connects with my very first episode called “enough information to be dangerous” - the premise being that when you go to an ESOP conference there is so much information it can sometimes feel where should I start?  I took some very specific questions and discussed them in detail so that you have some ideas of what to focus on depending on whether you are going to the conference on your journey to an ESOP or if you have already arrived and have an existing ESOP company.

This episode covers an interview with Wayne Isaacks - ESOP trustee (attorney and CPA) to better understand how an ESOP could be interacting with the Department of Labor.  Wayne and I cover a case study that he was involved with and illuminate some best practices and alleviate DOL concerns for companies heading toward an ESOP or existing ESOP Companies.  There is some wisdom here that I think is solid related to how to respond to a DOL investigation.

This episode we explore the difficulties of the why should I go - the ultimate question to either begin or continue your succession plan.  We explore the reasons why you really should plan to go - and how an ESOP could provide an incredible platform to execute successfully on this strategy.

The ESOP Guy interviews Corey Rosen the founder of the NCEO to discuss Corey’s new book on how ESOPs have the best chance to solve a multitude of issues in the US - notably the wealth gap.  Corey and I discuss the book as we go through the outline of his book “Ownership: Reinventing Companies, Capitalism, and Who Owns What”

This episode provides some insight into how forecasting can influence the approach to an ESOP transaction.  Typically we don't see a lot of forecasts that are overly aggressive as future growth tends to follow historical growth.  However, there are circumstances that justify a strong forecast that are going to have some implications in fair market value.   Happy Gilmore helps bring to light that sometimes the unlikely can happen as he reminds us all with his crazy hockey stick drives.

Tax partners Jim LaHam and Justin Knox discuss the challenges of ESOPs purchasing real estate within a company. They explore solutions such as transferring real estate to selling shareholders but caution on tax implications. Topics include navigating tax complexities, maximizing real estate value through strategies like cost segregation studies, and structuring ESOP transactions in S corporation and C corporation environments.

This episode evaluates the issue of the "Great Resignation" and how ESOPs are a great tool to support employee retention.  We cover some of the top reasons people are leaving their jobs.  Some of the direct benefits of an ESOP company  to improve the overall quality of jobs and how important it is as we move into the future to provide something more for people to build a long-term career with a company.