Your Next: A Guide to Finding Fulfillment After Your Exit Hosted by Jerome Myers

Jerome Myers - Advisor to exiting founders
  • 5.0 (63)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Semimonthly

Are you a business owner, entrepreneur, or executive who's navigated a successful exit and now finds yourself wondering, “What’s next?” Hosted by Jerome Myers, Your NEXT is the ultimate podcast for those seeking not only financial success but deeper post-exit fulfillment, legacy-building, and a purpose-driven life after stepping away from their business. Each episode unpacks the emotional and psychological journey of life after a business exit, addressing the Founder’s Exit Paradox—the often-overlooked challenges that come with leaving behind the company you’ve built. From grappling with identity loss, self-doubt, and relationship impact to discovering how to turn wealth into a meaningful legacy, Your NEXT provides a blueprint for thriving beyond financial success. Through expert interviews, real-life stories, and actionable strategies, Jerome Myers dives into key topics such as entrepreneur transition, life after business, wealth with meaning, and building a legacy beyond profit. Whether you’re looking to rediscover your purpose, manage uncertainty in the next phase, or simply understand your new identity after exit, Your NEXT is your trusted guide to crafting a fulfilling and impactful next chapter. Join us every week to learn how you can: Reclaim your entrepreneurial purpose and reignite your passions Redefine your identity and self-worth beyond business success Transform financial wealth into lasting impact Navigate personal transitions and enhance relationship dynamics Build a purposeful legacy that resonates far beyond your exit If you’re ready to turn the page and start your next great adventure with confidence and clarity, tune in to Your NEXT: A Guide to Finding Fulfillment After Your Exit. Because fulfillment isn’t the end goal—it’s the journey.

  1. Sep 27

    Why Founders Recreate the Life They Just Left | Willow McIntosh on Identity After Exit

    Willow McIntosh left the real estate business in 2012 and entered the uncertainty many founders expect the exit itself to solve. What should I do now? His first answer was to build again. He created another business in the same industry, only to discover that a new company could reproduce many of the same deeper questions. The work had changed, but the search for identity and purpose had not. That experience became the beginning of a 14-year investigation into what remains true about a person when the familiar role disappears. After more than 12,000 hours of direct client practice, Willow began identifying four recurring foundations that can help people reconnect with purpose: fascination, natural gifts, the challenges and training embedded in their life journey, and the underlying “why” that makes contribution meaningful. In this episode of Your NEXT, Willow joins Jerome Myers to explore why exited founders can be especially vulnerable to rebuilding too quickly. The new investment, board seat, company, or project may feel productive. It may even be successful. But activity can also become a way to avoid the harder work of discovering who you are without the identity that achievement created. Willow and Jerome examine the difference between a role and an identity, why the clues to purpose often predate the business, and what becomes possible when a founder stops trying to invent the next chapter from scratch. The central question is not simply: What should I do next? It may be: What has always been true about me? For founders who have already proven they can build, achieve, and create value, that shift changes the assignment. The next chapter is no longer about proving capability. It is about deciding where that capability belongs now. Learn more about Willow McIntosh:https://willowmcintosh.com Take the Exit Readiness Assessment:https://www.exittoexcellence.com/era Learn more about Jerome Myers:https://www.exittoexcellence.com Thank you,Jerome Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  2. Sep 13

    The Next Step Will Reveal Itself | Wayne Bell on Exit Readiness, Identity and Freedom

    Wayne Bell’s first exit happened when he was 13.It was not the sale of a company. It was the night he was forced fromchildhood into responsibility, an identity transition that shaped thegrit, urgency and relentless drive he carried into business.Decades later, after serving as a founder, investor and CEO nine timesand helping scale and sell multiple companies, Wayne learned thatevery exit contains the same two movements: a transaction and atransition.The transaction may create liquidity.The transition asks who you are when the company no longer needs you.In this episode of Your NEXT, Wayne joins Jerome Myers to examine whyexit readiness must begin with the founder. Wayne explains his beliefthat every company should remain perpetually exit ready, whether theeventual path is a sale, ESOP, family transfer, employee purchase orcontinued ownership. A company that is always ready to transfer isusually a stronger company to keep.But business readiness is only one layer.After leaving a company he had helped build for 14 years, Wayneexperienced the silence that many exited founders never anticipate.The colleagues who had filled his days moved onto the new owner’sagenda. The urgent decisions disappeared. The phone stopped ringing.Freedom arrived as unstructured time, and Wayne filled the void withanother company, board seats and work he did not actually want.His financial outcome was successful.His identity transition was not yet complete.Wayne and Jerome explore how founders can prepare differently. Theydiscuss required and preferred deal outcomes, assembling an innercircle of advisors, creating a personal creed and defining freedombefore money and time make the question unavoidable.Wayne also shares the lesson he carried home from tracking lions onfoot in Africa: you cannot see the entire path from where you stand.You take the next step carefully, observe what it reveals and remainwilling to change direction.A long term vision still matters. But analysis cannot replace movement.The conversation ultimately moves beyond selling a company. A healthscare forced Wayne to confront how often he had postponed life untilafter the next achievement, the next number or the next liquidityevent.Time became real.And freedom became the ability to choose intentionally what to do, whoto do it with and when to do it.Learn more about Wayne Bell and STS Capital Partners:https://stscapital.comContact Wayne:wbell@stscapital.comTake the Exit Readiness Assessment:https://www.exittoexcellence.com/eraLearn more about Jerome Myers:https://www.exittoexcellence.comThank you,Jerome Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    The Next Step Will Reveal Itself | Wayne Bell on Exit Readiness, Identity and Freedom

  3. Sep 6

    A Valuable Company Is Not Always an Exitable Company | Peter Goldstein

    Peter Goldstein had what many founders would consider an enviable first exit.He started a specialty food distribution company at 24, builtrecurring revenue, strong margins and a respected customer base, andattracted three potential buyers by age 30.But he had never learned how to exit a business.In this episode of Your NEXT, Peter joins Jerome Myers to explain whybuilding a valuable company is not the same as building an exitableone. His first transaction included a two year earnout and a buyerwhose culture did not fit. The number looked good at closing, but thetransition revealed what the headline price had hidden.Peter and Jerome explore founder dependency, transferable enterprisevalue and the personal cost of making yourself indispensable. Theyalso examine reciprocal reliance: the business depends on the founderto solve every problem, while the founder depends on the business foridentity, purpose and importance.Peter shares how seeing a competitor’s product in a customer’s kitchenchanged his relationship with the company, why burnout pushed himtoward a sale and what happened when he left without a clear pictureof what came next.After four decades of entrepreneurship and several exits, Peter nowapproaches ownership differently. He does not simply build a companyto sell.He builds a company someone else would want to own.The episode also challenges founders to create more than one pathforward. A sale, recapitalization, ESOP, partnership, internaltransfer or partial exit can all be viable, but those choices must bebuilt before they are needed.As Peter puts it, his exits were not his only possible options.They were the only options he had created.Learn more about Peter:https://petergoldstein.coTake the Exit Readiness Assessment:https://www.exittoexcellence.com/eraLearn more about Jerome Myers:https://www.exittoexcellence.comThank you,Jerome Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  4. Aug 27

    Why Founders Sabotage Their Own Exit | Juan Ignacio on Timing, Runway and What Comes Next

    A founder can be burned out enough to want an exit and still not beready to let the business go.Juan Ignacio knows that tension from both sides. He built a B2B SaaSlending platform from Madrid, raised tens of millions in venturecapital along with a $100 million debt facility, and exited four yearsafter launching. The deal created relief, but it also exposed aquestion the transition could only postpone: What do I do with my lifenow?In this episode of Your NEXT, Juan joins Jerome Myers to unpack whathis own near distressed exit taught him about preparation, runway, andthe danger of waiting until the company needs a transaction. He alsoexplains how that experience led him to found L40, a sell side M&Aadvisory firm focused largely on B2B SaaS companies.Together, Jerome and Juan explore why founders sometimes sabotage thetransactions they say they want, how valuation expectations and markettiming affect the likelihood of a sale, and why “I just need themoney” may be a signal to examine the real problem before hiring anadvisor.Juan also explains the Rule of 40, what makes an advisor a genuinefit, and why a healthy company is not automatically a desirableacquisition target.The hardest part of an exit is not always finding a buyer.Sometimes it is helping the founder become willing to leave.Learn more about Juan and L40:https://www.l40.comTake the Exit Readiness Assessment:https://www.exittoexcellence.com/eraLearn more about Jerome Myers:https://www.exittoexcellence.comThank you,Jerome Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  5. Aug 18

    Your Business Is Making Money. Why Aren’t You Getting Wealthier? with Phil Calandra

    What if your business keeps growing, but your personal wealth does not?Phil Calandra built an insurance brokerage and an investment advisoryfirm with approximately $250 million under management before sellingboth companies in a single transaction to a $10 billion firm. The dealmade work optional. It also helped him see a problem that traps fartoo many founders.Most business owners have plenty of specialists: a bookkeeper, CPA,fractional CFO, financial advisor, and perhaps a business consultant.Each may be competent. But when no one coordinates the completefinancial system, the founder becomes the conductor, and the business,tax strategy, and personal wealth can begin working against oneanother.Phil calls this the coordination gap. It is how an owner can drivemore revenue, pay more taxes, assume more complexity, and still wonderwhy the wealth is not showing up outside the company.In this episode, Phil and Jerome Myers discuss the heart attack thatchanged Phil’s relationship with risk, the unsolicited offer that ledto his two exits, the emotional high after the transaction, and why hechose to build again. They also examine the revenue trap, the dangerof assuming “I’ll make it all when I sell,” and the three financialflywheels every founder must coordinate: business profitability, taxstrategy, and owner wealth.If your entire wealth plan depends on a future transaction, thisconversation will challenge you to start extracting the value of thebusiness before the exit.In This Episode:• Why an exit made Phil work optional but did not make him want to retire• How a heart attack at 51 influenced his decision to sell• Why more revenue does not necessarily mean more owner wealth• Where CPAs, CFOs, bookkeepers, and wealth managers can work at cross purposes• How the coordination gap turns the founder into the financial bottleneck• Why the business and the owner’s wealth must be planned as one system• How to coordinate profitability, tax strategy, and personal wealthbefore a saleResources:Wealth Creation Scorecard: https://wealthcreationscorecard.comExit to Excellence: https://exittoexcellence.comAll the best,Jerome Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  6. Aug 9

    He Sold His Dental Practice in 81 Days. The High Lasted One Week | Dr. Michael Filosi

    Dr. Michael Filosi turned a neglected two-chair dental office with possums in the walls into the largest dental practice in Adelaide. Ten years later, the company could run without him, private-equity buyers were interested, and the business appeared to be an exit-planning success story. Then the joy disappeared. Michael went from emailing his accountant to closing the sale in only 81 days. He rejected the highest offer, selected the buyer he trusted to reach settlement, and walked away without an earnout or continuing role. When the money landed in his account, he felt as though he had escaped. The feeling lasted about one week. In this conversation with Jerome Myers, Michael describes the quieter challenge that followed the transaction: waking up without a company to improve, a team to lead, or a clear measure of progress. He had studied the risks of life after exit and avoided many of the obvious mistakes. He protected the capital, invested conservatively, maintained his relationships, and resisted rushing into another company. Still, knowledge did not eliminate the uncertainty. Michael shares how the loss of business achievement pushed him toward extreme discipline, why nearly a year passed before a new direction began to emerge, and why even a self-described lone wolf needs someone or something to lean against during the transition. The episode also explores his approach to enough. Michael believes wealth is created through concentration and protected through diversification. Rather than chasing another mountain, he is now optimizing for fulfillment, simplicity, family, health, and the ability to put his head on the pillow knowing it was a good day. His experience offers a field note every founder should hear before selling: being ready to leave the company is not the same as being prepared for the life the transaction creates. Thank you, Jerome Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    He Sold His Dental Practice in 81 Days. The High Lasted One Week | Dr. Michael Filosi

  7. Aug 7

    After the Exit: Why the Transaction Is Not the Transformation with Allan Crockett

    The sale can change your bank account in a day. It cannot tell you who to become on Monday morning. Allan Crockett joins Jerome Myers to examine the void that appears when a business, title, team, and daily structure disappear. Drawing from two painful exits of his own, Allan explains why that empty ground rarely stays empty. Without an intentional purpose, it fills with busyness, unwanted obligations, and other people’s priorities. The conversation moves from retirement fatigue and founder identity to marriage, health, and Allan’s five pillars of quality of life: time, money, purpose, relationships, and health. Allan also offers a practical test for evaluating post-exit commitments: if something consistently gives you energy, it may be a flower; if it continually drains you, it may be a weed. The central lesson is one every founder should hear before signing the papers: the transaction does not equal transformation. Selling the company may create freedom, but building a life worthy of that freedom requires a separate decision. Learn more about Allan at AllanCrockett.com. Thank you,Jerome Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  8. Jun 28

    Is Your Business Acting Its Age? Tina Dao on Escaping the Dependency Trap

    #FounderLife #BusinessGrowth #BusinessOwner #ScalableBusiness#BusinessSystems #BusinessStrategy #FounderJourney #Leadership#BusinessExit #ExitReadiness #BusinessMaturity #OperationalExcellence#ScaleUp #Entrepreneurship #ExitToExcellence Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Are you a business owner, entrepreneur, or executive who's navigated a successful exit and now finds yourself wondering, “What’s next?” Hosted by Jerome Myers, Your NEXT is the ultimate podcast for those seeking not only financial success but deeper post-exit fulfillment, legacy-building, and a purpose-driven life after stepping away from their business. Each episode unpacks the emotional and psychological journey of life after a business exit, addressing the Founder’s Exit Paradox—the often-overlooked challenges that come with leaving behind the company you’ve built. From grappling with identity loss, self-doubt, and relationship impact to discovering how to turn wealth into a meaningful legacy, Your NEXT provides a blueprint for thriving beyond financial success. Through expert interviews, real-life stories, and actionable strategies, Jerome Myers dives into key topics such as entrepreneur transition, life after business, wealth with meaning, and building a legacy beyond profit. Whether you’re looking to rediscover your purpose, manage uncertainty in the next phase, or simply understand your new identity after exit, Your NEXT is your trusted guide to crafting a fulfilling and impactful next chapter. Join us every week to learn how you can: Reclaim your entrepreneurial purpose and reignite your passions Redefine your identity and self-worth beyond business success Transform financial wealth into lasting impact Navigate personal transitions and enhance relationship dynamics Build a purposeful legacy that resonates far beyond your exit If you’re ready to turn the page and start your next great adventure with confidence and clarity, tune in to Your NEXT: A Guide to Finding Fulfillment After Your Exit. Because fulfillment isn’t the end goal—it’s the journey.

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