Exit Planning Is Step 1—Growth Is Steps 2 To 7

The annual EPI conference is on, and I'm getting terrific reports from the scene. We love exit planners - you are super important to Growth-Drive's Vision and Mission. There are lots of CEPAs, CExPs and CBECs in our community. Many are now earning the C3D, and most of the folks on our Board of Advisors are also exit planners. So that's the perspective from which I ask you: As an advisor, what might you need once you have an exit plan? How might a precise actionable growth strategy that delivers expand your reach and impact? Here’s the thing: only 17% of business owners are actively looking to exit at any given time. But you want to be relevant to all of them, right? Further, of that 17%, 86% need to grow value to chalk up a W. Translation? Exit isn’t the first move—it’s one lap of a much longer race. You know it: most business owners aren’t even at the halfway mark. They need to increase business Strategic Capacity™ driving maximized growth and value. 

Let me ask you: what might precise, step-by-step instructions for growing Strategic Capacity mean for your clients—and your advisory business?

Because here’s the truth: unless (ye gads!) liquidation is the exit, the business must be immortal—a living, breathing engine that grows profits and delivers value without the founder at the wheel. You want to make a business immortal? Help build Strategic Capacity: build a must-have business that PEGs are fighting each other to own. 

Power Move: Strategic Capacity

Strategic Capacity™ describes a business’s ability to predictably and sustainably grow free cash flow—and to deliver on the owner's personal, financial, and business intents. It’s not theory—it’s execution. It’s not a one-day workshop—it’s a system. This is why Growth-Drive exists.

Let’s be clear: Exit Planning is one of the C3D cornerstone classes because it's crucial to align an owner's goals and legacy. But the math doesn’t lie: the vast majority of CEOs aren’t looking to exit. They want to grow. They want to simplify. And they want to sleep better at night. Should you be talking to ALL of them? This is why exit planners are also joining this free community. 

The Business Must Become Immortal.

Clients can’t exit what isn’t built to last. They can’t get max value for what won’t scale. Whether it’s a growth-focused founder, a CEO with AUM to protect, or someone just trying to get out of the grind, the answer is the same: maximize Strategic Capacity.

This where Growth-Drive steps in - and why exit planners love this community. Not simply with a plan, but with a process—one that moves the conversation from “Are you ready to sell?” to “Are you building something worth buying?” For a business to maximize transferable value it must become immortal - able to go on to greater glory without your client at the wheel. 

Imagine this: a business that's not just "ready" to exit—but so good buyers fight over it. A business so profitable and well-run that the owner may decide not need to sell at all. That’s Strategic Capacity in action.

Your Success Is Important To Us

Our vision is to help $1 Trillion of businesses increase Strategic Capacity in the 3 Dimensions of Business Growth. 

Growth-Drive’s methodology is anchored in these 3 Dimensions of Business Growth™:

1. Predictable Profits & Cash Flow: Effective leadership, strong margins, and recurring revenue streams—the launchpad for scale.

2. Predictable Sustainable Growth: Growth that doesn’t require heroics, supported by a killer culture and real accountability.

3. Predictable Transferable Value: The kind of value that attracts buyers, banks, and investors—and crushes the owner’s wealth goals.

And CLARITY™? That’s the software engine that makes it all real. More than dashboards. More than reports. Actual deliverables. Actionable next steps. Alignment across stakeholders—from CEOs to Fractional CFOs, Growth Advisors, and Exit-Planning Wealth Advisors. 

Where do you want to play, and where do you want to collaborate? My good friend, CEPA and C3D Candidate Mike Garrison calls this collaboration being "Safe Drivers". [See Mike Garrison Can I Borrow Your Car?: How Successful Financial Advisors Grow Their Business and Love Their Life]

Why Strategic Capacity Wins

When you build Strategic Capacity, you do more than prepare for an exit. You prepare the business to thrive. 

✅ More profits
✅ Better leadership
✅ Best-in-class systems
✅ Less drama

And if they never sell? There's a 7th exit option: The Oil Well, creating an ATM feeding AUM. That business becomes a personal wealth engine, with more income, more freedom, and more control. Ask yourself: in a world with a $2 Trillion supply of capital and a $10 Trillion demand, how might executing this 7th exit option play out?

How Will You Deliver the Win?

Many conversations start exit planning —but should never stop there. Want to expand your reach and relevance? Speak to that 83% who don't want to talk exit. And for those who do, honor that 4 in 5 need to grow value to reach their Strategic Intent (aka wealth and legacy goals). The real value, the enduring value, starts with increasing Strategic Capacity, they start with growth.

At Growth-Drive, we don’t just talk about value—we help you create it.

Let’s get to work. —George

The Growth-Drive Summit is on! Growth Advisors, Exit Planners, CPAs, M&A Pros and Fractional CFOs gather in Charleston SC October 6-7-8 to celebrate, learn, share, and build their networks. It's the one event you should participate in this year. Registration is open. Bring a colleague, bring your spouse, come on down!