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Suggest who benefitsBest of: A Punk Rocker’s Guide to Building a Business
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Suggest questionIn a few weeks, I’ll be in Portland, Oregon, for Shawn Busse’s always terrific Catalyst (https://www.kinesisinc.com/catalyst/summit/) event. That trip has had me thinking about the city’s keep-it-weird ethos, the spirit that’s made Portland a hotbed for creative business building. My upcoming trip has also inspired me to revisit a podcast conversation Shawn and I recorded in early 2024 with Jenelle Etzel, who is founder of Living Room Realty (https://www.livingroomre.com/) . The boutique real estate agency has more than a hundred brokers and a reputation for doing things differently, but Jenelle didn’t set out to be a business owner. In fact, she majored in weaving (Shawn, for the record, majored in ceramics). She fronted a punk rock band. She lived out of a van. And yet, those experiences—especially learning how to manage people who didn’t technically have to listen to her and how to serve customers who’d been ignored by the mainstream—turned out to be perfect preparation for building a thriving business in a quirky city. It’s a story that says something about Portland, but even more about the unconventional paths that can lead to successful entrepreneurship.
About 21 Hats
The proponents of employee stock ownership plans can make them sound like the greatest thing ever. A business owner can take a big chunk of money off the table—or even all of it—while still getting to run the business. And there are some pretty great tax breaks. Oh, and it will also solve income inequality in America. On the other hand, if ESOPs are so smart, why are there so few of them?
Jim Kalb of Triad Components Group in San Diego and Jeff Taylor of Crafts Technology in Chicago have both implemented ESOPs. Jay Goltz of the Goltz Group in Chicago has reached his 60s without a succession plan, and he’s considering his options. In this 21 Hats Conversation, you get to listen in on a street-smart discussion of the pluses and minuses of ESOPs from the business owner’s point of view.