Ep 169 – How Taylor McMaster Built a Sellable Agency From Day One: Why Your Network Is Your Net Worth
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Featuring: Taylor McMaster, Founder, Dot&Co
In episode 169, I welcome back Taylor McMaster, founder of Dot and Co and host of the Happy Clients podcast, to talk about the sale of her agency to E2M.
Taylor started Dot and Co in 2018 with an exit already in mind. We dig into how she built a category of one in fractional account management by saying no more often than yes, why she spent years removing herself from the day-to-day, and how a casual conversation at an industry event turned into a year-long relationship and, eventually, a deal that closed in under two months. She also gets honest about the mistakes that stretched her timeline and the mental shift of handing over the reins.
For agency owners, this one is a reminder that sellability is built, not bolted on. Focus, documented systems, and a business that runs without you create real options. And the trust you build with peers today may become the foundation of your best deal tomorrow.
Key Bytes
• Saying no more often than yes is what turns a niche into a category of one.
• If you want to sell someday, every hire should remove risk from you as the founder.
• Teetering between a lifestyle business and a scaling business can cost you years.
• Waiting for one more tweak to boost the multiple rarely changes the outcome.
• Your first buyer is likely already somewhere in your network.
• Due diligence starts long before the LOI, in every conversation built on trust.
• When the business doesn't need you, staying on becomes a choice instead of a condition.
• Stepping away from the craft you love is the hardest part of building to sell.
Chapters
00:00 Welcoming Taylor McMaster back to the show
02:16 Building a category of one in fractional account management
05:00 Starting with the exit in mind from day one
08:15 The hiring and investment mistakes that slowed the timeline
12:50 The mental shift of handing over the reins
16:39 Early buyer conversations that didn't feel right
17:38 How a chat at an industry event led to E2M
21:04 Life nine months after the acquisition
25:28 Why there's no grief when you've already stepped away
28:06 Closing the deal in under two months
Taylor McMaster is the founder of DOT & Company where she and her team help digital marketing agencies keep their clients happy—and keep agency owners focused on what they do best—with full-service client account management (CAM) services.
As the leader of DOT & Company, Taylor trained and led a team of Client Account Managers who partnered with agencies to deliver smooth, strategic, high-touch client service. The company’s success and impact ultimately led to its acquisition, marking an exciting next chapter in Taylor’s entrepreneurial journey.
Taylor is also the host of The Happy Clients Podcast, where she interviews top names in the industry and explores what it really takes to create happy, retained clients in the agency world.
Contact Taylor on the Dot&Co website, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and be sure to listen to their podcast!
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Steve Guberman (00:01.575)
Welcome to Agency Bytes. I'm your host, Steve Guberman from Agency Outsite, where I help agency leaders build agency optionality. That's the freedom to grow, sell, or keep your business because it's your call. Today I'm excited to welcome back to the show as one of only a few returned guests, Taylor McMaster, founder and dot and dot and co. Shit. I'm gonna start again.
That's about the only time I do edits is when I script the intro.
Taylor (00:26.466)
Ha ha.
Steve Guberman (00:28.357)
Welcome to Agency Bytes. I'm your host, Steve Guberman from Agency Outsite, where I help agency leaders build agency optionality. That's the freedom to grow, sell, or keep your business because it's your call. Today I'm excited to welcome back to the show as only one of a one of a few returned guests, Taylor McMaster, founder of DOT and Company, and the host of the Happy Clients podcast. Taylor is an expert in helping digital marketing agencies create better client experiences, improve retention, and ultimately build stronger, happier client relationships.
She's also an entrepreneur whose company was success successfully acquired. So I'm excited to dive into her experience and insights. Taylor, welcome back to the show.
Taylor (01:06.04)
Thank you, Steve. Excited to dig in.
Steve Guberman (01:08.655)
I am too. It's been amazing watching your journey in the I guess three, four ish years that I've known you and seen what you've been doing with Dot and Co. Fully full admiration of your entrepreneurial spirit. I you know, I guess I just give mad props to female founders, female leaders and like the rock star that you are and the team that you built. any interaction I've had with anybody on your team has always just been like five star review. you just
put brilliant people at the helm and so it's awesome to have you back and we've got a different story to tell this time. So last time we spoke we kind of talked about what you're doing with Dot and Co, kind of your journey as a a a mom entrepreneur and a female entrepreneur and the the business you're building. And it was a journey of we're building something that's like we want to be one of the only in our marketplace doing what we're doing.
Top of the echelon, best known. And you you got to that point. Yeah. Like talk about like that little bit of the journey before we get into the MA part.
Taylor (02:12.846)
Mm.
Taylor (02:16.354)
Yeah, we've we really built a category of one. And there's no competitor to what we did and which was great, but also very challenging at the same time because I had to create everything from scratch and figure it all out and make it up as we were going. But that also allowed us to have the option to exit, which we're gonna dive into today. But yeah, we definitely
You know, that book Blue Ocean or whatever it's called. very much so that, you know, we created our own ocean, so
Steve Guberman (02:52.403)
So you blazed the trail. There were there were people doing what you're doing. what do you think was like the key identifier that that helped set you apart from anybody else that was trying to either chase you down or previously would have been considered a peer?
Taylor (03:07.244)
I think the biggest thing, Steve, was that we went all in on one thing. And we were exclusively doing account management fractionally for marketing agencies. So when people would come to us and they might be just outs just right outside of that ideal client, they might be, you know, not really a marketing agency, but we could totally help them. I would always say no. And
Steve Guberman (03:31.613)
Is it?
Taylor (03:34.743)
I said no more than I said yes because I wanted to stay in this lane of this is exactly who we serve, this is how we do it. Because I knew that in order to sell my business down the road, I had to create a repeatable system and a recr repeatable offer and be super laser focused. And as an entrepreneur, that's very hard because we all have the shiny object syndrome. We have, you know, the list on our phone of business ideas. We want to try things, we want to mess things up and we want to.
Steve Guberman (03:59.613)
Mm-hmm.
Taylor (04:04.29)
figure things out. So one of the hardest things was just staying in the lane and saying no. So I think that's really what made us different. You know, there were, you know, I don't even want to say competitors, but people who could do similar things, solve similar problems. But they were just doing a handful of things. You know, they might be doing project management and they're doing, you know, account management and they're doing operations management and they're doing like all these different things. And so
We got to a point where when people thought about account management, they thought about dot. And that's where we needed to get to to be able to sell.
Steve Guberman (04:43.987)
Yeah, that brand recognition that when I need this thing, you are the answer to that challenge I've got. How far so you launched in twenty eighteen, how far after that were you like exit driven or like what that was your vision pinnacle?
Taylor (04:59.628)
Right from the beginning.
Steve Guberman (05:00.787)
From the door, you were like, I'm launching this thing to build it to sell. Okay. So that's that's an easy thing to start with the focus. It's hard, as you pointed out, to stay on that focus because shiny object syndrome, veering from the niche, adding new services, things like that. But you stayed laser focused the whole time. Was there guidance along the way or early on, whether it was a book or a coach or
Taylor (05:04.056)
Yeah. Yeah.
Taylor (05:14.669)
Yeah.
Steve Guberman (05:28.189)
podcast or like a movie or anything that inspired you to say these are the things I need to do in the next five, six, I guess it was eight years. No. Yeah, eight years to be able to exit.
Taylor (05:37.217)
Yeah.
Taylor (05:42.741)
I think it was a combination of things. I I always say that the mistake I made, I guess it was a good thing, but it I feel like it was a mistake was reading the four-hour workweek. Because I thought, I'm just gonna go in, I'm gonna build this company, and then I'm not gonna be needed in the day-to-day, and then I'm gonna exit, whether that's exiting from the org chart or exiting entirely. And
Steve Guberman (05:54.163)
Mm-hmm.
Taylor (06:10.624)
my gosh, it was way harder than they made it seem in that book. I can tell you that much. but the biggest thing I knew was that I wanted to exit. So I was just laser focused on making everything a job or a role that someone else could do other than me. Because I would listen to things like Built to Sell Radio podcast, your podcast, I listen to a lot.
Steve Guberman (06:13.907)
Yeah.
Taylor (06:40.33)
you and I would chat about MA and you know, I would just always ask people in our industry, like, what are buyers looking for? What do I need to make sure I have in place to exit? You know, I'd read books on that. I would, I was just really consumed with removing myself from the day-to-day because I think I just knew that I'm an entrepreneur and I get bored. I get bored really easy. And
Steve Guberman (06:40.691)
Thank you.
Taylor (07:06.648)
There were so many moments in Growing Dot that I was so bored. I was like, I don't want to talk about account management again. Like, I want to do something new. I want to do something exciting. But then it's like, okay, but in order to do that, I feel like I just need to like sell the business and I'm not there yet. So I need to stay focused. And it was like this constant juggle of staying focused so that I could sell, so that I could do something else. And
I was just obsessed with it. You know, everything in my business, like from the get-go, was SOP'd. Everything was, I had my org chart. Everyone had roles and responsibilities, accountabilities. Every hire was like, How is this removing key risk from me as the founder so that when I sell, I don't have to stay on and have a job? All these things were leading up to an acquisition. So I would say to answer your long-winded answer, but from front.
Steve Guberman (08:03.175)
Yeah, no.
Taylor (08:04.278)
Right from the beginning I knew that this wasn't my forever thing and that nothing is gonna be my forever thing. I just know that. So I had that end in sight.
Steve Guberman (08:15.421)
Love that. You mentioned you said kind of the the word mistakes. What were some of the mistakes that you think before you started entering into all right, I'm ready to exit, I need to shop it around or whatever that process was like, or some of the earlier mistakes of that exit readiness that you found?
Taylor (08:31.662)
Mm.
Definitely not hiring the right people for the right roles.
Steve Guberman (08:39.911)
Mm.
Taylor (08:41.28)
I'm a big believer in promoting from within, but that's not always the best option. So definitely made some hiring mistakes. I mean, we all do. I another thing I would say is I didn't invest enough in in the early days. You know, I was kind of, I would teeter totter between this is a lifestyle business versus I need to actually scale this thing.
And looking back, of course, it's easier looking back, but I look and say, if I would have just invested earlier in things like marketing, hiring the right coach and the right mentor, investing in the right systems and the right team, like earlier, I would have skipped years. Like year, like, yes, it took eight years. It could have taken it should have taken like three to four.
So I would say like that investment and really like saying this is the goal and just like hammering down and just going for it instead of being like, this is a nice life belt lifestyle business. wait, we should really invest. but I wanna make sure I've got myself covered. we're gonna you know, like teeter tottering there. So I definitely that would be one mistake.
Steve Guberman (10:06.471)
Yeah. But so so the hindsight is always twenty twenty, right? And so six years out, now you're able to say, All right, I I could have or should have done that in three to four years, knowing what I know now. What was the original target exit timeline? Was it six, eight, ten years?
Taylor (10:25.442)
I probably would have said five max. Yeah. and we started talking in twenty twenty early twenty twenty-three. And ended up selling the end of twenty twenty-five. And truly, probably would have had a similar outcome if we sold in twenty twenty-three. It was always just this, but if we just do this, we might get a higher multiple. If we just do that.
Steve Guberman (10:27.803)
Okay. Mm-hmm.
Taylor (10:54.434)
Let's just try that and this and like honestly, like I was ready. I should have just, you know, figured it out. But those are all things that I'm grateful to have learned and I'm happy more than more than happy to be where I'm at. but yeah, just looking back, it took longer than I thought, which most people do most do.
Steve Guberman (11:18.887)
Well, yeah, and it usually take I mean, so you're run running a business while trying to maintain exit readiness. In your case, most founders are trying to get exit readiness because they're not there. You know, they come to me or another coach and they're like, I want to sell this thing or a broker or whatever. And and so we dig under the hood and like, all right, you really can't, like everything is tied to the owner, or you have no systems, or you have client concentration problems, or where's the profit? Like all these challenges with the business. They've got to fix it.
And they're like, all can I get it ready to sell in a year or 18 months or two years? And we're like, three years is really what you need, because you need three years of clean books. And so it's going to take some time. But at the same time, you're also trying to run the agency in the same crappy way that you've run it for the past 10, 20 years. So it it's a massive uphill battle. Whereas you started with the end in sight, few do that, because f most are are just accidental business owners.
Taylor (11:55.8)
Yeah.
Taylor (12:06.2)
Mm-hmm.
Steve Guberman (12:17.623)
And you started with the end insight, which may means that you started with the right processes, the right people, the right mindset of what do I need to do to be able to hand this off, walk away. But you you I think you also had the experiences along the way. Like you took full blackout maternity leave. Most founders can't do that and allow the business to keep growing. You know what I mean? So like you had the right things in place so that come twenty twenty three when you're starting to think about, all right, it's time to get out of this thing. This is what I've built for.
Taylor (12:35.426)
Mm-hmm.
Steve Guberman (12:47.131)
You're you're already like ready, set, go.
Taylor (12:50.476)
Yeah. Yeah. And you know, going through that process, I think it sounds so nice to say, at this point, I'm not gonna be involved in the day-to-day. I'm not gonna have to worry about a thing. I'm not gonna have to, you know. But as an entrepreneur, that's actually really hard to say, you guys have got it, like give the reins to someone else, even though you know why you're doing that is so that you can sell the business.
But that's also very hard mentally. I struggled very hard with that. And I think now I realize the reason was because I was no longer involved in the craft. And for me, I love building a business, like getting in there, getting scrappy, figuring it out, building processes, doing sales, doing all the things. And then suddenly I don't have a job anymore. And sure, that sounds glamorous. It sounds great.
Steve Guberman (13:34.579)
Mm-hmm.
Taylor (13:48.021)
Mentally that's very hard for an entrepreneur. And so now I look forward of what I'm gonna do next and I realize I need to be involved in I need to have my hand in multiple things and to have the ability to get my hands dirty and figure stuff out and just like make a mess of things and and build because that is the craft that I love. And so for any agency owner listening.
Steve Guberman (14:14.461)
Mm-hmm.
Taylor (14:17.686)
You have built probably a successful business to this point and you may be looking forward to selling, but you have to be mentally prepared for like stepping back and giving the reins to someone else and like going through that mental shift is it's hard.
Steve Guberman (14:36.967)
Yeah, I mean, even if along the way you've learned how to properly delegate, you've put the right people in place that you trust and they can execute autonomously, you're still you still wanna be in it. And so taking that from a day to day and I guess allowing that to be part of what the next phase of post acquisition life looks like, not easy to do. I don't I don't want to get into post acquisition life yet. I wanna talk about what your process was. So
Taylor (14:56.589)
Mm mm.
Steve Guberman (15:01.683)
Prior to twenty twenty three, had you considered doing any acquisitions yourself for growth? Was and A part of your mindset just from a growth strategy?
Taylor (15:11.446)
Mm-hmm. Yes. I would say we talked a lot about MA from the sense of us acquiring other strategic partners and to grow our own book of business that way. but I wasn't as interested in that as my husband, who was my business partner at the time. I just wanted to to sell our business eventually, but we definitely had a lot of conversations about what that could look like for us.
It just wasn't something I was interested in.
Steve Guberman (15:42.695)
Yeah. So you got to a point and it's it's the thing I'm screaming from the rooftops now. I'm doing a a keynote next week in Colorado by the time this comes out, that will already have happened. But all about optionality. And it's what my intro on this episode and for past bunch of episodes has been is build this thing so that you have the optionality, which is I wanna I wanna keep it running, I wanna sell it, I wanna just let it do its like I have the ability to make that choice as opposed to
I'm just stuck and I either need to shut the doors or have a fire sale or maybe I can't even do a fire sale. And you got to a point where you're like, Yeah, I could this thing is running. I can buy something, I don't really want to, or I can just sell it. And so that's like to me, that is the gem of any kind of business. And so you you got to that point. When how did you know twenty twenty three was like, All right, I'm gonna start having conversations? Was it laser focused on
Taylor (16:26.606)
Mm-hmm.
Steve Guberman (16:37.078)
E two were you shopping it around? Like what was that process for you?
Taylor (16:39.86)
Mm. Yeah, I started chatting with business brokers in our space, a couple of of people, just referrals, you know. Hey, do you want to sell? Yeah, eventually let's have the conversation. And I don't know what it was, why it didn't feel like the right time. Maybe it was I couldn't see how my business would live on. I couldn't see
How I could remove myself from that. It just wasn't the right fit. and it wasn't the right number, let's be honest. And we said, okay, we're not there yet. And then I started to have a couple more conversations with strategic people in our industry who were, you know, selling to agencies as well. And just again.
Steve Guberman (17:17.459)
Mm. Yeah.
Taylor (17:38.127)
Couldn't see how it would fit, not the right time. And then E2M, Manish and I had our first conversation in the fall of 2024. And so we were both actually at Brent's event, a U Guru's event. And so we were just hanging out. Manish and I were good friends. And we were chatting with Marcel Pettipal. I don't know if you Marcel, you know Marcel. There you go. And so we were just chatting, and Manish was like,
Steve Guberman (18:03.251)
Sure. I have a call with him this week actually. Yeah. Yep.
Taylor (18:08.13)
Yeah, I'm looking to grow through acquisition. That's how we want to grow E2M. And you know, we'd love to buy, you know, a North American company and like the customer service space or something. And Marcel was like, Manish, Taylor, hello, you guys should talk. And I was like, Yeah, let's talk. And so that was honestly like we had never even thought about E2M. And so we had a great conversation there. And then we just kind of kept the door open for over a year.
And that relationship started as friendship. And, you know, we would refer people back and forth. And then we had many, many, many conversations to get us to the point where at the at the point of acquisition, Brent had came come into E to as a CEO, which is kind of ironic. And it was just the right time. so it was it was a mix of the right partner, right timing, all of the things kind of came together. But it it took again, it took over a year of.
Just the E to conversation. I wasn't having any other conversations at that time. I was like, well, I don't want anyone else to buy the business. so yeah, it just it worked it worked out really well.
Steve Guberman (19:16.989)
Yeah, it's a proof statement that a most of the first few acquisitions that anybody will do will will likely be somebody in their first or second degree connections, somebody that they already know. And the other proof statement that your network is your net worth, right? You guys knew each other and there was value in that relationship. And while it took a year to develop a deal and close the deal a year pro year plus, if it was a complete stranger, it would have taken probably a little longer and it probably would not have been as smooth of a process.
But you knew each other, you had referred business to each other, you trusted each other, you operate in the same ecosystem. Like all of those are really good. Like each of those conversations, there was due diligence going on. Do I trust you? Do I like your culture? Will I fit in? Will my team fit in? Will what you do work for our clients? Will what we do work for your client? Like all of these things through these conversations, whether you knew it or not, you all were doing due diligence for each other, you like for yourselves in each of these conversations.
But if it was a stranger, it would have been maybe cagier or more about exact numbers and less about ideal fit and culture and things like that. And so I I love that that's how that evolved, that relationship. Yeah, that's beautiful.
Taylor (20:24.526)
Absolutely.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. And it was really, it felt like we were both coming to the table saying, we want to make this work. Like we've this is the right fit. And, you know, figuring out how we could make it work versus them trying to rip everything apart and see where the holes were at. They knew that I was being a hundred and ten percent honest and that I was showing them everything they wanted to know. And
I was able to do that because I trusted them before the acquisition started.
Steve Guberman (21:04.499)
Course, yeah. So you're a year post acquisition, almost a year. What what's your kind of day to day? You're still you're still very involved in the business. You're still very you're now very involved in what ETOM is up to as well. Like what's your day to day and how has it shifted from what you're doing as just the founder of Dot and Co.
Taylor (21:05.656)
Yeah.
Taylor (21:10.208)
Almost. Nine months.
Taylor (21:26.892)
Yeah. Funny enough, it hasn't changed a whole lot. Because before before the acquisition, like I said, I was very removed from the day-to-day functioning of the business. You know, I haven't been to a team meeting in years. I don't besides like leadership annual meetings, that kind of stuff, I'm not on the monthly business reviews, any of that. I'm not involved in the client work.
Steve Guberman (21:30.578)
Yeah.
Taylor (21:55.607)
So I am consulting with Dot Still. I am doing podcasts like this, strategic relationships, high level advising. and really just continuing to do what I was doing, which is not a whole lot, to be honest. so it's been it's great. it's just low pressure now. You know, I don't I show up, I do great work, and I leave and I don't stress about it.
Steve Guberman (22:13.671)
Mm-hmm.
Taylor (22:25.275)
so it's it's been such a it's such a blessing. Yeah.
Steve Guberman (22:29.437)
Yeah. And you've been kind of rolled up under the umbrella of a much larger entity. They are MA focused on f additional growth. I would imagine there are additional roll ups in in their strategy. I know that they are, you know, Brent and Manish are fully laser focused on AI and and what that's doing in our industry. And so it'd be interesting to see what their growth plan looks like over the, you know, next year or so.
Taylor (22:35.33)
Yes.
Steve Guberman (22:58.751)
are you involved in E two M's kind of growth strategy or operations or kind of just hands off with that and playing still with what Dot and Co is doing?
Taylor (23:11.362)
Yeah, I'm not involved with E2M at all. I'd love to, I love to be in the future. But yeah, right now just staying focused with DOT and making sure the transition went smooth and so far so good. So I think as I look into next year, we'll we'll see where that goes. But yeah, I would love to be a part of a bigger growth strategy. The MA side of things really excites me, especially where it's been so fresh and I just went through that.
Steve Guberman (23:38.397)
Mm-hmm.
Taylor (23:40.492)
Yeah, and just like chatting with other business owners who are looking at MA is just so interesting to me. So yeah, I'm not not super involved, but we'll see where the future will.
Steve Guberman (23:50.675)
Are you able to share like how long are you along for the ride? Is it like a contractually you're sticking around for two years, or are you indefinite?
Taylor (23:59.695)
So I signed a year contract, which is up at the end of the year. so we'll see what happens after that. But it it was one of these where like I did I think they would have still bought the business if I wasn't gonna stay on. so for anyone listening who's building a business to sell, I wasn't needed per se in like the operations of the business. So I said I'd stay for a year to make sure everything went went well, but
Steve Guberman (24:06.867)
Cool. Okay.
Taylor (24:29.846)
It wasn't a mandatory thing. Yeah.
Steve Guberman (24:32.157)
Yeah. For better or worse, you just weren't needed anymore. And like that's kind of a like I've built this as my baby. Emotionally I'm tied to everything. But also like, man, that's just such a good position to be in. It's so good. you you mentioned when we were kind of in the before you got into the acquisition stage, you talked about like the the the grief part of it. You didn't define it as grief, but like the shifting from
Taylor (24:35.958)
I know. I know.
Taylor (24:45.614)
Truly.
Steve Guberman (24:59.313)
I'm the founder. This is my baby. I'm running it to like the emotional shift that needs to happen as a founder post acquisition. And how have you dealt with that? Because I I've spoken to so in my own experience, took me two years to learn to be an employee after my acquisition. Like I didn't know how to do that. It'd been a decade. for others, there's a lot of grief around not being the founder or walking away right away or walking away after a year. And so I'm curious like what your emotional kind of mindset shift has been.
Taylor (25:28.602)
Mm, that's a good question. I think I'm still trying to figure that out. kind of come still coming off of that acquisition high. But I would say I'm not grieving my business at all. I think because I removed myself for two to three years before the acquisition, I already released a lot of that.
So I think by the time the acquisition came, it was like the final step. It wasn't like this huge title wave. and then in terms of being an employee, I definitely do not feel like an employee. And I'm not an employee. I'm like definitely a con consultant, we'll say. so I don't feel like tied to my desk or
I don't ask for vacation. You know, like I I very much so set it up that way because I didn't want to be an employee. I was like, I'll go start another business so I don't want to be an employee. so it it's honestly been great. Now, as I look forward, I I'm I'm not ready to jump in and start another business per se. So I think I'm I have a a definite
Definitely have a lot of baggage when it comes to emotionally tying onto my business. So I'd say I don't have grief towards my business, but I'm not gonna go start another one anytime soon.
Steve Guberman (26:53.544)
Mm-hmm.
Steve Guberman (27:01.565)
Yeah, you're you're a recovering exited founder right now. Like, is there PTSD from running a business, from exiting, from all these things? Who knows? Some people are like, Yeah, I'm gonna jump into the next startup, the next business, the next idea, the idea that I've kept in my notepad for all these years. And others like, I'm gonna pump the brakes and do consulting or just hang at home with the kids or like do the thing that I wanted to do. And that's that's the beauty of where you're at. You have the freedom to do that. Yeah.
Taylor (27:13.55)
Mm.
Taylor (27:27.234)
Yes. Yeah. I think a little PTSD. Yeah.
Steve Guberman (27:31.303)
Yeah, why the heck not? Yeah, it's a rough industry. So real quick before we wrap up, were there things that you learned along the way, again hindsight being what it is, whether it's deal structure or just kind of exiting process that not mistakes, but you might have done differently knowing what you know now.
Taylor (27:50.51)
Mm.
Taylor (27:54.338)
Good question.
Steve Guberman (27:58.259)
Whether it's deal structure or timing of things or team communications or e external comms.
Taylor (28:06.402)
Honestly, no. I think everything went really well. we I think the timing was end of October, early November. We were like, okay, when did they send the LOI? I should look back. It must have been early November. And we closed by December 31st. It was like less than two months. Now Brent would say he'd never do that again. And I would say that was great.
Steve Guberman (28:07.771)
Okay. Awesome.
Steve Guberman (28:28.083)
Mm-hmm.
Steve Guberman (28:35.729)
Listen, if if it can happen quick, why not? There's no re there's no need to delay it. I've seen it happen and heard stories where it happens in two to three weeks or a month and i it if it's all lined up, let's do it. Yeah.
Taylor (28:37.39)
Right?
Taylor (28:43.916)
Yeah. I mean l let's just do it. I mean, at this point we've been talking over a year. It's like you know the business, you want it, let's do it. so yeah, like I think it all went great.
Steve Guberman (28:58.877)
I love that. That's amazing. Okay. All right. One more final question before we wrap up. You mentioned in notes that you want to be open about the small role that I played. What was that? I don't know what that was alluding to.
Taylor (29:00.386)
Yeah. Okay.
Taylor (29:06.636)
Yeah.
So you and I definitely had a lot of conversations over the last couple of years. And I would always pick your brain about the MA stuff that you were doing. And I really appreciated how you brought such a calm energy to the MA space. Because all that I heard was like how stressful due diligence is and how stressful selling your business is. And
You know, what are you gonna do? Are you gonna be an employee? Are you gonna like all of the pressure that came with the thought of exiting? But anytime I talked to you, Steve, you were like, it's all good. It's calm. It's gonna happen. If it's meant to happen, it's gonna happen. And the right buyer is gonna make it easy. And I just appreciated how easy you made me feel about the MA process. So just wanted to give a shout out to you that you were definitely there in the background, whether you knew it or not.
In terms of just like getting me mentally ready for that transition.
Steve Guberman (30:11.709)
Well, that means the world. I'm really grateful that I played that small role without even knowing it. So yay. that's exciting. Taylor, I am so pumped. I love the the the team that you have become a part of. I'm a huge fan of E2M, Manish, Brent and the whole team that I've met there. And just love the journey you've you've created for yourself. Not even that you've been on, 'cause you you intentionally created it and you made it happen. And so I love seeing it and I
Taylor (30:17.515)
Mm-hmm.
Steve Guberman (30:38.397)
Cannot wait to see what you do next. If there's anything that you do next, listen, go whatever, hang out with the kids, whatever's it make, you know, fills your cup up. let's wrap up with a couple of random rapid fires that I will come up with right now. The first is what's something that you've created as part of your kind of daily habit that's led to your success?
Taylor (30:58.924)
Hmm, definitely exercise every day. Whether it's a walk outside or a real workout, I notice a significant difference if I do not do that from an anxiety stress level. So that was a huge piece of my daily to do. Yeah.
Steve Guberman (31:18.161)
Love that. what what is something that you can attribute to the path forward that kept you focused on the goals that you had?
Taylor (31:30.028)
Hmm. Reminding myself that shiny object syndrome is something all entrepreneurs have. And if I could just put the the blinders on, then I would get to where I wanted to go. And it it did work.
Steve Guberman (31:47.793)
Nailed it. Yeah. And then finally, looking back, I don't know, twenty twenty years ago, Taylor. If you wanted to give s some advice to yourself twenty years ago, what would it be?
Taylor (31:58.082)
Don't try so hard in school. It doesn't really matter. I did. Yeah. Just have fun. No one ever looks at my grades, tell you that much.
Steve Guberman (32:00.467)
Fair enough. It just doesn't. Yeah. Did you go to college? Yeah. And it's like what what for? Yeah.
Steve Guberman (32:15.739)
Love it. Yeah. I do a lot of like college kid and and like near near graduation mentorship. And I'm like, after you get your first job, nobody cares what your degree was in, nobody cares what your GPA was. It just doesn't matter. So yeah. Taylor, thank you so much for joining me again. grateful to kind of have you back on the show to I don't say close the full circle because I'm sure there's more to come. We'll do it again. But yeah, super grateful for your time and your experience.
Taylor (32:29.07)
That's right.
Taylor (32:40.46)
Never know.
Steve Guberman (32:45.296)
And we'll talk again soon.
Taylor (32:46.616)
Grateful for you, Steve. Thanks again.
Steve Guberman (32:48.531)
Thanks.