Episode 67 - Building a Business That Thrives Without You with Katie Bennett
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Nicole 00:00:02 Hello and welcome to Your Estate Matters presented by Heritage Trust. Your Estate Matters is a podcast dedicated to everything estates, including building and preserving your legacy. If it's estate related, we'll be talking about it. We're having the conversations today that will help Canadians protect their families, their assets and their legacies tomorrow. Hello and welcome to Your Estate Matters. I'm Nicole Garton. When we talk about estate planning on this podcast, we often focus on wills, powers of attorney, tax and trusts. But for many Canadian families, one of the most valuable assets in the estate is not a bank account or an investment portfolio, it's the family business. According to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, 76% of Canadian small business owners plan to exit their business within the next decade. That represents more than 2 trillion in business assets, yet only 9% have a formal business succession plan in place. Those numbers tell us something important. A business transition is not only a tax issue, it's a legal issue. It is also a leadership issue.
Nicole 00:01:13 A will can say who inherits the shares. It cannot make the business run. A tax plan can reduce the cost of transition, but it can't preserve value. If the owner was the only person who knew how everything worked. My guest today is Katie Bennett, a master certified chair with Mackay CEO Forums and founder of Double Black Diamond Coaching. For more than 20 years, Katie has worked with CEOs and executive teams across Canada, helping build high functioning leadership teams, align around clear strategic plans, and create businesses that do not depend on any single person to survive. Katie, thank you so much for joining us. It's amazing that we have some of your calibre and experience. Thank you so much for being on our podcast. My pleasure. Thanks for having me. You've got a really illustrious career working with CEOs and business owners. Tell me what drew you to this?
Katie 00:02:07 It's a really good question, Nicole. I was thinking about that when you asked me to prepare for this. And, you know, it's quite a circuitous journey because my background is I went to business school and I ended up in advertising as my first career for 11 years.
Katie 00:02:20 So it wasn't where I went straight away, and I just found myself quite unfulfilled in that profession. I couldn't put my finger on what it was I was meant to be doing, but I kind of knew that wasn't it, and found myself sitting in a coaching program in my early 30s, and in one weekend of exposure, I kind of was nodding, going, I think this is what I meant to be doing. No idea what that was going to look like. I was still working full time in advertising, and so the path for me started through a lens of coaching, and that was really about for me because I was stuck in the wrong career. It's like, what do I want to be doing? What am I passionate about? Where will I find purpose? What are my values? What would line up with all of that? And so it led me into this new profession in my early 30s. And so quickly I was like, oh, well, maybe I'll work with other people in career transition.
Katie 00:03:08 And then I discovered very quickly, people in career transition don't have any money. So it led me back very quickly, back into the corporate world. And it was like, how do I blend my business experience, my advertising, marketing, communications experience now with this coaching lens that I have? And so I started working with leaders around leadership development. Then that led to teams around building high functioning teams. Then I layered in the piece around strategy, strategic planning, working with organizations to build their strategy. And all of that work led me to working with being introduced to Nancy MacKay. So Nancy MacKay is the CEO of MacKay CEO forums, and she started that business 20 years ago. And nine years ago we met and she said, I want you to chair with Mackay. So that was an additional layer. And what that is our CEO roundtables. You're part of one. So you've had the experience of sitting around a table with another dozen CEOs, tabling your biggest challenges and really tapping into the vast experience in the room of what others have done in order to solve that.
Katie 00:04:18 So that's kind of how I got to where I am today. So now I just feel very, very blessed to get to do the work that I do and get to work with leaders like yourselves to build really strong, amazing, successful Canadian businesses.
Nicole 00:04:31 So let's talk about that. So we talked about business continuity as an estate planning issue. And you originally said you didn't think you were the right person. But I think you're actually the perfect person because lawyers and accountants often focus on, you know, spreadsheets or documents, but you work in the human and operational side. So what do you see inside these Canadian owner led businesses that their business advisors or tax advisors might miss?
Katie 00:05:01 Yeah, I mean, I guess I see what it takes to operate, build, create, and grow a really successful business. And you need a lot of partners like tax advisors, lawyers. We need a lot of partners around us so that we can build something that goes beyond the founder, that has a team that has a strategy and a growth strategy to get there, that has a way of executing.
Katie 00:05:27 And so it's about surrounding yourself with people that can help you build something. Because what I often see is people trying to go it too much alone. And the minute you're doing too much alone, you are the bottleneck. You can only grow so much. So I think that's one of the primary things that I see.
Nicole 00:05:45 So let's paint the picture for our listeners. What does an owner dependent business look like from the inside.
Katie 00:05:50 I think the biggest thing would be the decisions. Land at the table or the desk of the owner or the founder and they become the bottleneck. So the key client relationships stopped there. The key decision stopped there, the key partnership relationship stopped there. And everything just peaks at this same point. And you can only grow so much you get stuck. And so what I've seen is, you know, people pour their heart and soul into building something. And then there's this unwillingness to release some of the control, unwillingness to sort of fully believe in someone else, trust in someone else, delegate to them, always feeling like you have to be involved.
Katie 00:06:33 And so to overcome that, it's really about surrounding yourself with other people on your team that can support you, and building out that team and the decision making authority and empowering others, and the strategic alignment so that you can all grow together. And it doesn't all just stop with you.
Nicole 00:06:52 Let's talk about patterns. You see, because you see many, many business owners. So when you see your business owners, they first come into coaching or they're in a CEO forum, how do you see owner dependency risk show up? Like what does that look like?
Katie 00:07:08 That's a good question. Maybe it's easier to tell a story. So this is a brand new client that I'm just going to be starting to work with. Two brothers bought a business from their father quite a long time ago. The older brother is going to ultimately move on and leave it in the hands of the younger brother. So they are reaching out to me now to start to create a succession process. Three years. And when they put a timeline to it, it's going to be a three year transition.
Katie 00:07:43 So this story would actually paint a great example of what to do to eliminate the risk. Because there are currently a $50 million business, they have a vision to grow to $100 million. Is the next son in line capable of running a $100 million business? We've got to get him ready for that. And so that's why they've reached out to me. I'm going to hopefully work with him one on one. I'm going to bring him into one of our MacKay forums where it makes the most sense. We got to find the right fit for him and his business. They have brought in some external leaders to their executive team, so they've grown from family run to expanding to bringing in some outside executive experience. So they're really setting themselves up for future success. So I'm kind of answering your question on the flip side, like what they're trying to do through that story is eliminate the risk. They are eliminating the risk by adding people from the outside to their team, who've led 50 or $100 million companies by taking time now to say, okay, if you're the successor in three years, what does that future leader look like? And what have you got to learn before the reins are handed to you? So there's a lot of that forward thinking, forward planning, intentionality that can eliminate the risks of holding everything too tightly, not building out a leadership team, holding all the key customer relationships, all the key partner relationships.
Katie 00:09:09 Just yourself. Because then if something happens to you as the founder, it's really difficult for anyone to pick up the ball from underneath you. Right? If something were to take you out of the game, even if it's just I'm sick, right? Or as opposed to I'm dead because I know that's your business but.
Nicole 00:09:26 Or incapacity.
Katie 00:09:27 Or incapacitated. Yeah. So I feel like this call that I've just received this week and this process we're putting into place, I'm like, these guys are on it. They're going to set themselves up for successful transition, and they're building something underneath them that can survive without the current leader.
Nicole 00:09:44 So they're the anomaly. So I think the stats are small. Family owned businesses are the vast majority of GDP and employers in Canada. And as the baby boom generation ages, I think the stat is like 75% of these businesses are going to transition within the next ten years. And unfortunately, so many business owners are not on top of it the way your clients are. So why do you think that is? Why do you think so many business owners aren't doing the things that they should be doing, given these huge transitions coming?
Katie 00:10:17 Yeah, it's a really good question from working with entrepreneurs.
Katie 00:10:21 What I've learned is they're very independent. They deeply believe in themselves. There can be a lot of ego. Not in a bad way, but just belief. Like, okay, I've got to be involved. I've got to do it. I'm the one who's created this. I'm the one who's built this. And then I'll just. When I'm done, I'll just find someone to buy it. Right. There's a smallness to that thinking. So there is a little bit of like, how big do you want to be? Because with that model, you can only get to a certain point before you can't grow any further, because you're just your hand tied by the sheer what can come across your desk as the entrepreneur. It can't expand beyond that. So I think too many people just try to go it alone. And I see this even when I talk to someone who might potentially join a MacKay group. And I'm trying to explain what we're doing. The line I've heard so many times is “it's really lonely at the top.”
Katie 00:11:14 And what I always say is it does not have to be like, you don't have to play this game alone. So I think, you know, your stats are pretty staggering. If 75% of businesses are going to turn over and people aren't ready for it. You know, that's really tricky. And it really devalues the company if you get to even valuations, which is a pretty huge consideration if someone wants to sell is if it's all concentrated with one key individual, the valuation just shrinks, right? So you're doing yourself a service by getting involved with other people early in every aspect of the business. Yeah, I think there's as you said, there's a tsunami coming. This is where I think of my children. And I go, you guys should think about buying a business.
Nicole 00:11:56 Okay, Katie. So let's get practical. If a business owner is listening right now and they're recognizing themselves in these stats, where do they start? What does it actually take to build a leadership team that could carry on without them?
Katie 00:12:08 Yeah, it's a great question.
Katie 00:12:10 And I love this idea of getting in front of it. And I think it's Jim Collins. Get the right people on the bus. Like we're going back 20 plus years. Good to great. The book he talked about getting the right people on the bus. So what I've seen over and over again, even the example I gave earlier, they've brought some external people in. They're starting to get the right people on the bus. So it starts with that. So here you are. You are this business owner, this leader, this person who has drive and passion, pushing things forward. Now it's about building a team around you who are on the bus with you, right? You're the bus. You're the bus driver. Who have you got with you? So it's about hiring, whether promoting from within or bringing out some external people to build a leadership team. And then you have to really look at them as a leadership team. So how do you develop their leadership competencies and how do you actually develop a strong team? Again, if I think of some of the tools I use, sometimes I feel like maybe I need to read more.
Katie 00:13:04 But there's sometimes when you find tools that just work, one of them is The Five Dysfunctions of a team. It was written by Patrick Leonsis (I wish I wrote it) over 20 years ago. And he simplifies what derails a team. And basically what derails a team is if there's a lack of trust. If people don't know how to debate, they don't know how to get into vigorous debate. They don't commit. They don't know how to hold each other accountable, and they don't have all their eye on the same ball. If that's happening, you get a dysfunctional team, so you can just kind of look at that model and flip it and go, okay, therefore what must we work on once you've found these right people? It's like, what does it take to build a very high functioning team? The foundation is trust. What are we doing every day to ensure that this group of leaders really is creating an environment where it feels like I've got your back and you've got my back, and I can come to you and say, I've made a mistake and I'm going to get help and support, not punished.
Katie 00:14:03 Right. So that deep, trusting team where you can be a bit vulnerable, ask for help when you need it and know that it's there and then you layer on top of that. How do we build a team where we can vigorously debate, and we're not afraid of conflict, where we can talk about strategy A versus strategy B, and really, really debate and challenge the thinking, not get mad at each other, but challenge the thinking. So you want to build a team that knows how to do that commitment and buy in is a really interesting one because people will say they're committed, but whether or not they're bought into the direction you're going. Can often be where the challenge lies, because you might come to the table and debate left or right. Everyone tables their point of view. We're deciding to go right. But people still have passion for left, so they keep nudging it forward. Even subconsciously. They're still putting effort and work there so they're not actually bought in. So finding out where the challenges lie.
Katie 00:14:59 The next one is accountability. I have never worked with a team who doesn't think they could get better at accountability. It's really tricky, and that's really about building a system inside your organization. A quarterly, weekly, monthly, whatever. Your cadence is a system to hold each other accountable to achieving your goals. And then the top of the pyramid, the thing that lines everybody up is that strategic plan. I use a one page strategic plan approach. It's simple. It doesn't need to be complicated. If it's too complicated, likely it's going to be hard to achieve. It's limited. I think when people put too many priorities, then they aren't really priorities. And so it's about getting that alignment. So it's kind of always looking week in, week out, month in, month out, year in, year out. Are we building a team that's aligned around trust? Can we debate? Are we committed? Do we know how to hold each other accountable? And does everyone have alignment strategically on where we're going.
Katie 00:15:55 And that takes work. And then underneath that it's building all the systems that can execute against that.
Nicole 00:16:02 And it's hard to do when you are immersed in the day to day tasks. Right. So it's hard to step away and make time for that team building when you're just racing to accomplish whatever technical thing the business does.
Katie 00:16:15 Yeah. And what I see often is the because of that, because we get so tactical that the issues that might require more than 15 minutes just keep getting pushed aside or under the rug, because you don't take the time to actually dive into the key issues that are holding you back as a team or as a as a leadership group, or strategically being able to pause and go, wow, what is going on in the world? You know, as we see today, there's so many macro things being thrown at us to have to pivot and adjust all the time with what's happening on the geopolitical level and all that. If you don't have a system to sort of pull yourself out of the business and have a good look around and see what is happening that might affect you, and then figure out how to change it.
Katie 00:16:59 You just get so stuck in that day to day tactical. So that's when I speak about a system. What I mean by a system is like, you know, when do you meet with your team? What are you talking about? Like, if Monday mornings, a tactical meeting once a month, it's that deep dive on key issues. Once a quarter, it's “how are we doing and moving our whole year forward once a year,” it's strategically, “where are we going next year?” It's creating a system that works.
Nicole 00:17:22 So we just did a strategic plan retreat that you facilitated for us beautifully. So let's talk about that. You often do work on that one page strategic plan. So what is it and why is it so valuable to move businesses forward?
Katie 00:17:37 Yeah, I think, you know, pick your tool. So I would start there. There's a lot of tools out there. The one page strategic plan you can look at a book called Scaling Up. The short form version is in a book called Mastering the Rockefeller Habits.
Katie 00:17:49 There's tons of models out there: EOS (Entrepreneur Operating System). There's people that facilitate for that. There's lots of models. It's about very simply on a page being able to say, what is our vision? Where are we going? What's our purpose or our mandate? What are our values? What do we stand for as a company and what are we trying to do? Big picture ten years. Where do we want to be okay if that's our ten year goal and like writing it down on paper and it's not just a numerical goal. A lot of people focus on the number we want to be. We're 50 million today. We want to be 100 million by then. It's it's you know, what is the impact? What is the reach? Why does your product or service matter in the world? And then it's about saying, okay, if that's the vision and that's where we want to be in ten years, what do we need to do to get there? And so when I work with clients, I'll often say, okay, if that's the goal, let's bring it back.
Katie 00:18:40 So where would you need to be in five years? Therefore where would you need to be in three years? Therefore, where would you need to be in one year? And what would we do over the course of this year to start to move in that direction? And when you get it down to that one page plan and it literally says so our annual priorities are one, two, three, four, five. And this is how we're moving it forward in Q1 and Q2 and Q3. What I'm just describing to you is a system, again, around a strategy and this whole idea of a one page plan, although as happened last weekend, everyone had varying versions of what one page equals. There were three pages, five pages. That's okay. It's about getting your thinking down into as tight a format as possible, so that anyone in the organization can look at it and go. That's what we're trying to do. And I know how I can help move my little piece forward within that plan.
Nicole 00:19:34 Okay.
Nicole 00:19:34 So you've talked about how incredibly important it is to build teams and have some sort of succession plan. So what is the hardest part for most owners about this? What do they resist?
Katie 00:19:45 Everybody struggles limiting priorities. Everybody thinks they can do way more than they can. It's not to say you can't do all those things. You just can't do them all necessarily. At the same time. It all depends on the size of your team. People will argue with this statement because if you've got a big team, you maybe you can. So limiting your priorities to keep the organization focused. I think of the entrepreneur releasing some control into the hands of the people that are working with you, trusting those team members to make the decisions. So empowering some of the decision making into the hands of others. It's very difficult. I think actually taking time to address the tough topics is something I see that people have a hard time with. There's a lot of avoidance of conflict. If there's one thing I hear over and over.
Katie 00:20:31 Like a lot of people are afraid of conflict, and I think maybe the word is even to take that word out of it and just say, we've got to have some tough conversations about important issues. It's not like I'm trying to have a fight with you, Nicole, but I want to debate this idea and let's get into it. So I think that's something a lot of people have trouble with. And I think the other piece is this is a long term investment. It's a long game. And if people are trying to do this too quickly or briefly or think that it's a one and done, it's not. It's ongoing. It's just so ongoing. So I think that's what people struggle with too. I remember working with one gentleman. This was years ago. He was at SAP. He came over from Germany. He had a huge team here. He was quite a new leader, man. He was brilliant. Every time I recommended a book to him, it was read by the next time we met.
Katie 00:21:21 I'm like, I didn't even finish that book. And he's already read it. super, super smart, limited leadership experience. And it was about how do you build a team? And I'm like, well, you know, these are some of the tools I use and everything we've just talked about today. And then he would do it and then he was doing so well. They gave him a like he went from like 200 people to 800 people. Like its SAP is massive. It was a staggering size. And he's like what do I do now? And I'm like, you just do it again. You got to start again with this new leadership team. He's like, I got to do it again. I'm like, yeah, you got to do it again. It's not one and done. It's ongoing. So I think that was very interesting too.
Nicole 00:21:57 So if someone started today and they wanted to have a succession plan, like what is a realistic timeline where a business, if it was largely founder dependent, how long would it take until the business could realistically operate without them?
Katie 00:22:12 That's a great question and it would really probably depend on the leader operating without them.
Katie 00:22:20 A couple of years, I think it's a couple of years. Like I'm trying to think in my head. Do I have any examples where it's like under a year? I don't think so. I mean, this is something you do want to plan for ahead of time. Yeah, one year to three years.
Nicole 00:22:35 So I spoke with a prospective client yesterday, a very complex construction company, CEOs sort of in their mid 50s, and their goal is to have a business that can run without them. And they're in the weeds. They're doing buildings. They've got cranes. And at the same time they're trying to build standard operating procedures and build a leadership team. It's really challenging to do it all at the same time.
Katie 00:23:00 I'm thinking of some examples, Nicole, like, again, this story I told earlier, they're taking a three year lens on getting the next person ready. I know one of the engineering firms that one of my MacKay members was and they knew the CEO was going to retire over the course of like the year plus, ahead of announcing, they started to test some of their leaders to see if anyone could take that role.
Katie 00:23:28 They were sort of handed incremental responsibilities, taking it off the CEO's plate. At the end of the year, they decided that one individual should be the CEO. That individual decided he didn't want it right. He said, actually, it's taking me too far away from the work I like to do. I actually don't want the CEO role, whereas prior to that he was I'm all in. I'm the guy. After a year of sort of taking over half of his role, he said, I'm not the guy. I don't even want to do that job. Then they had to go out and they ultimately hired externally in this case. But again, it's an example of a multi-year process because once you've tested your internal people, if they're not ready or don't want it or aren't capable, you’ve got to go external. That's a whole other length of time. So it's not quick.
Nicole 00:24:10 So at Heritage Trust, unfortunately, we often see the events that force the issues. Like somebody dies, there's a disability, fundamental disagreement.
Nicole 00:24:19 So any one of those things can pull a business owner out without warning. So when you work with CEOs, do you find they think through those potential interruptions, or does that usually require you to prompt or suggest they start planning?
Katie 00:24:32 Yeah, I don't think anyone's thinking about that. Honestly, no one's saying, well, if I die, actually, not entirely true. There's one company that I've worked with for years, there's two founders and then a third partner that was brought in, and I don't know if they've done it yet. I'm not as intimately connected to them now as I was for many years. What they were going to do is pull each of the founders out for like several months, like you are off summer 2026. Don't check email. Go as though you're not here anymore because they wanted to test to see if they'd built something strong enough. So that's the one example I can think of now. Again, I don't know the punchline. Like, have they done it yet? Have they tested the system to say if we pull out liter one, what happens? Can the other two of us carry on without him? Because there.
Katie 00:25:19 Now I know some of the business owners that might be listening might be ten or 20 or 50 person companies. These guys have grown exponentially to several thousand. So it's critical that they say, can this thing run without us? But they're still founder-led, right? So that's like risk at scale if you don't have that strong team. Right?
Nicole 00:25:38 So succession planning is about who takes over the business when the owner is ready to exit. But business continuity is about whether the business can survive if the owner is suddenly not there. So they're related but they're not the same thing. Like what are your thoughts about that?
Katie 00:25:53 You know, I guess for any one of us, if something happens, how does it carry on? Right. Just from a very personal lens, I'm an independent consultant. If I don't show up to facilitate, it's like, who's going to do it, right? There's a vulnerability for sure to what I do. Within MacKay CEO forums, we have groups and chairs all across the country.
Katie 00:26:17 I had a health scare a couple of years ago that pulled me out of my ability to chair. It actually ended up being a fairly short period of time, gratefully, and I had warning, which was also helpful. But I knew what dates I was supposed to facilitate. I was able to get somebody else to step in and do that. I was the one who could recommend, based on my different groups and the profiles of the groups. Here's who I want to do this group, and here's who I think would be right for this group. And so we could forward-plan and set it up. This was not with a lot of time, a little bit of warning. Like I was like, health scare, shoot, need surgery, shoot. Gonna be out for a while. Okay. This is what we got to do. Luckily, it's all behind me. But, you know, being able to just have enough time to be able to say, right, how are we going to carry this on and make sure all of our clients are supported while I'm temporarily out? So that really woke me up for sure.
Katie 00:27:07 I don't think any of us are walking around thinking, well, what's going to happen if I get hit by a bus? But you do have to think about that tragic scenario. How do you set up your business for success and do enough people know what's going on? Like, I think even personally, because I know your wills and estates, not just for businesses, but for individuals. It's like, “do my kids know where our will is?” I was like, they probably don't even know physically where to find that in my own house. They could probably find it, but I should show them. Right. And that's like the micro example of this that says an individual and a personal will, not a business will. So you take that up to the business level and it's like, do all the key players know where to access fine stuff, relationships, financials. You know, I think of some of the members in our MacKay group and some of the strategic planning that I do with them. There's an increasing lens into financials, and I think it's really powerful that, you know, there's always going to be things that are confidential, but sharing with more people what's going on, what the business looks like.
Katie 00:28:08 I think, again, that that helps you in the long term and it reduces the vulnerability.
Nicole 00:28:13 So let's say the plan is to sell. So they're not planning for generation two or just in case they pass away. But they've got a five year plan to sell. What makes a business sellable.
Katie 00:28:26 Oh it's a great question. So, money…let's start with the basics. Is the business profitable? Does it have both growing topline revenue and stable if not growing bottom line EBITDA contribution margin, whatever however you want to measure it. That's the price of entry as you've got to. I mean, is it the price of entry? Could you sell unprofitable businesses? Yeah. You might. Someone might want to snap you up. But if you're trying to build something that's really valuable, the next is that you don't have all of the business concentrated with one person. So it's a lot of what we've been talking about here. It makes the business more valuable if you're buying a whole established business, not an individual who's got some great contracts.
Katie 00:29:09 Diversity would be a third thing. Diversity of whether it's product line or client base or geography. You have to have some form of diversity. If you're too concentrated in one contract, you're not very saleable. Because if that contract relies on your relationship, you're the president or the president. You've always worked together for 30 years. Well, the minute the two of you are gone, what happens? Right. So anything that's too concentrated reduces the value. I mean, those are some of the things off the top of my head.
Nicole 00:29:42 Do you want to do a myth busting round?
Katie 00:29:43 Sure.
Nicole 00:29:45 Okay, so number one, I'll deal with succession planning when I'm ready to retire.
Katie 00:29:50 Yeah, way too late.
Katie 00:29:55 Seriously? Too late. Like, hilariously too late.
Nicole 00:29:58 Number two. My business is too small or too specialized for anyone else to run.
Katie 00:30:03 That's ego.
Nicole 00:30:05 Very common. Number three. My kids will figure it out.
Katie 00:30:08 I hope you have really smart kids.
Katie 00:30:10 Well, you know what? You know what? That one.
Katie 00:30:12 What's interesting about that is, first of all, do your kids want the business? Are they educated? How old are they? Obviously. But even if they're of age, let's say they're old enough to be, you know, they're post university.
Katie 00:30:23 Or whatever age they're capable.
Katie 00:30:25 Do they want to? Do they have any training in it? Would they? Back to my will in my house. Do my kids even know where to find that will? Would your kids even know where to start? Right? Yeah. I think it's irresponsible to just assume that someone can pick up what you've created.
Nicole 00:30:42 I already have a will that covers my business, so I'm fine.
Katie 00:30:46 Okay, that's.
Katie 00:30:46 Maybe you're the one to answer that. Your will probably doesn't cover your business, right?
Katie 00:30:50 What would you say?
Nicole 00:30:51 I mean, well, I mean, it's so inadequate. I mean, for one thing, do you have an enduring power of attorney? I mean, because what happens if you are suddenly incapable? But, who's the executor? Like, you know.
Nicole 00:31:02 Do they even have the ability or willingness to take an operating concern? And you know, who are you leaving this to? And do they even want it?
Katie 00:31:10 Right? Do they even want it?
Nicole 00:31:12 So if a business owner is listening to this and they realize they've got some work to do, so the stats are it's a lot of people. What are the top three things they should focus on this year?
Katie 00:31:22 That's such a loaded question because it depends where they are. So if they're listening to this and they're thinking, Holy crap, I'm on the side of this conversation that I don't want to be on. I'd start with, don't go it alone, get some help or support. There's so many people in the world like yourself that we're all out here as advisors to help businesses be successful. Like when people ask me, what do I do? I think I'm trying to help businesses be successful. That's what I want. So get some people beside you, start to think about and build your team.
Katie 00:31:51 Get really clear on your strategic priorities And focused strategic priorities. So not too many. Yeah I think get some people around you, build your leadership team. Get your strategic priorities simplified. Are you thinking like if someone is ready to sell or just listening to this and thinking they need to…
Nicole 00:32:10 Oh, it could be, it could be any of that. So, you know, even just, “I've been so busy with my head down just meeting client needs, I haven't even, like, put my head up to even think about what this looks like if I suddenly wasn't here or what is my 5 or 10 year plan?” You know, so the stats are most people. I mean, half of Canadians have no estate plan at all.
Katie 00:32:32 So let's start there.
Nicole 00:32:34 Half the country doesn't even have, like, the basics. And then I think, I think a lot of small business owners, like, you know, there's a survival element, right? Like, it's a tough economy.
Nicole 00:32:44 There's lots of demands. The cost of living has gone up. There's trade and security. There's the huge disruption with AI. I think a lot of people probably feel like they're drinking through a fire hose, just trying to survive day to day. And I think what we're hearing from you, Katie, is how important it is to actually have some rigor, discipline to say, okay, every quarter we're going to touch base. And maybe once a year we're going to sit down and say, okay, you know, where do we want to be in 3 to 5 years? Are we even doing the things we need to be doing?
Katie 00:33:14 Well, I agree with all of that. And I go back to like how you and I know each other. I know you because you're sitting around one of the MacKay CEO forum tables that I chair. And what is that like? Why do people say yes to that? It's a group of people that are doing the same thing you're doing, just in a different industry.
Katie 00:33:33 You're all trying to build businesses, run businesses. You're all asking the same kinds of questions. How is AI going to impact my business? What am I going to do about tariffs and trade? And, you know, how do I handle this “people” issue? And I've got retention challenges. What are you guys doing to resolve them? Those things that I just named rapidly off the top of my head. Every business is facing the same stuff. You don't have to figure it out by yourself. And so the faster you get some sort of a mastermind group around you, the faster you can solve for this stuff. So I'm just such a firm. I'm all in. I've been sharing with MacKay for nine years, so I'm like all in because I've seen it over and over and over again. How it accelerates everything for people like, you don't have to figure this out on your own. In fact, likely the person sitting beside you has already done it. Maybe just did it last year.
Katie 00:34:24 I've seen documents go across the computer to go, “here, I've already done my AI policy.” Whatever governance, don't start from scratch.
Katie 00:34:31 Here it is. You know, just that idea to surround yourself with people, like minded people. There is help out there. You don't have to go it alone. And that's the beauty of this kind of work is getting the support you need.
Nicole 00:34:45 So there's a business owner out there, they want to get support. They want to start working on this. How can they find you?
Katie 00:34:50 You can go to my website. KatieBennett.ca, you can reach me by email at katie.bennett@mackayceoforums.Com. So those are two different paths in Katie Bennett is my own business. MacKay CEO Forums, I work with them. So there's two paths that you can find me.
Nicole 00:35:07 Great. Well, this has been amazing. Thank you so much for sharing all your wisdom with our listeners.
Katie 00:35:11 It was my pleasure. Thank you for having me.
Nicole 00:35:19 Katie. Thank you. This has been such an important conversation because it fills a gap that most estate planning discussions miss.
Nicole 00:35:25 Many business owners have done the legal and financial side of their estate plan, but they have not addressed the single biggest operational risk whether the business can actually survive without them. A will can say who inherits the business, but it cannot make the business run. A tax plan can minimize tax on a transfer. But if the business has lost value because the owner was the business, the tax savings may not matter much for anyone listening who owns a business. Here are the key takeaways. Number one, building a business that can thrive without you is not just good business strategy, it is estate planning. If your family would inherit a business that cannot function without you, that is a problem your will cannot solve. Start now. Leadership. Continuity. Team development and succession planning. Take time. Number four. Don't do this alone. Your lawyer, accountant and financial advisor are essential, but you also need support on the leadership strategy and operational side. And finally, the work. Katy described building a strong team, creating a clear strategic plan, and learning to let go protects your family and makes your business more valuable, resilient and enjoyable to run today.
Nicole 00:36:37 Katy, thank you again for sharing your wisdom with us, and thank you to our listeners for joining us on your Estate Matters. If this episode was helpful, please share it with a business owner in your life and join us next time for another practical conversation about estate planning. The state administration and legacy in Canada. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered individual, legal, financial, or tax advice. Make sure to consult the advisor of your choice to advise you on your own circumstances.
Nicole 00:37:09 Thank you for joining us for this episode of Your Estate Matters. If you like this podcast, make sure to follow it on your podcast platform of choice. Whether you're planning your own estate or you're acting as executor for somebody else's heritage, trust can help partner with Heritage Trust to protect your family, your assets, and your legacy. If you'd like more information about Heritage Trust, please visit our website at Heritage Trust.
Nicole 00:37:41 This podcast is produced by Podfather Creative.
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