Never Need The Deal

What if the most powerful position in business… is not needing anything?

This episode is about power, leverage, and optionality — and how to build it long before you need it.

Sharon breaks down the concept of BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement), originally introduced in Getting to Yes, and explains why it’s not just a negotiation tactic… it’s a way to live.

When you have strong alternatives, everything changes:

• How you show up 
• What you tolerate 
• What you say yes (and no) to 

What You’ll Learn

1. Why BATNA = real power

2. The danger of having only one path

3. The concept of “F@ck You Money” (and why it matters)

4. The two ways people lose their power

5. How to build your BATNA in real life
 

A person with strong leverage:

• Has assets outside their business 
• Doesn’t rely on one outcome or transaction 
• Lives within their means (by choice, not restriction) 
• Builds a business they actually enjoy 
• Knows their numbers and their value 
• Prioritises health and energy 

⚡ Key Moments

• “If you’re not prepared to walk away, it’s not a negotiation.” 
• “The reality is, you need us more than we need you.” 
• “The most valuable asset… is the one you do not need to sell.” 
• “When you have options, you are no one’s prisoner.” 

The Big Idea

This isn’t about delayed gratification.

Building your BATNA:

• Makes your life better today 
• Reduces stress and dependency 
• Increases clarity and confidence 

And when the moment comes — the deal, the decision, the exit —
 you don’t scramble. You choose.

Practical Takeaways

Build 12 months of runway (cash or accessible assets) 

• Diversify beyond your business 
• Design a business you don’t want to escape from 
• Invest in skills that make you employable anywhere 
• Protect your health — it’s part of your leverage 

A Question to Sit With

Where in your life are you operating without a real alternative?

And are you… quietly removing your own options?

Share This Episode

If someone came to mind while listening — send it to them.

Because this episode isn’t just about business.

It’s about helping the people around you:

• Have more choice 
• More control 
• And a better life 

🔗 About the Show

High Agency with Sharon McClafferty
Real insights for business owners who want better results — and a better life — sooner than they thought possible.

If you'd like to know more about Sharon's company Slipstream Group and the results their clients achieve, visit https://slipstreamgroup.com.au

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This is High Agency, a show for owners of accounting and financial planning businesses who want more clarity, more courage, and a better life. This episode is about building your power and leverage, gaining increasing control over your options in business and in life. We're going to talk about building your best alternative to any situation. It's something that you can wield across virtually any area of your life. Personally or professionally, like a shield, insulating you from morons and bad deals, annoying clients, market shifts, giving you power in situations or relationships you want to exit. Today we're talking about Batna, which stands for best alternative to a negotiated agreement. But really, it's about building your best alternative to any situation. If you do this well, it is personal resilience that adds clarity and confidence to every single day, making self-determination the default setting for your life. Especially when it counts most. Before we go any further, two things. First, nothing in this episode constitutes financial advice. It's general in nature. If you want specific advice about your situation, please go and see a qualified professional. And just for context, business coaching in Australia is completely unregulated, which means I am technically allowed to be a complete cowboy. I am just choosing not to be today. Second, I plan to swear during this episode, right now, in fact, uh, because I'm going to use the wonderful phrase, fuck you, money. I'm going to explain what that means, why it matters, and why I think everyone should build it. If that language offends you, I completely understand this may not be your show. One more thing before we start. If at any point in this episode you think of someone in your life or in your network who would benefit from hearing this, please share it with them. Today's episode might be a true gift for someone in your life who you want to see have more power. This is High Agency, a show for owners of accounting and financial planning businesses who want more clarity, more courage, and a better life. Hi, I'm Sharon McClafferty. I use evidence and experience to help business owners create a better business and a better life years sooner than they thought possible. Quick update from the high agency world. I've just got back from spring skiing in Canada. Highly recommend it. Went to Sun Peaks for those playing along at home. And now that I am back, normal rhythm has returned with my morning run. And normal rhythm of people calling me and saying, hey, I saw you running this morning. The next adventure for me is what I privately call Fat Camp in Bali. It is not actually called Fat Camp, but if you looked at the daily agenda, it looks like it's been taken directly from the Biggest Loser playbook. So it is a week-long boot camp in Bali with my personal trainer and some other fun people. It is grueling and awesome and very much type B fun for those of you who know what that is. Right, let's get into today. The concept. Batna, best alternative to a negotiated agreement. The concept comes from a book called Getting to Yes. It was published in 1981. The authors are Roger Fisher and William Uri, and it came out of the Harvard Negotiation Project. It's easily one of the best books on negotiation. The idea is straightforward. Before you enter any negotiation, you need to know your best alternative if this deal does not happen. Because your BATNA determines your leverage. It determines your confidence at the table. It determines whether you walk in as someone who needs this deal or just as someone who would prefer it. As my friend James said, if you're not prefer, if you're not prepared to walk away, then it's not a negotiation. And here's what most people miss. Batna is not just a negotiation concept, it's a life concept. What is your best alternative to if this business falls through? Or what's your best alternative if this relationship ends? What's your best alternative if your job disappears or your industry disappears tomorrow, next month, or in three years' time? If you have a strong Batna, a genuinely good alternative, uh then you have power, real power, like not performed confidence of someone who's kind of pretending not to care, but the actual quiet confidence of someone who knows that life will be fine regardless of how this, whatever is in front of them, goes. If you have a weak Batna, like if this deal is make or break, uh, if this relationship is your whole identity, uh if this job is the only thing that stands between you and financial crisis, then you're negotiating from a place of desperation. And desperation is usually visible. And if it's not visible, it's pretty easily, it's pretty easily discovered. Uh, and the stronger your Batner is, the more leverage you have. So every increment matters, right? Like every decision that builds your alternatives shifts the dynamic, sometimes slightly and sometimes dramatically. So let me give you an example from my own business. And I questioned whether I should share this because it was not uh necessarily a thought-through approach to this conversation. It just blurted out. So, not long ago, a prospective firm came to us wanting coaching. And uh we had a great discussion. We were a very good fit. Uh, they definitely had significant needs, but significant upside as well. Like it was just like an opportunity-rich environment. They were clever people and they uh, you know, it could basically model out uh the upside. Uh and we get to the point where everyone knows that they're becoming clients. And uh one of them in the boardroom, and we were by Zoom, sort of said, Oh, well, you know, we'll sign when you fly to Perth, and we'll be clients uh under these circumstances. And it just uh, if I'm honest, felt a little bit like dance monkey dance. Uh and I uh paused and perhaps without thinking, just reset the conversation by sort of saying quite candidly, like the reality is uh you need us a lot more than we need you. So I have a finite number of firms that we can work with. And so apart from me like genuinely wanting to see you win and see you achieve the things that you just told me were important to your business and your families, um other than wanting to see you win, which I do, I am indifferent as to whether this spot goes to you or another firm that we can also help. Now, that's not arrogance. That is just a strong Battener. I run a professional services business. It's talent heavy. Uh, if you run a professional services business, I would wager that you have, like me, a finite capacity. There is only so many clients you can service. Now, I wasn't performing confidence and I wasn't bluffing, like we have alternatives. Uh, the spot would be filled either way, and hard pass I'm not getting on a flight to Perth because you told me to dance. Uh so saying that quiet part out loud was quite interesting because the reality just completely changed the dynamic of that conversation. So the partners paused, and then one of them said, Oh my gosh, I'm so looking forward to being in that position. And then they discussed when they have the confidence to sign up more ideal clients, which current clients they would like to get rid of. Like, yes, that is the whole point. Uh, when you can sign up a lot of new ideal clients, you look at the ones where you wince when their number comes up on your phone, you think, guess what? We don't have to service you. Like, we have a finite capacity. So that's what we're building, right? Everyday moments of leverage and choice. Uh, most people don't think about building leverage and alternatives for a possible future scenario that may or may not ever come. So because they're not thinking about this, uh they could in fact be eroding their power and future options without appreciating the potential consequences. Now, I will double down and tell you some stories of people who have done this maybe unwittingly. Um, so in this episode, I want to talk about deliberately building your power. So consciously making the choice to build your power and leverage, even for opportunities and situations that you don't currently have or know are coming. Uh, and why building that Batna uh can improve the quality of your business and your life on a daily basis, like not just when you're at the negotiating table. Every single day it can improve your life. Uh so first uh we might go a little dark. Uh, I'm gonna talk about what it looks like when it goes wrong. Uh, one of the most dangerous positions you can be is having only one path forward. Uh, one outcome that has to go right, like uh a plan that can't fail, or a door that has to stay open. Because when the path closes, and sometimes that's sudden and sometimes you get a warning. Uh, but either way, if it's gone, you have nothing because there's no alternative. So I want to tell you a story uh where you know I think about this guy all the time. I sat down with the owner of a financial advice business, and this was a few years ago, and he was turning over about $3 million uh with negative profit. So after paying himself a commercial salary, which we kind of stand up standardized at 180, uh, there was no profit. And when I pointed that out, he sort of he sort of smiled like as if I was missing something. Uh, and he had this quiet confidence, uh, which I was happy for because I thought, you know, what I'm seeing on the page can't be the real story because that's really stressful. That's so stressful. And he he sat there with this really quiet confidence, like I was missing the point. And he told me that his business was conservatively worth $12 million. And he held himself like a man who had that money in the bank. And I asked how he had arrived at that number, and he said, you know, four times recurring revenue. Simple. Now, at the time, AMP had a policy called the buyer of last resort, uh, which uh most people will remember and they called Bowler, uh, that would pay four times recurring revenue for financial planning firms, almost without, um at times, pretty much without any questions asked. It was just uh this market stabilizing policy. So a $3 million firm, ta-da, $12 million, fat and happy, no problems. Uh I asked about his super. He didn't have any because he'd been really playing this revenue game for decades. Like, uh, so he didn't have any super. He was leveraged to the hilt with a bunch of debt that was used to buy revenue over the years because that was the only game in town. So four times revenue at the end of the rainbow, 12 million bucks. And I asked uh how he'd been supporting his family, given the business had not been profitable beyond his salary. And he acknowledged that they had made some lifestyle sacrifices over the years that would be worth it in the end. You know, his wife had worked the whole time. Uh, and yes, they'd made sacrifices, but they knew that they were playing this bigger game, this bigger long-term game. And I I asked about the advice that he was giving his clients because this was a financial advice firm, and uh, I imagine he was helping them build diversified portfolios to mitigate their risks. I want to be clear, I wasn't being combative. I was genuinely sitting there worried for him. And I was right to be. Uh, less than a year after that conversation, and before he had transacted this firm, AMP removed the bowler policy. And the market shifted entirely. And most valuations for a firm of that size move from a multiple of revenue to a multiple of EBIT. And zero EBIT multiplied by anything is still zero. So that man's $12 million retirement plan with no super backed up, hadn't paid his house off, had been making these lifestyle sacrifices for 20 plus years, uh, just had a very different value overnight. And he had he didn't have a good alternative outside of that one path. Um, now that's a version of how it goes wrong, right? Like concentrated risk, all eggs in one basket, the entire plan depending on one transaction going well. And in that case, a particular policy that was out of his control uh or a single buyer staying in the market. Um like no financial resilience is uh outside the business. And some people call this, you know, off-farm assets. Uh, we have uh accountants and advisors who help farmers and they like you need some off-farm assets. Uh, but no financial resilience outside the business is just one common mistake. Others are, you know, businesses that can't run without the owners. And that's been the case for many years, and therefore the owner is burnt out and exhausted and has worked through every holiday. Uh, and just, you know, no holidays for 10 years, burnt out, exhausted, I'm done. Uh, or health that has been put on the back burner while you build the business. And after many years of that health uh not being a priority and often complicated with stress, it just catches up with them. So you like if you don't have your health, you don't have anything. Uh, you are not a negotiator at that table if you are absolutely burnt out, exhausted with mounting health issues. Uh so you know, a valuation could come back much lower than they imagined, but uh regardless of that, they need the deal, like the the make the madness end. So uh they need that current reality to finish. And I just think imagine walking into the most important negotiation of your financial life, uh needing the deal, exhausted with no alternatives and no runway to wait for a better offer. So that person has no leverage, none. They need the deal. And today is about not needing the deal. Uh okay, so it did get dark, but at the very core of high agency, certainly how I think of high agency, is fun. And needing the deal is categorically not fun. So, how's this for an alternative? Uh, just to pick our spirits back up. We'll we'll keep with the selling your business scenario because it's a really good example to explain that uh uh so someone interesting contacts here to talk about making an offer on your business. You walk in, you are financially secure uh with diversified assets outside that business and inside the business, you're you're minted. Uh, you're healthy, you're feeling awesome. You are running a business you genuinely love, like you look forward to work. Uh, you have a strong team who you enjoy being around. Uh, you know your numbers cold. And as the other side is talking about kind of, you know, how they value businesses like yours and you know, the terms of this uh potential transaction, your internal voice is saying, go your hardest mate. Uh, I'm I'm sitting here thinking, is this meeting worthy of my time? So it's the second person that we're building towards, and the path to becoming that person starts today. It doesn't start the day before you sell or the year before you sell. You can uh build that person who is sitting there not needing that deal and just bemused by the scenario because you enjoy your business so much. Uh, so how do you build that? And maybe importantly, uh, how do people fail to build that that potentially have the resources and time to build that? Uh, so there are two ways that it goes wrong. The first one is quiet and gradual, uh, so just a drift that you may not even realize is happening, and the other one is dramatic and entirely self-inflicted. Uh, so the quiet version. Like most people don't actively destroy their alternatives, they just fail to build them. So small decisions compounding quietly in the wrong direction. And one day they find themselves with no good options, uh, not because of the like one catastrophic mistake, but because of a hundred small ones that felt kind of harmless at the time. That's the semi-unconscious version. And then there's the other one. Have you ever heard of the phrase burn the boats? It comes from the Spanish conquestador Hernan Cortes, who in 1519 landed in Mexico with 600 men and ordered his own fleet destroyed. Okay, so not sent back, uh not hidden, burned in front of their eyes. Uh, and he wanted to make sure that the only way those 600 soldiers were ever going to see their families again or their homeland was to win the battle ahead of them, because there were no boats to go home to if they lost. Uh, the only path home was through victory. And after that victory, they could take the other side's boats and sail home. Cortez made winning the only option. So, structurally, physically, you can't slink back to the boats having lost because the boats are gone. So, he removed the alternative entirely. Uh, it's the most extreme version of sabotaging your own Batna. It's like deliberate and conscious and total. And I want to be honest with you because this show doesn't work if I'm not. Uh, I have done this in my own life more than once. So I have consciously and deliberately burned the boats for myself to make it harder to leave, uh, removed the parachute, engineered situations where the only viable option was to stay in the status quo. Uh, and so, on some level at those times, I knew I was conscious and I knew exactly what I was doing to force myself uh to stop considering the alternatives. Uh, so there are going to be some fairly significant therapy bills associated with eventually processing some of those choices. Um, you won't be invited to the sessions, I'm sure you're glad. Uh, but the more I sit with the concept, the more I see it everywhere, right? Like it's not always the dramatic version uh I've just described. Uh, often it's quieter, like micro-sabotage. So, like a slow incremental dismantling of your own alternatives, so that the decision that might be hard or weighing on your mind just quietly stops becoming a decision at all. Uh, so I want to ask you something. Is there an area of your life right now where you might be quietly, and that could be consciously or unconsciously, burning the boats on your alternatives to the status quo or to a situation you don't want to continue forever? Uh so if you think about something in your life where you go, this status quo isn't serving me, uh are you eroding the alternative because sometimes the alternative uh is a hard thing to have available because it kind of forces you to make a choice. Uh I'm gonna tell you a story uh of a man who had ample alternatives, uh ample opportunity to build alternatives. He did not have ample alternatives, uh, and a devastating phone call that I overheard him make. In my 20s, I worked at an investment bank in London. So Patanofster Square for those who know the geography. Uh, I was very fortunate to spend a couple of years in that world before 2008. Uh, and then I lived through the GFC sitting on a trading floor. I had, I honestly had no business getting that job. Uh, I had Deloitte on my resume, and the investment bank were desperate uh and assumed a level of experience I simply did not have. Uh, and I don't think I corrected them. Um In that assumption. So my secret to surviving and eventually thriving in that job was working harder and longer than everyone around me. I was last to leave many nights a week, but my real superpower was going back on Saturday or Sunday, and often both. I don't recommend it. I actually had what the kids are calling these days a Menti B translation for Gen X listeners. That's a complete mental breakdown. So I will never work that hard again for any reason. It's actually not safe. But anyway, what I saw during the GFC was that my colleagues fell into two very distinct camps. They're all earning extraordinary money. Bonuses that could be anywhere from 100 to 1,000% of their annual salary. So, worst case scenario, if you think about your annual salary right now, come March will give you that in a lump sum. Best case scenario, come March will give you that 10 times your annual salary, right? So depending on the year, it would fall somewhere in that vicinity. I didn't have a job at that level, but even mine was more than 100% of my annual salary. So it was still a pretty good time to be sitting on a trading floor as a mid-20s. The first group had been living as though that would always be the case. One guy joked that he spent 110% of my salary on Friday and Saturday nights at Chelsea, which is funny because it was true. He was this Norwegian guy that would love to get drink service at clubs in Chelsea. And he did spend 110% of his salary on Friday and Saturday nights alone. It did not go to cover his rent or anything else. So that's the sort of things that were happening in those days. The second group had been living fun lives too, but also saving and investing and building personal resilience alongside their professional life. So some of them had effectively hit total financial independence in their 30s or certainly by their early 40s. The GFC was stressful for them. Of course it was. They're sitting on a trading floor, there's a lot of yelling and a lot of people losing a lot of money. But it was not a personal crisis. It wasn't an existential personal crisis for them. It didn't threaten their family, or maybe importantly, it didn't threaten their identity. Same trading floor, same salary structure, same GFC, completely different outcomes, entirely determined by decisions that were just repeatedly made by those individuals. And there was this one evening, uh it was early 2009, uh, when I was doing my normal thing of working well into the evening, and there was one other person on the floor, and I think he'd forgotten that I was there, and he made a phone call. This man had already sold his house. He had already let go of his staff, uh, so his driver and his chef and his nanny. Uh, he'd sold his cars, and this phone call was to his wife to tell her that they had to pull their children out of the private high school uh they had always attended. And not at the end of the school year, but he could not afford next terms fees. And I heard how broken his soul was. This was an existential crisis, this was an identity crisis of the father, the provider, all of those things were being robbed from him. And he was a lovely guy, and I genuinely felt for him. But he'd been earning probably averaging a million pounds a year for at least a decade, and he'd failed to build personal resilience. He had no alternatives, like no buffer. He just thought that that was going to be a stable situation for the next 15, 20 years. Uh, when Slipstream started, I had uh $80,000 in cash. Uh, not invested, just sitting there alongside a couple of investment properties that I had purchased uh in Australia while I was in London. I was very lucky. Uh, I am a bit of a kooky crazy person uh who could get swept up into the whole investment banking world. And my gorgeous family said to me, spend your salary, like spend 100% of it and don't save a cent. But every single bonus, send it back to Australia and invest. So I came back and I had already bought a couple of investment properties and I had this uh $80,000 in cash uh sitting just offsetting an investment property mortgage when we started Slipstream. So without those things, I probably couldn't have afforded to take the risk to start my own business. So that cash was my runway. Like I had a not quite one-year-old when Slipstream started. Uh, and the properties were my resilience, right? Like strong enough that I could take the leap from a paid job. And the super cool thing is before uh before starting Slipstream, I had already used that $80,000. Uh, I'd put it to work in another way. And I think this is one of the most underrated concepts in personal and professional life. And it is a very professional concept called fuck you money. Uh, so I'll tell you how I used that uh pool as fuck you money without ever spending a single dollar. So when I moved back to Brisbane, uh I took five months off uh after my job in London and starting a job in Brisbane. And I probably could have I could have taken a lot longer, but uh I'd kind of set up my life here and it made sense to actually start building a professional community. And so I was looking for a job where I could uh I dumbed down my resume because I just I was burnt out. I didn't want to manage people. I had managed uh, you know, 10 to 15 people in at the end of my time in London and I didn't want to have any direct reports. So I sort of lied a little bit on my resume, and I was looking for a job that I could wear jeans five days a week, and that I had a car park five days a week that I didn't have to like beg for or be so grateful for. And the other thing I was looking for is multiple screens. So in early 2010, uh that was not a default for a job in Brisbane, particularly one that required that you know you could wear jeans to. Uh, so anyway, I took this job with a car park and and jeans uh and not managing anyone, and that's great. And after a few months, uh so after three or four months, I uh realized I kind of over overcommitted in that I didn't need to work full-time. Uh, and so I decided that the right balance for me was actually a nine-day fortnight. So I put a little uh document to my manager and said, you know, I would like to move to a nine-day fortnight. Uh, and I don't mind whether it is that my salary is cut by 10% or that you want me to work more hours in those nine days. Uh, you know, I'm I'm indifferent to how it works out, but it is important to me to move to a nine-day fortnight. Uh and he uh pretty quickly, within an hour or so, uh took me out for a coffee. During which time he opened by saying, you know, got your uh, you know, got your note about the request for a nine-day fortnight. Um, and you don't have any children. Which so advising me that I didn't have any children was probably not the right way to start that answer, but that is how it started. And he said, So, because of that uh and not really needing the flexibility, you know, this business is really built around people working full-time. Uh, so the nine-day fortnight isn't going to be possible. I was like, oh, okay. Uh, and I said, well, that's that's a shame. But uh thank you so much for getting back to me so quickly. And also, uh, I'll do you need my resignation in writing or um, did you want me to work out? I think there's four weeks' notice in my contract. I'm happy to work out four or six weeks, whatever works for the business. I think you guys will do really, you know, it's been fun being here. Um, yeah, let me know uh when you would like me to wrap up and I'll put that in writing this afternoon. His face he went white. And he went white for good reason because I was in a sales role and I was bringing in about 80% of the revenue to this business, and he was my manager, so he was getting a cut of the commissions. Uh, he went white, but his ego didn't allow him to backtrack. So he accepted my resignation. And then he went back to the office and I think in very quick succession, uh, ran to the business owner and said, you know, Sharon's decided to resign. Uh, and I don't think he elaborated on why. So a few minutes after that, I got uh a message saying from the owner, can you go for a walk right now? I was like, yes, I can go for a walk right now. And the owner said, you know, I just heard you've resigned. I just want to hear it from you. And is there anything we can do? And I said, Oh, no, like I've resigned because I asked for a nine-day fortnight and I was told that wasn't possible, and it's really important to me. So I'm gonna go find somewhere that will let me work nine days a fortnight. And the owner of this business is like, what? You can work six days a fortnight, you can work five days a fortnight. I don't like, yes, approved, whatever you want, approved. Uh and he was like, sorry, so your resignation was accepted uh because you wanted to work a nine-day fortnight. And I said, yes. Uh, and so the by the end of that day, uh, my I still had a job, uh, but my manager didn't. Uh, I can't say I'm too sad about that. Uh, but it was like, if you have fuck you money, if you have fuck you money, you are no one's prisoner. Not in your workplace, not in your home, and not at the negotiating table. So I think it's about, you know, 12 months of living expenses, accessible in cash or cash-like options. Uh, that's probably the number. Um, the it the buffer means that you have options, like you have the runway. It means you can take risks, you have this quiet confidence that comes with knowing you don't need a particular outcome. And it does change how you walk through the world. You're not desperate, uh, you're not cornered, and you can say no. Uh, so I think there are there is fuck you money. There is also another version which is called fuck you skills. Uh, so if you have fuck you skills, then if you're really good at what you do, uh, you could have several offers uh by the end of the week. So you're not stuck anywhere. And uh at Slipstream we have this HR policy, which is we hire adults and then we treat them like volunteers because they are like the best people can work anywhere. Uh the idea that you have power in uh as the uh employer in that dynamic is actually completely flawed. Uh, I I quite enjoy calling that out. I'm like, we're not in a like for some roles, uh we're not in a talent shortage. So uh they could get another, they could walk across the road and get another job. Uh so yes, we um, you know, just acknowledge that the people who work for you could work elsewhere. So uh I think if you um you know have have someone in your business who asks for a nine-day fortnight and has the ability to work elsewhere or has the ability to not work, then maybe consider your options out before you say no. The reason I tell you this story is not to be provocative. It's because I think most people give up this power without realizing it. So Warren Buffett once said, never risk what you have and need for what you want and don't have. For example, with that $80,000, I could have bought a car. I wanted it, I didn't need it. Uh, but what I had was security and options and the ability to say, fuck you, to a moron. So when you spend everything you earn when you have no buffer and no savings and no options, you've handed control of your life to whoever signs your paycheck, whoever makes you an offer on your business, or that whale client you can't afford to lose, or whoever you're in a relationship with, right? Like many people unwittingly surrender their power in almost every situation of their career and life to satisfy their wants. So at that moment, at 28 years old, the idea that some middle manager thought that he could dictate how many days a fortnight I worked, hard pass. Uh so fuck you, money is power, it's optionality, uh, it's the ability to say no clearly, calmly, and without drama to anything that doesn't serve you. Uh, that's been my TED talk. No, that's been the high agency podcast. So, what does a person who has built their Batna actually look like? Not in theory, in practice. Uh, they have assets outside their business. Their financial security does not depend on a single transaction or a situation going well. The percentage of their net worth tied up in one place probably goes down over time. Uh, they live within their means, uh, not as an act of deprivation, uh, as an act of power. They do not spend based on future anticipated outcomes. Uh, the buffer is real and some of it is liquid, and they can feel it on a Tuesday morning. And they've built a business they genuinely love. I think this one matters way more than people realize, because if you love what you do, if you've built something that gives you freedom and impact and the life you actually want, uh, you're negotiating from a completely different position. Uh, you don't need to sell, uh, you don't need a deal. Uh in fact, any offer would have to be extraordinary to be worth disrupting something that you genuinely love. So uh we had a financial advice firm owner. Uh, we coached at Slipstream. Uh, when he started, uh, he was working almost every waking hour he had. So he was rarely home uh for dinner, uh, literally like a standard 70-hour week. Uh so he'd work all Saturday and then Sunday afternoon he'd plan for the next uh weekend. He was having uh chest pains and uh he'd been doing it alone for so long, he thought that was just how it was done. Uh, when he contacted us, he contacted us with the view to sell within two years. That was about five years ago. Uh what happened instead was his slipstream coach uh showed him what other firms like his looked like when they were run well. Uh so owners working 30 to 35 hours a week, uh, taking 10 or more weeks holiday annual leave, uh, taking home 800 or a million dollars uh on a 2 million revenue business. So he was already taking, he was already making a million dollars on a $2 million business. So it wasn't a financial issue, it was an issue of how he got there. Like making that money cost almost cost him his life. Uh so he he it was almost like he just didn't know that there was another way. Uh and when he saw it, he was like, yeah. Uh he built the team, he built the systems, he handed off the things that he hated, uh and he kept the things he loved. So he works four days a week now. Uh he lives part-time in his beach house. Uh he uh has three people, uh key people, who run the day-to-day of that business. And he has no plans to sell in the next decade. Uh so he didn't just uh invest in his business, right? Like he extended his career by over 10 years. Uh I'm certain that he also extended his life. Uh, he knows who he is, and uh we're very glad we met him exactly when we did. Uh so we've got lots of those uh stories of watching people fall in love with this thing that they've been running for 15 years the hard way. Uh and when they love it, they never talk about selling it. Uh the longer you stay in the game for the love of it, the more time you have to build your moat. Right? So the business keeps you sharp, it keeps your gray matter engaged, it keeps you connected to a community of people that you respect. And that's not nothing, right? Like, like that's a lot. I'm sure there are plenty of retired people who uh wish they were back in the game. Uh, one of my favorite humans and a business owner I have endless time for is uh Mr. Luke Rathbourne. And he once told me that one of his big goals was to outwork Warren Buffett. So Warren stepped down uh from the CEO role of Berkshire Hathaway at age 95. However, he remains as chairman. So the clock is still going there, and long may it rain. Uh, I now have a goal to outwork Luke Rathborn. I would like to put it here. Uh, lay it down uh for everyone to know. And when you love what you do, which Warren does, Luke does, I do. Uh when you love what you do and you enjoy your days, uh, you have as much freedom as you want, it's a privilege to get to add value and still be playing the game. Uh the person who's built their bat now also understands their own value, right? They know what their business is worth, how it would be valued, and what would move that number if they needed to. Uh, and it's not because they're planning to sell, but because knowing that stuff is what running a great business looks like. Uh and it means that when someone approaches them with an offer, they understand the deal better than the person making it. I think you should always keep your finger on the pulse. It's a great insurance policy to have a business that's always saleable. Uh and these people prioritize their health. Uh, if you don't have your health, you don't have anything. And I mean that commercially as much as personally, right? Uh a sick, exhausted, burnt-out owner has no time or energy left, right? Like it's a fire sale, not a negotiation. Uh a lot of people say um blondes have more fun. I don't, as a brunette, I don't know anything about that, but I can promise you that fit people have more fun, right? So uh I think that has a daily compounding payoff uh in business and in life. Okay, I want to say something important about everything I've just described. Some people might think, you know, save for the future, uh, invest in your health. Uh, and they actually hear delayed gratification. Do hard things now, so one day in some future negotiation you may or may not ever have, you'll be glad you did it. That's not what I'm describing, actually. It's not delayed gratification because every single one of those things makes your life better today, not eventually, right now. So building assets outside the business gives you security you can feel on a Tuesday morning. Uh, living within your means removes a low-grade financial anxiety that most people have simply learned to ignore. Building a business you genuinely love means you actually want to get up and do it and you're excited, uh, prioritizing your health. Uh, my uh trainer once said to me, and it's never got out of my head, uh, most people don't know how good fit feels. Right? Like every day it feels good. Uh so you're eating the cake every day, and then the moment arrives a negotiation or an offer or a situation where you need to exit, and ta-da, the leverage is there too. So you can, you know, have your cake and eat it too every single day. It's the rare category of better now and better later. So the sooner you start, the sooner you start winning. And I think that 80 grand of fu money is a great example. I used that so many times without ever spending a dollar. The confidence of having it there meant that I could make all these choices and decisions and I didn't have to spend it. Uh, so let me show you what it looks like when it's working, right? So someone approaches you about your business. Uh, you're financially secure, regardless of whether the deal happens. So it's like at best, cream on top. Uh, the business brings you genuine joy and freedom. Uh, so it's not like it's something you want to get out of your life, right? You've got the freedom to ski as much as you want. Uh, you have a strong team that runs the day-to-day, you know your numbers, and you know the transaction landscape in your industry. You're fit, healthy, just back from a great holiday and looking forward to several more. And if this deal doesn't proceed, life is still excellent. In fact, it would have to be extraordinary. It would have to be a great offer to be worth disrupting this life that you love. That's the position. That's what we're building. Uh, the most valuable asset is the one you do not need to sell. If someone in your life came to mind during this episode, send it to them. That's not an accident. Send it to your best friend, send it to your favorite business owner or your spec. House. Send it to the people you want to see win in life. Now, if someone sent this episode to you, well, that person wants to see you win in business and in life. So that's pretty cool. Until next time, build your Batna so you are not a victim of circumstances. You are not a prisoner to morons. And in those moments that like really matter, you have power, options, leverage, and agency. Thank you, team.