These Five Advisors Challenged the Status Quo: Who Got it Right?

The 2019 EPI Power Session Speakers took the stage this past September and challenged the norm on five important topics:

1. Status Quo: Conflict means there is something wrong.
2. Status Quo: Your job is to know what is best for a business regardless of what the owner thinks.
3. Status Quo: CPAs may be the “most trusted,” but they have little in common with owners.
4. Status Quo: Networking events are where you go to meet new people and ask for business referrals.
5. Status Quo: Servant leadership is just a style; there are better ways.

We have a special request: Watch these five talks (all are 18 minutes or less) and share your favorite with your LinkedIn community with the #1 takeaway that resonated with you. If it helped you expand your world view, help your network by sharing it along and spreading the word on how to break from convention and change the outcome for professionals everywhere…18-minutes at a time.

Make Conflict Your BFF

Dr. Fred Johnson “The Accelerator” dispelled the idea that you should grow skills as alleviating or dissolving conflict in your business dealings; rather, he is a strong proponent the conflict is “your BFF” and is to be embraced as it is the accelerant needed to create true truth and rapport with your exit planning clients. Listen to his 18 min-talk and tell us: Do you now think that conflict is positive or negative?

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Getting to the Heart of Highly Relevant Matters

Joe Strazzeri “The Counselor” directly attacked the idea of devaluing soft skills by stating quite plainly that the only way to “get to the heart of relevant matters” is by listening without bias (and to what isn’t even being said) thereby acting as a true counselor. Prelabeled advice is a failure as an advisor and only those who take on an engagement with an open mind will succeed long term. Watch this quick 14-min talk: Do you agree or do you think soft skills are a fad?

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The Common Ground: Are Your Ready for the Fourth Industrial Revolution?

CPAs have a huge opportunity to showcase their entrepreneurship. At least according to “The Common Ground”! Seth Webber regaled the crowd with the strategies and insights you need to know to navigate the fourth industrial revolution. Are you ready to evolve as an entrepreneurial advisor or do you still believe you can do what you’ve always done and expect a positive result? Watch this quick 10-min talk and tell us your thoughts.

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Connecting Beyond Networking

“Asking someone to refer you opportunities the first time you meet them is ineffective networking,” says Jayne McQuillan, “Advisors need to move beyond networking towards building connection between likeminded professionals.” Her talk even addressed the idea that real estate agents are onto something by putting their headshot on their business cards (and presented the neuroscience to back it up). Watch her 12-min speech and tell us: Do you believe that the traditional ways of networking are obsolete?

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I Lead Because I Can: A Talk on Servant Leadership

According to our out-of-market, humbling expert, Jim Kubacki, President of award-winning St. Edward High School, servant leadership is the only true form of leadership and it means being ONE HUNDRED PERCENT INVESTED in the success of others and measuring your own success exclusively on their wins. It is an act of love (he does a really cool visual exercise at minute mark 11:34 where he displayed the wedding passage and subbed out the word “love” with “leadership” and stunned the audience with its simple truth). Watch this talk and ask yourself: Am I a servant leader?

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Do you want to present your game-changing topic on the main stage? 2020 EPI Power Session Submissions are Open Now

You have a chance to submit your speech for the main stage now. Be a main stage speaker at the third annual EPI Power Session experience, hosted at the 2020 Exit Planning Summit in San Diego. Submissions close on December 20, 2019. Don’t wait to make an impact. Be the next advisor to show the industry how your ideas can change the outcome and fill the empty seat for the business owner.

Click here to submit your idea now.

More than a credentialing company.

“This Methodology is Going to Supercharge My Practice!” -Justin Goodbread, CEPA, CFP®

Official ‘Exit Planning’ Definition: Exit planning combines the plan, concept, effort, and process into a clear, simple strategy to build a business that is transferable through strong human, structural, customer, and social capital. The future of the business owner, his/her family, and the business itself are addressed by exit planning through creating value today.

Exit planning is not just a plan (or a keyed-in report to print out for an owner). It is a strategy rooted in execution that grows value while expanding options so that an owner can transition the business on his/her terms when they are ready. It aligns the business, personal, and financial needs of the owner. Good exit planning utilizes the Value Acceleration Methodology™ to move clients through discovery, prepare, and decide gates. Certified Exit Planning Advisors (CEPA) educate the owner on all of the exit options and enters an engagement with an exit-option-agnostic perspective as to truly serve the business owner’s diverse needs. CEPAs collaborate with a seasoned, multi-disciplinary team of professionals to support the success of the business owner and use each other’s specialties and expertise to the benefit of the project. [view the award-winning methodology]

“Why did I earn CEPA when I already had an exit planning designation? Simple, the network. The quality of the EPI advisor network is unmatched.” -Paul Meyer, CEPA, CBEC

Do you consider your COIs or your referral network as the #1 source for new business? Look no further for your next membership affiliation. Formed in 2005 to serve educational and resource needs of financial planners and wealth managers, CPA/accountants, attorneys, commercial lenders, M&A advisors and business brokers, management consultants and other business advisors, the Exit Planning Institute is considered the standard trendsetter in the field of exit planning across the globe. It is the only organization that offers the Certified Exit Planning Advisor Program (CEPA) and qualifies for continuing education credits with twelve major professional associations, making it the most widely accepted and endorsed professional exit planning program in the world. [find a CEPA in your area]

“As a CPA, nothing is more important than exit planning.” -Bill Kenedy, CPA/ABV, CFF, CEPA

Our founders paved the way for the organization we are today. In the past three years alone, EPI has grown by more than ten times. We support and enable thousands of professional advisors who are leading the way in their local marketplaces across the globe. We invite you to join the community and experience the EPI difference.

We are powered by a dedicated staff, industry experts, and market leaders, that are passionate about providing top professional advisors the best industry content, ongoing practice support, and owner education resources. From humble beginnings, EPI has grown to become the exit planning market leader while staying focused and true to our mission. We are an education company that certifies and supports more than 900 CEPAs (and counting) as well as thousands of advisors worldwide through national, regional, chapter, and virtual education. Explore our history and make plans to play a part in our future. [explore the EPI history timeline snapshot]

“You want to have the best credential in the industry. So my advice is that you have to go with Exit Planning Institute.” -Vincent Mastrovito, CEPA, CBEC

Do you want help in an increasingly commoditized or oversaturated marketplace? Do you want just another designation for your business card or do you want the credentialing education that helps you adapt and thrive in a rapidly changing industry? You’ve come to the right place.

The Exit Planning Institute creates an exit planning “ecosystem,” and due to the diverse nature of exit planning, EPI has fostered a hyper-engaged exit planning community. This community includes CEPAs, other collaborative advisors, strategic alliance partners, academicians, the media, and business owners from across the globe made up of 15 countries, 44 U.S. States and representing over a dozen different professional disciplines. To serve this elite and cross-functional community on one major platform, EPI produces the best content as it relates to exit planning, succession planning, and value acceleration, provides ongoing advisor support and practice development, and creates connectivity to transitioning business owners. [connect with us today]

Explore the unmatched professional development experience and gain your next competitive edge in 2019.

The Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA) Program is the most widely endorsed and accepted exit planning designation in the marketplace today. Experience the EPI difference and determine if earning the CEPA designation is the next strategic move for you to reinvent yourself in a changing marketplace. Visit www.EarnCEPA.com today.