Exit Planning Coaching in Edmonton for Business Owners

Ready for your next chapter, but unsure how to step away?

You’ve poured years of effort and personal sacrifice into your business. Now you want to maximize its value, step back with confidence, and find a buyer who will appreciate what you’ve built.

Our exit planning coaching guides Edmonton owners through every step—so you can move forward with clarity and peace of mind.

Why trust Focal Point Edmonton with your exit planning?

Exiting isn’t just a financial transaction—it’s a personal transition.

We know because we’ve been through the exit process ourselves and we know that figuring out where the business ends and you start can be an unexpected challenge for many former owners.

That’s why in addition to helping you create comprehensive exit plans we also support you in clarifying your own personal priorities and planning for what comes next.

Exit planning challenges

Uncertainty about how to maximize your company’s sale value
Understanding how to sell a business without destroying your brand
Reducing owner dependancy
Various timelines for a successful exit (often 2+ years or longer)
General Tax Implications (and referrals to pre vetted tax specialists)
HR concerns and employee communications during a transition (ie how do I tell my staff and when)
Assistance in ensuring financials reflect the true value of your business
Preparing your management team for the transition and implementation of change management procedures

I’ll help you build value, step back, and find the right buyer—so you can move on with confidence and pride.

Jeff McLarty

Stages of our exit planning process

Stage 1: Clarify your goals and assess value

We start by understanding your vision for life after the sale and what matters most to you—financially and personally.

Together, we evaluate your business’s strengths, risks, and what drives its value in the eyes of buyers.

Stage 2: Prepare your business and yourself

We work with you as you develop plans to transfer key responsibilities, document essential processes, and develop your leadership team to support the transition.

This reduces buyer risk and increases your company’s market value.

Stage 3: Attract and qualify the right buyer

With your business transition-ready, we assist you in navigating your various options for identifying, attracting, and qualifying buyers who align with your values and goals including helping you to evaluate business brokers and other sales avenues.

We help you prepare for due diligence, negotiations, and a smooth transition for your team and clients.

Stage 4: The Day After

Once the sale is completed we can offer support to clients while the transition into the next chapter either directly or through providing vetted referrals for various types of transition services.

Client Testimonials

Leaders report lower stress, improved focus, and increased productivity after coaching with Focal Point Edmonton. Here is what they say.

“We were lost working in the business and had no idea how to break out of the loop to grow our business. That's when we met Jeff McLarty at an event, and we resonated with him right from our very first conversation. Fast-forward a few months and after completing our first training, we now have a much clearer idea of how to navigate forward, track our results, and plan for scaling the business. He helped us to define a clear structure to our business and gave visibility on what was missing. Beyond being a great business coach, Jeff is also a wonderful human being. Thank you, Jeff!”

“I had the pleasure of working closely with Jeff during his contract with Qdot Technology. I can say with confidence that he is a great addition to any organization. He is diligent, professional, insightful, and highly adept at strategic thinking. As a technology development company, having someone with his business acumen involved was very helpful in refining our vision for the future. If our paths cross again in the future, I would not hesitate to work with him.”

“Jeff did a great time management workshop for our non-profit organisation! He was able to tailor the content for our needs and was great to work with. Highly recommend.”

“Jeff is absolutely wonderful to work with. He is a wealth of information and was able to tailor each session to my needs. He helped me with practical strategies to lead and grow my organization, theoretical backgrounds for team-building and task development, and provided supportive mentorship as I applied the things I learned. He is calm, engaging, well prepared, and a very enjoyable person to be around. I highly recommend Jeff as a business coach. Both I and my organization have benefited from working with Jeff. Thank you so much, Jeff!”

A Successful Transition Scenario

The Problems

An Edmonton IT services firm owner was working 60+ hours per week. Here’s what we observed:

The owner was personally handling all major client technical decisions and maintaining relationships with key accounts.
The business was heavily dependent on the owner’s technical expertise and client connections, making potential buyers view it as a risky investment with limited scalability.
The owner had no personal life, was constantly on-call for client emergencies, and felt unable to take time off without risking client satisfaction.
Despite consistent revenue growth, the firm’s valuation remained low due to extreme owner dependency in both technical delivery and client management.

The Solutions

Through the support of exit planning coaching:

The owner created a plan to develop senior technical staff into client-facing roles, document all critical processes and technical procedures, and create clear escalation protocols that didn’t require owner involvement.
They established a structured plan to gradually transition key client relationships to capable team members while maintaining service quality.
The owner learned to delegate technical decisions, implemented robust project management systems, and began building a personal identity separate from the business.
The owner and their team created comprehensive documentation, cross-trained staff on critical systems, and developed broader leadership capabilities within the technical team.

The Results

Within 20 months:

The owner reduced their involvement to 20 hours per week while the IT firm without a drop in client retention and improved overall service delivery metrics.
Key client relationships successfully transferred to senior staff, eliminating single-person technical dependency.
The owner rekindled personal interests, established boundaries around after-hours support, and gained confidence about life beyond the business.
When the firm went to market, buyers saw a scalable operation with documented processes, capable technical leadership, and diversified client relationships—resulting in multiple competitive offers and a final sale price that reflected the company’s growth potential rather than its previous owner-dependency limitations.

Start exit planning coaching today

Do not let owner dependency and messy details discount your price. Build the plan, de owner operations, and go to market prepared.