Podcast appearances and mentions of craig west

Scott Snider takes the Podcast Stage again at the 2026 Exit Planning Summit and brings together four leaders who reflect the evolution of exit planning from early concept to a structured, scalable discipline. Douglas Dickey and Craig West share perspective from the early days, when exit planning lacked formal process and required building systems from scratch. Today, their experience reinforces the importance of discipline, repeatable frameworks, and staying fully committed to helping business owners achieve meaningful outcomes. Wally Waldron and Renee Russo highlight where the profession is heading. Through intentional collaboration, community building, and a deeper focus on personal planning, they demonstrate how advisors can create greater impact by aligning business value with the human side of the owner journey. The takeaway is clear. Exit planning is not just about transactions. It is about building sustainable businesses, strong advisory ecosystems, and outcomes that matter beyond the deal. ============================================ Learn more about the 2027 Exit Planning Summit: https://exitplanningsummit.com/ Hear more from our guests: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doug-dickey-5710a59/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/wallywaldron/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigwest/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/renee-russo-riseupbc/ ============================================ Want to learn more? Go to: https://exit-planning-institute.org/ Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/exit-planning-institute Connect with Scott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-snider-epi/ #ExitPlanningInstitute #ScottSnider #Podcast #PlanAccordingly ============================================ SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/exit-is-now-plan-accordingly-with-scott-snider/id1663050204 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0iXzdvQN1ApWPOk3rVytFR ============================================ About Scott: Scott Snider is the President of the Exit Planning Institute (EPI) and the Operating Partner of Snider Premier Growth, a small family investment company. At EPI, Scott is responsible for the strategic direction of the organization along with overseeing the company's operations and chapter development. Since joining EPI, Scott has expanded the organization regionally, nationally, and globally, providing a transformational educational experience to advisors from all specialties across the globe. Scott Snider is a nationally recognized industry leader, growth specialist, and lifetime entrepreneur. Two of Snider's biggest talents: market penetration and rapid growth strategies. As the operational and strategic leader of EPI, Snider thrives on helping advisors learn how to educate clients, achieve market distinction, and deliver real results.

Martin McNicoll, founder of Distillerie des Cantons de l’Est This is the first episode in an occasional In The Channel series called “Life after the channel” – conversations with people who built careers in the Canadian IT channel and then went on to do something completely different. Martin McNicoll founded Gurus Solutions, originally ERP Guru, and grew it into one of NetSuite’s most decorated Canadian partners over nearly two decades – President’s Club, nine consecutive years as a Five Star Award winner, and offices from Montreal to Chicago. He sold the company in 2022 and turned his attention to something that had been brewing since a 50th birthday trip to Scotland: whisky. Distillerie des Cantons de l’Est is a grain-to-bottle operation in Mansonville, Quebec, where Martin and his team are growing organic barley and rye using regenerative agriculture, distilling on-site, and aging their whisky in oak casks. First barrels went in in December 2024, with the first whiskies expected around 2028. In this conversation, we talk about the failed attempt to buy a cask at Balvenie that started it all, the sale of Gurus and what made him finally say yes, why the skills he built running an ERP consultancy translate surprisingly well to running a distillery, and what it means to retrain a SaaS-speed brain for a product that takes years to mature. Martin also shares the story behind the McNicoll brand – his Scottish ancestors who came to Quebec with the 78th Fraser’s Highlanders in 1757 – and talks about the fight to get a distillery approved on Quebec agricultural land, replanting American oak for barrels that won’t be ready for 30 years, and what’s coming next, including a butterscotch liqueur later this year. Read Full Transcript Robert Dutt: Hello and welcome to In The Channel from ChannelBuzz.ca, bringing news and information to the Canadian IT channel community for the last 16 years. I’m Robert Dutt, editor of ChannelBuzz.ca and your host for the show. This episode is a little different from what you’re used to hearing on In The Channel. It’s the first in what I’m hoping becomes an occasional series I’m calling “Life After the Channel” – conversations with people who built careers in the Canadian IT channel and then went on to do something completely different. My guest today is Martin McNicoll. If you were in the NetSuite ecosystem in Canada at any point over the last two decades, you probably know Martin. He founded ERP Guru, which was later rebranded to Gurus Solutions, grew it into one of NetSuite’s top partners in the country, picked up every award in the book, and eventually sold the company in 2022. And then he went and did something that nobody saw coming. Martin’s now building a grain-to-bottle whisky distillery in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, growing his own organic barley and rye, aging his own barrels, and building a brand rooted in his family’s Scottish heritage going back to the 1700s. It’s a great story. So let’s get right into it, my chat with Martin McNicoll. [MUSIC] Robert: Martin, thanks for taking the time. Thanks for joining us. Martin McNicoll: Robert, it’s great to be here with you today. Robert: Nice to catch up. We ran into each other a lot at SuiteWorld. And for years, when I talked to Craig West about the channel in Canada for NetSuite, you guys would be one of the first names that came up. President’s Club, Five Star, the whole nine yards. And now you’re making whisky in the Eastern Townships. Walk me through that. How did we come to be where we’re at today? Martin: Well, it’s a note on Craig. He was my RSM. He was the guy managing me and Gurus when you started. He wasn’t like head of the channel. He actually came down to Montreal to help me start the practice. So we connected for all that time. But to go back to the whisky business, I’m a Scotch fan. I’m a whisky fan. And now, like eight years ago, for my 50th birthday, I went to Scotland with a bunch of friends and had a great time visiting distilleries for a full week, just drinking Scotch and having fun and eating good food. And when we came back, a couple of years later, it was COVID. And COVID, I think, happened and a lot of people got ideas of what they really want to do. And I have a cottage in the Eastern Townships, which is, for your listeners, a bit up north of Vermont. I’m 15 minutes from Jay Peak, which is a ski resort in Vermont, on the Canada side. Beautiful place. And we stayed there for the first year of COVID. We had amazing success with Gurus. I think for everybody in the channel, cloud services companies really boomed during that time. Everybody wanted to run their business from home. It was a great time. And I said, what can we do? We had supply chain issues our customers were trying to solve. And I said, what can I do? What can I contribute? I started with ideas of being a farmer. These were shut down pretty fast. But a friend of mine said, you know what, we can grow barley and rye and we can make whisky. And I said, oh, that’s a great idea. And then the hunt was on. We found some land – I mean, that’s the only thing we could do during COVID, drive around and look for land – and found great land with a great combination of good water and enough acreage to grow the cereals. And it started like that. And then a French company approached us to buy Gurus. And it was just the right timing. So everything happened. It just gave me more money to spend on booze, sort of saying. Robert: As it should be. So to your point on that 2018 trip to Scotland, I read that the dream sort of began with a mission of bringing home a cask of whisky. Is that true? Martin: It is true. We tried to, actually. When we went to the Balvenie and we said we’d like to buy one of your casks. And they looked at us like aliens. It’s like going to a Michelin restaurant and asking to buy the pan of the chef, right? Because the cask is part of the process. That’s what gives some of the aromas to the whisky. That’s where it’s aging. So you just can’t leave with the cask. You just can’t. I mean, I guess there were some barrel programs today, but you leave the cask there. You buy the liquid that’s in the cask, that’s all yours, but you can’t leave with the cask. But that was funny. That led to very interesting conversations at the distilleries in Scotland. Crazy Canadians trying to buy a cask. That’s the IP. That’s the trade secrets of the industry. Robert: So you had Gurus for 18 years, Alan Allman Associates comes knocking. You said initially you didn’t want to sell. What changed your mind? How much of it was about making room for the distillery that was already percolating in the back of your mind versus just feeling like it was the right time to do something new? Martin: I mean, it was that. I wanted to dedicate more time, because at that point the guy running Gurus was my COO, Dominic, and he was doing a great job. I was taking more time off and giving him more bandwidth on the business to run it. And I wanted him to be the president and continue running it. And these guys came in and they said, “We want to buy your company.” I said, “Okay, I’m not interested.” So they came back a couple times and the second time said, “Okay, how much do you want?” And I gave what I thought was a crazy number and they said yes. So I was done. And today it’s one of the most profitable businesses they have in their portfolio, and they’ve added other ERPs to the mix buying other companies in North America. And for the French, Quebec and Canada is kind of the bridgehead to go to the rest of Canada and the US. They needed a company that can speak English, which Gurus dealt with very well all the time. Not all of them do. But it was great for them. A great acquisition on their side. I’m still sitting on their board in Montreal every quarter, so it keeps me connected to the business, having fun there and very proud to see the company continue to thrive. Robert: You guys built Gurus through a string of acquisitions – Enabled Success, NetStra, MD Technical Resources. You had offices from Montreal to Chicago. When you look at what you’re doing now with the distillery – buying land, building infrastructure, hiring a master distiller – does it feel like it’s the same muscles that you built in building up Gurus, or is it completely different? Martin: It is the same thing. That’s very funny. I thought it would be something else. It’s not. It’s just managing people, managing providers. I mean, the problems are different – it’s like a truck being stuck emptying a cargo of casks going to the distillery, or a pump that is broken. But it’s like following up with the providers, finding the right partners, researching, researching, researching, reading. And all the skills that I’ve developed in BI and everything that we’ve built with Gurus is fully applied here at the distillery. So I started with cloud solutions first, and we’re using all the Google stack, which I always used, with their Google Cloud. All the data of the distillery is stored in a Google Cloud database and we can do analysis. It’s just great to look at it from a data perspective and have the right people to do the job. And I recognize what I’m good at and what I’m not good at. So I break stuff sometimes. That keeps me away from some pieces of equipment. Robert: One thing that jumped out on the website for the distillery was the grain-to-bottle concept. You grow the grain, you distill it, you age it, you sell it. You control the whole chain. For 20 years you kind of sat as the middleman doing the consulting and implementation in between NetSuite and the customer. Was it something about that experience that made you want to own the whole thing this time around? Martin: Definitely. And as you know, Robert, in the ERP channel, it’s not your software, it’s NetSuite. And my team understood the software, and the best successes we had were when we found a customer, sold NetSuite, understood the requirements, gave them a realistic estimate, implemented, and took them live with the right time frame. So that to me was like the perfect – everything that would work great, boom, boom, boom. We sold, we implemented, we took them live, converted all their data. Happy customers stayed with us for years. And that was a bit of that, right? Where the channel model is changing – like the Salesforce model, even NetSuite is changing where there’s more of a side where you need to work with a direct sales team, which by definition have different objectives. Their objective is to sell the software for as much as possible. As for a partner, when you do the implementation, there’s a lot in it for you also in year two and year three. So you want the whole thing to go as smooth as possible. Different pros and cons there. And I think that was definitely an inspiration in owning the whole supply chain and making the product. And even then, I need to buy bottles from China. Robert: Yeah, it’s the classic case study, right? If one person could make a nail, it would be completely impossible to gather all the skills you would need to go from getting the metal out of the earth to producing a nail, much less a bottle of whisky, much less enterprise ERP. The distillery website says patience is part of your essence, and whisky obviously is a product that has to age for years before you can sell a bottle. In the channel, again to the contrast you were just describing, everything’s about this quarter’s numbers, this year’s President’s Club. It’s fast, it’s iterative, things change very quickly, new features are added rapidly. How do you retrain your brain from SaaS speed to whisky speed? Martin: I’m still impatient. But you know what, you go out in the field. And in the last couple years we had a lot of rain. And we had issues with weeds going into our fields, because we took fields that were used for hay to give to cows. So there’s a lot of seeds that you need to take out of that land. And we’re doing it with regenerative agriculture techniques, where we don’t use Roundup, we don’t use chemicals. And sometimes you just sit there and you prepare the soil and then you go into the field and you make it super nice and you plant. And then two weeks later it’s full of weeds. Like hectares of weeds just popping up on top of your barley. And you’re like, yeah, what are you going to do? You try, you go in there first and you try to pull them out, and then you realize the scale of this. It’s impossible, right? So patience is pushed on you, I would say, in agriculture. And for the whisky, I mean, we’re tasting it. I love whisky. And we have now barrels that are one year old. And these are rye – rye is something that grows very fast, very high, super easy. It’s like a weed in itself if you talk to the farmers. So we had a great crop of rye and we made our first rye last year. So we were opening up that cask and tasting it now, and it is great. But you can taste after one year the immaturity of the whisky. So I think you have to trust your taste buds and say, okay, this is great. There’s something nice, nice colour, this is the direction I want it to take. But it’s not ready. So you sit on it, you put the cork on top of it, hammer it down, and then just wait again. And I’m telling people, when is it ready? It’s going to be ready when it’s ready. It’s going to be great. Robert: Can’t rush it. You’re working 60 acres of organic grain, you’re building your rickhouse, you’re hiring a master distiller, you’re planning a tasting centre. This doesn’t sound like a hobby thing for retirement. This is a full second career. Do you find you’re working harder now than you were when you were running Gurus? Martin: Definitely. Because at the end, when you build a business, you assemble a team and people know what to do. You’ve got a PMO office, a back office, and a marketing team. And now you’re alone. So I’m like, can I get some help here? I have nobody. So you’re back into entering data in QuickBooks. No, I’ve solved that, I delegated that. But it’s tough. And the problem is, when I sold the business, I told my wife I’m retiring. And she said, yeah, yeah, you’re retiring. But I didn’t think, and she didn’t think, it would be this intense in terms of running it. And you’re fighting against all the bureaucracy and you have to understand all the rules, environmental rules. And you have to understand, to be a farmer, you have to apply for a permit to be a farmer. So what’s your background, sir? Well, I’m a software engineer. So really, good thing. Do you know about farming? Absolutely not. Okay, what are you going to do about it? Well, I’m going to hire someone. Who is it? I don’t know. Well, you need to get the licence first. So no, I found someone actually that really helped me and was working in the prairies in Saskatchewan for more than 10 years, working with cereals there. So it’s assembling a team, making it work together, putting all the resources in place so they can succeed. It’s the same thing. What I like is the manual labour, which you don’t get in tech. I’ve lost some weight. So that’s good, being out there and working with the equipment. One of the projects we’re working on now – for your listeners, we’re in March and mid-March in Quebec, it’s still very cold, it’s like minus 15 Celsius – so it’s the last time we’ll be able to go in the forest. And what we’re doing is harvesting some trees to plant oak trees. We’re introducing Quercus alba, which is the American oak, into our forest, because we have more forest than we have land. And the goal would be in, I don’t know, 30 years – I won’t be there – to make some barrels, maybe. So again, in that supply chain of getting there. But there’s no more oak in the area. It was all cut down for the lumber industry. So we’re replanting. That’s one of the side projects. So we’re going to go out with the equipment on Friday and go in the woods and cut some trees. That’s something I didn’t used to do. And that’s what my job involves now. A chainsaw. I’m happy. Robert: This is what you get to invent for yourself. And if you’re happy, that’s brilliant. You’re making three types of whisky as I understand it – a single malt, you touched on the rye, and a Canadian bourbon, which is not a concept I’d heard before. Very interesting. I enjoy a whisky, I am not a well-educated drinker. But for those who are listening, what’s the vision of the distillery? What are you going for with the whisky products? Martin: So we’re looking to develop high-end whisky. We’re talking about $100 bottles. So it really needs to be fine-tuned to the taste of the different products that you build. When you talk about rye whisky, it’s mainly – the cereal has to be rye. Single malt is just barley. And when you talk about bourbon, or if you talk about bourbon in Kentucky, it’s mainly based out of corn. So we have corn also on the land and we’ve added some wheat that we’ve tried. It’s a mix of different – they call it a mash bill. So our mash bill, the cereals that get taken into the equipment for the mash to create a beer. We make a beer, then we distill that beer and that’s the whisky at the end. The big difference is the cereals. So that batch we had, I think it was two years ago, big winter, and we couldn’t get the rye out of our silos because of the amount of snow and ice that was out there. So we said, hey, we have some corn there. Why don’t we make some – it’s all Canadian whisky, right? If you look at the official denomination, it’s Canadian whisky. Don’t confuse marketing with the real stuff. But it’s a mash bill that involves more than 50% corn. In this one I think it’s 65% corn. And it has that – you’ll recognize it if you’re a bourbon drinker – that very sweet, mellow taste of corn that you get into the whisky. That’s what you get from bourbon. So that’s what we’re making with that corn. Robert: I look forward to trying that, actually. Hopefully someday. On your website, I love the clan story – the McNicoll ancestors coming over with the 78th Fraser’s Highlanders in 1757, fighting at Louisbourg and Quebec, settling in La Malbaie. And now you’re bringing that Scottish whisky tradition back to Quebec soil. How much of this, as well as the ability to play with the chainsaw and hopefully bring in some casks, how much of this is about honouring that heritage? Martin: Well, that was a big part. When I started to enjoy more whisky and go back to Scotland, I went back to the land of my ancestors. So that was Portree, close to the Isle of Skye. And there’s another area also, another region, that there’s two big areas that the McNicoll clan were. So I got to visit that. That was always part of the story. And then as I was publishing some of my content on Scotland, a professor from a university here in the Eastern Townships contacted me. He said, you know, I wrote a book on the McNicoll clan, the whole story. So we started to talk and that became a very nice collaboration between him and the distillery to tell more of the story, to the point where we decided to call the whisky McNicoll. So the whiskies are going to be called McNicoll, with the different types of whisky we’re going to sell. The brand itself is my last name, which is an honour to this Scot who came to America, really, because they fought down, they went down to New York with the 78th, and the original dude came back north. And my mother has French ancestry – she’s a Chevalier, she’s French, French, French – and then Scottish, Scottish, Scottish. And then there’s a mix. You can see there’s a mix in between those two. And you look at the genealogy, and that professor went back and he found all the ancestors and all the churches here in Quebec and went down to New York, went to Scotland to find all the origins. Very interesting to see the different clans and the French into making our population today. Robert: Very cool. You touched a little earlier on the bureaucracy and that kind of fun. You went through an interesting fight with Quebec’s Agricultural Land Protection Commission to get permission to build a distillery on farmland. Without getting too deep into the legal weeds, what was that like? And is that a challenge other people thinking about agritourism or value-added agriculture should be ready for? Martin: Definitely. And doing business in anything that involves food – there are some guidelines and some rules of law that you need to follow, which is, I would say, much harder than to open a NetSuite provider or a NetSuite partner licence. I had offices all across the US and also in the rest of Canada. It was 100 times easier to open an office in California than to start an agri business in Quebec, or even I would say Canada. Some provinces are easier than Quebec, but it was always a challenge. But I knew I was right. So one thing you learn is that you surround yourself with great people. My lawyers – that’s the thing you can do when you have money, you just lawyer up. But they were great at understanding everything that was going on. I found the expert and this woman knew exactly what was happening. She found some other people that were able to go through it. And we just had to go through all the legwork and convince the commission that what we’re doing is okay. And here’s why. But it’s a process and it’s frustrating because you’re there and you want to do this project. And you’re like, I’m going to be environmentally friendly. I’m going to do this from the grain to the bottle. I want to do all those different things. And then you see all those obstacles. But I think it’s part of the challenge, going through them and winning. At the end, I won. So that’s what counts. Robert: It is exactly what counts. So if someone in the channel who’s in a place that you were at when you were with Gurus is listening to this and thinking, I’d love to do something like that someday – not necessarily to be a competitor to you, but to sell the practice, go off and do something completely different, that’s their dream – what would you tell them, having gone through this process as far as you have now? Martin: I think the fact that they have done it before – starting a consulting firm and running it and dealing with customers – they’ve built their knowledge and their expertise and their resilience into doing anything else. I would always say that implementing an ERP system is the Formula One of computer science, because you have so much complexity. And if you fail, the company can die. They will not operate. Products will not ship. Invoices will not go out. You can cripple a business by doing a wrong implementation. So I would say you’re really prepared to do anything, in my mind, after the channel, after running that type of business. I think it’s just to look at what you like to do and what’s your ambition and take it head on. Robert: Good advice. Good advice from someone who has done it and is doing it. And my last and no doubt most important question – when do we get to actually taste the whisky? When do you get to market with your products? Martin: At least two years. So to be whisky, to be called whisky, it needs to be three years in a cask, in an oak cask. And for us, we just reached our first anniversary in December. So we still have a good two years to go. And we have to decide if we are going to put it in a bottle or not. We’re going to taste it and say, is it ready or not? And if not, I’m just going to sit on it again. However, we’re coming out with a liqueur that we’re making. It’s a butterscotch liqueur that our master distiller has been developing. And he’s working also on another liqueur that we want to put out, and we’re going to sell locally. Just to get some things out of the distillery with a Scottish-type accent. Our master distiller has also some Scottish ancestry. He went to school at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh to learn about the trade. So he’s got all those ancient recipes of Scottish liqueurs. We’re pulling out of that book to create some interesting products. So that should come in a couple of months, hopefully, if I can get my bottles from China. Robert: Fascinating stuff. Good luck. It’s been very interesting catching up and it’s always fascinating to hear about the journeys of folks who’ve made a career in the channel and see what they’re doing afterwards. All the best with getting that liqueur out, and the longer term getting those three whiskies out the door. Martin: Thank you, Robert. Robert: There you have it – Martin McNicoll, formerly of Gurus Solutions, currently of Distillerie des Cantons de l’Est. I’d like to thank Martin for his time and honestly for his openness. It’s not every day that someone walks you through what it’s actually like to trade quarterly SaaS targets for fields of organic barley and barrels that won’t be ready for three years. A couple things that stuck out for me in this conversation. First, the idea that the same muscles that Martin built running a channel business – the acquisitions, the growth planning, the systems thinking – are the same muscles he’s using to build the distillery. Different industry, same instincts. I think anyone running a channel practice will recognize themselves in that. And second, the patience piece. Martin talked about planting trees today for barrels he won’t use for 30 years. That’s a fundamentally different relationship with time than most of us have in the tech world. And I think that’s something worth sitting with. If you want to learn more about what Martin’s building, you can find the distillery at distilleriedescantons.ca, and we’ll have a link for that in the show notes. Keep an eye out for the butterscotch liqueur, which should be available before the whisky is. If you enjoyed the episode, do me a favour – follow or subscribe wherever you’re listening, whether it’s Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever else you find your podcasts. And if you’re feeling generous, a rating or review goes a long way for a small show like ours. Until next time, I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, and I’ll see you in the channel.

In this episode, Mark chats with Dr Craig West, founder and chairman of Succession Plus and creator of Capitaliz, about how employee share ownership plans can transform succession planning. Craig explains why ESOPs are so powerful for retaining key people, giving younger leaders a genuine path to ownership and lifting business valuation over time, and how accountants can use valuation insights to support advisory work and value based pricing. Contact Craig: Capitaliz: www.capitaliz.com Succession Plus: www.succession.plus

In this compelling episode of "Owner to Owner," host Michael Kerr dives deep with Dr. Craig West, the visionary founder of Succession Plus. Together, they unpick the transformative power of employee ownership programs and their profound impact on business value and succession planning. Discover how and why these strategies not only enhance business resilience but also foster community well-being. Dr. West shares invaluable insights on;How employee ownership programs can significantly enhance business value.Why early exit planning is crucial for business success.How employee share plans help retain key staff and improve business resilience.Why understanding business value is so essential for business owners.How succession planning benefits both businesses and communities.Employee ownership as a strategic exit option.Why employee share plans are gaining popularity in AustraliaChapters00:00:00 Introduction to Employee Ownership00:00:00 Benefits of Employee Share Plans00:00:00 Valuation and Exit Planning00:00:00 Succession Planning in Australia00:00:00 Community Impact and Business Resilience  Thanks for listening. Visit the Owner To Owner Podcast website to subscribe, listen back, or check out any resources or information mentioned on the show.Search @ownertoownerpodcast on your favourite podcast player to subscribe and listen to the episodes.Reach out to Michael Kerr via the website if you need personal assistance or advice for your small business.michael.kerr@kerrcapital.com.auwww.ownertoownerpodcast.com.au

DISCLAIMER: The information in this presentation is provided as education only, with the understanding that neither the presenter nor ENNIS Legacy Partners is engaged to render legal, accounting, or other professional services. If you require legal advice or other expert assistance, you should seek the services of a competent professional. Neither the presenter nor ENNIS Legacy Partners shall have any legal liability or responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused, or alleged to be caused, directly or indirectly, by the information contained in this presentation.============================================“We want you to help you build a business that is sellable and exit successfully on your own terms and conditions.” - Pat Ennis============================================

This week's episode features Rim Fayjhi, Director of Women in Mining Canada, and Jennifer Berger, Board Advisor for Women in Mining Sudbury. They share how to participate in this year's Trailblazer Awards, to be presented at PDAC, and discuss the state of women in the mining industry. Fayjhi reflects on her recent experience studying mining engineering at university, while Berger draws on two decades of industry experience. All this and more with host Adrian Pocobelli. This week's Spotlight features Craig West, CEO of Coldblock Technologies Inc., who discusses the company's innovative infrared-based assaying technology. Learn more at: https://coldblock.ca/  “Rattlesnake Railroad”, “Big Western Sky”, “Western Adventure” and “Battle on the Western Frontier” by Brett Van Donsel (⁠www.incompetech.com⁠). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License ⁠creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0⁠ Apple Podcasts:⁠ https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-northern-miner-podcast/id1099281201⁠ Spotify:⁠ https://open.spotify.com/show/78lyjMTRlRwZxQwz2fwQ4K⁠ YouTube:⁠ https://www.youtube.com/@NorthernMiner⁠ Soundcloud:⁠ https://soundcloud.com/northern-miner

Small Biz Matters: People, Policy, Purpose ~ Episode #262 Broadcast date: 29 Apr 2025 Host: Alexi Boyd, Small Business Advocate & Policy Advisor Guests: Experts and Special Guests live from Accounting & Business Expo 2025 Part 1 Welcome to Small Biz Matters: People, Policy, Purpose. I'm Alexi Boyd and I'm thrilled to be bringing you this special podcast – part 1 - recorded on the floor of the 2025 Accounting & Business Expo. There's so much to learn when you attend a conference and they're getting better every year. The accounting and business expo is definitely one for your calendar as a Must Do.. This year there was dozens or great discussions and presentations, everything from technical tutorials for advisors and keynotes from economists, to growing your practice with AI, to thought leaders discussing the future of the industry. As my fellow podcaster Dan from Two Drunk Accountants said, “You always walk away with ideas and fuel in the tank, motivation and great ideas to use in your business.” Didn't make it? Luckily Small Biz Matters was there and can bring you the Best of from ABE 2025. In today's program you'll learn from mentors and trailblazers from the accounting and business world, who are so generous with their wisdom. But it's not just for the accounting nerds out there – small businesses and all advisors will get expert advice on topics like Guidance on training your team, best practice when setting up an accounting practice, AI implementation tips, small business restructuring and succession planning, advice from industry associations and the ATO themselves on what's changing for advisors and their small business clients.  So grab a cuppa and enjoy Hearing from the experts from Accounting and Business Expo 2025. Our expert guests include: Michael Morton, Assistant Commissioner for Small Business, ATO – the current focus areas of the Getting It Right Campaign Sonia Gibson, Director Accounting Heart - the things you wish you'd known when you started your own practice Sabby Gill, CEO Dext – what value does an international software company like Dext get from an expo like ABE? Andrew Quinn, CEO AVA Advisory – how advisors can work together to support small businesses facing insolvency through the small business restructuring process Clayton Wood Founder Seamless – what are the benefits of attending ABE as the founder of a new and emerging app? Wayne Wanders, The Real CFO – what have you gained from this event as an attendee at ABE? What will you take away for your business? What about the future of Startups? Dr Craig West, Succession Plus – what and when should you be thinking about succession planning? Heather Smith, (Anise Consulting), Lielette Calleja (businessDEPOT), Mary Delaney Karbon - Strong women in leadership. How can we support impact, integrity and influence?

Justin sits down with Craig West, an esteemed business owner and certified exit planning advisor from Australia. They discuss the challenges and rewards of running a business, the importance of exit planning, and the transformative power of the Value Growth Academy. Craig shares his journey from being a dissatisfied bank employee to founding a successful consulting firm and software company that helps business owners maximize their value and prepare for exit.  Learn more about The Value Growth Academy: https://thevaluegrowthacademy.com/learn-more Craig West LinkedIn Capitaliz | Digial Platform

We sit down with Craig West, CEO of ColdBlock Technologies, to explore how their innovative ColdBlock digestion technology is revolutionizing the mining industry. Craig shares how this cutting-edge technology is reducing testing times, enhancing accuracy, and improving the overall efficiency of mineral sample preparation. Watch Here Huge thanks to our partners and sponsors Mining Now and Media Partner

In this episode of Grow a Small Business, host Troy Trewin interviews Cath McDowell, the driving force behind Howrah Plumbing. Cath reveals her journey from managing a small business to scaling it to $47M in revenue with a team of 47 over 29 years. She shares insights on building a strong company culture and the challenges of growth. Tune in to learn how dedication and strategic leadership transformed her enterprise into a thriving success. Other Resources: Marketing Funding Flywheel Ebook Mark Ritson, ex-Business School Professor, now heads the CPD-accredited Mini MBA in Marketing with 20,000 alumni in 60 countries and a team of 8 FTEs. Craig West on how ESOPs can boost productivity by 7%-23%, triple team engagement, and double retention, plus insights on benefits, costs, and timelines. Tom Lewin on Employee Share Plans: boost staff retention, transparency. Why would you wait any longer to start living the lifestyle you signed up for? Balance your health, wealth, relationships and business growth. And focus your time and energy and make the most of this year. Let's get into it by clicking here. Troy delves into our guest's startup journey, their perception of success, being a learner again when moving into a new industry, and the pivotal stress point during business expansion. They discuss the joys of small business growth, vital entrepreneurial habits, and strategies for team building, encompassing wins, blunders, and invaluable advice. And a snapshot of the final five Grow A Small Business Questions: What do you think is the hardest thing in growing a small business? Cath McDowell believes the hardest part of growing a small business is maintaining a strong company culture while scaling. Balancing growth with the personal touch that built the business initially can be a significant challenge. What's your favourite business book that has helped you the most? Cath McDowell mentions that she doesn't have a favorite business book, as she primarily focused on training courses and practical skills for her professional development. Are there any great podcasts or online learning resources you'd recommend to help grow a small business? Cath McDowell doesn't have specific recommendations for podcasts or online learning resources for growing a small business. She prefers practical training and hands-on learning over online resources. What tool or resource would you recommend to grow a small business? Cath McDowell recommends having strong support around you as a key tool for growing a small business. She emphasizes the importance of a good team and supportive people who can help with daily tasks, job reviews, and equipment decisions. What advice would you give yourself on day one of starting out in business? Cath McDowell would advise herself to take holidays whenever possible and enjoy time off. She reflects that she never expected to stay at the same company for her entire career, and encourages balancing work with personal time. Book a 20-minute Growth Chat with Troy Trewin to see if you qualify for our upcoming course. Don't miss out on this opportunity to take your small business to new heights! Enjoyed the podcast? Please leave a review on iTunes or your preferred platform. Your feedback helps more small business owners discover our podcast and embark on their business growth journey.     Quotable quotes from our special Grow A Small Business podcast guest: Being committed to your business is a long-term dedication; it's not a short-term project — Cath McDowell Feedback from employees who've worked elsewhere can be incredibly valuable and reaffirming — Cath McDowell Creating a strong company culture means valuing what happens outside of work and rewarding your team — Cath McDowell      

Our Dedicated Flex drivers have the opportunity to work on multiple accounts and can do everything from local deliveries to flatbed. It's a great opportunity to see what fits best for our drivers and provides flexibility for our Dedicated operations. David Broyles is joined by Dedicated Flex leaders Marlin Grossholz and Craig West to talk about this exciting career path.

Are you planning your business exit for yourself or your potential buyers? That small shift in perspective could increase your chances of a successful exit. In this episode, Mark Dorman speaks with Dr. Craig West, founder and executive chairman of Succession Plus, on his nine-step exit plan and how he helps business owners achieve their … Read More Read More

In this podcast episode, we explore mastering the art of succession planning with our special guest, Dr Craig West, Founder of Succession Plus and Capitaliz. Craig shares expert insights on how business owners can ensure a smooth transition for their businesses. Key takeaways include aligning personal and business objectives, building a strong team, and addressing common succession planning challenges. We also discuss the steps necessary to prepare for a business exit and Craig's experience with Capitaliz, an exit planning tool. The importance of early planning and balancing daily operations with exit planning is highlighted. Succession planning is crucial for business owners, and implementing the advice from this episode can help achieve a successful transition. Join the conversation now!

In this podcast episode, we explore mastering the art of succession planning with our special guest, Dr Craig West, Founder of Succession Plus and Capitaliz. Craig shares expert insights on how business owners can ensure a smooth transition for their businesses. Key takeaways include aligning personal and business objectives, building a strong team, and addressing common succession planning challenges. We also discuss the steps necessary to prepare for a business exit and Craig's experience with Capitaliz, an exit planning tool. The importance of early planning and balancing daily operations with exit planning is highlighted. Succession planning is crucial for business owners, and implementing the advice from this episode can help achieve a successful transition. Join the conversation now!

Welcome to Exit Like A Boss, where we embark on a journey to help you achieve a successful exit strategy. Your host, Dr. Craig West, will guide you through the 21-step process of exiting like a boss. This episode begins at the very beginning – the why and how of an exit strategy.   An exit strategy isn't just about selling your business for maximum profit; it's about preparing for what comes next, whether passing the business to the next generation, going public, or selling to a private equity firm. In essence, it's having a roadmap for your business's future.   Join us as we dive into the 21 steps and five stages of value that will maximize your business's worth and lead to a successful exit. Take advantage of your chance to Exit Like a Boss! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You've probably never considered selling your trade business let alone exiting it; most trade business owners simply walk away or pass it down to family when they're ready to retire.What if we told you there was a better way? One that would secure your financial freedom WITHOUT the business.In this week's episode of The Tradie Show, Andy and Angela talk to special guest Craig West, founder of Succession Plus, about how to reduce risks and increase the value of your business, in order to sell or exit (for a nice profit!).If you want to find out more information about Succession Plus, click HERE.And if you want help getting you to the stage where you're ready to think about selling up, reaching out and book in a Strategy Session with Andy today! In this session, you'll smash out what you need to next in your trade business to provide you with clarity and direction. 

Hi, thanks for listening to this week's episode of the Think Business with Tyler podcast show. I am your host, Tyler Martin. I want every business to discover the freedom and wealth that comes from effectively scaling your business. In this podcast, we talk about key topics to growing and scaling your business. Our guest is Craig West. Craig is the Founder and Chairman of Succession Plus, which is a Business Succession and Exit planning consulting firm in Australia. With over 20 years of experience advising business owners and a background as a CPA in public practice, Craig knows the ins and outs of strategic development, exit planning, and business succession. He believes there are 21 key steps involved in effective succession planning. Craig uses his innovative approach to help other business owners maximize business value and achieve a successful exit. In this episode, we talk about: ●     Exit planning and strategic value drivers; ●     Why the key to a successful business exit is to identify your value drivers; ●     The importance of building a business that can run without you; ●     And finally, why you need to begin with the end outcome in mind. Full Show Notes with Links Podcast: ThinkBusinesswithTyler.com Host: Tyler Martin Business Coach Linkedin Instagram TikTok YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week's It's All Cobblers To Me Charles, Danny and Neil look back at the 2-0 win for Northampton Town over Hartlepool United, give their suggestions for the future of NTFC and Neil's got a brand new feature for you to enjoy. Charles is back from his hiatus and we chat about how football can sometimes not be the escape from the rest of our lives that we want it to be. Craig West has a question of tv advertising for us after Ryan Reynolds & Wrexham FC joined forced to create a https://youtu.be/LYufbUtWXlw (fun tv spot for 1Password). If you enjoy the podcast, My Dad Wrote A Porno, you'll love our new feature. While looking through his treasure chest of Cobblers memories, our Neil came across something that he hoped had been forgotten. Something so bad, it had to be shared. No, it's not Ashely Corker. What Neil found was hilariously worse. Neil's Lost Letters is here! _________________________ Support the show If you'd like to support the podcast, we'd really appreciate it. You can sign up to the Fan Club on Patreon from just £2 a month and in return we'll give you loads of extra cool stuff like exclusive podcast episodes, meet-ups and a chat forum. Sign up at https://my.captivate.fm/patreon.com/cobblerstome (patreon.com/cobblerstome) All donations are used to help improve the podcast and allow us to do cool things like sponsor NTFC Women player, Abbie Brewin. Find us on social media We're most active on Twitter so follow us at https://my.captivate.fm/twitter.com/CobblersToMe (@CobblersToMe) We're also on Facebook: https://my.captivate.fm/facebook.com/cobblerstome (@cobblerstome) Our website Every Friday, Danny's Match Preview blog takes a look at the Cobblers' next opponents, has a bash at predicting the Cobblers team and the match result. You'll find that and all our latest news at https://my.captivate.fm/cobblerstome.com (COBBLERSTOME.COM) Hosted by Charles Commins, Danny Brothers, Chessie Coleman and Neil Egerton-Scott. Produced by Vibrant Sound Media

Craig West breaks down how to buy an established business, how to value a business, and how to plan for a successful business exit. Craig West is the CEO and founder of Succession Plus which provides focused and strategic advice for SME business owners in business succession and exit planning. Craig is a successful entrepreneur who has helped over 600 business owners maximise the value of their business and achieve a successful exit. We live in a world that requires income and capital growth. Buying an established business offers the opportunity to achieve both goals, or maybe you are already a business owner and would like to know how much your business might be worth, or perhaps, now is the time to put your business up for sale and move to the next chapter in your life. If any of these topics resonate with you, then you will enjoy this episode as Craig breaks down the strategies for buying an established business, how to value a business and how to plan for a successful business exit. Timestamps: 0:00 to 1:27 Introduction. 1:28 to 3:00 Craig's story and journey into business. 3:01 to 7:00 What are the steps to buying an established business. 4:01 to 9:23 How to value an established business. 9:24 to 15:24 How to maximise the value of a business for an exit. 15:25 to 17:17 Key questions to ask when buying an established business 17:18 to 19:50 What are the costs and time when preparing for a business exit. 19:51 to 21:50 What does a business owner do after a successful exit. 21:51 to 25:15 Craigs closing thoughts and wrap up. Hope you enjoy and have a wonderful day. The FYR team. If you like this episode, please subscribe for weekly updates and insights, and don't forget to hit the share button. Guest Links & Resources: Visit Succession Plus: https://succession.plus/ Succesion Plus Twitter: https://twitter.com/successionplus Craig West Linkedin Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigwest/ Visit Fund Your Retirement: https://www.fundyourretirement.com/

This is the first ever ESOP Guy interview internationally from as far away as we can get from the U.S. - "way down under mate" in Australia with Succession Plus advisor Craig West, CPA - who has built his practice off of research from his own doctoral study in ESOPs.  There are some fascinating similarities between ESOPs in the U.S. and Australia as well as some very interesting differences.

We can meet the fatigue from being emotionally overwhelmed with 3 unique pathways. Find out what yours might be on today's episode of Illuminated Soul with Craig West! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/craig-westhoff/support

We can meet the fatigue from being emotionally overwhelmed with 3 unique pathways. Find out what yours might be on today's episode of Illuminated Soul with Craig West!

On this week's episode, we sit down with Craig West. Craig is the founder of Succession Plus, the largest succession planning firm in Australia. Throughout his years of practice at his own firm and also as a CPA, Craig has gained an inside perspective in to creating healthily work environments, hiring and retaining employees, and succession planning. Listen in to hear more!Mentioned In This Episode:Craig's Website & Socials:Succession Plus: https://succession.plus/craigwest/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigwest/Twitter; https://twitter.com/CraigWestCPAOur LinksMy New FIRE E-Book (FREE): https://app.gumroad.com/jhadawayfcFollow Us On Twitter and Instagram:@WHREPodcast@JHadawayFCGot a personal finance question? Reach out to us at: WorkHardRetireEarlyPodcast@Gmail.comWhat is Work Hard Retire Early? WHRE is a weekly podcast where we speak with guests about personal finance, investing, and the F.I.R.E. movement. Check back for new episodes every Monday!

Craig Westhoff shares about how Jesus illuminated the darkness in his own life and helps others transform shame through God's presence. Craig is a missionary with 24-7 Prayer USA, Spiritual Director and host of the Illuminated Soul with Craig West podcast helping people in their emotional, mental, and spiritual health and well being.Craig's Podcast:Illuinated Soul with Craig WestCraig's Website:www.illuminatedsoul.orgCraig's Recommendations:Franciscan Prayer by Ilia DelioProverbsGo to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.Follow on Facebook at www.facebook.com/shiftingculturepodcastSupport the show

Craig West discusses the impact exit planners can have by helping prepare financial, business, and personal matters. Transcript:  Craig: The big change for me, and certainly for most of my advisors and people that have done the secret program in Australia, or a lot of the I would imagine who have done it here, is that you're actually doing something quite tangible that really helps a business owner in terms of their financial and personal lifestyle outcome. So, as an accountant, I used to lodge tax returns and I used to lodge lots of other compliance documents, and at the end of the day, you really don't help people. But, if you can get an exit plan right, and I've got a number of examples where I've worked with clients over 3-5 years to really prepare them, their family, their business, their financials, their personal situation for an exit, and if you can achieve that very successfully, you make a substantial difference to that person and their family.     

Craig West has called games for the Tri-City Americans for 23 seasons, and he joined us in a wide ranging conversation about Stu Barnes, watching Bobby Orr in the Great Western Forum, missing one game in his TC career, the return of Sasha Mutala, calling minor league baseball, the potential of rookie Dwayne Jean Jr, the need for cancer screenings, the success of Bob Tory's long tenure in TC, and more

This month I spoke to Craig West of Succession Plus, about his thoughts on the importance of succession and exit planning for businesses. He shares some great insights into how you can get involved in providing this service, the best way to start the conversation with your clients, and advice around pricing these services. Craig can be contacted as below: Craig West CEO & Founder Succession Plus E: cwest@successionplus.com.au P: 1300 665 473 www.succession.plus

In performance-driven careers, such as preaching, media, etc., how do you balance being "on" for your audience while dealing with personal issues? Former Christian radio host, Craig West, joins the Real Answers crew to discuss his own battle with this and how he overcame it.

Coming Down the Pipe... [0:00] - It's the intro for Season 17 of The Pipeline Show [1:20] - Guy begins the episode with the Question of the Week, a bunch of CHL News and NCAA notes plus the guest list. [16:22] - The Season Preview of the Seattle Thunderbirds comes with the help of broadcaster Thom Beuning. [38: 16] - The Spokane Chiefs are in the spotlight in this segment with play-by-play man Mike Boyle. [1:02:14] - The always entertaining Portland Winterhawks are featured next with radio broadcaster Nick Marek [1:29:27] - Play caller Craig West slides in to preview the coming season for the Tri-City Americans. [1:51:10] - The head coach and General Manager of the Everett Silvertips, Dennis Williams, checks in to preview the season for his team and talk about his path to the bench in Everett. [2:19:45] - Clean up time for the week and a look ahead to which teams are on tap next week.

Oracle NetSuite's Craig West joins Channelnomics' Changing Channels host Larry Wals to discuss the importance of continuous partner enablement.    They say it takes money to make money. One of the ways vendors use money to make money is through the enablement of their partners. This investment leads to the creation and cultivation of partnerships that are – in many cases – more productive. Partners enabled through technology and sales training generate more revenue for their vendors. While training and enablement are universally seen as a channel necessity, connecting the value to the outcome often proves elusive. The vendor community frequently treats training as episodic – only on an annual basis or with new product releases. Also, the training typically focuses on products, not workloads or what customers expect as outcomes. For the most part, training programs treated as onboarding checkbox items do little to speed time to market with new partners. As a result, there's a disconnect between vendor intent, partner engagement, and customer experience. One vendor that's making enablement a core piece of its channel strategy and partner relationships is Oracle NetSuite. Through its SuiteLife program, Oracle NetSuite provides hands-on training and enablement that accelerate partners' ability to take enterprise resource planning applications to market. Craig West, vice president of alliances and channels at Oracle NetSuite, joins Channelnomics' Changing Channels host Larry Walsh to discuss making partner enablement more productive and persistent.   Follow us, Like us, and Subscribe! Channelnomics: https://channelnomics.com/  LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/2NC6Vli  Twitter: https://twitter.com/Channelnomics    Changing Channels Is a Channelnomics Production Follow @Channelnomics to stay current on the latest #research, #bestpractices, and #resources. At @Channelnomics – the voice of thought leadership – we define #channel trends, chart new #GTM strategies, and #partner with industry leaders to champion #diversity in the channel.     Episode Resources Host Larry Walsh: https://bit.ly/3beZfOa   Guest Craig West: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-west-17369b3/   Credits  Production: Changing Channels is produced by Modern Podcasting. For virtual content capture and video-first podcasts, check out http://www.modpodstudio.com.  Host Larry Walsh: https://bit.ly/3beZfOa  Voice-Over: Denise Quan      

Australia has a large number of baby boomer business owners that are currently heading towards or preparing for retirement with no real plan for an exit from their business. The first thing to do is begin with the end in mind, start to think about what is my exit look like?  There's a lot of goal setting to be done here, I think you need to be really clear. Why did you go into business in the first place? 2:47 Begin with the end in mind8:41 The family business challenge12:51 Employee share schemes15:28 The employee challenge20:21 Rewarding employee loyaltyCraig West is a strategic accountant who has over 25 years' experience advising business owners. His background as a CPA in public practice, provided invaluable experience in the key issues of concern to business owners. Following 6 years of study to gain two masters degrees, Craig focused on Capital Gains Tax (CGT) for business sales advising on strategic management of tax issues. This experience formed a very strong view that business owners (and often their advisers) were unprepared and unaware of the steps required to prepare a business for exit.Craig now acts as a strategic mentor for mid-market business owners and has written four critically acclaimed books on employee incentives, succession planning, asset protection and exit strategies. Craig has conducted numerous seminars and keynote presentations throughout Australia & internationally, including adviser education programs for the Institute of Chartered Accountants, IOOF and CPA Australia.Craig's practice Succession Plus is the largest Business succession and exit planning firm in Australia, with offices in every state and provides advice and strategy for clients looking to prepare their business for a successful exit. Succession Plus launched into the UK market during 2019 and into New Zealand in 2020In March 2014, Craig was appointed Executive Chairman of the SME Association of Australia, Australia's largest small business organisation representing over 300,000 business owners. In October 2014, he was awarded the Exit Planner of the Year at the Exit Planning Institute Annual Conference in Texas USA, as a result of his innovative development of an exit planning process to help business owners maximise business value and achieve a successful exit.During 2015, Craig commenced Doctoral studies on the topic of using Employee Share Ownership plans (ESOP's) as a Business Succession and Exit planning tool. Craig's proprietary structure - a Peak Performance Trust - has won the Australia wide award for the Employee Share Ownership Plan of the year twice in four years.In November 2018, Craig launched SME Experts, in partnership with Mark Bouris' Mentored on Podcast One and quickly grew the monthly podcast audience to over 26,500 downloads, in October 2019, he released a new podcast focused on medium sized business - Mid-Market Matters.Craig is passionate about encouraging business owners to think strategically, maximise the value of their business and achieve a successful exit.cwest@successionplus.com.au

Leon studied at Guildford School of Acting.Leon's theatre credits include: Sandra Bollock - Everybodys talking about Jamie (Apollo Theatre) West End, Babkak/Cover Genie - Aladdin (Prince Edward Theatre) West End, Audrey II (Voice of the plant) - Little Shop Of Horrors (Salisbury Playhouse & Mercury Theatre Colchester), Queen Of Hearts - Alice In Wonderland (UK tour), King Herod - Jesus Christ Superstar (Arena Tour UK & Australia), Rodney - My Big Gay Italian Wedding - (Greenwich Theatre), Melvin P Thorpe - The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas (Union Theatre), Company - Myths And Hymns (Finborough Theatre), Sid/Inventor - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (UK tour), Montel/Jesus - Jerry Springer The Opera (Cambridge Theatre) West End, Chuck Brown - Over The Rainbow (UK Tour), Company - On The Shelf (Edinburgh Festival) and other roles in Exit Allan - (Sherman Theatre Cardiff).On television Leon's credits include:  Ensemble - Jesus Christ Superstar Arena tour (Universal), Montel/Jesus - Jerry Springer The Opera (BBC2 & Avalon), a featured role in “Paddy Power Ball Of Shame” (Commercial) and a featured role - Nintendo Wii Fit (Commercial).Pantomime credits include: Ugly Sister - Cinderella (New Wimbeldon Theatre), Director - Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs - (Forum Barrow), Director - Cinderella (Forum Barrow), Widow Twankey - Aladdin - (Derby Arena), Dame Jollena Jellychops - (Oxford Playhouse), Dame Doughnut - Dick Whittington (Oxford Playhouse), Sarah The Cook - Dick Whittington (Grove Theatre Dunstable), Dame Mary Trott - Jack And The Beanstalk (Broadway Theatre Catford), Dame Widow Twankey - (Lyceum Theatre Crewe), Dame Nanna Nora - Sleeping Beauty (Lyceum Theatre Crewe), Genie - Aladdin (Loughborough), Dame Daisy Dollop - Jack And The Beanstalk - (Wakefield Theatre Royal) and Sarah The Cook - Dick Whittington - (Cliffs Pavilion Southend - QDOS).He was also the presenter Amadeus - Globalzoom Hair and Modelling show- (Vienna - Austria) and lead singer - Songs of Michael Jackson - MA Concerts (Warwick Castle).

This week's key takeaway: Succession planning and exit strategy with Craig West   Episode intro: How can you structure your business so you're ready when it's time to sell? Craig West has the answers! Having spent 20 years as a strategic accountant, Craig now specialises in advising business owners on succession planning. Takeovers can happen very quickly in the Smash Repair business, so you need to be ready. Even if you have no intention of selling, Craig outlines why it's a good idea to tidy up your business to maximise the sale value.   In this week's episode you will learn: -When is the right time to start exit planning? -The difference between “a business” and “a job” -What people need to know when they're taking over a business -How to make your business robust -What drives value? -Why you don't need to exit a business after you plan it -Why a business sale isn't all about the money -Can you do succession planning on your own? -Who are the best people to turn to for succession planning advice -How to get the best out of tax concessions -Employee share ownership plans   Show links: ** Save the date of May 28 2021 for the Paint & Panel Live Conference in Melbourne. ** Go to Craig's website: www.successionplus.com.au ** Go to www.paintandpanel.com.au to sign up for our weekly E-newsletter ** Go to www.paintandpanel.com.au/podcast to catch up on past shows and access show notes from every episode.

In this episode, I interview Craig West, the Founder, and CEO of Succession Plus, author, keynote speaker, strategic adviser, and leading authority on Succession and Employee Share Ownership Plans (ESOP). Craig is a strategic accountant who has over 25 years' experience advising business owners. His background as a CPA in public practice has provided invaluable experience in the key issues of concern to business owners. Following 6 yrs of study to gain two master's degrees, Craig focused on Capital Gains Tax (CGT) for business sales advising on strategic management of taxation issues in exit planning. This experience formed a very strong view that the majority of business owners (and often their advisers) were unprepared and unaware of the steps required to prepare for exit. Craig then designed and documented a unique process to assist owners and their advisers prepare for exit. He now acts as a strategic business and financial mentor for mid-market business owners. He has written four critically acclaimed books educating business owners on employee incentives, succession planning, asset protection, and exit strategies. Craig has conducted numerous seminars and keynote presentations throughout Australia and internationally. In March 2014, Craig was appointed Chairman of the SME Association of Australia, an organization focused on improving the success of SMEs in Australia, and in October of the same year, he was awarded the Exit Planner of the Year by the Exit Planning Institute in Texas, USA. The award was as a result of his innovative development of a 21 step exit planning process to help business owners maximize business value and achieve a successful exit. His proprietary structure - a Peak Performance Trust - has won the Australia-wide award for the ESOP of the Year twice in four years. Don’t miss this episode as Craig comes on to share highly valuable expertise with you. Enjoy! This Cast Covers: Becoming an exit planning expert because he hated being an accountant. The importance of small business owners learning how to extract the value of their businesses. Giving people a better understanding of ESOPs (Employee Share Ownership Plans) How ESOPs contribute to a 7% to 23% improvement in business performance. Developing a simple way to explain, design, and implement an ESOP in a business. The great return a small business owner can get from investing in the implementation of an employee share ownership plan. Getting small incremental amounts of money out of your business each year by selling part of the business to your employees. The popular business exit method where employees can end up owning the business they work for. The reward of equity in a business versus a cash reward. Implementing a succession strategy sooner rather than later to allow for a proper exit over time. Avoiding the “Us and Them” way of doing things to ensure the growth of your business and how ESOPs can help. How an employee share plan in a professional service firm can work to lock in employees and incentivize them to perform better. The Win-Win-Win model he focuses on when designing an ESOP for a business. Committing to getting your ESOP to keep your employees, improve their performance, and get a great return in both the short and long term. The value of getting clear on what your exit strategy is before you start and build your business. How to cash in at the end to fund your retirement or your next venture. Additional Resources: Succession Plus Build It By Craig West The E-Myth Revisited By Michael E. Gerber Incentivising Employees By Ann O'Connell, Ian Ramsay, and Ingrid Landau Ownership Thinking By Brad Hams Music from https://filmmusic.io "Cold Funk" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com). License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode, host Craig West is joined by Michel Clifton, who has 20 years of experience in trade and defence appointments across North Asia, primarily in Greater China and Japan. Michael shares his intelligence dealing with Asia, trade, export and finance. Phillip Volk, key partner in Succession Plus in Victoria also joins the discussion. For business owners seeking to improve relations with China and the Greater Asian economy, Michael advocates the key is to engage with a boarder network, may this be Chambers of Commerce, banks, lawyers or peak organisations. He recites there is rich experience, knowledge and endless sources of support out there, and businesses need to be more prepared to extend their hand in search of it. Michael has worked directly with the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade), is fluent in both Chinese and Japanese, is the president of the Australia China Business Council in NSW and the Principal of MJC Asia Consulting.

Today's word is ESOP. Maybe you've heard of it? No? Well, its all about value, reward, motivation, investment and succession. It could be the best thing to ever happen to an SME! Remember to #Subscribe

The day after the Cobblers thrashed Cheltenham in their own back yard to overturn a 2-0 deficit and make it to the League two Play Off Final we got back behind the mic to record our reaction. Charles, Danny and Chessie are almost speechless as they discuss how the Cobblers made it to Wembley for the first time in 7 years. Neil is missing due to being attacked by a hedgehog. No lie! Huge thanks to Craig West for upping his pledge on Patreon. ____________________________________________ Become a Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/cobblerstome) supporter for as little as $2 a month! Subscribe (for free!) on  Apple Podcasts (https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/its-all-cobblers-to-me/id1436309214?ls=1)  and leave us a 5 star review while you’re there. There is more Cobblers related content as well as all of our previous episodes on our website  https://cobblerstome.com (https://cobblerstome.com/) You can get involved with the podcast by doing the following things: Email us itsallcobblers@gmail.com. Tweet us  https://twitter.com/CobblersToMe (https://twitter.com/CobblersToMe) Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/itsallcobblers (https://www.facebook.com/itsallcobblers) If you know of a local business who could do with some exposure please let us know as we have plenty of sponsorship options available. It’s All Cobblers To Me is a  Northampton Town Football Club (http://ntfc.co.uk/) . Support this podcast

Darryl Bates-Brownsword, Co-Founder of Succession Plus UK, sits down with Craig West to share his journey from being an engineer to ending up in the consulting space through his passion to help business owners get the most from their life’s work and successfully exit their business on their terms. Darryl also discusses the importance of having your own IP to improve your business' value, and how it can help you engage your clients and give you the opportunity to understand their issues better than they do.

Natasha Hawker, Director of Employee Matters, joins Craig West to share her views on the future of work post-COVID-19, why she thinks Jobkeeper is a ‘game-changing’ opportunity that many businesses are missing out on, and how business owners can take advantage of the current ‘downtime’ to improve their business systems, efficiencies and value.

Tom Matthews, Partner at Pemba Capital, discusses with host Craig West the different types of transaction structures available to businesses when contemplating a liquidity event and how the Pemba ‘two-payday structure’ can help achieve the 3 key objectives of business owners: the dollars, legacy, and ensuring the SME owners’ people are looked after.

Franky Fiumara, a third generation nephew in his family’s supermarket and winery businesses, shares with host Craig West how their businesses have grown and remained successful over the last 60 years despite stiff market competition.

Welcome to episode 14 of The Founder's Podcast, Whose Bright Idea Was This Anyway? This week, we are delighted to bring you Craig West, Founder and Managing Director of Succession Plus. Craig is a CPA Accountant, specialising in Business Exit and Employee Share Ownership Plans (ESOPS) in planning business exit as well as superior organisational performance. This is a must listen to episode if you're considering using ESOPS within your business, or looking to drive productivity and engagement

Where is God and what is He up to in the midst of our moments of chaos, confusion and darkness? In this raw and authentic podcast Craig West will give you tools and encouragement you need to respond to the darkness life can bring. New episodes every Wednesday starting May 20. Subscribe now so you never miss an episode!

Show Me the Money! On the tip of everyone's tongue in the SME world are 4 words - show me the money! The government stimulus package is the lifeboat that we have all been waiting for. It's come out in bits and pieces, and as usual, the devil is in the detail. Our host Angela Vithoulkas grills Craig West - a regular panellist, and our expert guest Mark Pinhorn, Partner & Director of HYD Advisory. Mark is a strategic accountant, an experienced entrepreneur and a business owner. We asked Mark to simplify the stimulus package and the lifelines being offered to SME's to help them battle the financial impacts of COVID-19 - simple English as opposed to the deliberately complicated language of government.

Brett Sloan from Averitt Driver Services is joined by fellow associates Marlon Grossholz and Craig West to discuss the current state of affairs for Averitt Supply Chain.

Business and People Podcast With Walt Bayliss Episode #43: Craig West on Future Planning for Your Business, Strategy, Employee growth and higher profits. Craig is a brilliant strategic planner for businesses and talks about how to plan TODAY for what can be the biggest pay day of a business owners life. How to attract and motivate employees and focus on what you really want as the owner. Enjoy (and don't forget to hit subscribe at http://businessandpeoplepodcast.com :) )

Hello and welcome to the Get More Customers podcast with me Michael Angrave. I’ve got a super episode for you today, as I’m joined by Karl Craig-West who runs The Leicester Business Expo, which is a small business trade show which happens every autumn in Leicestershire. The expo has been running for over a decade now and whilst Karl has been actively involved for many years, he’s recently taken over the running of the entire event and has been introducing some great initiatives to continue to build its reputation and size. This is a really fascinating episode and we cover some interesting ground. Whilst Karl runs the Expo, his other business offers websites and online marketing. So as ever, you’re going to hear a shedload of awesome ideas. Many of which are focused around getting better results at trade shows, however, you’ll also realise that these tips actually apply across any sales and marketing area. We also, get on to speaking about an area of marketing which is often overlooked by almost all businesses. This is what happens when stop focusing on selling a simple service, and instead shift your focus to selling an outcome. Such a powerful shift as you’ll soon find out. We dig deep in this area, so you’ll get a good idea for how this can work for your business too. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. Here’s Karl to tell you more...   www.gowebsites.co.uk

Knight Falls, CA is a production of Knight Falls Media. Episode 1: A Town on the Coast Written and Directed by Alexander Greig and Robert F. Wilson Original Music by Tyler Tingey Featuring: Robert F. Wilson as Scott Sinclair Alexis Ross as Sydnie Cooper Alexander Greig as Craig West and Harrison Langford as Travis Warren

Craig West is a strategic accountant and the CEO of Succession Plus which is a specialised advisory practice focused on small business owners to help them manage the four key strategic issues that SME's face as they grow - Raising Capital, Building Equity, Protecting that equity and extracting the value you have built when you exit. Craig is a CPA and has been advising businesses in management, taxation and accounting issues for over 15 years. He specialises in business structuring and succession planning and has had extensive experience working with clients to improve their financial performance - with proven results. Craig has conducted numerous seminars and presentations throughout Australia for the Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources, MLC, L J Hooker, the NSW Department of State & Regional Development, NSW Chamber of Commerce and CPA Australia. He is an accredited advisor with Family Business Australia as well as sitting on FBA's NSW advisors committee and is a founding member of Thought Leaders. Craig acts as a strategic business and financial mentor for business owners and has written three critically acclaimed books educating business owners on employee incentives, succession planning and asset protection. Craig has also recently been invited to complete a PhD in Business Succession Planning at Deakin University in Melbourne; is the President of the Australian Chapter of the Exit Planning Institute and one of only eleven people in Australia accredited as a Certified Exit Planning Advisor.

In this episode Joanna talks to our return guest Craig West of Succession Plus where they talk all about Employee Share Plans. Employee Share Plans have been shown to improve organizational performance but what benefits do they really bring in this area of business sales and acquisitions?

In this episode Joanna talks to our return guest Craig West of Succession Plus where they talk all about Employee Share Plans. Employee Share Plans have been shown to improve organizational performance but what benefits do they really bring in this area of business sales and acquisitions?

Believe it or not, it pays to think about your exit strategy early in the business cycle. Listen in and learn all about the most common mistakes owners make in this area from author and strategic accountant Craig West, the CEO and Founder of Succession Plus.

Believe it or not, it pays to think about your exit strategy early in the business cycle. Listen in and learn all about the most common mistakes owners make in this area from author and strategic accountant Craig West, the CEO and Founder of Succession Plus.

Craig West, the longtime play-by-play broadcaster of the Tri-City Americans, joins the show to discuss Games 1 and 2 of the first-round playoff series between the Silvertips and the Americans, as well as looking forward to Games 3 and 4 at Tri-City on Wednesday and Thursday. After that, my predecessor, Jesse Geleynse, joins the program and chat about seeing Carter Hart and Kevin Constantine in Pittsburgh, and some similarities between this year's squad and last year's. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts (h�t�t�p�s�:�/�/�i�t�u�n�e�s�.�a�p�p�l�e�.�c�o�m�/�u�s�/�p�o�d�c�a�s�t�/�t�i�p�s�-�t�a�l�k�/�i�d�1�4�4�5�6�4�9�2�0�8�?�m�t�=�2�), Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/1lUn2vgYNvGr1FkUbMqgWH?si=U0w_8vvpSLCargksaDp9rg), Stitcher (www.stitcher.com/podcast/tips-talk?refid=stpr), Google Play or anywhere else you get your podcasts. Follow Josh Horton on Twitter (@joshhortonEDH) or like his facebook page (www.facebook.com/JoshHortonTips/). Thanks for listening! Related reading: Patterson, Holmes inject physicality into Silvertips’ roster: https://www.heraldnet.com/sports/patterson-holmes-inject-physicality-into-silvertips-roster/ Silvertips notebook: Cullen seizing postseason opportunity https://www.heraldnet.com/sports/silvertips-notebook-cullen-seizing-postseason-opportunity/ Silvertips show some fight in their first two playoff games Patterson: 4 observations from the Tips’ win in Game 2 https://www.heraldnet.com/sports/silvertips-show-some-fight-in-their-first-two-playoff-games/ https://www.heraldnet.com/sports/patterson-4-observations-from-the-tips-win-in-game-2/ Shorthanded Silvertips stave off Americans in Game 2 https://www.heraldnet.com/sports/shorthanded-silvertips-stave-off-americans-in-game-2/ Patterson: 3 observations from the Silvertips’ Game 1 win https://www.heraldnet.com/sports/patterson-3-observations-from-the-silvertips-game-1-win/ Silvertips win Game 1 over Tri-City in dominant fashion https://www.heraldnet.com/sports/silvertips-win-game-1-over-tri-city-in-dominant-fashion/

Craig West, the long-time play-by-play man for the Tri-City Americans, joins the podcast to chat about the upcoming matchup between Tri-City and Everett, Tri-City in general, the U.S. Division and an assortment of other things. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/tips-talk/id1445649208?mt=2), Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/1lUn2vgYNvGr1FkUbMqgWH?si=U0w_8vvpSLCargksaDp9rg), Stitcher (www.stitcher.com/podcast/tips-talk?refid=stpr), Google Play or anywhere else you get your podcasts. Follow Josh Horton on Twitter (@joshhortonEDH) or like his facebook page (www.facebook.com/JoshHortonTips/). Thanks for listening!

Afternoon Karak reviews the final game of the Hockey World Cup with UAE based coach Craig West while Aisha and Mikail share best tips to prepare for final examinations for students. Listen to #Pulse95Radio in the UAE by tuning in on your radio (95.00 FM) or online on our website: www.pulse95radio.com ************************ Follow us on Social. www.facebook.com/pulse95radio www.twitter.com/pulse95radio www.instagram.com/pulse95radio

“Having a mentor is not about theory, it's about practical, usable resources that you can use straightaway.” Craig West joins me to talk about our Mentored business - and why it's so important for every business owner to have a good mentor. We talk about why everyone needs to ask for help in business, how anybody can have a side hustle, and the dangerous side to the Aussie culture of 'having a go' if you're too stubborn to get a mentor.  Join the Facebook Group. Follow Mark Bouris on Instagram, LinkedIn & YouTube. Want to grow your business and stay ahead of the pack? Access Mark Bouris' Masterclasses. Got a question or comment for Mark? Send an email.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest 3 - 2018-19 WHL Preview: The voice of the Tri-City Americans is Craig West and he is the tour guide for the preview of the team ahead of training camp.

Coming Down the Pipe... [0:00] - The Pipeline Show Season 14 Intro [1:06] - Guy begins the show with the Question of the Day, lots of news and notes items and Coming Down the Pipe [10:18] - 2018-19 WHL Preview: The Red Deer Rebels are previewed with the help of the voice of the club, Cam Moon. [28:13] - 2018-19 WHL Preview: The defending champion Swift Current Broncos are the focus of this segment with the help of broadcaster Shawn Mullin. [53:00] - 2018-19 WHL Preview: The voice of the Tri-City Americans is Craig West and he is the tour guide for the preview of the team ahead of training camp. [1:13:18] - 2018-19 WHL Preview: This time we look at the Brandon Wheat Kings with the help of play-by-play man Branden Crowe [1:36:49] - 2018:19 WHL Preview: Closing out the show with a look ahead at the Victoria Royals. Marlon Martens runs the microphone for the Royals and provides his insight to the club. [1:52:17] - Guy wraps up the show by looking ahead at next week and more.

We spend so much time talking about the detail of day-to-day business, but what about life after business? Focusing on an exit plan is vital to ensure that your business enhances your life in the way that you want it to, and at the same time will make your day-to-day business more effective. We have Australia’s leading exit planner on the show this week to show us the ropes on all-things exit planning. As well as being the largest succession planner in the country, Craig West has been awarded Exit Planner Of The Year, and more importantly has received the even greater accolade of being invited back onto this show because he was so good last time! Keep reading for some of his top tips:  **The number one problem with SMEs is over-reliance on one person at the top of the organisation. **Make a succession plan, even if you have no intention of selling up any time soon. **You can triple or quadruple the value of your business if you do a proper exit plan. **Do not underestimate the value of your competitors. They are likely to pay better money for your company than standard investors. **It isn’t all about the sale price of a business - think about life after business. **Don’t do it yourself - always use an advisor for your exit planning. **You should spend 20% of your time working ‘on’ your business rather than working ‘in’ your business.    In this episode of Business Brain Food you will learn: **How long an exit can take **How to maximise the potential exit options **How to make your business attractive to a strategic buyer **An employee share option explained **How to sell to a listed company **How to plan for life after business   Resources mentioned in this episode: **Are you an accounting firm looking to offer business advisory services? Are you a client of an accountant who wants your accountant to get more proactive? Contact ben@maxmyprofit.com.au **Ben’s events across Australia: http://www.businessfasttrack.com.au **Ben’s free business Ebook: http://www.maxmyprofit.com.au **Craig’s succession planning service: http://www.successionplus.com.au **All previous BBF episodes & show notes can be found at http://www.businessbrainfood.com.au **Facebook: facebook.com/businessbrainfood **Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/businessbrainfood **Twitter: https://twitter.com/bfewtrell     As Craig says, it’s very easy to put off exit planning because it doesn’t feel like it’s fundamental to the day-to-day, but if you listen to the show you’ll realise just how vital it actually is. Make sure you get your plan in order! Also, if you are enjoying these Business Brain Food podcasts, then make sure to share them via social media sites or email the links to family and friends. A lot of time and effort goes into producing each of these podcasts with the goal in mind of the more people we can inspire about business the better. You can help us do just that! Until next time, have a profitable day. Cheers, Ben Fewtrell (02) 9111 5000

Guest: Professor Adam Steen, Researcher Mid Market Business – Charles Sturt University Part 1: Professor Adam Steen joins Craig West on the show. Listen to find out more about Adam and how he ended up working for Charles Stuart University, researching mid market businesses. Part 2: We continue to talk to Professor Adam Steen from Charles Sturt University. What is the mid market? What research has been conducted? How do we move businesses to the mid market range? The difficulty of funding. Being realistic. Listen to discover what the research has revealed.

In the first part of this week's episode the Squatch and Diamond Dave feature music by Machines Dream, a Canadian Prog outfit from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada . Craig West, vocalist, guitarist, and composer for the band also provides some excellent interview material! In the second part of the show, the guys begin coverage of the Rocket Scientists, which features Erik Norlander, Mark McCrite, and Don Schiff. This week they cover the first three studio releases from the Rocket Scientists. Coverage will continue in the first part of next week's show, finishing up with a track from their newly released album “Refuel”!For more information on Machines Dream visit facebook.com/MachinesDreamFor more information on Rocket Scientists you can visit myspace.com/rocketscientistsband or thetank.comAs always send questions, suggestions or comments to bigsquatch@verizon.net. You can also follow the Squatch on Twitter (@ProgSquatch) or visit our Prog-Watch Facebook page. Also, if you have a Prog band and are looking to maybe break into “the big league”, contact us to get on our Watch List! (We just might play you on the show, and who knows, it might lead to your big break!)

Succession Planning and Business Exit Strategies with Craig West Craig West is a strategic accountant who has over 20 years’ experience advising business owners. As the author of 3 books on the topics of exit planning, employee share ownership plans and asset protection, Craig is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to setting your business up for the future! In this episode of Business Brain Food you will learn: ** Why you need a plan in your business and why your plan should be mapped to your exit strategy ** How to use Employee Share programs to incentivise, motivate and get your employees involved in growing your business. ** Why you need to think about your exit strategy 5 to 7 years ahead of time. ** How to value your business. ** How to maximise the value of your business. ** What type of buyer you should look for when selling your business. Resources mentioned in this episode: ** The 4 hour work week - Timothy Ferris ** successionplus.com.au ** referron.com ** fiverr.com ** elance.com ** Bottlerocket Combo (Rob Turner and Ian Dittman). If you want to buy their CD you can email Rob Turner; robturner@ozemail.com.au Ask Ben a Question! If you have a question relating to your business that you would love to get some advice on, then ask Ben. If selected, your question will be played during the show and answered by Ben on the show. To ask a question, simply click on the tab on the right hand side of the page that says 'Record your Question', state your question, hit submit and listen into see if Ben answers your question. It's that simple. Until next time, have a profitable day! Cheers, Ben Fewtrell