The June 2025 Employee Owners Knowledge Share focused on the topic: What does it feel like to sell your business? We were fortunate to be joined by guest speaker Barry Horner to discuss this topic, and below we share our 3 key takeaways from the discussion.
What does it feel like to sell your business?
Well, what does it ‘feel’ like to sell your business? If you’ve created something, grown it, brought others in to help you, and form at least some part of your identity through it, how would that feel? And does it feel different if you are selling it to your employees?
Once a business becomes employee owned, one of the ambitions is to enable employees to think and act like owners. This is where some of the greatest benefits are unlocked for both employees and the ongoing success of the business. What an owner thinks, feels and acts like might not be known yet, or at all, to an employee though. So why not express the experience of that former owner?
Barry Horner joined our June knowledge share. Barry was previously the Co-Founder and CEO of Paradigm Norton Financial Planning. Having been the owner of the business, Barry is now the Executive Chair and Head of Employee Ownership Business Development following his sale to the Employee Ownership Trust. Barry is a visionary business owner, who looked to create a different type of financial service business and achieved it. After more than 20 years as the business owner, what did it feel like to sell the business? What led him to this option? And how can we learn from his experience in our own EO journeys?
Our 3 key takeaways from the June knowledge share are:
1. Prepare and share your succession plan
Selling your business is a momentous occasion and it will be tinged with joy, sadness, gratitude, fear, relief and many other emotions. To prepare for that point at which you are no longer the owner of the business, you should have a succession plan.
Your plan will enable you to feel in control of this experience, but it will also provide clarity for your employees, consistency for your clients and the continued success of your business. For you it will enable you to prepare for the moment of transition and to let go and move into whatever your new role might be.
With a sale to an employee ownership trust (EOT) its particularly valuable to be clear with employees. Doing so sets them up for success in the years ahead, not engaging them can create challenges down the road, or even from the point of transition.
The more prepared you are and the more transparent you are with employees then the less of a jolt it will be on sale day, the experience of which will be a positive one.
It goes without saying that in the process of selling your business you should seek advice from trusted and experienced experts to facilitate the best and most comprehensive outcome for all.
2. Handing over the mantle of ‘owner’
In the transition to employee ownership, your workforce moves from ‘employees’ to ‘employee owners’. But they only change in title and not in thought and behaviour if there is not preparation or support in advance and on an ongoing basis.
Creating a workforce who think and act more like owners could deliver a sizeable impact to the business and to your legacy that you have been creating since you started the business. This is referred to in the EO community as the ‘Owner Mindset’. There is a framework, designed by the eoa, to showcase what the owner mindset is.
One area of attitude and behaviour that was highlighted in the knowledge share this month was that of being entrepreneurial. If employees are supported to think like owners, then they can turn on that attitude of innovation and entrepreneurialism.
Of course, employees in any business can demonstrate this attribute. It’s just that in an employee owned business the collection of triggers of the transition also naturally creates the right conditions.
3. Your move from the ‘owner’ to an ‘employee’
While seeking to evolve your workforce from ‘employees’ to ‘employee owners’, it should not be overlooked that as the ‘owner’ you will now move to the position of ‘employee’, or ‘employee owner’. If you plan to stay in the business, then you should prepare for this change of position that you will experience.
It could be liberating. You might be able to reduce the number of plates you are spinning to concentrate on fewer ones, areas of new benefit for the business.
At the same time, if your workforce don’t see a change in your role it can be hard for them to take on the their new role as co-owners because they might still view you as the one owner. Undertaking a governance review and refresh can help to clarify and demonstrate where changes have actually taken place.
Stephens Scown hosts the Employee Owners Knowledge Share monthly to help create a community space for employee owners, and those looking to transition. If you are interested in joining future sessions, please visit our Events page.
This article was co-written by Dave Robbins (Associate in our Corporate team) and Sam Moles (Digital and Personal Brand Specialist & Employee Ownership Advisor) who are both former employee ownership trustees, and currently sit on the firm’s Strategy Board.