Business Lunch

In This Episode Of Business Lunch: We take on the FIRE movement, financial independence and retiring early, and ask the question most of its followers skip: what are you retiring to? They separate financial independence from retirement, walk through the 25 times rule and the 4 percent rule, explain the buckets of money approach that funds the future and the present at the same time, and share the stories behind their view that life is short and life is long, and you never know which one you get. It ends where every owner thinking about an exit should start: sell your business on a good day, and know what comes next before you go.
Chapters:
0:00 Cold open: the belief at the core of the FIRE movement
0:55 Welcome, and what retired actually means
2:42 Lean FIRE, fat FIRE, index funds, side hustles, and deferring big life events
5:13 Is working for someone else really the enemy?
6:04 Parents who missed their kids, and why deferring life is risky: 125 million dollars in bearer bonds
8:48 Waiting on kids, Lamborghinis, and the beach house that was a stretch
11:09 What to tell a young couple going all in on FIRE: support first, then buckets of money
14:52 All your eggs in one basket, in money and in time
16:03 Financial independence and retirement are two different things
18:23 The 25 times rule and the 4 percent rule
19:57 Not what you are retiring from, but what you are retiring to
23:10 Retiring from what you love, and selling your business on a good day

Listen to Business Lunch:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/business-lunch/id1442654104
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0iWSA89TaD263zhXETdSvZ
Follow Roland Frasier:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rolandfrasier/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rolandfrasier/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rolandfrasier
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RolandFrasierPage/
Everything else: https://msha.ke/rolandfrasier/
Follow Ryan Deiss:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryandeiss/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryandeiss/
X: https://x.com/ryandeiss
Visit: https://www.scalable.co
Mentioned in this episode:
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Roland Frasier and Ryan Deiss tell the whole story of Traffic and Conversion Summit: a marketing event that started in 2009 with 289 people and no profit, grew to thousands of attendees, and sold to Clarion Events in 2018 at the highest multiple the buyer had ever paid for an event. Then they walk through what happened after the sale: the 80 percent rollover deal, the earn out, the put and call option that paid out zero after the pandemic, and why the corporate owners could not keep the soul of an event built by marketers for marketers. Real deal structure lessons from their own exit, including how to carve off the one asset a buyer actually wants and keep everything else.

0:00 Cold open: the vision behind the best event people ever attended

0:30 Welcome, a fire alarm night, and why Traffic and Conversion Summit is officially over

3:52 2009: 289 people, no profit, and a rule against pitch fests

6:24 Year three: the event becomes a business and launches DigitalMarketer

7:54 Sponsors, production value, and no more selling from stage

12:02 Clarion Events comes calling with a global vision

14:58 The event was a product line, not a company: thin slicing the deal

17:01 Air rights and bundles of sticks: sell only what the buyer wants

19:53 Deal structure: 80 percent sold, cash plus an earn out, the goose and eggs, the put and call

24:45 Having your cake: programming control, free booth space, the only offer from stage

26:34 How it all went wrong: the pandemic, a multiple of zero, bought out for nothing

34:52 Why TNC failed: the business model changed hands

Listen to Business Lunch:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/business-lunch/id1442654104

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0iWSA89TaD263zhXETdSvZ

Follow Roland Frasier:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rolandfrasier/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rolandfrasier/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rolandfrasier

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RolandFrasierPage/

Everything else: https://msha.ke/rolandfrasier/

Follow Ryan Deiss:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryandeiss/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryandeiss/

X: https://x.com/ryandeiss

Visit: https://www.scalable.co

In This Episode Of Business Lunch: We open our consulting for equity playbook right after wrapping a real $50,000 half day consult. They walk through the exact process step by step: getting the leadership team aligned on the problem to be solved, the 1 3 1 framework, the report of findings, and how to get buy in without losing the room. If you consult, this is a process you can run tomorrow. If you own a company, it works just as well as a self consult.

Chapters:
0:00 A real consult opens the playbook
1:00 Consulting for equity and the half day consult model
2:24 The client and the four times sales goal
5:21 Step one is alignment on the problem to be solved
6:25 Keep doing, stop doing, start doing
10:22 Value drivers and the theory of constraints
17:22 The 1 3 1 framework and the report of findings
22:26 Send recommendations before the meeting
24:52 Leads, conversion, and the ICP trap
34:18 The awareness scale and where the ads were aimed
38:36 Handling pushback without attacking the person
44:15 Agree, disagree and commit, or recuse

Listen to Business Lunch:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/business-lunch/id1442654104
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0iWSA89TaD263zhXETdSvZ
Follow Roland Frasier:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rolandfrasier/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rolandfrasier/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rolandfrasier
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RolandFrasierPage/
Everything else: https://msha.ke/rolandfrasier/
Follow Ryan Deiss:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryandeiss/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryandeiss/
X: https://x.com/ryandeiss
Visit: https://www.scalable.co
Mentioned in this episode:
Build Your CEO Dashboard
Get one report every week of the key metrics you need to know with the CEO Dashboard!
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In This Episode Of Business Lunch: We tackle a question every founder faces: do you build your business for cash flow now or for a big exit later, and can one company really do both? They dig into why bootstrapped owners have far more options than funded ones, how cash left sitting in a company quietly turns into bloat, and how to pay yourself regular distributions without hurting a future sale.

Chapters:
0:00 Cold open
0:36 Welcome and where this question came from
0:55 Can one business deliver both cash flow and a big exit
1:57 The path VC funding locks you into
3:45 Why bootstrapped owners have more flexibility
9:19 How cash left in the company creates bloat
11:35 The cash flow waterfall and budgeting for distributions
12:34 How VC backing changes the exit itself
14:06 Building reserves for refunds and emergencies
16:20 Regular distributions or waiting for the big exit
18:54 Wrap up

Listen to Business Lunch:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/business-lunch/id1442654104
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0iWSA89TaD263zhXETdSvZ
Connect with Roland Frasier:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rolandfrasier/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rolandfrasier/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rolandfrasier
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RolandFrasierPage/
Everything else: https://msha.ke/rolandfrasier/
Connect with Ryan Deiss:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryandeiss/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryandeiss/
X: https://x.com/ryandeiss
Site: https://www.scalable.co

In This Episode Of Business Lunch: A Hartford Financial study found that 75% of business owners regret selling their company. Roland Frasier and Ryan Deiss have both lived it, and they get personal about what the wire does not fix: the identity you give up with the business, the buyer promises that rarely survive the close, and why more than half of sellers wind up swooping back in. Then the way out: fulfillment continuity, the threads you build before the exit so you are not adrift after it.
If you have exited a business, share in the comments what surprised you most about life on the other side.

Chapters:
0:00 The telescope and why founders exit unhappy
1:57 The Hartford study: 75% of owners regret selling
4:22 Roland's identity shift after leaving law
6:02 Ryan on exiting Traffic and Conversion Summit
9:10 What buyers promise vs the post exit reality
13:52 Why due diligence pulls the two sides apart
19:46 Business partnerships are marriages: extending grace
23:45 The threads that save you from being adrift
27:02 Fulfillment continuity: Roland's framework
32:14 Find the part of the business that fulfills you
40:47 Reallocating your time as seasons change
48:20 The miserable rich person trap
49:04 Fire and rehire yourself every year

Listen to Business Lunch:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/business-lunch/id1442654104
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0iWSA89TaD263zhXETdSvZ
Roland Frasier:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rolandfrasier/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rolandfrasier/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rolandfrasier
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RolandFrasierPage/
More: https://msha.ke/rolandfrasier/
Ryan Deiss:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryandeiss/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryandeiss/
X: https://x.com/ryandeiss
Scalable: https://www.scalable.co
Mentioned in this episode:
Build Your CEO Dashboard
Get one report every week of the key metrics you need to know with the CEO Dashboard!
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