Meet Mastery Partner: David Brown - Part Two (#249)

Last week, listeners were introduced to David Brown, the newest host of the Maximize Business Value Podcast and Certified Partner with Mastery Partners. In Part Two of this special series, David continues his conversation with Dave Casey, diving deeper into his career journey, leadership philosophy, and passion for helping business owners maximize value.

Tune in to hear David’s vision for the podcast, what excites him most about working with Mastery Partners, and how he helps entrepreneurs build businesses that are not only profitable, but also purposeful and transferable.

👉 Learn more about David Brown on LinkedIn and at masterypartners.com
👉 Don’t forget to check out Maximizing Business Value by Tom Bronson for actionable strategies on your business journey.

#maximizebusinessvalue #masterypartners #exitplanning #leadership

Tune in weekly to hear more from Mastery Partners and to receive relevant key content on your journey to maximizing your business value!                                                                 
Learn More about Dave Casey:
Dave Casey is a seasoned business owner with deep expertise in all aspects of organizational behavior and a passion for helping entrepreneurs reap the full rewards of building their companies. He understands that a truly valuable business isn’t just profitable—it’s secure, scalable, and transferable. In addition to his work with Mastery Partners, Dave actively gives back to the entrepreneurial community through leadership roles with organizations like Business Navigators, Biz Owners Ed, and Liberty Ministry. Whether advising on strategic growth or mentoring the next generation of business leaders, Dave brings clarity, integrity, and decades of real-world experience to every interaction. His mission goes beyond exit planning—he’s committed to helping owners build lasting legacies.

Learn More about David Brown:
David Brown is a seasoned business leader, consultant, and growth strategist with over 30 years of experience leading, scaling, and turning around small to mid-market companies. Having served as CEO, COO, CRO, and CFO across multiple industries — including manufacturing,
consulting,

Mastery Partners

Elevating Businesses to Achieve The Business Owner’s Dream Exit
The unfortunate reality is that for every business that comes on the market (for whatever reason), only 17% of them achieve a successful exit. You read that right. 83% of attempted business transitions never reach the closing table. Mastery Partners is on a mission to change that. We ELEVATE businesses to achieve maximum value and reach that dream exit.

Our objectives are simple - understand where the business is today, identify opportunities for dramatic improvement, and offer solutions to enhance the business, making it more marketable and valuable. And that all starts with understanding the business owner’s definition of his or her dream exit.
Mastery has developed a 4-Step Process to help business owners achieve their dreams.

STEP 1: Transition Readiness Assessment
STEP 2: Roadmap for Value Acceleration
STEP 3: Relentless Execution
STEP 4: Decision: Now that desired results are achieved, the business is ready for the next step in the journey!

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Transcript

MAXIMIZE BUSINESS VALUE PODCAST - EPISODE 249 Transcript

Tom Bronson (1s):

Welcome to the Maximize Business Value Podcast, brought to you by Mastery Partners, where our mission is to equip business owners like you to maximize your business value and achieve the exit of your dreams, whatever that means to you. With insights gained from over a hundred business transactions, we share real world strategies, lessons, and expert advice to help you build long term sustainable value in your business. Each episode is hosted by one of our Mastery certified partners, their seasoned experts who've helped countless business owners navigate the complexities of growth, scaling, and building value.

Tom Bronson (45s):

They bring firsthand experience, actionable insights, and a passion for helping you build a business that thrives. So, let's dive in.

David Brown (57s):

Is, you know, as we would hire people, the great game became a great piece of our recruitment strategy because it was unique. Yeah. It was different. It became a great piece of our retention strategy because when people, you know, recruiter calls and says, Hey, come join us over here. Well, they weren't going to get near the level of transparency reward over there Yeah. As they did here. And then I like to think that we were raising a generation of very entrepreneurial consultants. Yeah. And I would expect that a lot of those people, the illusion that I could never start a business, you know, entrepreneurship is too complicated for me. I, I don't think that's real. And I think people just don't understand the tenants of business. And if they did, they might just take that entrepreneurial lead themselves.

David Brown (1m 39s):

Yep. And so I hope that we created a generation of consultants that are all gonna create consultancies and they're gonna go run businesses because they were inspired to say, you know, I can do that. I, I understand how a business makes money. Yep.

Dave Casey (1m 50s):

Yeah. That's great. Wow. Yeah. Like, that kinda gives me chills. 'cause I, I fully expect that you're gonna see that, you know, you're gonna see those guys out there. That's wonderful. I hope so. Yeah. So when we work with companies, and this is a, you know, obviously it's an age old kind of a saying, I guess. But many times, particularly with small businesses, the, the, the, the first objective is to get the business owner, or the CEO to start to take a step back and work more on their business than in their business. Yeah. And Tom Bronson, you know, our, our our, our leader within MA Mastery group, he's, he, he, at one time and one of these podcasts, I can't remember which episode, I actually interviewed him.

Dave Casey (2m 38s):

'cause he's, he's been very successful. And, and he's, he's built businesses. He's sexed businesses. He's done everything. And I quizzed him one time. I said, have you ever, have you ever faced failure? And he said, yeah, that'd make a good podcast. And that was the deal that he actually went into the pizza restaurant business. He knew that business segment very, very well. Had, had, had a software company that worked in that segment. They had done been very successful. Lots of cool stuff happened. And so he and a and a family friends, they, they decided, yeah. The two families decided we're we're gonna start a company or start a restaurant, we're gonna go do this. And he was guilty. He said several things happened and the wheels came off.

Dave Casey (3m 20s):

And it ultimately was not a success, but he calls it stirring the sauce. And he says, this is when the owner of the restaurant's back in the kitchen stirring the sauce. They're not doing the things owners need to be doing. They're doing, you know, things the chef needs to be doing. And so, you know, how, how do you communicate that to folks when you're coaching as, you know, you, you've gotta pull yourself back a little and, and, and get outta stirring the sauce.

David Brown (3m 48s):

Oh man. And, and we've all been there. I mean, we all Yeah. Kind of we're, we, we feel like at times that we just, if if I just do it myself, I could do it faster. I could do it better. Yeah. And the reality is that doesn't

Dave Casey (4m 1s):

I need, I need it done quickly. Yeah.

David Brown (4m 2s):

You know? Exactly. Exactly. And so, it, it really is a fool's errand. The analogy that I use with, with, with CEOs and entrepreneurs is If you, if you want to build a sellable business Yeah. You're gonna have to play chess. Like you're gonna have to stack informed strategic decisions on top of each other. Yep. But the reality is, you're gonna have to play chess while playing racquetball. 'cause operations is racquetball. Right. I mean, there is a ball in the air all the time. Yep. And you can never let the ball drop

Dave Casey (4m 32s):

And it's headed for you.

David Brown (4m 34s):

Oh my gosh. So how do you play chess while playing racquetball? Yeah. That is the great tension I think that CEOs and, and entrepreneurs face. Yeah. And you'll never do that if your hands are on every control in the cockpit. Yeah. You're gonna have to turn it over to allow yourself to play chess. And of course, as you and I know, part of the process is if there's dependency on a CEO that's not a sellable business,

Dave Casey (4m 60s):

Your business, or if

David Brown (5m 1s):

It's doesn't make money without you there, then you will always either a, have to be there or replace yourself. And so I think part of our process helps people reach a place that they can have a business that is independently productive and profitable and, and they become strategic and additive. Yeah. And not dependent.

Dave Casey (5m 21s):

Yeah. And that's, you know, if, if nothing else, it's, you know, we talk about reasons that businesses don't sell or are gonna sell to a discount. And certainly CEO dependency is, is a, or owner dependency is a, is a value killer. We're big time, you know, we definitely see that. So, you know, and you, you just expressed, you know, the last couple of questions I think we talked about is when we engage and help a CEO having, you've sat in that seat I have as well. What's, what's the main, usually the main thing that, that you, you have to do to actually kinda land the land the aircraft, and to say, you know, you, we wanna work together.

Dave Casey (6m 7s):

You know that what what Sure. What do you think really normally is the reason that they would engage with you?

David Brown (6m 12s):

Yeah. No, great question. I, I think that, I had a boss one time who was just strategically brilliant. And, and he always told me that the first call or the first meeting, all you're trying to discern is, are we saying tribe? Yeah. If we're saying tribe, we've, we value the same things we would define success the same way we would decide define integrity the same way. If we're saying tribe, all things are possible. Yeah. If we're not Saint Tribe, it's probably just best to move on. So I think my first interaction is always, is there alignment in the things that are important to, to each of us. I, I think the connection that I would have with an entrepreneur is on them. I mean, I've been in that seat.

David Brown (6m 52s):

I, I understand it's a pretty lonely place. And a lot of times, you know, CEOs are dealing with issues. They don't feel like they can share with anybody. You're not gonna walk out and say, Hey, I'm really nervous about payroll. You can't do that. Right. Yeah. And so who

Dave Casey (7m 5s):

Does that bank just called our note.

David Brown (7m 7s):

Exactly. Who, who does that person speak to? And, and I, and I think that's the privilege that we kind of get to, to play at Mastery Partner. Yeah. My consultancy battle Ready Advisors is, is that my, my younger brother, whom you know very well, and he described me one time as I'm an entrepreneur Sherpa, that I can come alongside an entrepreneur, help carry some of the load, whether that's emotional, whether that's practical, whether that's business and, and just help them get across the goal line that they wanna cross in a way that's pretty empathetic and helpful. I think. So,

Dave Casey (7m 40s):

Yeah. That's a, that's a great way to approach it. So, so, and so that, that really leads me into my next question. So this, this, I haven't asked this question, I don't think for anyone that I've interviewed on, on the Maximize Business Value Podcast, but we really don't have any rails here. So I'm gonna go ahead and do this. So, so what role do you see that faith and family play in your approach to business?

David Brown (8m 8s):

Ah, man, I, I'm, I'm so thankful that you asked. It's, yeah. I'm, I'm really passionate, I'm really passionate about my faith. I'm really passionate about my family. And, and so, I mean, when you, when you think about the things that make us excited as, as entrepreneurs, I mean, we like creating things, right? We, we like stewarding resources. Well, we like shepherding families. We like shepherding lives. And, and I think part of why sometimes that really resonates with us is that's found in the character and behavior of God. Yeah. I mean, at the end of the day, he created and he steward and he's shepherded. And I think when we do those things and we do those things well, I think there's great pleasure in it.

David Brown (8m 48s):

Yeah. And, and so I don't know that you've heard of, but there's a gentleman named Wayne Gruden, he's a theologian. He writes really big, thick, systematic theology kind of books. Wow. Not the kind of book that most people would read, but his daddy was his hero and he was just a business guy. Wow. And so, Wayne Gruden wrote a very thin book. It's about 60, 70 pages, and it's called Business for the Glory of God. Hmm. And it takes these ideas like profit and ownership and stewardship, and it's in management. And it says, are these tenants of business in and of themselves good, bad, or neutral? And he makes the argument biblically that every one of 'em is good. That these are good things that we do.

David Brown (9m 28s):

Yeah. So my favorite thing is, you know, if, if, if an entrepreneur and a CEO happens to be a follower of Christ, and I can help them think about their business in a missional way, they have such a unique opportunity to lead and love in a different way, in a business context that a lot of employees may never, never seen. Yeah. And so what an opportunity, what an opportunity to, to, to, to make a difference. And so, yeah. I appreciate you asking. Then my family, I married my high school sweetheart, we've been married 32 years. We've got four kids that are astoundingly amazing. And our first grandchild is due in, in about a month. Wow. And so, so excited. So yeah, again, I, I love working with, with the CEO who, yeah, they wanna succeed in business, but they don't wanna succeed in business if it means failing at all.

David Brown (10m 17s):

Yeah. Yeah. And so I love helping them think about how can we create a scalable business while not sacrificing things that just shouldn't be sacrificed.

Dave Casey (10m 26s):

Yeah. I was really fortunate. Privilege. Yeah. I, I was fortunate early on in my career that I, you know, I've started my career with a fortune, I guess it was a time of worked Fortune 200 company. So it was a big company with big company structure and people and politics and, and all that fun stuff. But it, it did help me learn this is, this is business. I mean, I came outta college, I went to business school, but I wasn't in business and hadn't didn't, didn't grow up working in a big business like that or anything like that. So it was, it was helpful. Then I went to work for a smaller, much smaller, that $20 million company. And it was, it was wonderful.

Dave Casey (11m 7s):

'cause the guy I had that was, that hired me was, saw something in me, which I probably didn't see in myself even. But, and he spent a lot of time at the beginning, he said, you know, that we're in a complex business, don't worry about that. You know, we're, we're, we're in business and let me show you how, tell you how I think about business. And he really had his priorities. He said, God is number one for me. My family is number two. Business is, I won't say a distant third, but it's definitely third, you know, so I, I and his business decisions were all filtered by, you know, does this, is this, am I gonna be right with God making this decision? Is this gonna be okay with my family? Is this gonna help my family?

Dave Casey (11m 48s):

Is this gonna hurt my family? And, you know, so he, even though business, he was the most successful guy in the, the entire company, the most successful sales guy. He built a region of most very successful salespeople. And, and so we were, we were on top. And, and a lot of it was his philosophy. That's just the way he looked at things. So that was, that's carried me, which has really helped. And so it's, I think it's important for people, particularly when we're, we're in a consultative role, I think, with people that we're, we're not changing the way, you know, we're not here to change their culture. We're not here to change their, their, their, you know, their, their beliefs.

Dave Casey (12m 31s):

We're here on any of that. And, but we are here to help them and help them reach their goals. And I think If you go all the way back to our initial engagement, I, if it's not the right fit, I think we, we, we call it immediately and just say, you know, I'm, I, I know you need help. I'm probably not the best person to help you. I'll, I'll do my best to find that person and, and guide 'em your way. You know, but I think those are, those are important things. And a lot of times I think we can sit down with somebody and know in pretty short order, are we, are we gonna be able to work together? You know?

David Brown (13m 6s):

Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah.

Dave Casey (13m 8s):

Yeah. That's, that's fun, fun stuff. So, any, any questions that I didn't ask that that or any, anything you wanna postulate on? I don't know how you feel about Taylor Swift being engaged or anything like that?

David Brown (13m 20s):

Oh my gosh. My wife would tell you I'm, I'm probably the least interested person as it relates to entertainment, entertainment news. That is, that is not my jam, you know, off the cuff, the first thing that that comes to my head is, you know, again, it, it ties into the conversation we just had, but it's really about balance. Yeah. Is, you know, entrepreneurs so much is demanded of starting a business and running a business. And, and so I, I think a lot of people, it it's, they start out with this idea that success is gonna be defined as, yes, it's business, but it's my family. It's these other things.

David Brown (14m 1s):

And then yeah, sometimes they just feel like that the, the tax required to grow a business cost more than they wanted to pay Yeah. Down the road. And so I think just that balance and part of that balance is work, part of that balance is, is family part of that balance is fitness. I mean, I'm, I'm pretty passionate about fitness stuff and just, you know, what does it, Warren Buffet who, you know, you could, you've probably heard him interviewed where he said, you know, if somebody told you at the age of 16 you're gonna get one car, it's the only car you're ever gonna be able to drive your whole life, would you take care of the car? Yeah. It's like, well, of course I would. Yeah. But that's true of like our bodies, you know what

Dave Casey (14m 36s):

You're walking around in,

David Brown (14m 37s):

Oh my gosh, you know, we eat Twinkies and we don't exercise and all these things. And so, you know, again, part of I think that balance that makes us a better leader and entrepreneur is if there's just a healthiness to our life and that's relationally, that's physically, that's spiritually and that's financially. So

Dave Casey (14m 53s):

Yeah, they're all tied together for sure. They're all tied together. Sure. That's excellent. Excellent. Well, as you know, this is the Maximize Business Value Podcast. So one question we ask every guest that we have is, is what's the one most important thing that you recommend that business owners do to build value in their company?

David Brown (15m 14s):

That's a great

Dave Casey (15m 15s):

Question. I know there's a thousand things, but we're Oh,

David Brown (15m 17s):

Isn't that

Dave Casey (15m 18s):

Now that the, the thing David Brown, number one.

David Brown (15m 20s):

Yeah. Just be intentional, like build with the end in mind. Yeah. Because, you know, If you could get an entrepreneur to slow down long enough to actually strategically define success and direction, and then let that decision inform all the million decisions they'll have to make on a daily basis while playing racquetball, they will likely find themselves at the intended destination. And so I think the message would be build your business on purpose. Yeah. And, and, and so what's the Texas phrase of measure twice? Cut once. Yeah. Yeah. Right. I mean, that, it's that same thing. And so many entrepreneurs, they just, they started the business and then it got a hold of 'em.

David Brown (16m 1s):

It's like having a tiger by the tail and they're just running. Yeah. And, and they don't ever pause long enough, even in the context of what you and I do, are they planning to be able to sell a business? No, I'll just sell it when I'm done. Well, if you don't at some point define what done is and learn what sellable is. Yep. You may not find yourself being able to realize that dream. I guess what makes what you and I do fun, which is we get to help people realize that dream, but we start three or four years in advance helping them build with purpose into to what they're doing. So that, that'd be my best, best answer.

Dave Casey (16m 35s):

Yeah, that's a wonderful one. You know, and we've not had that one before. It's interesting. People talk about owner dependency and get your financials in order and all that kind of fun stuff, you know, the meat and potatoes of running a business. But that intentionality I think is super important. And yeah, that's just many things came to mind when you were saying that, but I've, you know, we've got examples of people that particularly 'cause entrepreneurs, they're creative, they have a new slant on something, they have a new product, a new service, a new something that's totally different. We're launching a company, we're gonna build a company around this. So they're not often thinking about, you know, the exit or, you know, what, what does this look like five years from now, 10 years from now, whatever.

Dave Casey (17m 21s):

And certainly with, with the entrepreneurial operating system that we work with, we do our 90 day look at the life, and we do our quarterly look and we do an annual look, and we do a three year and a five year and a 10 year. But when we get out to the five and 10 years, most, most entrepreneurs are really fuzzy about what that's gonna be. So,

David Brown (17m 39s):

Oh, yeah. Oh yeah.

Dave Casey (17m 41s):

Yeah. It's, it's an interesting take on it. So, well that is, that is awesome. I've so enjoyed it. I'm, I'm really looking forward to working alongside you as, as, as we very much so help, help folks really improve, you know, their, their, their personal situation that of their employees, their companies, and everyone, all the stakeholders really, when you get into that so,

David Brown (18m 2s):

Well, Dave, thank thanks for having me. I really appreciate it and yeah. And super excited to work

Dave Casey (18m 6s):

Well, and I'm, I'm excited to watch you watch you host some of these podcasts and see the insightful questions that you ask. 'cause inquiring minds want to know, you know, so I'll, I'll

David Brown (18m 15s):

Enjoy that myself.

Dave Casey (18m 18s):

So with that, this is the Maximize Business Value Podcast. So this, this is the place where we give practical advice to business owners who are really serious about building long term sustainable value in your business. We do this each week, so please tune in to the channels, subscribe and like, and all those fun things and every week. So you, so you don't miss a, every episode is just as good as the one you've heard. Well, maybe not just as good, but you know, as good as the one you've heard with, with, with David Brown. So, until we see each other again, see you next time.

Narrator (18m 54s):

This episode is the second of a two-part release. To hear part one, follow the link below. Thank you for listening to the Maximize Business Value Podcast.

Tom Bronson (19m 3s):

Thanks for joining us for another episode of the Maximize Business Value Podcast. I hope today's conversation sparked new ideas on how you can continue driving value in your business. But remember, it's not just about listening, it's about taking massive action.

Mastery Partners (19m 24s):

Visit our website masterypartners.com for more resources. Grab a copy of any of the books in the Maximize Business Value series on Amazon or via the links below. And don't hesitate to reach out if you want to know how to apply these concepts to your business. So until next time, I'm Tom Bronson, reminding you to relentlessly execute while you Maximize Business Value.