
The Exit Plan Podcast
Exit Plan is a podcast for business owners and those who want to be business owners. I’m always in search of the lesser known stories of entrepreneurship. In the Exit Plan podcast, you’ll hear stories from start up to sale, and hear from the professionals who helped business owners achieve their exit. Hosted by me, author and private equity manager Dana Robinson, along with my co-hosts and guests, you’ll hear real stories, tips, and tools that will help you plan for the exit you want, whether you are still working a day job or already running a business.
From their studio in sunny San Diego, the Opt Out Life welcomes guests who are solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, travelers, and creatives, who are proof that you can choose lifestyle over money . . . But still make money, too.
Each episode of the Opt Out Life podcast combines the incredible entrepreneurial stories of our friends, with an instructional approach to applying the tactics people are using right now to earn passive income and travel the world. Our guests live non-traditional lives, without job titles, and often without jobs at all. They wear t-shirts and have no boss. They spend time doing what they want, traveling and earning substantial income in creative ways.
We invite you to join the ranks of people who live the Opt Out Life.
Latest episodes

Dec 24, 2020 • 48min
William Stringer - Investing in Entrepreneurs
Our guest today is William Stringer. Will is the co-founder & CEO of Chisos, a company that provides capital for early-stage entrepreneurs and start-ups that have a difficult time accessing it. Chisos is the creator of a revolutionary new funding source for founders: the Convertible Income Share Agreement, or CISA - designed to equalize opportunity and give access to funding without all the usual hang-ups of traditional funding options. Listen along to learn more about this win-win investment product, and how it can provide entrepreneurs the capital and community they need to succeed. More at optoutlife.com/podcast/william-stringer/

Dec 17, 2020 • 41min
Heather Robinson - It's a Ride
As our listeners have already heard, the Opt Out Life podcast is all about getting the stories of entrepreneurs who have achieved the Opt Out Life their way- but is the life of entrepreneurship right for everybody? In this episode, Dana talks to his wife and Opt Out partner in crime: Heather Robinson. Heather shares the details of her entrepreneurial journey, her introspection work in the last year as a business owner, and her honest assessment that it is perfectly acceptable to find your Opt Out pathway and not have to be an entrepreneur. More at optoutlife.com/podcast/heather-robinson/

Dec 3, 2020 • 55min
Russ and Joey - Wealth without Wall Street
Today's guests are Russ and Joey, founders of Wealth Without Wall Street and hosts of the popular podcast. Russ and Joey came from a more traditional advisory model and realized that their methods were keeping them from reaching the financial freedom they had been seeking. They decided to focus on finding an alternative approach to wealth and money, and started an advisory firm to help regular people learn how to take control of their financial future. Listen along as they share some of their strategies to establish long-term financial freedom and help us retrain our thinking about money. More at optoutlife.com/podcast/wealth-without-wall-street/

Nov 26, 2020 • 24min
Thanksgiving 2020
Happy Thanksgiving, Opt Outers! It's that time of the year again, and Nate & Dana are both back in the studio to talk about what they've been doing lately and give us an update on what's coming next! More at optoutlife.com/podcast/thanksgiving-2020/

Nov 19, 2020 • 1h 5min
Lance Graulich - Mindset is Everything
Buying an existing business is often the fastest and least risky way to Opt Out. And if you have ever been curious about franchising, then today's episode with Lance Graulich is for you. Lance is the founder & CEO of ION Franchising, an industry-leading franchise consulting and development group, that represents over 500 franchise brands & business opportunities. Lance helps prospective entrepreneurs find their perfect franchise for free, and also assists independent business owners in creating a franchise system. In this episode, Lance gives us expert advice and tells us how to get into franchising, how to choose the right franchise to work with, how to stay away from pitfalls, and more. More at optoutlife.com/podcast/lance-graulich/

Nov 12, 2020 • 1h 2min
Gregory Shepard - Meet the Boss
Today's guest is Greg Shepard. Greg is the CEO and founder of BOSS Capital Partners. He is a Serial Entrepreneur, Author, Speaker, and Angel Venture Capital Investor with a legacy of building and running sustainable growth businesses. But to get to the top, he had to tackle many obstacles. His journey inspired him to start helping entrepreneurs around the world by creating the BOSS Operating Support System, a strategic playbook that teaches entrepreneurs how to scale a business through a step-by-step guided process that covers functional alignment, growth, and scale. Listen along as he shares his entrepreneurial journey and explains why focus, drive, discipline, enthusiasm, and optimism are the key to success. More at optoutlife.com/podcast/gregory-shepard/

Nov 5, 2020 • 53min
Grant Aldrich - "Know Thyself"
Today's podcast guest is Grant Aldrich, the CEO and Founder of OnlineDegree.com. After graduating with honors from the University of California Irvine in Economics, and overwhelmed with debt, Grant went on a mission to make higher education more accessible and affordable for everyone - that's when OnlineDegree.com was founded. This for-profit company allows people to take courses and earn degrees from over a thousand participating universities, all for free. Grant has spent his entire career working in startups with nearly 15 years of experience and 2 prior exits to a publicly traded company. He has also been a board member and donor to several non-profits, an advisor to many publicly traded companies, and a guest speaker at seminars and graduate school courses across the US. In this episode, we talk about how he got to where he's at, his opt out approach to education, and how he manages to run a business with close to 30,000 paying clients. More at optoutlife.com/podcast/grant-aldrich/

Oct 29, 2020 • 56min
Geordie Wardman - 100 Days of Ski
Our guest today is Geordie Wardman. Geordie has been an entrepreneur for 15 years and currently lives in Switzerland with his family. He helps other people build companies, builds his own software services and products, and still manages to ski 100 days a year while working on all of his businesses. In this episode, Geordie shows us a version of the Opt Out life that you may not have even thought of, and teaches us that no matter where you're at in life, you could pick up and move to Switzerland. More at optoutlife.com/podcast/geordie-wardman/

Oct 22, 2020 • 55min
Erik the Listener
Opt Out Life listener, Erik, hit us up to discuss a situation that many people find themselves in - Erik is in his late 20s, works as a civil engineer, and is looking for opportunities to opt out. How could he best approach this? In this special episode, we invited Erik onto the mic and talked through the most effective strategies he, and other aspiring Opt Out-ers, can use to take back control of their time. More at optoutlife.com/podcast/erik-the-listener/

Oct 15, 2020 • 44min
Chad Peterson - “If It's Meant To Be, It's Up To Me”
In today’s episode, we talk to Chad Peterson. Chad is an expert business broker and the founder of Peterson Acquisitions, an award-winning M&A firm. Chad is a self-made entrepreneur that has been in the trenches. He has started, built and sold 6 of his own businesses, and also wrote two books: “From Blue to White: A Working Man’s Guide to Self-Employment” and “Swinging Doors: A Guide to Selling Your Company” Learn more about his process of selling a business, how marketing strategy and online reputation come into play, and get some of his most valuable advice about entrepreneurship. PLUS, our listeners will get a FREE download of the book “Swinging Doors: A Guide to Selling Your Company” by going to petersonacquisitions.com/get-the-book/ and mentioning Opt Out Life!