Building Unbreakable Brands

Meghan Lynch (00:01): Welcome to Building Unbreakable Brands, the podcast where we talk to business leaders with a generational mindset. I'm Meghan Lynch, an advisor to family businesses and founder of Six-Point, a brand strategy agency that helps generational brands honor their past while evolving for the future. My guest today is Christy Maxfield, founder of Purpose First Advisors and a certified exit planning advisor who helps business owners avoid costly mistakes and prepare for successful transitions. Welcome, Christy. Thank you so much for being on the podcast.
Christy Maxfield (00:36): Thanks for having me.
Meghan Lynch (00:38): Very excited about our conversation today. We've chatted a bit, and I know you have a lot to say about not only preparing to exit your business, but also how brand fits into that equation from both of our perspectives. Since your company is Purpose First Advisors, I thought it would make sense to start with purpose first. I'd love to hear a little about your purpose: How did you get into exit planning and succession planning, and why is this work important to you?
Christy Maxfield (01:09): Thank you. I appreciate you asking. I was raised in a family business and never thought I'd be an entrepreneur. My dad owned our family florist, and we all worked in it. I realized how hard that work was. My first career was in professional fundraising, then I worked with early-stage entrepreneurs, did my own startup, and in 2017 created Purpose First Advisors. I wanted to work with business owners to really improve profitability and transferability.
During that time, my dad also passed away. At first, I didn't know how it factored in. I always talked about him in the context of business because it was the most pervasive part of my business experience; I was literally born into it. But the fact that he had not made a very thoughtful exit plan, and the consequences that created for the business as well as for our family, that's what really inspired me. That's part of what I consider my purpose: to help business owners understand not just how the business can take care of you today, but how it can take care of you today and potentially tomorrow.
Meghan Lynch (02:24): I'm curious: What does bringing purpose into the advising process look like for you and your clients?
Christy Maxfield (02:33): It's really important for us to know what you're building and why you're building it. Inherent in that is usually what you consider your purpose. Most business owners — almost all I've ever met — yes, making money is important, but it's not the reason they work so hard or sacrifice time with their families. They feel uniquely called to do something and genuinely love their work. They've decided that being a business owner is the best way to fulfill their purpose and to be excited and energized in the workplace. It's a natural place to start because if we know what we're building the business to do, what purpose it needs to fulfill, then we can be very intentional about the decisions we make. This often simplifies decision-making for business owners, as they can feel overwhelmed. When we focus on using their purpose to make decisions, it can be a lot less overwhelming.
Meghan Lynch (03:33): I love that. We often talk about strategic guardrails or freedom within a framework. For many family businesses, decisions aren't solely financial; finances are a piece of it, but not the only factor. If you were working for private equity or a publicly traded company, finances would be first and foremost. But for many family businesses, it's almost the opposite. Finances are a factor, but something else, as you said, is the driver. When you can have those conversations and clarify those guardrails or that purpose, it helps figure out what you will and won't do. It makes you more of a partner in decision-making versus just throwing ideas at the wall that might look good on paper, which can be frustrating for them. It sounds like you're helping them articulate what they want, and then working from there.
Christy Maxfield (04:49): Absolutely. Part of my job as an advisor is to reflect back to them what they said they wanted, so as they make decisions, we can ask: Is it aligned to where you want to go? I often say, if I tell you I want to head west, I could end up at San Francisco, and you could end up in San Diego. We both headed west from our respective destinations, but we're in two very different locations.
The more specific I can be about where I want to end up, what choices I want available to me, and also what I want the business to look and feel like – how it espouses its purpose for its customers, but also my legacy, my values – then I can get very specific. When something comes across my desk, I can say, "That's really interesting and a shiny object, but it doesn't fit." If I have five criteria and it only fits three, and those other two are really important, and if it had those, we'd proceed, but it doesn't. So I need to focus my resources elsewhere. Making choices can be very hard for entrepreneurs. They love to make, build, and do things. The more focus and attention you have on what you're trying to accomplish, the easier it can sometimes be to make a choice and not keep every option open.
Meghan Lynch (06:16): As an advisor, I imagine it's almost more important to help people figure out what not to do than to give them more options. As you said, an entrepreneur might respond with, "Oh yes, that sounds good!" They have a positivity that sees opportunity everywhere. It becomes harder for them to say no than to say yes.
Christy Maxfield (06:41): One hundred percent. Usually, my job isn't to come up with more ideas, but to help them make a choice among the many ideas they already have. Some are fascinating and interesting, but could be the slowest path to cash or require an inordinate amount of resources. The other day, I asked an owner: "If this opportunity hadn't presented itself, would you go out and look for it?" If you wouldn't go out and look for it, there's probably a good reason, and probably a reason why you don't want to take advantage of it. Just because it's here doesn't make it a good choice.
Meghan Lynch (07:23): It feels like a trap: once you see an opportunity and it's in front of you, it's hard to let go. You start thinking about how you would do it, and suddenly you "own" it. Then it becomes the difficult path of letting go, as opposed to, to your point, if you had never heard of it, would you have come up with this yourself?
Christy Maxfield (07:48): Totally. There's definitely a little FOMO going on. "I don't know why this presented itself to me. Maybe forces beyond my control and understanding have put it in my path." No, it just came across your path, and the forces of good and evil are not at play here. This would be a distraction. So let's just reign it in a little.
Meghan Lynch (08:11): In your experience, are there common blind spots family businesses have regarding succession or exit? Are there regular patterns you need to highlight?
Christy Maxfield (08:33): Yes, particularly on the succession side of exit planning. In my world, succession can happen whether or not you actually transfer ownership. Ideally, succession happens in advance of any big transaction because you can bring in talented professionals. One potential pitfall for family members is to assume that birth order or simply being in the family makes someone uniquely suited for a role in the business. As I mentioned, my dad was a very traditional florist. My uncle, who also worked in the business, was very avant-garde, creative, and really pushed the envelope on what flowers could do. They both could be in the business, but they contributed very different things. Honestly, I never mastered the art of doing a beautiful arrangement the way my uncle and father did.
Christy Maxfield (09:35): I might have been well-suited to run the back office, but I probably wasn't going to be a lead designer. If my dad had wanted me to be a lead designer just because I was his firstborn child, it probably would've been a really bad fit. So, being realistic and having conversations with each other is probably the main pitfall. Families often don't talk about these things. They don't want to discuss "maybe that's not the best path for you," or "maybe there are other things you could explore," or "I don't want to do that, Dad/Mom." The lack of these conversations is probably the biggest pitfall.
Meghan Lynch (10:19): That's so true. I've seen it for decades: conversations in the wings for 30 years, with both sides still holding assumptions about what's been said or unsaid. That first step of having the conversation is crucial. I find that doing it with a third party, even though many say, "Oh, we don't need that," truly changes the dynamic. Someone else in the room can reframe it, probe, or push people closer to clarity. Do you find people underestimate the value of a third party facilitator in the room?
Christy Maxfield (11:16): They underestimate the value, and they also underestimate the importance of having the conversation itself.
Christy Maxfield (11:24): If you're, say, third generation, you might think, "My dad didn't talk to me; I just did X, Y, and Z. I didn't ask why it was this way; I just did it because this was what we did." But younger or different generations have different feelings about what work is, how businesses should function, and their roles in the community, as well as their relationship to work and family. You mentioned those assumptions and unspoken expectations, like "You should do X or Y." There's a complete emotional attachment. Any owner has an emotional attachment to their business. Any family carrying on its legacy has an emotional attachment, even if they never met the founder. I think they underestimate how emotional these conversations can be and how a third party can make it more about the business as its own entity, with its own life and purpose. Then the family can relate to it without being so identified with it that it's hard to make independent decisions.
Meghan Lynch (12:47): When people consider succession or exit, whether within the family or to an outside buyer, they often focus on tax strategy, valuation, and legal documents. But it sounds like what you bring to the table is bigger than those things. What do you feel is missing when people only see it as "tax and legal"?
Christy Maxfield (13:23): It's completely about personal readiness. The business could be ready to exit, meaning it has low owner dependence, a strong brand and reputation, low customer concentration, and all the financial metrics we look for. It could be ready for a transition, but you, as the owner or generational leader, and certainly other family members, will have different degrees of readiness. Especially when transitioning from first to second generation, the first generation often holds not just ownership but is the founder, the center of the equation. We see deals fall apart because the person isn't personally ready for the transaction, whether it's transitioning, selling, or gifting to the next generation, or a third-party sale. If you're saying, "We're the best-kept secret," or "This place wouldn't run without me," or "No one cares about this place as much as I do," you are not ready because the business is still an extension of you.
Christy Maxfield (14:48): You haven't really thought about what happens when it's no longer the center of your world, and you're no longer the center of its world. This goes way beyond tax strategy and internal family dynamics. It's truly about understanding your personal relationship to your business. Most owners haven't even considered that as something they should prepare for regarding exit or wealth transition.
Meghan Lynch (15:20): Those phrases are some of the most common I hear from business owners. "The best-kept secret" — we always scan for that because, to me, it signifies a brand opportunity. They usually say it proudly, "We've built something strong, and people don't know about it." I think, "But we could let that secret out, and knowing that might build value." The other phrase, "No one will care about it as much as I do," is deeply ingrained in an owner's psyche, regardless of generation. They feel it's just the reality of their job, a fact. How do you start to unwind that?
Christy Maxfield (16:23): Part of it is asking: Have you ever given anyone a chance to care about it as much as you do? An ownership mindset requires a certain amount of autonomy and authority to make decisions like an owner, decisions that impact the bottom line or top line.
Christy Maxfield (16:43): If you never give someone the opportunity to practice those skills under your guidance and tutelage, they probably won't show up in a way that reflects the care and love you have for your business, because they're not being asked to put themselves in your shoes. Delegating and taking the time to explain why you do things, why it's important, what you've learned, and what makes you and the business successful, is crucial. That's the part of succession planning where we often think, "Oh, Christy could handle that if I wasn't here." But have you talked to Christy about the nuances? The reason we do it this way isn't because we've always done it this way; it's because we've tried five other ways and they didn't work. Sharing the organizational history and DNA that comes with this type of authority, and spending time structuring those relationships to train and mentor your successor, is often outside their worldview. Also, very talented entrepreneurs aren't necessarily the best coaches and mentors.
Christy Maxfield (18:14): We're asking them to do something that doesn't necessarily come naturally. This also begs the question: Do you need someone else to help you identify the "secret sauce" of how you do things and help others build that acumen within themselves? It's a hard one.
Meghan Lynch (18:32): That is a tough one. We often talk about how you can't read the label on your own bottle; you're inside it. So, why you do things might seem obvious to you. But spending time unpacking it takes discipline and perspective. Discipline and perspective are often challenging for entrepreneurs.
Christy Maxfield (19:04): We don't want to slow down to explain ourselves; we feel like it should be intuitive. On some level, we're probably afraid someone will question decisions we've made, and we might even be questioning them ourselves. We certainly don't need another person over our shoulder making us feel uncomfortable about past decisions. We're as human as anyone else in our companies, and we show up with all our own baggage around what it means to be who we are and what this business means to who we are.
Meghan Lynch (19:45): You're listening to Building Unbreakable Brands, the podcast about brand stewardship and crafting an enduring legacy. I'm here with Christy Maxfield of Purpose First Advisors, an exit and succession strategist who helps founders turn their life’s work into lasting value, with a special focus on generational wealth and leadership transitions. Christy, one reason we connected and I was excited to have you on is our shared understanding that brand plays a huge role in a business's value and transferability, especially when considering brand as trust and reputation, and the value customers and relationships have with the company. From your perspective as an exit advisor, can you explain the connection between brand strength and exit success to someone who might think of branding as "marketing fluff"?
Christy Maxfield (20:59): Never. Brand is your culture made visible to the rest of the world. It communicates what you stand for, how you move through your market space, and what you do for your customers. It's integral to how a potential buyer evaluates a company's strength. That's the initial approach, then it becomes tactical. What does it mean to have a good brand? On the succession side, a strong brand that people want to be associated with helps you recruit and retain talented people. Long before we discuss valuation, if I want top talent working with me, people want to be associated with organizations they can take pride in, feel aligned with, and where they can make a contribution, understanding that it reflects their values.
Christy Maxfield (22:04): Thinking about how your brand, and the energy you put into communicating not just what you do and who you do it for, but the why you do it, the special how you do it, and how people come together in your organization, ties directly into your ability to get and retain clients and customers, access capital, and sell in the market. Some potential buyers are competitors, and they evaluate your reputation not as customers, but as colleagues. How do you move through the space? Do you actually do what you say you do? Does the brand you put out align with the person they know and have done business with? I find it's like, how could brand not impact the business's value? The brand will often be part of the equation of why you and not someone else.
Meghan Lynch (23:15): I love thinking about it from that industry lens of building value — how you show up in the industry. What is that reputation for insiders? It's not just flash or polish; they know the truth on the inside. I love "culture made visible." Many people don't think about it that way; they think of brand as only a marketing tool to acquire customers. But what I hear you saying is that it also applies to industry peers and the potential workforce—the next-level talent you want to attract and how you engage them meaningfully. This brings us back to the succession conversation: How do you attract future owners who can take the business to the next level? Brand can be a way to identify and engage those individuals meaningfully.
Christy Maxfield (24:27): It means you have to be very purposeful about what you're building and why you're building it—how you're building it—which goes back to what we discussed in the beginning: knowing your why. Then, you engage people in your business because they're drawn to your purpose.
Christy Maxfield (24:41): Maybe you make widgets. You might be the best widget maker in the world, but if nobody knows what you stand for, how you move through the world, and what they can expect from you, it becomes much harder for them to buy. It's harder for employees to engage with you, and harder for investors to want to do business with you. For transferability, it can't be about, "I really love Meghan," or "I really think Christy's a great person." It's about whether Meghan and Christy, in their respective companies, have created a culture that espouses the things that initially drew people to do business with them. If they move through the world with integrity, if they're trustworthy and their word is their bond, have they created a company where that is the case? That makes a company much more transferable, because otherwise, people are only doing business with you or me. Once we're out of the equation, that leaves very little value for the business.
Meghan Lynch (25:43): One thing we often see is that the brand, story, and reputation, being built around the owner, reflects either who you were (worst case) or an accurate depiction of who you are right now (best case, if kept up to speed). One metaphor I use as a "boy mom" is buying a suit a size too big for my son for an upcoming fall wedding. I know by then it will fit him perfectly or he'll already be stretching its bounds because he's fast-growing.
Meghan Lynch (26:44): We often talk about building the brand just a bit toward the vision to create a positive tension. If you can articulate where you want to take the company, its potential, and bring it to life for people, it can help you attract a buyer who sees that potential, or next-generation talent who can bring a sense of ownership, saying, "I know exactly how I would use my skills to help you get there and live into that vision." How do you manage that balance—not going so far that you're inauthentic or inaccurate, but just far enough so you're not merely describing who you were or are right now?
Christy Maxfield (27:43): I love this idea of an aspirational brand. The brand aspires to be more than it is today, and the clients and customers it attracts may also want to aspire to be more than they are today, and will be part of this experience with them because they're aligned. The only danger of "getting out over your skis" is if you fail to make the investments that make the claims true.
Christy Maxfield (28:10): You and I are good at telling a compelling story and engaging people. But if they come in the door and see that you're not investing in people or technology, won't change processes, and shoot down new ideas, that's when an aspirational brand becomes inauthentic. People will look for proof, and if they can't find it, they'll believe what they see, not what you say.
Christy Maxfield (28:48): That's a real challenge. We also have to remember that every startup attracts people because they offer an aspirational vision. Even if you're not a startup, people want to know what they can help you build next. Who wants to join to "keep on keeping on" or maintain the status quo? No one wants a job that grinds them into the dirt doing the same thing over and over. They want to know you're looking ahead, seeing potential, and are excited as if you were creating the business today. So, I say do it, but don't make it a surface exercise. If Meghan creates a wonderful aspirational brand for you, be honest about whether that's who you want to be, because you then have to live into that vision.
Meghan Lynch (29:46): You need the systems, processes, people, budget—all the things that pull you in that direction and make it real. Otherwise, if you attract talent but can't retain them because they're frustrated, it creates a negative story.
Christy Maxfield (30:07): One hundred percent. Even if exit isn't on your mind right now, if you put out a job description today, and people come because you sell a good story, but then they get in and see "the man behind the curtain" isn't who they thought he was, that will always do you harm. Always.
Meghan Lynch (30:31): Have you seen financially sound businesses, with all the right pieces in place, struggle to exit or bring in a successor because they haven't clarified their brand or articulated what makes them different? Have you seen that struggle?
Christy Maxfield (30:56): What they've done is they haven't separated themselves from the brand. For instance, it's common for an owner to be the primary salesperson. If you haven't codified a sales process that can live independently of you and trained people on how to do that, it becomes very hard. It's almost impossible to transfer the business because you are directly tied to the revenue source. Not having an identity in a brand that's part of a comprehensive marketing and sales cycle and customer success—that's where it can really fall apart.
Meghan Lynch (31:38): That makes a lot of sense. It also comes back to trust, which feels difficult to transfer from an individual — whether founder or owner — to others in the organization. Trust is also one of the most important ingredients for many family businesses; it's everything to them. How have you seen families successfully transfer trust from one generation to another, or from one family to an outside buyer?
Christy Maxfield (32:26): It has a lot to do with ensuring relationships are with the organization, not just individual people. That way, I can trust that the company will take care of me, not just my special relationship with Meghan. Often, especially in my dad's generation, people wanted a relationship with Tony. "Tony knows what I like. Tony always takes care of me." But if Christy knows what you like, and Phil knows what you like, and Meghan knows what you like too, then we can all take care of you. So, it's about institutional knowledge, but primarily those relationships. Having that trusted person say, "I've been teaching Christy for the last three years how to do this. She works side-by-side with me, and sometimes she's better than I am. I can't wait for you to have that experience." Now, you might be in the background coaching me, as a good owner, supervisor, manager, and leader would do. But being able to put someone else in front of and have them interact with people other than the owner or family, especially if the family retains ownership but has non-family executive team members (which is common), is key. They need to have that relationship with the leaders in the organization, not just people who share the same surname.
Meghan Lynch (33:52): You're listening to Building Unbreakable Brands, the podcast all about brand stewardship and crafting an enduring legacy. I'm here with my guest, Christy Maxfield of Purpose First Advisors, an exit and succession strategist. Let's talk about picking the right successor. Are there any avoidable but common mistakes you see founders or owners make when selecting this person? You already mentioned not choosing just because they have the family name. Are there other blind spots or mistakes you observe?
Christy Maxfield (34:34): We tend to look for people who are like ourselves, but that may not be what the company needs at that particular point in time.
Christy Maxfield (34:41): Recognizing that leadership can look and show up differently is key. Maybe your strength was sales, but you're less comfortable with finance. Perhaps your successor needs more confidence in finance because you now have a professional sales team that wasn't there when you started the company. So, it's important to look broadly and ask: "If I were to lead this company today, what strengths would make me a better leader?" It might be things I'm not as good at right now. Also, look for aspirational talent: Who should be leading this company 20 years from now?
Christy Maxfield (35:23): Who in our organization demonstrates the initiative, critical thinking, and desire to push the envelope that I might not possess as much? With training, support, and mentoring, they will excel in areas we can totally train them on. However, they come with innate qualities of leadership that I can't train, like curiosity or the intrinsic desire to do well and succeed. I can train you on how to use a database, write a press release, or interface with our branding consultants. I can train you on many things. But, who do I see with that spark that I can identify in their behaviors? I don't want it to be just a gut feeling, "I think Christy has chops." I want you to define what "chops" looks like.
Christy Maxfield (36:18): Then, tell me where you see that. If you see the inkling of that potential, what will you do in a very intentional, planful way to grow that spark into a flame and into a fire? Because your successors are not going to spontaneously emerge; they are going to be grown and cultivated. You have to want to grow and cultivate people, and you have to be okay with them being better than you at some things. Leadership does look different. This is particularly hard if it's a family member. If your leadership style is big, bold, assertive, and extroverted, and your family member's style is introverted, thoughtful, and speaks sparingly but powerfully, it can be hard to recognize how important and valuable that could be for your company moving forward.
Meghan Lynch (37:19): I saw recent research suggesting there isn't one universally successful leadership style. There are many ways leadership can manifest. They said a major predictor of success is whether the company is matched with the type of leader that suits its current stage. Sometimes companies need a visionary style; other times, a more managerial style focused on systems, processes, and details. When companies struggle, it's often a mismatch of style for what the company needs. This goes back to personal readiness: doing the work to admit that the company might need something that isn't you, in a way that doesn't devalue you personally, but allows the company to get what it needs. A lot of it sounds like it goes back to continuous personal reflection and readiness—that deep work.
Christy Maxfield (38:45): One hundred percent. What made you successful isn't necessarily what will make the company successful moving forward. Limiting your evaluation of people's potential to bring great value by seeing how closely they match who you are truly limits opportunities to expand the leadership base and, as you said, bring the leader needed for where the company is and where it wants to go.
Meghan Lynch (39:16): Do you have an example of a successful transition—how it played out, or what someone spotted and cultivated in the next generation that created more opportunity for the company?
Christy Maxfield (39:33): I think there's value in encouraging your children or potential successors to gain other experiences. Whether they're your child or a hired employee, part of the value they bring is having been to other places, seen other things, and gained different frames of reference and perspectives. This is a very valuable exercise. If you pair that with regular family meetings where you discuss the business and the desired relationship everyone around the table wants with the business—where they feel most successful, purposeful, and impactful—then you can say, "Go out, have these experiences. If you choose to come back, I want you to bring all those experiences with you." So, I lean towards success being part of an open, continuous dialogue as a family. Then, you can test assumptions, like if a child says, "Dad, I want in on day one." You can say, "Great, here are the things I think you still need to bring to the table. How will you figure out how to bring those things if you don't go somewhere else for a little while?"
Meghan Lynch (40:47): Sometimes, even if the founding generation is happy to turn things over, the next generation feels, "If I do things differently, am I telling my parents that what they did wasn't good enough?" I've seen clients struggle with that specific feeling: "I don't want them to feel they didn't do enough or give me enough," because they feel a lot of gratitude. In their minds, change equals not being grateful. Many have had to do the work to realize, "No, I can do it in a way that honors them and shows a lot of intentional gratitude, by saying, 'This is what was strong, and this is what we're keeping and amplifying.'" Sometimes, reframing the conversation to focus on what we're keeping and amplifying, rather than what's changing, helps everyone see the through-line and feel more comfortable with the changes.
Christy Maxfield (42:20): You mentioned "doing the work." It's not unreasonable to expect that among your advisors would be a psychologist who could help you manage these feelings, emotions, and interpersonal relationships. Having the willingness to do that work with someone who can help you understand, communicate differently, reframe, and offer different perspectives is part of the successful equation. We probably all needed a manual when we first became families, something beyond "What to Expect When You're Expecting." Where's the manual for the rest of it? There is none. That's why we seek out professionals to help us. A big takeaway for me is that you don't have to do it all on your own.
Meghan Lynch (43:16): I'm hearing more and more people getting educated about that work and starting it earlier, when things are still positive, rather than waiting until there's a real problem and you have to triage. That feels like a positive evolution in how people approach these things. You mentioned your dad didn't talk to you when he transferred the business, but there's this new sense of, "I'm going to do it differently." That's great. Finally, I know you're deeply committed to helping women and entrepreneurs of color build generational wealth. How does that show up in your work?
Christy Maxfield (44:16): Early on, it showed up with literally doing a podcast to feature amazing entrepreneurs. While I don't work exclusively with women or entrepreneurs of color, I tend to have many clients who are one or both. Word of mouth and knowing I'm committed to that work and understand its unique challenges is part of it. Also, speaking openly about how most women and entrepreneurs of color won't hit the million-dollar revenue mark, won't hire outside themselves, and won't get investment capital. If we know these things are atypical for these entrepreneurs, then what is our responsibility, particularly as more traditional white professionals? It's to create space, mention their names in rooms where they aren't, engage them in our professional work, and do business with each other.
Christy Maxfield (45:25): And then, to talk openly about what it means to transfer generational wealth. In my family's experience, part of entrepreneurship involved an immigrant experience and taking care of the community, taking care of itself. Often, women entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs of color are seen by the community as needing to "give back." What I'd love for people to think about is that it's not about giving back while you're building. It's really giving back by building a successful, profitable company that can outlast you. It's less about a donation today, a freebie tomorrow, or a friends-and-family discount on Wednesday. It's about whether everyone can invest in that entrepreneur in a way that allows them to build something far bigger than themselves. That is valuable and important for our community. I have a lot to say about it, but that's what I'll share today.
Meghan Lynch (46:26): Love it. Before we wrap up, Christy, we're going to turn the mic over to the next generation. My son, Henry, has a couple questions for you.
Henry Lynch (01:29): Alright, starting off with the questions. Do you ever work with kids of business owners?
Christy Maxfield (02:19): I have not actually had a chance to work with kids of business owners, but I grew up in a family business, so I was a kid of a business owner. That gives me a little insight, though it's been a while since I was a kid! Many of my business owners have pets, and I often get to see them on Zoom calls, but that's not the same as their kids.
Henry Lynch (02:42): Right now I have a recycling business. Is there anything I should be thinking about to make sure it's a strong business?
Christy Maxfield (02:59): Great question. Is it just you running the business right now?
Henry Lynch (03:03): I have a couple of my friends with me.
Christy Maxfield (03:08): I think communicating with your team about what you're trying to accomplish and how they can be the best team members for you is important. If you're hoping the business hits specific financial goals, or if you're saving up for something, helping everyone understand their financial goals for the business and how much time they can commit to helping you build this could be really important as you grow. As a business owner, what takes the most time for you?
Henry Lynch (03:43): I feel like checking the cans takes a lot of time, but also scheduling, because many of my friends have different schedules, so I can only get half of them to come with me.
Christy Maxfield (04:04): Scheduling is always a big challenge, and it impacts your capacity, how much you can recycle, and how much money you can make. You've hit on a really important part of the equation. Let me know if you need any help with that.
Henry Lynch (04:25): What is the best thing about your job?
Christy Maxfield (04:31): Honestly, the best thing about my job is that I get to talk to really cool people all the time. When I was a kid, I thought Oprah Winfrey had the best job in the world. She got to talk for a living, and people paid her, which seemed like a really cool thing. While I am not Oprah Winfrey, I get to talk to great people all the time, ask them questions, and learn more about what they're doing. That means I can help them more, and that's what excites me about my work.
Henry Lynch (04:59): Nice. Thanks, Christy.
Christy Maxfield (05:02): Thank you, Henry.
Henry Lynch (05:04): I've also recently started a business making boats in my attic.
Christy Maxfield (05:11): Boats in your attic? How do you get a boat out of the attic? How big is this boat?
Henry Lynch (05:16): Pretty big.
Christy Maxfield (05:18): My goodness. Is it human size or toy size?
Henry Lynch (05:26): Human.
Christy Maxfield (05:27): It's human size. So, where will you be using this boat, and who are you selling it to?
Henry Lynch (05:33): Selling it? It's for a little yard sale, so we'll put up signs. Sails are going through the roof.
Christy Maxfield (05:45): That's awesome.
Meghan Lynch (05:47): "Sails are going through the roof?" Okay.
Christy Maxfield (05:51): Sorry, it took me a minute.
Henry Lynch (05:52): A little joke.
Christy Maxfield (05:54): It took me a minute, Henry, but that's not because you didn't deliver it well. "Sails are going," and you're working in the attic. I see how it all came together there. You did a great job.
Meghan Lynch (06:06): Thanks, Henry. Good one. You had us going there!
Christy Maxfield (06:13): You should sell dad jokes! Help dads get new jokes. Oh, that doesn't excite him at all. There's no money in that.
Meghan Lynch (06:26): Alright, thank you Henry, I appreciate your questions. And thank you so much, Christy, for being on Building Unbreakable Brands. If people want to connect with you or learn more about Purpose First Advisors, what's the best way to do that?
Christy Maxfield (06:40): You can find me on my website at purposefirstadvisors.com, on LinkedIn as Christy Maxfield, or you can email me at .