Owners’ Roundtable Reunion Reinforces Growth Strategies and Reinvigorates Participants

Following the most recent International Owners’ Roundtable (“ORT”) workshop, held in St. Thomas January 28 to February 1 of 2024, a complimentary Owners’ Roundtable Reunion was held in Ohio on August 13. Those familiar with Marcum’s annual ORT program know that each year’s unique curriculum centers on the principles of value as outlined in the eBook The 5 Stages of Value Maturity, available as a free download.

Mike Trabert, author of the 5 Stages of Value Maturity and partner in Marcum’s Advisory Services Group, leads the firm’s Value Acceleration / Exit Planning Services practice, including ORT events. Mike recently contributed a chapter to Exit Smart Vol. 4, a book featuring conversations with the nation’s leading Exit Planning Advisors, and a free copy of the book was offered to all ORT reunion attendants.

Owners Reunited

Where the ORT workshops are intensive seminar-like learning sessions, ORT reunions take a different approach. Invitees, all of whom are past participants of one or more of the previous 26 ORT workshops, are encouraged to join reunions to reinforce their relationships with other business leaders and ORT participants, hear from esteemed speakers, expand their networks, and share their experiences in free-flowing discussions on a variety of topics pertaining to small business ownership. Over the ORT program’s history, 27 individuals have attended multiple workshops, with seven attending three or more, and one owner that has attended each of the four International ORT sessions.

Mr. Snider Goes to Washington

The 4-hour session kicked off with a screening of Scott Snider, Exit Planning Institute’s president, testifying before the Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship on January 24, 2024. He spoke to the nation’s leaders to highlight the importance of exit planning for wealth generation, preservation, and job continuity.

According to a survey conducted by the Exit Planning Institute, owners are waking up to Scott’s message. In 2013, only 6% of business owners polled had identified exit strategy as a priority but by 2023 that increased to 69%. Similarly, more than twice as many owners reported having a formal transition plan (from 19% in 2013 to 42% in 2023) and 70% acknowledged being “familiar with all the exit options” compared to just 34% in 2013. Notably, the number of Certified Exit Planning Advisors grew from just 180 to over 5,000 over this same timeframe.

According to participants, the screening of Scott’s congressional testimony on the advantages of exit planning “set the stage” for discussions that business owners too often forego in order to manage the day-to-day responsibilities of running a business.

Speaking from Experience

The ORT reunion’s first speaker, Scott Berlin, spoke on the role of advisory boards and their utility for business owners. Scott introduced himself as an owner of 9 companies acquired over 10 years and explained that his ability to manage such broad ranging responsibilities came down to his reliance on capable assistance from qualified advisors. His presentation established what would become the ORT reunion’s overarching theme – how to change the ownership paradigm from working for your business to making your business work for you.

Scott outlined the advantages advisory boards provide. He championed their ability to offer: objective perspectives on questions of the business’ performance and outlook, specialized knowledge to support the management team’s objectives, guidance through operational challenges, networking opportunities, and improved decision making through the incorporation of a diversity of opinions, feedback, and analysis. One voice among the ORT reunion’s receptive audience felt Scott’s speech was “super interesting and very high-value.”

Next, ORT reunion participants heard the perspective of one business owner who successfully transitioned from “working for the business” to “making the business work for him.” This speaker, Mike Maczuzak, colloquially known as Mike the Walker, shared how he was able to pursue his personal goals while simultaneously growing a business. For him, the best strategy was to, quite literally, walk away.

Mike’s objective in life is to walk the world. He’s taken several globe-trotting trips and covered approximately one half of the ground necessary to check the top-line item off of his bucket list. But to pursue his dream, Mike had to find a way to step back from a business that was overly reliant on him as an owner. Mike’s talk was one part encouragement for owners to find and follow their life’s passion and equally full of practical advice to accomplish that lofty ambition. Mike found success personally by hiring people with the experience and expertise to satisfy clients, improving the consistency of business process and systems, and developing his employees’ client service skills so they were able to take responsibility for maintaining and growing the business. Now, Mike is happy to report that he ”owns a business that doesn’t own me.” One attendee described Mike’s presentation as a “great lesson on how to gain freedom and force our business to run without us and how to accept that it can run without us.”

Mike the Walker has one long journey left, this mammoth trek from Switzerland to China.

The final speaker was Greg Skoda, a Marcum partner alongside ORT host Mike Trabert. Greg discussed his experience growing his first firm from a two-person bookkeeping operation into a major top-100 accounting firm. His is a story, first and foremost, of the limitless possibilities of success. While co-founding and leading CBIZ, Greg executed a rapid acquisition strategy that saw his firm acquire roughly 135 other business services companies in just two years, ultimately reaching a market cap of more than $2 billion. Greg accomplished this by creating and developing a new structure for the accounting industry and became the first to split a CPA firm into its separate businesses – a structure that is now widely referred to as an alternative practice structure. This allowed non-CPA investors to participate in the rapidly growing accounting industry for the first time and made CBIZ the first public company to apply the strategy. In storybook style, Greg’s career will soon come full circle as Marcum recently announced plans to merge with CBIZ. One attendee summed up the effect of the speech succinctly, saying Greg inspired their excitement to “go do anything.”

Discussion, Introductions, and Networking

The group of owners engaged in an open discussion beginning with the prompt “what was your biggest challenge in business and how did you overcome that?” The conversation was fast-paced, wide-ranging and electrifying, underscoring the common ground that ORT reunion participant share as business leaders. The free-form conversation was appreciated, with one attendee appreciating the “rich dialogue,” adding they “loved hearing the stories each business owners shared.”

Finally, and in preparation for the networking portion of the event, Mike took over as host once again to invite each attendee to participate in a “blitz” in which they gave the room a twenty second elevator pitch on their business, establishing a platform for ORT guests to further build business relationships. All were then invited to enjoy wine and appetizers and further discuss their business and the topics covered at the ORT reunion.

Join the International ORT Workshop in 2025

If you are interested in attending an ORT International session, the next workshop will be held from January 26 to January 30, 2025 in Costa Rica. As always, time will be split between intense learning sessions covering the key principles of value maturity and free time to relax, consider the content covered in class, and enjoy an island paradise, away from the busy day-to-day that can impede long-term strategic planning.

To reserve your spot or discuss any questions you may have about exit planning for your business, contact Mike Trabert. Those considering joining the upcoming ORT session are encouraged to act fast because a limited number of spots are available at the host site, Andaz Costa Rica Resort, and the International ORT has sold out for the past four years.