Building Enterprise Value Through Intentional Business Design with Scott Beebe

In this episode of the DealQuest Podcast, I'm excited to welcome Scott Beebe, founder of Business on Purpose and certified exit planning advisor (CEPA). Scott is also the author of "Let Your Business Burn" and "The Chaos Free Contractor," and hosts the Business on Purpose Podcast. Working with a ten-person team, Scott helps business owners install the Business on Purpose roadmap to liberate their businesses from chaos and create the ideal life they want.

Scott's approach centers on a fundamental truth that too many entrepreneurs miss: if your business isn't helping you create the ideal life you want, why are you doing it? His team specializes in working with business owners who have between four and one hundred employees, primarily in the contracting and contract support space, though their proven principles apply across industries. Through his work, Scott has discovered that eighty percent of most business owners' net worth is locked in their business, yet eighty percent of businesses never see their tenth birthday.

THE POWER OF FINDING UNSEXY GAPS

Scott's first "deal" happened during his freshman year at the University of South Carolina. As someone who "tried to be a casual to not very good athlete," he found himself drawn to football despite limited natural ability. His roommate mentioned that the football team only had one deep snapper and nobody else was willing to do it. Scott saw an opportunity in what most people considered an unsexy, overlooked position.

He spent months practicing in their dorm hallway, snapping footballs 15 yards down a 16-yard corridor, hitting walls and lights. When tryouts came, he was the only person who could "throw a football upside down and backwards for 15 yards in less than 0.75 seconds." While he was clearly the least athletic person there, he filled a gap that others could have filled but nobody wanted to.

This taught Scott a crucial lesson about building value: look for the gaps in the market that others overlook, especially the unsexy ones where you can establish yourself as indispensable.

THE 80% RULE THAT DESTROYS BUSINESSES

Scott introduces what he calls the "Rule of Eighty" in the exit planning community. First, eighty percent of most business owners' net worth is locked away in their business. Second, eighty percent of businesses never see their tenth birthday. This creates a devastating reality where entrepreneurs are building their entire financial future on something with only a twenty percent survival rate.

The core problem isn't market conditions or competition. Most businesses fail because owners treat their business as a paycheck rather than an asset. The moment you see your business as a paycheck instead of an asset, you begin degrading all the elements necessary to create enterprise value.

The solution lies in Scott's four foundational cornerstones: purpose, people, process, and profit. These aren't abstract concepts but practical systems that must be embedded into daily operations.

YOUR PRODUCT IS NOT YOUR PRODUCT

One of Scott's most powerful insights challenges how business owners think about their offerings. Whether you provide legal services, coaching, construction, or any other service, your product isn't really your product. The real product is the business system itself.

Scott explains it this way: "If you have a good business with foundational substance built on purpose, people, process, and profit, I could take family law out and replace it with personal injury. I could take personal injury out and replace it with business law. The business remains stable because the foundation is solid."

This perspective shift is crucial for building enterprise value. Your specific service offering should be interchangeable within a well-designed business system. The value lies in the system, not just the service.

THE ENTERPRISE VALUE LITMUS TEST

Scott offers a simple but powerful test for measuring enterprise value: "If Corey leaves and the business cannot run, there is no value to the business." This cuts through all the complex valuation discussions and gets to the fundamental question.

Eighty percent of enterprise value doesn't come from having a great product, great market, or great marketing. It comes from building systems that operate independently of the owner. When potential buyers ask "Who handles this critical function in your business?" the wrong answer is "I do." The right answer demonstrates systematized processes handled by trained team members.

Business owners must gradually remove themselves from operational functions, not because they can't do them well, but because their highest value lies in working on the business rather than in it.

BREAKING THE HERO COMPLEX

Many business owners suffer from what Scott calls "Latest Loudest Voice Disease" (LLVD). They constantly respond to whoever is speaking loudest or most urgently, putting out fires that would often burn themselves out if left alone. This creates a cycle where the owner feels indispensable while actually preventing the business from developing robust systems.

Scott shares his own example of taking ten years to delegate email management, something that could have been systematized much earlier. The delay wasn't due to technology limitations but implementation resistance. When owners constantly jump in to solve problems, they prevent their teams from developing problem-solving capabilities.

The solution requires recognizing that playing hero doesn't just hurt the business owner; it actively harms team members by preventing their growth and the business by creating single points of failure.

THE POWER OF INTENTIONAL RHYTHM

Scott's approach to business meetings challenges the current anti-meeting sentiment. Rather than avoiding meetings, he advocates for five foundational communication touchpoints that every business needs: all-team meetings, departmental meetings, executive meetings, one-on-one check-ins, and annual performance reviews.

The key isn't having fewer meetings but having better meetings with clear structure and purpose. Every meeting should have an agenda, last no more than one hour, and follow what Scott calls the "RPMs of great leadership": repetition, predictability, and meaning.

Scott draws parallels to his marriage, where he and his wife practice "dialogue daily, date weekly, depart quarterly, dream annually." This intentional rhythm creates stability and prevents chaos from taking hold in any relationship, whether personal or professional.

BUILDING CULTURE THROUGH SYSTEMS

Culture isn't ping pong tables and free lunches. Scott explains that culture is a biology term meaning "trimming, shaping landscapes." In business, culture emerges from the ingredients you plant through consistent systems and behaviors.

If you're not actively shaping your business landscape through weekly agenda-driven meetings, departmental coordination, and predictable communication patterns, you're allowing chaos to shape your culture instead. The result is a business where everyone starts from zero each day rather than building on established foundations.

Business owners who commit to showing up every day with repetition, predictability, and meaning will start building enterprise value over time. Those who operate reactively will continue struggling with chaos regardless of their technical expertise.

THE CASH DOMINATION STRATEGY

Scott's team implements a unique approach to cash management that gives business owners control over their money rather than letting money control them. Instead of maintaining one or two accounts, they help clients establish six to ten different accounts, each with specific purposes: taxes, operating expenses, cost of goods, and various profit allocations.

When money comes in, it gets "cut up" immediately with clear instructions: "I know this sounds silly, but we tell the dollar, you do not have rule over us. I have rule over you." This systematic approach prevents the common problem where businesses show profit on paper but have no actual cash available.

The system also includes automating both receivables and payables to eliminate the time drain of manual processes. Scott shares an example of a glass company owner who was writing seventy-five checks per week personally, costing roughly six hundred dollars per week in owner time alone, not including materials and processing costs.

• • Listen to the full episode of DealQuest Podcast with Scott Beebe: • •

FOR MORE ON SCOTT BEEBE
Company: https://www.businessonpurpose.com
Assessment Tool: https://www.businessonpurpose.com/healthy
Books: "Let Your Business Burn" and "The Chaos Free Contractor"

FOR MORE ON COREY KUPFER
https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreykupfer/
https://www.coreykupfer.com/

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator, and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author, and professional speaker. He is deeply passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

Get deal-ready with the DealQuest Podcast with Corey Kupfer, where like-minded entrepreneurs and business leaders converge, share insights and challenges, and success stories. Equip yourself with the tools, resources, and support necessary to navigate the complex yet rewarding world of dealmaking. Dive into the world of deal-driven growth today!