If you own a small to mid-sized employee benefits, financial services, or HR firm, chances are you’ve built something uniquely yours. But whether you’re planning to sell in the next year—or not for another decade—one of the most valuable things you can do is understand your “owner persona” and ensure you are clear about who you ultimately want to be.
Your mindset and goals as an owner can shape both the opportunities and the obstacles you face. While each individual is unique, most owners fall into one of three personas.
The Owner Producer/Consultant: You Are the Business
As an Owner who is also a Producer or Consultant, you’ve built a lifestyle business around your own relationships and expertise. The business’s value is often inseparable from you, which can make stepping away challenging.
You may love the independence and flexibility this model gives you, but it comes with trade-offs: it’s hard to grow, hard to delegate, and even harder to replace yourself. Recruiting a successor isn’t just a hiring decision—it’s a long-term commitment that takes intense networking, planning, and onboarding.
Without strategic preparation, these types of firms tend to fold into larger organizations. If your goal is to preserve your legacy or create value beyond yourself, this is the persona that requires the most proactive effort.
The Boutique Business Owner: You’ve Built a Business, But You Still Carry a Lot
As a Boutique Business Owner, you’ve typically built a team of five or more employees and have a consistent book of business. Your focus is still mainly on revenue and client service, and you let equity growth take care of itself. You’re deeply engaged in thinking, planning, and learning—but most of your energy goes toward operational and client-facing matters.
Taking on debt or sharing equity to grow the business are both options to grow the business, but these types of owners typically aren’t eager to use these tactics. That can limit your firm’s growth potential, making selling to a strategic buyer the most viable exit strategy.
The CEO or Managing Partner: The Enterprise Builder
The CEO or Managing Partner is the persona of someone who has structured their business so it can thrive without them. If this is you, you’re focused on long-term value creation and equity growth.
You’re likely investing in systems, diversifying into new lines, and grooming an executive team that can lead across Sales and Marketing, Finance, IT, and Operations.
You’re willing to be creative with compensation and equity to attract and retain the right talent. This persona requires strategic patience and long-term thinking—but when done right, it creates the broadest set of future options.
These types of owners have the greatest flexibility when it comes to exit strategies including selling to strategic or financial buyers or to key executives at the firm.
Taking Action: What’s Next?
No two owners are exactly the same, but understanding which persona fits you best can help you take advantage of opportunities that align with your goals today and prepare in advance to realize the value you’ve built in your business at some point in the future.
Whether you’re years away from selling or just starting to think about what comes next, let’s have a conversation. The earlier we align your business structure with your persona, the more value you can create—on your terms.