Simplifying Business Strategies for Tax-Efficient Exits - Part Two (#268)

In the conclusion of this high-stakes conversation, Amy Morin and Dawn Hryshko, CEO of The Exit Planning Team, move from theory to execution. Building on last week's discussion, part two focuses on the specific tax structures and strategic maneuvers that can make or break a business transition.

Dawn leverages her 30+ years of CPA expertise to simplify the complex, showing you exactly how to align your business operations with tax-saving strategies that maximize your net proceeds. If you want to ensure the IRS isn't your biggest beneficiary when you exit, this is the episode you cannot afford to miss.

#maximizebusinessvalue #masterypartners #DawnHryshko #SimplfyingTaxStructures

Podcast Chapters:
00:00 — Introduction
01:12 — The Personal Side of Exit Planning: Involving the Family
03:51 — Addressing Personal Readiness & The Regret Statistic
04:55 — How Certified Exit Planning Training Extends the CPA Role
06:02 — Tragic vs. Triumphant Exits: Highs and Lows of the Process
09:11 — The Buyer's Perspective: When and How a CPA Navigates Due Diligence
10:59 — The Danger of Overvalued, Arbitrary Asking Prices
12:38 — The #1 Tip for Building Business Value
14:40 — Outro

GET THE BOOKS: Start with Maximizing Business Value by Tom Bronson

Learn More about Amy Morin
Amy Morin is an accomplished entrepreneur and Business Growth Coach who brings exceptional value to your network. She has an impressive background as a Certified EOS Implementer®, Outgrow Sales Advisor, and Certified Exit Planning Advisor®. What makes Amy truly remarkable is her real-world success. She co-founded and scaled a company from zero to $40 million in revenue across multiple states before executing a successful exit. Later, she purchased a struggling Montana fly-fishing resort, implemented effective systems and accountability measures, and transformed it into a profitable enterprise that she also successfully exited.

Learn More about Dawn Hryshko
Dawn Hryshko is a seasoned CPA and Certified Exit Planning Advisor with over 30 years of experience helping business owners prepare for and navigate successful exits. As a co-founder of The Exit Planning Team, she specializes in combining tax strategy, business valuation, and financial analysis to drive growth and transition readiness. Her background includes leadership roles at major firms and advising family-owned and mid-market companies across industries.
With a Master of Taxation and a track record of strategic advisory success, Dawn is a trusted guide for entrepreneurs ready to align their business, financial, and personal goals for a smooth and profitable exit.

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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© 2025 Mastery Partners, LLC.

Transcript

Tom Bronson (0s): 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. They bring firsthand experience, actionable insights, and a passion for helping you build a business that thrives. So, let's dive in.


Speaker 2 (1m 3s): 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


Amy Morin (1m 12s): At Don. When you're not doing tax strategy with clients, tell us a little bit about how you're helping clients on the exit side.


Dawn Hryshko (1m 20s): Sure. So what I, what's really important to me is I, I think it's extremely important to get to know the spouse and any adult children, because these are the individuals who, well, for certain, the spouse, but sometimes the adult children as well will be affected by a potential exit. Okay. And so it's very important, I always start with that. I wanna get to know them. I want to understand them. What are their viewpoints on everything? What do they like to do in life?


Just all the basic questions any exit planner would ask. But then I work very hard to really get to know them and to really understand that part. And that takes a while. Just like I, if they were a client of mine as a, in my CPA firm, right. And once I know that sometimes that helps me. I, I don't know, just for the planning, I know that may sound weird because they're working with people like yourself. They have an attorney, they have a financial advisor.


I do think it's very important. I explain to them, we need to work with all of us. We need to have meetings, you know, whatever it takes. I know that costs money for our clients. Sometimes they worry about that, but it's important that everybody's on the same page and we understand what are the goals, hopes, and dreams of that business owner and their family. Yeah. So that we can then help them. And I believe in connecting. I know you're the same way. I will connect them with anybody I, they need, need from whatever conversations we have so that they can talk with these people and see if it makes sense, which is like we were talking about a previous shared client of who we're talking, recommending they speak to, so that they can see the value of the other services that they need, right?


Yeah, yeah. From other advisors so that they can be well informed and prepared. So I do a little bit of that, which may not be something a lot of CPAs do, but it's very important. It's more than just the numbers. Of course, every single business owner on Earth loves to tell me, as a cpa, I don't wanna pay any tax. Of course. Who does? There's such a bigger picture in all this. Right? Right. Yeah. And then the emotions that go into it, sometimes I feel like I'm a psychiatrist, and maybe you do too.


Just Yes. The spouses, especially because I'm female, I found that the spouse is female and the business owner is male. There's quite a connection oftentimes, and yeah, she'll open up in ways that maybe she wouldn't if I wasn't a female. And so, yeah, it it's an emotional road for them.


Amy Morin (3m 51s): It is. Yeah, it is. Having gone through two sail, it is definitely an emotional road for sure. And, and you brought up a great point there, right? As exit planning advisors, we do focus on business, what we call business readiness and personal readiness, right? So we get the business making sure that it's ready for sale, and we've closed that value gap. But you can't discount the personal readiness of all the parties involved. That is a very big part of it is Don, I don't know if you remember that stat, but it, what is it?


It's something like 75% of the business owners within a year after the sale regret the sale because they were of the personal readiness aspect, they


Dawn Hryshko (4m 33s): Weren't ready.


Amy Morin (4m 34s): Yeah. Yeah. And that was a real life thing that happened in one of the businesses that we sold. My husband and I own that business together, and I was personally ready. He wasn't personally ready, and it, it was a big transition for him. So getting both of, you know, all parties involved on the same page is real.


Dawn Hryshko (4m 54s): Yeah. Yeah.


Amy Morin (4m 55s): So, sure. How has Ben, being both a CPA and a CCE PA CIPA changed your definition of a successful exit? Because I'm guessing that you gained your CPA certification, your certified exit planning advisor after you became a CPA.


Dawn Hryshko (5m 14s): Yes. Yeah. Yes. So as you can tell, I'm, I'm not 30, so I have a lot of years,


Amy Morin (5m 23s): Of


Dawn Hryshko (5m 23s): Course, you know, as my clients were aging as well as myself, and they've owned their businesses for a long time while I was working with them through the CPA practice, I was noting that there was more and more of a need to help them navigate what's next. Yeah. And so I found the exit planning institute, and it was extremely helpful learning more about the CIPO world and how that really does work so closely with what I do as a cpa, because I'm meeting with these clients several times a year, and we have these conversations, and now I, I was able to add more after becoming a cipa.


There's just so much more education in that.


Amy Morin (6m 2s): Yeah. Yeah. Nice. So I've experienced business exits that have been triumph, triumphant, and as well as tragic. You know, I kind of alluded to that a little bit earlier, and I'm sure you have as well, right? It's, it comes in in all sizes and all shapes when you exit a business. What patterns have you noticed for the owners that feel really fulfilled after the exit for the ones who haven't? Because there's so many aspects to it, right?


There's just a lot of moving parts. There's the financial, there's the personal, there's the, what is life after? That's the identity. That's, there's just a whole bunch to it. Sure. Yeah. So what have you seen?


Dawn Hryshko (6m 47s): Well, I've seen, I've seen individuals jump into quickly and take the deal that they think is best, and then there's, oh, now what do I do? Let's ignore tax altogether. Just what do I do? So it's the shock, right? Because there was no planning, I don't even know if they had much time themselves to think about it. They just moved quickly for whatever the reason. Then I have the other side where I've had clients who, it takes years and, and we're talking about years with the potential buyer.


I mean, things don't always close right away, and then something happens and it falls through. And how devastating, and that's happened with several of my clients. Whatever happens, either it's financing or some of the due diligence turned up something that the buyer was no longer interested in. And it just, it's so defeating to the business owner and they're like, we don't wanna do this again. Right? It's just, it's so much work and effort for my staff and for me emotionally, but you just talk 'em through it and tell 'em it's okay.


And, and in many cases, they'll, they'll take a gap in time and then they will go back to, alright. Because at this point they are mentally ready. Yeah. It was just a terrible, you know, step, step back. Or it's when the sale fell through, and then usually it turns out okay, yeah. You know, at least I could say they're happy that it finally does sell. So you see both. And also, I also found that many entrepreneurs are serial entrepreneurs. So just because I, depending on their age too, if they're a little bit younger, they're going to jump right into another business.


I've seen that every single time I've worked with a Yeah. Younger exiter and that, that's fine. That's what they do, right? So they're, they're very happy at this point because they're doing something else, or something along the same lines, and it's keeping them going, and they're not experienced from a previous sale, and they, they're starting the new business in a very different light perspective and preparing themselves from the beginning for an eventual exit.


Amy Morin (8m 53s): Yes. That, that was what happened to us in the Right. We were young when we sold our first company, you know, still in our fifties, had kids in college, so it was e it was much easier to jump into the purchase of that second business after that for sure. So we spent a lot of time talking about what it looks like to get your business ready to sell. But let's talk a little bit about the buyer, right? So if we were working with a buyer, when would you wanna get involved there?


And, and so let's, I'll start there and we'll kind of dig into that a little bit.


Dawn Hryshko (9m 32s): Sure. So from a buyer perspective, you definitely want an accountant. So that's the CPA side, I guess that's the hat I put on. You want somebody like myself involved, because we're going to help you with some of the due diligence, right? We're gonna look at financials, we're gonna look at tax returns. And not that a business owner doesn't understand how to read those documents, oftentimes they don't care. Right. Throughout the process, I could tell a lot of my clients are like, I trust you. Just tell me what I need to know. Right? Where we as CPAs will dig in, ask questions, so that as a business owner, they have, you know, get more information and are more informed.


Yes. And so I find that anytime a a, a client of mine or has been interested in buying a business, I'm like, well, let's, let's look at it and if it's something, and don't ever be afraid to ask your accountant, is this an industry that you're familiar with? Because there's a few industries I can tell you that I've told clients I don't work in that industry. I won't be the right advisor for you. Yes. Don't be afraid. It doesn't mean we're gonna lose work, but it's the right thing for the business owner. So you just make sure that you set them up and hopefully you, you as an accountant, we have a network of other accountants we can refer that to and see, this is an expert, and you want, you want that.


So it's important as a business owner to ask those questions if they're looking into something, some new venture that they're not, you know, currently working in with their accountant.


Amy Morin (10m 55s): Yeah. Yeah. That's great.


Dawn Hryshko (10m 57s): Yeah. That's helpful to them.


Amy Morin (10m 59s): Yeah, that is a great point. Yeah. And when you're working with a potential buyer on a business, have you seen an instance where maybe the business isn't worth, like the numbers don't back up the selling price?


Dawn Hryshko (11m 16s): Yeah,


Amy Morin (11m 17s): Yeah, of course.


Dawn Hryshko (11m 18s): Yeah. We see that all time. I'm sure anybody in the exit planning, well have to be honest with them. Right. You have to tell them that you can look at different ways. The sales don't work out ebitda. It depends on, you know, all the different ways that you could buy a business. Yeah. Which you just look at it, and then sometimes there's an explanation, right? Okay, something happen, there's a dip, maybe we need to look at two or three more years. And so at least it, it gives the business owner a place where they can go and ask further questions so we could get more information that could explain this.


And sometimes the business just isn't going to be worth what they're asking. Yeah. No matter what. Yeah. And I have also found that oftentimes that a, the business that is being sold, the owners just coming up with what they wanna sell. They haven't gone through any of the processes that we see our clients go through. Right. They don't have the proper team in place to tell 'em that what their business is really worth. They're just picking a number for whatever reason. Yeah. So that can be problematic. And I don't know if they ever sell it, because usually my client isn't going to buy it.


Yeah.


Amy Morin (12m 28s): No, you can't buy, you can't buy a, a business that has is overvalued. Right. I mean, that's not a good business decision, so to speak. No,


Dawn Hryshko (12m 37s): It wouldn't be.


Amy Morin (12m 38s): Yeah. Yeah. Don, this is just a fascinating conversation. There's so much to tax strategy. Again, it seems to be an ellu, you know, an elusive topic to many people, including myself. You've been instrumental in educating me on tax strategy over the years, and I've appreciated that. A question that I ask every single guest is, what's the one most important thing that you would recommend a business owner do to build value in their business?


Dawn Hryshko (13m 11s): Woohoo. That's a great question. Well, I think they have to step back from their business and take a look at it as if they were a potential buyer. Yeah. Because if you could, and that's not easy to do, but if you could step outside of yourself for a moment and take a look and say what's valuable and what isn't, you're almost finding your own weak spots, which will help when you start working with somebody to focus on how to mend that so that you are at your peak value.


Amy Morin (13m 50s): Yep. Put on different set of glasses Right. To, to look at it from a different lens. Yeah. That's


Dawn Hryshko (13m 56s): Great. Not so easy to do.


Amy Morin (13m 57s): No, you're absolutely right. You're asking, you know yourself to get super vulnerable, but much needed. For sure. Excellent. Well, Don, thank you for sharing all your insights and your experiences with our audience today. Incredibly appreciative of your time here today. Any last thing that you would like to leave our audience with?


Dawn Hryshko (14m 21s): Well, I just would say talk with your CPAs while you're in business. There's a lot of tax strategy that they can provide you to help you now to mitigate some taxes currently, and then hopefully lead you into a successful exit later. It's very important.


Amy Morin (14m 40s): Nice. And if Don, if people want to learn more and connect with you, how would they do that?


Dawn Hryshko (14m 46s): They can go to my website, which is the exit planning team.com, and you can connect with me there.


Amy Morin (14m 54s): Oh, perfect. Excellent. Well, thank you very much. This is the Maximize Business Value Podcast where we give practical advice to business owners on how to build long-term sustainable businesses. Be sure to tune in each week and subscribe to our channel so you don't miss a single episode. Thank you very much. See you next week.


Tom Bronson (15m 24s): 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. Visit our website mastery partners.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.