Episode 229 – Entrepreneurs’ Quest for the DREAM EXIT with Mike Malatesta

Episode Transcription

This is the ultimate advisor podcast, the podcast for financial advisors who want to create a thriving, successful and scalable practice. Each week we’ll uncover the ways that you can improve your referrals, your team, your marketing, and your business operations, helping you to level up your advising practice, bring in more assets, and to create the advising practice that you’ve dreamed of. You’ll be joined by our hosts Bryan Sweet, who is moving fast towards a billion dollars in assets under management, Brittany Anderson, the driving force for advisors looking to improve their operations and company culture, and Draye Redfern who can help you systematize and automate your practices marketing to effortlessly attract new clients. So what do you say? Let’s jump in to another amazing episode of the ultimate advisor podcast.

Brittany Anderson 01:07

Welcome back to The Ultimate Advisor Podcast. Today I have got with me some brilliance so you are in for a real treat. My special guest today is Mike Malatesta. He’s an entrepreneur who loves helping entrepreneurs bring their dreams to fruition and achieve massive success. Mike has lived in entrepreneurial shoes for more than 30 years. He’s experienced the success, the excitement, the pain, the grit, and mistakes that come with every entrepreneurial journey. He knows how hard lonely, challenging and rewarding it can all be. Mike has founded grown and sold two very successful waste recycling companies. That grossed more than $500 million. Yes, you heard that right. He’s also acquired 23 companies invested in more than 100 others and serves on the board of several. Please help me welcome, Mike Malatesta to the show. How you doing my friend?

Mike Malatesta 2:11 

I am doing great. Brittany, thank you so much for having me on today. I’m so I’ve had you on my podcast. So being on your podcast is a real pleasure. Thank you so much.

Brittany Anderson 2:20

Well, Mike, it is our pleasure having you here. Let me tell you, I have been really looking forward to this conversation. So we are going to cut right to the chase. You help people create successful exits from their business. So I want to know, where did you get your inspiration? And how does this whole thing work?

Mike Malatesta 2:39

My inspiration came from introspection. In 2020, late, late 2020, I published my first book, which is my only book so far, I will add, but not my only one ever. And that book is called owner shifts. And the subtitle is how getting selfish got me unstuck in it, it was exploration of a portion of my entrepreneurial career. And when I published that book, I started to get people who read it asking me if I did any coaching Brittany and, and I didn’t. I never had done any formal coaching. I just, you know, I would help people if they wanted help. And I would coach our team and people on our team. But I never had done any coaching. I never thought about it actually. So that got into my mind that maybe there’s a path to me being able to help people with something entrepreneurs in particular with something. And I will tell you that it was a byproduct really of the book. But the book was a byproduct of me, planning for what things I would do to help me find meaning and purpose in my life after I sold my first business. So these people started coming to me, I started talking to people about how I could help them. But I wasn’t really thinking that what I was talking with them about was the perfect right fit for me. And so I started thinking harder about what that actually was. What’s unique about me and my experiences and my place in the world that isn’t unique about a lot of other people who are doing advisory or coaching work. And that’s needed that’s really missing. And that led me to this idea that I put into a program called the dream exit and it fits me so perfectly I think because well first of all, what the dream exit is the dream exit is two things, or at least two things. One is preparing and positioning your business to sell at its maximum value even if you have no intention of selling today and the second is preparing you as the entrepreneur or the business owner for a life of maximum purpose and meaning after you sell your business and why I think that fits. So right with me, as you you mentioned some of my experience in the bio, just have I’ve sat across from people, entrepreneurs I’ve sat across from a lot of them. I’ve been in the shoes of them. I’ve been across the table from buyers, I’ve been the buyer, and I’ve just collected over time this I don’t know, knowledge about how best to position yourself and your business for what is for most people going to be the most financial, the most consequential financial and professional choice they ever make. And I thought to myself, there’s too many people leaving that choice to well, to chance. An d I wanted to fix that.

Brittany Anderson 5:42

Yeah, you know, well, first of all, we got to plug your book a little bit, because you just grazed by that. So I actually, I was prepping for conversation. And I had the book right by me. So it’s owner shift, if you didn’t catch that, it’s a great read. And think you know, one of the things, Mike that I think you’ve captured so beautifully in it. And that really ties into what you’re talking about here. Because the essence is you’re teaching from experience, you’re not teaching from a hypothetical. So whether it be through your book Owner Shift, and you know, you’re talking about your journey, and your mistakes, and your path, and the pain and the good and the excitement and everything across the board, you’re coming to your audience with that same knowledge and conviction when it comes to that sale. So I want to pivot this just a little bit, because a lot of our audience, you know, we have a wide range advisor audience, we have some people listening that are going I’m tuning into this, because I’m at the point of wanting to sell, and I want to maximize my own sale. I also have in conjunction with that, a heck of a lot of people who serve business owners as their clients, right. So I would be curious, Mike, if you’re speaking to this audience that you know, maybe they’re getting ready to sell, or they have clients that they know would benefit from a service like this, what would be the first thing that you would tell them to do to take action?

Mike Malatesta 7:06

So the first thing I would tell them to do is to get in a mindset where you put a buyers lens onto what you’re doing with your business, first and foremost. Because I think entrepreneurs in particular do amazing work, they commit themselves to amazing risk, and they reap the reward of amazing opportunity sometimes, and they wake up, they spend their whole day thinking about how they can maximize their business, they tend to get fixated on how they can do it based on how they think they should do it, and not how they do it based on what a buyer should, would think they would do it. And so ultimately, I think they end up screwing themselves, Brittany, because they just they take this most consequential life changing event, and they don’t do any preparation for it. Like they prepare for everything else in their, in their life. And they do it on two fronts. They do it on the business front, and they do it on on the personal front as well. So what I would say to any entrepreneurs, does it do you think it makes sense to spend a little bit of time and making an investment now? Well, before you are thinking that you want to sell the business, to get yourself prepared to create a playbook to create a map and begin the process towards the maximum, you know, selling your business at maximum value and creating maximum purpose for your life not to or do you think it’s better to wait until someone comes to you with an offer or you become so frustrated with the business that you’re like, I gotta get rid of this thing. And then over the course of the next 90 days, you put yourself at a tremendous disadvantage, because you don’t know the process, you don’t know what you should be doing. You don’t know what you should have thought about. But yet, you go in there, and you think I’m gonna get the best result possible when the odds are totally stacked against me. So that’s what I would ask an entrepreneur, someone that’s serving entrepreneurs, I would say to them, I’m an expert in whatever it is. So I’m an expert in wealth planning, let’s, which is hugely important. When you’re considering something like this, it’s a huge part of the playbook. And and yet, so many times you don’t think about it, you don’t you don’t bring somebody in until you after you’ve made the sale, let’s say and then and then this whole thing, right Britany this whole thing about, oh, how much am I really gonna get after I pay the taxes? Huh? How much am I going to need to have the life of purpose and meaning that I want going forward? How could I have saved a bunch of taxes by taking some of my assets and establishing a different kind of trust structure than I had when I didn’t have this kind of money but served me well when I had less? You know, those those kinds of things? And I say I can help you at this. There’s no question about that. But how have you prepared your business to make sure that you are going to get its maximum value? How have you prepared yourself to make sure that once this is over, you are happy, you have purpose you have meaning, you know, what you are going to do next, or at least what you’re going to try next? Because those are the conversations that advisors don’t typically have with him, and they have that there. They get engaged when there’s something to do the now I shouldn’t I mean, tax planning and stuff happens along the way. But it’s a whole different thing that happens when you sell the busine ss. Sothat’s what I, I guess that’s how I would approach both of those sets of folks.

Brittany Anderson 10:42

Yeah. And, you know, Mike, I’m going to, I’m going to state something that that we definitely believe, you know, here at ultimate advisor coaching, but also in our wealth planning business as well. And see if you agree or disagree with us. So one of the biggest challenges that we see happen, it’s not, it’s not necessarily within the sale of the business, everything you talked about there about the preparation that needs to happen, like that absolutely has to happen. Because you don’t want to see those knee jerk decisions, like you mentioned, where you just get fed up one day, or you get an offer, and you take it because you didn’t expect it and you got excited, or whatever you want to take the emotion out of it. But on the flip side, we tend to see the biggest mistake that people make when selling their business is not defining what they’re going to write. And I think you touched on this briefly. So can you talk a little bit about that? You know, you mentioned find your purpose? What are you going to do with your time after just talk a little bit about that on what you’ve witnessed or what you believe?

Mike Malatesta 11:45

Yeah, thank you for thank you for for that. So here’s what I’ve witnessed. And you mentioned, I’ve purchased a good number of businesses myself, and I have I hang out with entrepreneurs. So I have a lot of friends who, who are entrepreneurs who have sold their business and more who are starting to because I’m 57, they’re around my age, this stuff starts to happen. Here’s what’s not a dream exit, I sold my business, I left. I’ve got an urn out. I’ve got escrow, I’ve got hold back, I’ve got all these things. Now I don’t really like the way they’re running the company. And I don’t like the way they’re treating me. And they said nothing would change. But geez, everything’s changing. And I’m not happy about what I did. And I say well, and we I have got a module in the playbook. Right? Well, we’re gonna go through all of that, because you, the last thing you want at the end of this is regret, second thoughts. Just anger, you know, all of all of these things. So that’s, that’s number that’s, that’s number number one we’ve got this is really about, I’m going to put questions in front of you. And we’re going to answer those questions together. That’s going to be that’s going to no one’s asking you these questions. No one on your team is asking you to question your, your spouse, your, your buddy, everybody’s focused on the number. Nobody’s focused on the other stuff. Nobody’s helping you with that. And then the other thing is, I think people make the mistake. And you tell me if you see this all the time, but people people make the mistake entrepreneurs make the mistake, they say, Well, look, as long as I get the right number, I’ll have the freedom to figure it out for myself afterwards. And, and to that I say you, you will have the freedom and maybe you’ll figure it out. But what happens in the interim, between getting that freedom and figuring it out? You know, wouldn’t it be wouldn’t be much better if you did the thinking on that, before it happens. So that when you did have the freedom, you knew what you wanted to do with that freedom, instead of sort of floundering in freedom, like freedom can be, it’s like the greatest thing. Like, that’s why you work is to me, that’s why you work. Ultimately, you want to have freedom, but freedom can also be devastating, because it means okay, I’m free to do stuff, great, but I don’t have anything to do. Nobody needs me. I got no action in my life anymore. You know, all of these things that can easily be prevented if you if you do some thinking about them before.

Brittany Anderson 14:21

Yeah. And you know, Mike, I think you hit the nail on the head there, too. It’s to your point, yes, people will have the freedom. And they can, like you said figure it out. But I think there’s another F missing in there. And it’s the framework, right? Like people don’t take the time to go through the framework that can help set them up for success. And I think that’s a gap that you’re closing in this marketplace, is by giving people these questions that you referenced the step by step kind of guide on what do you need to ask yourself what’s what is going to come up that nobody’s going to ask you, but you will face it afterwards, whether you like it or not. So I think that’s what makes this concept so powerful, is that you’re giving people the framework that’s missing. And you know, it’s interesting too, because I can think, more times than I can count, I like to joke out to take my shoes off in order to count this high. But there’s so many times where we see that story of the successful entrepreneur has an exit. And there is something either crazy that happens with their health in a short period of time, or they’ve gone into a massive deep depression or their relationships fall apart. And it’s all because they haven’t identified that too, and gone through the framework, like you’ve mentioned. So I think that’s such a powerful point to drive home here for our geyser audience and for their clients too man as advisors you know, I would say that, that we, as a community in this industry, owe it to our clients to at least give them a resource for that.

Mike Malatesta 15:57

I’m glad you brought that up. Because first of all, I was thinking about, you might be too young for this Janis Joplin line. But it was something like freedom is just another word for nothing left to do. So you’re an entrepreneur or business owner, you’ve had what most people would look at as a good financial exit, and you’re looking around at yourself, and you’re not happy with where you are? Who do you talk to about that, because most people do believe that once you have money, you have happiness, and everything works out. So it’s very hard to even talk to people. But if you talk to entrepreneurs, almost all of them who have sold their business and haven’t done this kind of planning, they’ll at first, they’ll put the guard up, they’ll be like, No, I’m doing this, and I’m doing that. And but when the guard comes down a little bit, Brittany, it’s like, I mean, I don’t know, I don’t know what I should be doing. I don’t know where I should be going, I don’t know what I should be thinking about. You know, I’m doing this and I’m doing that, but it’s just not lighting me up. And you’ve got all this experience that you’ve built up over the years that you’ve run your business, super valuable. But too many of us disk completely discount the value of it. And instead, we think, Well, this is all I know how to do. Instead of like, I know how to do so much because I’ve done so much. We instead go, this is all I’ve ever done. So what am I going to do? And my point is that, wouldn’t you rather have that conversation kinda like way, early way before? You, you know, so you can explore it a little bit, as opposed to just jumping into it is hoping that it works out?

Brittany Anderson 17:42 

Yeah. And, you know, something that comes to mind here, Mike, is that we just recently hosted a summit for our ultimate advisor audience and Dr. Robert Cialdini was on and he talked about how, when you are going to influence somebody or persuade somebody to do something that people often act more so out of fear of loss than excitement over gain. And I think that’s exactly, you know, kind of the thought process here is that your audience and I think, again, let’s tie this back to our advisors listening. If you’re sitting here and you’re listening to my talk and going, Man, I don’t want my relationships to fall apart. I don’t want that loss of purpose. I mean, I’ve worked my butt off to accomplish what I’ve accomplished, right? I want that sense to go away. And that’s where I think, you know, Mike, I can speak for myself. And I know I can speak for Bryan Sweet too. A big part of what keeps us motivated, motivated, regardless of where we’re at, in our business, if we’re looking at, maybe we’ll have an exit in some aspect of one company, or we’re building and we’re excited about the build. And another one of the biggest helps is by being part of communities of other like minded entrepreneurs. So I think too, that’s something that is so powerful and needed is find your home, find your community of people that you can be real and authentic, because your friends and your neighbors are gonna look at you and go, Yeah, you got a nice paycheck. You’re fine. Right? I think you brought up such a great point there, Mike.

Mike Malatesta 19:17

It’s just, it’s just hard. There’s no, I mean, even even simple you think this is the simplest thing for example, Brittany is i, so I’ve talked to my spouse about this exit, I’m going to have right and in, but I haven’t really thought about what that exit is going to mean for us. So I’m thinking it’s going to mean you know, trips and we can do this and we can do that and maybe it will, but what about being around all the time? What about being in someone else’s space who’s not used to having you in that space? What about, you know, and on and just Just that simple thing, and even that conversation doesn’t get doesn’t happen very often. And it’s just really, it’s really hard to have that conversation with someone who hasn’t done it or been through it. It’s, you can do it. But the perspective is just probably not the right perspective, you need to really think through it.

Brittany Anderson 20:21

Yeah. And, you know, Mike, one of the reasons that we wanted to have you as a guest on the podcast here, and anytime we’re choosing guests is that we love being able to learn from people’s true experiences, not just the hypothetical, not just the fluff, not just stuff that you hear, you know, hopefully it works. So one of the questions I have for you is, you know, when you think back to your journey, you shared a lot of this in your book, I know you’ve shared some in podcast episodes of of your own podcast, which I do want to highlight here in a minute. But what is one of the most difficult lessons that you have personally learned as you’ve navigated this whole journey?

Mike Malatesta 20:59

For me, and maybe this makes me kind of Neanderthal? I don’t know. But for a long time, probably 10 years into my first business, Brittany, I, I thought that asking for help, was a sign of weakness. I thought that it was incumbent upon me to figure out everything that I needed to figure out, and that I choosing to think that way, it made me seem like I was better or above other people. But ultimately, I discovered that was really short sighted on my part, I would be and still to this day, I believe that I would be much further ahead. If I had admitted been willing, more willing to admit where I need help, and not admit that I couldn’t learn it on my own. But where’s the most value of my when I you know, applying what I know, where does the most value come from? Does it? Does it come from really maximizing what I know what I’m good at? And nobody else is good at? Or does it come from being like, I could learn that. And rather than ask someone for help or pay someone for help, I’m going to do that on my own. So I’m going to, I’m going to, I’m going to completely forget about or at least diminish the amount of time I spend working on a thing I’m great at. And instead I’m going to try to learn this this new thing, part time. You know, it’s just, and I was like that for a long time. And that was a big epiphany for me was to finally get smart enough or to get beat up enough where I was like, if the help is there, why why not just, you know, avail myself to it. And, and I think that’s what I’m doing right now. I mean, I’m providing a resource of help to help entrepreneurs get the stream X that I believe that I believe they’ve earned and deserve. And because there aren’t a lot of resources like me, and like this out there. More than that, I want to make it easy for entrepreneurs to be like, hey, there’s something there’s, there’s a way to do this. I don’t have to figure this out on my own. And by the way, if I do it, I might just get 100x return on the investment of having some help. Oh, bummer. Yeah. Wouldn’t that be terrible? Right. So that’s for me, I think that I hope that answered your question.

Brittany Anderson 23:20

No, it definitely does. And I think that’s such a great point. And I’m so glad you brought that up. Because I actually, it’s funny, Bryan and I were just in a conversation the other day, and we were talking about, you know, one of the masterminds we participate in. And you know, we were talking back, we’ve been in it now for gosh, like eight years, I think it’s been. But the first and I’m not exaggerating this the first like three years in this group, we would show up, and we both had such impostor syndrome. And we were so nervous to speak to what our true needs were, that you kind of just become like the wallflower a little bit of, you know, well, gosh, all these people here know a lot about this topic. And, you know, we don’t really know a lot about that topic. And it was the biggest mistake we could have made. Because as soon as we realized, like, We’re wasting our time and our money if we don’t, you know, speak up and lean into what we really need most. And once we started doing that, we saw just massive leaps and bounds in all of our businesses just by starting by being honest and telling ourselves the truth about what we really needed help with. So, Mike, I think that’s such a valid comment. And you know, it really brings me honestly to my next question here. So we’ve talked about, you know, capitalizing on opportunities and what you’re doing with this dream exit and helping people do that. And we’ve talked about some of the struggles and challenges and where to put our attention. So this is another kind of personal question, but it really relates to everything we’ve talked about here. What is the time that you have strategically overcame fear so that it didn’t stop you dead in your tracks from pursuing what you wanted most?

Mike Malatesta 25:03

Sort of like that help thing for a while I pretended I wasn’t afraid of anything. But, you know, one of the things that a real fear that I had to face was my partner, his name was Butch. And he passed away in a fire at one of our facilities when we were about 10 years into business together, which was the person who actually gave me the confidence to start the business with him in the first place. And he was, he was like, one of those people, maybe you and Brian are like this, where he was the perfect complement to me, whatever I was bad at, he was good at whatever he was not great at I happen to be good at. And so we just had this really complimentary symbiotic type relationship. And, and at that point, I was, you know, I was still had this mindset of, I don’t need help I do, I can do everything, all that stuff. And then he passes away in his fire, which was horrible. You know, so I was dealing with one the loss of him, too. It’s horrible. And it’s my fault, because I’m in charge here, right? I’m already feeling like I’m worn out. And I’m thinking to myself, what, here’s the biggest supporter I’ve ever had in my whole life. And he’s gone. And he believed in me more than I believed in myself. And he’s gone. And I that was really, that was really difficult for me to I had no playbook. At that point. I had no playbook at all to fall for that. So that took me a number of years to work my way through and, and ultimately, some of what’s in the playbook now came from that journey, like, how do I be happy with what I’m doing? How do I get past for, you know, get past this, this horrible event? And how do we keep growing this business? So there were a lot of questions to answer. And, and, and I think the biggest thing was, at some point, I realized that the the, I call it the buyers lens in my in my dream exit, like I got to start looking at this business like I’m a buyer like this business is for sale, because I had not been looking at that before. And I thought, Wow, if I really want to create value in this business, I have to start looking at it like that, because I operate a business with a buyers lens, that I know two things for sure. I know that the business is going to improve, and I know that I’m going to improve as the leader or as the entrepreneur. I didn’t know how I didn’t know how much. But I knew that those two things would definitely be true. Because I’d been telling people all along, like everything we focus on gets better people. It just happens, everything we focus on and everything we don’t focus on gets worse. But I hadn’t been taking that advice myself. Because not you know, thinking about being a business owner and entrepreneurs and you don’t get asked the hard questions very often, right? Especially if you’re like, you’re having success, you don’t you don’t get asked the hard question. Your people don’t ask you a hard question. You don’t ask yourself hard questions. And I was not doing that. But but that was that was a very difficult thing for me to get to get past. And I think it informed a lot of who I am now. And a lot of what I’m teaching other people as well,

Brittany Anderson 28:24

I would say that’s a powerful lesson in fear and what you had to overcome both, you know, for your business, and emotionally too. I mean, that’s, that’s huge. And it’s also a testament, you think back, you know, we all have challenges, and we all have, excuse me, but really shitty things that happen. And you know, it’s one of those things where, again, we’re not alone, right? Like you’re not alone in your entrepreneurial journey. And I think that’s so important for our listeners to remember is that there’s going to be setbacks. There’s going to be frustrations and challenges and roadblocks and things that feel like they’re getting in the way. But having the right people there to guide you is really what matters. And being able to put yourself in the room with people who can help you, you know, your dream exit or your business growth or whatever that looks like for you. I mean, that’s what’s most important. So, right on a lighter note here, Mike, you know, you’ve got your podcast, How’d it happen? You’ve got your dream exit, you’ve got all these great things. So what are you most excited about right now?

Mike Malatesta 29:29

Well, I’m most excited about the dream magnet I just like I was saying before I just feel like I’ve this is this is uniquely something I was uniquely built for or constructed for over a period of time. And there’s such a need for this kind of help for this kind of assistance for this kind of program, at least based on my experience. And I just I’m just very excited about the opportunity to help people prepare and get the dream exit that they deserve. They just, I mean, they work so hard. They just work so hard. And I can help them do it. And so I’m really jazzed about, about that. I mean, I love doing my podcast, too. I don’t want to, I don’t want to be, but that my podcasts sort of is I mean, it’s called How’d it happen, as you said, I do two episodes a week one, I have a longer form conversation with, you know, an amazingly successful person like you, for example. And we, we get to, you know, the root of how it happened for them, but also why it matters to my listeners. And that’s really, those are really powerful conversations. And then I also do a solo episode, once a week two that I call free thinking Friday. And that’s when I really get a chance to talk about things that interests me things that are lighting me up things that I’ve heard people I’ve met, concepts I’ve been exposed to, and it’s all in the it’s all in the, with a goal of opening people’s eyes to what’s possible. And, and of course, in the podcast, I get to talk, you know, about dream exits with people from time to time. So that’s always exciting. You know, the podcast is what’s so great about the podcasts that I’ve done, like 400, some episodes now is that you don’t know where all the dots are going to be connected. Like I don’t, I don’t do my podcast to sell anything. I’m not, I don’t, I’m not doing that. I’m just trying to engage my, my brain and my audience with things that matter to them. And I just feel like I fill myself with so many things that are helpful. For my own thinking, in addition to the people that are listening that it’s, it’s like, almost like a custom design school. And again, doing that during the podcast was something that came out of planning for meaning after an accident. So I’ve talked about several things, the podcast, the book, all of these things, how having goals, set, do those things. After I, I sold my business, to me, that was like, Okay, I’m going to explore my creative side, here are two things that I’m going to do. And there’s a bunch of other things too. But it got me started, I wasn’t lost. After I wasn’t trying to find meaning and purpose. I knew what I wanted to get into. And I thought that they would lead to maximum meaning and purpose. And, and those have led me into other things that led me to be talking to you today and even to have met you and met Bryan. And that’s my point. Start early.

Brittany Anderson 32:33

You know, I think number one, I’m so glad that you talked about the podcast, because I was not gonna let you off the hook without a shameless plug for that. Thank you. You know, I think it’s just, it’s so inspiring. When you talk about how it happen. And you know, the stories and the conversations about kind of those moments in time where people are like, Yeah, this is when things changed. For me. It is very rare. You ever meet somebody where they’re like, Yeah, you know, one day I thought of a great idea. And about two months later, I was a millionaire. That’s what social media and that’s what you know, whatever is put out there wants you to believe it’s a journey. And it’s a long run. And it’s exhausting sometimes, but hearing from other people who have achieved things that you want to achieve or accomplish what you want to accomplish. It’s so inspiring. And those conversations are so great. So I’m so glad you brought that up. So Mike, I would like to know as we wrap as we wrap today’s episode, before I ask my very last question, if somebody wants to get a hold of you to explore the dream, exit, they want to talk about your podcast or whatever it is, how can they get a hold of you? How can they reach out?

Mike Malatesta 33:42

Okay, so to find out everything about me, my websites, probably the best place to go. That’s my name, Mike. Malatesta, ma l a t e s ta.com. You can connect with me on LinkedIn, that’s where I’m most active. It’s my name, Mike Malatesta. You can email me the dreamexit@gmail.com And just put in the subject line, the name of the podcast ultimate. It’s the ultimate advisor, right? Ultimate advisor podcast. Yeah, ultimateadvisorpodcast.com. Put that in there. I’ll make sure that gets my attention. And of course, while my podcast is on the website, but you can subscribe or follow my podcast, How’d it happen? You can find that on any podcast platform. And if you find me another way, I’ll answer to that too.

Brittany Anderson 34:29

I’m sure there’s all kinds of creative and we’ll be sure to put everything in the show notes too, so that you’ve got quick access to it as you’re listening into this. And even if nothing else, you check out the dream exit. I mean, I think there’s so much to be said about the playbook about what Mike’s created and so much value there. So, Mike, you talked about how you had you know, you had your big, big exit or exits. You had your focus on your book and your podcast. Now you’ve created this dream, dream exit, What is your biggest aspiration that you now have for your future?

Mike Malatesta 35:06

All nailed down to a few words. And I’ve been living this for for several years now. So my, this is how I think about everything options, not obligations, three words, options, not obligations, and I try to live my life with those three words always ringing in the background. So what does that mean for me? Well, right now, it means continuing to do my podcast, it means continuing to help people as the dream exit expert. And by the way, so this is a stat I read from UBS recently 81% of business owners, entrepreneurs, who have sold their business say that they wish they had put more time into the process of selling the business. So if nothing, if nothing that I’ve said resonates with anyone today, that should resonate with you, because those of people who’ve been through it, and are being asked a question, and they’re answering it 80% saying, I wish I had put more effort into my planning for my exit, that would have helped me I would have had a better outcome. And the other thing I’m doing is I’m living, I’ve been an entrepreneur, and I continue to be an entrepreneur, I never don’t want to be an entrepreneur, Brittany, because it keeps me sharp and humble. And helps me with me being a person who can be in your shoes, or my clients shoes. And so I have I have a partner in a landscape supply business that we are converting are converging into a global, almost, eventually global recycling business. And I continue to invest in startups and mature companies, because I that’s how I learned. And I put myself around entrepreneurs as frequently as I can. Because I don’t know where else I could be getting the kind of education I get, and being around those kinds of people and supporting them.

Brittany Anderson 37:00

You know, I think that’s so valuable and everything you just laid out there. When somebody’s tuning in, you know, you’re in Pfizer, and you’re listening, whether it’s on behalf of yourself or for your clients. I mean, literally what Mike just laid out there is a result of his own planning. So I love that I had to write down options, not obligations, because I think, I mean, when I think about wealth planning to in general, that’s what we’re trying to help people create for their own lives. So be it through a business exit or just their wealth plan in general. I think that’s just gold. So, Mike, thank you so much for sharing your brilliance with us today. We know that time is the only commodity we can’t get more of. So we’re so grateful for you for showing up.

Mike Malatesta 37:38

Well, thank you so much for having me on. I’m grateful to you and to Brian, you guys just being supportive of of me and, and for giving me access to talk to your audience. I hope we I hope there was some value to everyone today.

Brittany Anderson 37:53

Awesome. Well, that wraps up today’s episode of The Ultimate advisor podcast. We’ll catch you right back here next week.