I started on the tools. I know where you are.

My story

I started on the tools as a mechanic.

Then my wife Wendy and I bought a small engine repair business. Wendy ran the office and followed up every customer while I stayed on the tools. In the first year we grew it from $200,000 to well over $1 million, just the two of us, back when $1 million actually meant something.

My late wife Wendy was part of everything we built. Many owners run their business as husband and wife, just like we did. If that's you, this part of my story will feel familiar.

We also learned a hard lesson. Without proper systems, a business falls apart fast. Being good at the work and running a business are two different skills.

Working with owners

I've been in business for more than 30 years. I've worked with service business owners since 2003, hundreds of them over 20 years.

It has always been one piece of work, under a few names along the way. Each step built on the last. I worked with all kinds of owners, then plumbers, then builders through Builders Profits, and the same lessons grew into Synergy Growth and the Nine Keys. The names changed. The goal didn't: a business that works for the owner, not the other way round.

I stepped back for some years. Wendy was ill, and after that I worked in online marketing.

I'm back now with what I've learned building AI systems for businesses at OfficeStaff. It means the work between sessions gets followed up, so nobody gets left stuck.

Why exit-ready matters to me

Most owners I talk to are somewhere in their mid-50s to 60s. They've put decades into the business. Some want to retire. Some want to keep working, but on their own terms. Some want to hand it on to family or the team.

Every one of them deserves the choice. Too many owners find out too late that the business can't run without them, so it sells for less, or it just closes. I don't want that for you.

So now I help owners get exit-ready through the Exit-Ready Program. That means a business someone wants to buy, sold when you're ready, or kept with a manager running it.