What is a Buy-Sell Agreement?

While business owners hope to be successful enough that they have cash on hand to buy a partner’s interests out after an unexpected death, that’s not always the case. Even if it is, a lack of pre-planning can create an unfavorable situation when valuing the business and determining the method of payment.

Buy-sell agreements create a two-pronged approach to ensure the continuation of the business after the death of one of the owners. First, these agreements spell out the means by which the business will be valued at the time of an owner’s death. In addition to establishing

an easy to define valuation method, they also (when properly structured) provide the funding with which the surviving owner(s) can purchase the deceased owner’s

shares, thus allowing business and personal capital to remain untouched.

One of the ways that a buy-sell agreement can fund the purchase of the interests is by establishing the

purchase of a life insurance policy for each owner. All or a portion of the death benefit is then used to buy out the interest based on the valuation method chosen in the agreement.

Insurance isn’t the only way to fund a buy-sell agreement. Businesses can also choose to fund them with annuities, which may be preferred if one or more of the business owners happen to be uninsurable.

Control Is Costing You Growth

 

Most business owners start the same way.

You figure things out. You make it work. You get results.

So naturally, you trust your way.

And for a while, that works.

Until it doesn’t.

Because the same mindset that helped you build it… can quietly limit how far it goes.

If everything has to go through you, growth slows down.

And the people who could help you scale?

They start to feel it.

Not because they are not capable.

Because they are not being trusted to execute.

6 million businesses to hit the market by 2035.

A huge chunk of them are blue collar, like electricians, plumbers, HVAC.

Fortune reported 92% will close their doors permanently. That's 5.5 million businesses disappearing because nobody stepped up to buy them.

It's crazy to me most people will walk right past these goldmines because they think "I don't know how to run a plumbing company."

Maybe not. But you don't need to.

You don't need to fix pipes to own the business that fixes pipes. The team in place already knows how to do the skilled tradework.

You just need to know how to run the business.

Biggest mistake I see is people think they have to be the one doing the technical work.

Blue collar businesses are systems, not skills. Buy the system, keep the team, then get the hell out of your own way.

This is why these businesses sit unsold. Everyone's scared of what they don't know how to DO instead of focusing on what they know how to MANAGE.

Many who aren’t skilled tradesmen but they own HVAC companies, electrical contractors, landscaping businesses.

They didn't master the trade. Knowing it helps of course. But they learned how to buy cash flow and hire people who already know what they're doing.

The Businesses Everyone Is Ignoring

 

There is a massive shift happening right now.

Millions of business owners are getting older. Many of them are ready to step away. Most of them do not have a plan.

So what happens next?

The business either sells… or it disappears.

And a lot of them are disappearing.

Not because they are bad businesses.

Because people think they need to know how to do the work.

They don’t.

Owning the business and doing the job are two different roles.

The opportunity is not in the skill.

It is in the structure.

Small business owners are leaving traditional CPAs.

The shift is real—and it's accelerating.

Small business owners are leaving traditional CPAs for advisors who offer what compliance alone can't: proactive strategy. Here's what the research shows: • Thomson Reuters Institute: Clients now expect forward-looking advice, not just year-end filings. • Journal of Accountancy: 75% of clients are moving from one-time compliance to year-round advisory engagements. • The gap: Compliance tells owners what happened. Advisors tell them what to do next... ...why small businesses are switching: ✔ Margin pressure demands smarter tax moves ✔ Regulatory changes require real-time guidance ✔ Growth needs strategy, not just scorekeeping Bottom line: When CPAs stay compliance-focused, clients find advisors who guide them year-round with each new program that comes out!!

Time management doesn't work.

You have 168 hours this week.

Same as every CEO, every artist, every person who seems to get more done by lunch than you get done all day.

168 hours. Identical. Non-negotiable.

So why does it feel like you have less?

You've tried the systems. The planners. The time-blocking. The Pomodoro. The apps that track how many minutes you spend on email (depressing). The to-do lists that start with 12 items and end the day with 14 because you added more than you crossed off.

87% of people who start a planner abandon it within weeks. You probably knew that already. Because you've been the 87%.

Here's what nobody in the productivity industry will tell you:

Time management doesn't work. Because time isn't the problem.

Your mind is the problem.

Specifically: your mind is operating at Beta — 13-30 Hz — the brainwave frequency of stress, distraction, decision fatigue, and the scattered feeling of being "busy all day but productive never."

At Beta, your brain has too many tabs open. Every task feels equally urgent. Procrastination isn't laziness — it's a stress response your subconscious uses to protect you from overwhelm. And willpower doesn't fix it because willpower runs out by 2 PM.

But there's another frequency.

Alpha. 7-14 Hz. The state where 1 focused hour produces what 4 distracted hours can't. Where your brain processes decisions in seconds instead of agonizing for days. Where procrastination dissolves — not because you forced yourself to start, but because the subconscious block that was stopping you has been reprogrammed.

The rules changed on you!!

The tax code doesn’t sit still, the rules shift every 2–4 years. If nobody told you what changed and how it affects you, your strategy is already outdated.

Deduction thresholds shift, credits expire, and depreciation rules change. A strategy that saved you money three years ago could be costing you today without adjustments.

Preparers apply today’s rules to your return, but they don’t proactively tell you which changes unlocked new opportunities or made old strategies obsolete.

The tax code moved. Your strategy didn’t. Stryde makes sure you’re optimized for the rules as they exist right now — not three years ago.