Whiskey Fridays

Ep26 - Season Ender: Taking a Break

Kate Tyson And John Gerber — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 03:00:00 -0500

No emails, no meetings, just time to reset—Kate is about to find out how that feels.

In this season ender of Whiskey Fridays, Kate and John reflect on the busy fall and Kate’s upcoming six-week sabbatical from Wanderwell.

Kate discusses how she’s prepared her business for her time away.

They touch on the importance of taking time off, delegating tasks and setting boundaries - wrapping up the season with a look ahead.

Resources:

Learn more about Kate Tyson:

Learn more about John Gerber:

Featuring Music by Billy Dufala:

@bdufala

Ep25 - Boss Talks: Taking an Extended Business Break with Nic Antoinette

Kate Tyson And John Gerber — Fri, 06 Dec 2024 03:00:00 -0500

Kate chats with Nic Antoinette about her plan to take an “adult gap year” in 2025: Nic will hit pause and step back from most of her business and work life for 12 months. Nic shares her journey with work, autonomy, and the struggle between traditional productivity standards and personal freedom. They dive into how to prepare for such a big shift and how Nic is approaching her year off.

About Nic Antoinette: Nic Antoinette is a business owner, writer, and creator who has spent the last several years exploring the balance between personal freedom and work. Nic is currently taking a year off to pause her business, reflect on her life, and better understand herself. Through this process, she hopes to gain deeper clarity and reconnect with what truly matters to her.

Resources:

Learn more about Nic Antoinette:

Nic Antoinette on Substack

Learn more about Kate Tyson:

Learn more about John Gerber:

Featuring Music by Pete Angevine:

@pete_angevine

Ep24 - Boss Talks: Designing Equitable Pay Structures with AORTA

Kate Tyson And John Gerber — Fri, 29 Nov 2024 00:05:00 -0500

Kate talks to Neily Jennings of AORTA Cooperative about the organization's process of designing a transparent, equitable, and just compensation framework for their team. They discuss the history of AORTA’s compensation experiments and how they have worked to embed values of equity and justice into their pay structures. Neily also offers practical advice for businesses and organizations seeking to approach pay structures with more transparency and values alignment.

About Neily Jennings & AORTA

Neily Jennings manages finance and operations at AORTA Cooperative, a worker-owned co-op offering facilitation, consulting, coaching, and training to support organizations in practicing democracy and building strategies for liberation. With over a decade of experience, Neily has helped AORTA evolve its pay structure to align with its values, political analysis, and business growth. As a democratically run cooperative, AORTA's workers are also its owners, practicing collective decision-making. Neily's work reflects a deep commitment to equitable systems and transformative change.

Learn more about AORTA:

Learn more about Kate Tyson:

Learn more about John Gerber:

Featuring Music by Billy Dufala:

@bdufala

Ep23 - Boss Talks: Building an Anti-Racist and Reparative Economy with Jessica Norwood

Kate Tyson And John Gerber — Fri, 22 Nov 2024 00:00:00 -0500

Kate sits down with Jessica Norwood for a conversation about reimagining finance and capital through building an anti-racist and reparative economy.

Through her guiding question "what would it look like if the economy loved Black people?", Jessica asks us to lean into our imaginations to transform our economic systems. They talk about how her organization, Runway, and the recently launched Rooted Fund practice reparative finance through lending decisions and entrepreneur support that prioritize long-term community relationships over extractive returns.

Expanding the definition of investment, Jessica invites listeners to consider how everyone can be an investor in creating a more just and loving economy.

About Jessica Norwood:

Jessica Norwood is an entrepreneur, investor, artist, and philanthropist who has spent her career exploring the ways that money can be an expression of repair and spiritual care. She is a serial social entrepreneur, who works with a community of investors to provide believe-in-you money in order to create an economy that loves Black people, and encourages others to do the same.

Resources:

Learn more about Jessica Norwood:

Learn more about Kate Tyson:

Learn more about John Gerber:

Featuring Music by Billy Dufala:

@bdufala

Ep22 - Understanding Owner Compensation

Kate Tyson And John Gerber — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 13:34:00 -0500

Business owner compensation is not as straightforward as it may seem.

Kate and John discuss challenges with balancing an owner’s personal needs with those of the business, technical aspects of compensation that sometimes confuse owners, and, most importantly, what owner compensation can tell you about your business.

Learn more about Kate Tyson:

Learn more about John Gerber:

Featuring Music by Billy Dufala:

@bdufala

Ep21 - The Four Types of Business Investors

Kate Tyson And John Gerber — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 03:00:00 -0400

Ever wonder what kind of investor relationships are actually worth it and what might be the best fit for you?

John talks through the four types of investors—friends and family, crowdfunding platforms, angel investors, and strategic investors— diving into the good, the bad, and the awkward of funding for small businesses.

He also explores the reality check that every founder faces: sometimes you need the cash more than the ideal partnership.

Learn more about Kate Tyson:

Learn more about John Gerber:

Featuring Music by Billy Dufala:

@bdufala

Ep20 - Boss Talks: Making Money as an Anticapitalist with Bear Hebert

Kate Tyson And John Gerber — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 03:00:00 -0400

Kate sits down with Bear Hebert, anticapitalist business coach and social justice educator, to reframe the conversation on how we think about money in our businesses as capitalist critical business owners.

They discuss the freedom that comes from separating our worth from what we charge, and dive deep into the complexities of pricing, accessibility, and the importance of building a community where everyone feels welcome.

If you’re grappling with under-earning or trying to balance making a profit with staying true to your values, this chat with Bear is the refreshing perspective worth tuning into.

Learn more about Bear Hebert:
Bear Hebert (they/them) is an artist, anti-capitalist business consultant and social justice educator. Self-employed since 2014, Bear helps tiny business owners build thriving livelihoods while sidestepping the traps of capitalism. Their side gig is teaching men+ how to unlearn patriarchy.

Learn more about Kate Tyson:

Learn more about John Gerber:

Unlawyer
Instagram: @un.lawyer
Connect on LinkedIn

Featuring Music by Billy Dufala:

@bdufala

EP19 - The Purpose of Profit

Kate Tyson And John Gerber — Fri, 18 Oct 2024 03:00:00 -0400

Kate wants us to think about profit differently. Instead of money lining the pockets of shareholders and business owners, she proposes that profit is a crucial resource to care for all the people in a business. Yes, including employees. She and John discuss ideas from her latest publication: The Radical Business Owner’s Guide to Profit, and talk about shifting from an extractive to a regenerative use of profit.

Resources:

Kate’s Zine: The Radical Business Owner’s Guide to Profit
Kate’s Article: Tending Profit
Whiskey Fridays Episode: Towards Transparent Profit Distribution

Learn more about Kate Tyson:

Learn more about John Gerber:

Featuring Music by Billy Dufala:

@bdufala

Ep18 ﹘ Non-Competes Make People Insane

Kate Tyson And John Gerber — Fri, 11 Oct 2024 03:00:00 -0400

Kate and John tackle the thorny issue of non-competes: from the weirdly emotional reactions to employees starting their own business, to the sneaky ways non-solicitation clauses can still bite you, they dive deep into what’s driving this need for iron-clad control.

Hint: it’s not always about protecting the business—it might just be insecurity.

So, do non-competes actually make sense in today’s world?

Especially since over the summer we saw the Federal Trade Commission adopt a rule effectively banning worker post-termination non-competes, which was overruled just before its implementation by a TX federal court order that banned the FTC’s ban.

John and Kate debate whether businesses should be less worried about losing employees and more concerned about why they feel the need to lock them down in the first place.

Resources:

Learn more about Kate Tyson:

Learn more about John Gerber:

Featuring Music by Billy Dufala:

@bdufala

Season 2: What's Coming

Kate Tyson And John Gerber — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 15:11:19 -0400

We’re back with drinks in hand, gearing up for a new season of Whiskey Fridays. This season, we’re tackling all the big stuff—starting with non-compete agreements. They’ve been in the courts and in the news, and John’s got a new take on them.

We’ll also be focusing on money—but not in the typical way. Think radical approaches to profit, ethical compensation, and a primer on investor relationships. Kate’s got some fascinating interviews lined up, including with anticapitalist wealth management firm Chordata Capital and with Jessica Norwood, where they explore the question: What would it look like if the economy loved Black people?

So, grab a drink and get ready for real talk, great interviews, and plenty of laughs. Whiskey Fridays is back!

Learn more about Kate Tyson:

Learn more about John Gerber:

Featuring Music by Billy Dufala:

@bdufala

Summer Break!

Kate Tyson And John Gerber — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 13:21:29 -0400

Whiskey Friday's is on Summer Break! But we're recording new episodes for the fall and have a tiny sneak peak on what we're working on.
Mostly: Money.

Learn more about Kate Tyson:

Learn more about John Gerber:

Featuring Music by Billy Dufala:

@bdufala

Ep 17 – What Every Small Business Owner Should Know About Paid Leave

Kate Tyson And John Gerber — Tue, 07 May 2024 03:00:00 -0400

So you want to offer your team members paid family and medical leave? Yeah, good luck with that.

The few government programs that exist to help businesses support paid leave policies often don’t apply to small businesses. So, owners who want to provide paid leave are left to cobble together solutions and policies of their own.

Kate discusses the historical context of paid leave in the US, including the lack of national policies compared to other countries and the challenges businesses face in providing adequate leave. She examines three critical components of creating a paid leave policy: profitability, system documentation, and policy consistency.

Offering paid leave isn’t easy, but it’s a huge opportunity for businesses to rise to their potential as systems of care.

Resources:

Learn more about Kate Tyson:

Learn more about John Gerber:

Featuring Music by Billy Dufala:

@bdufala

Ep 16 – Why You & Your Business Need (Legal) Space

Kate Tyson And John Gerber — Tue, 23 Apr 2024 03:00:00 -0400

If your relationship status with your business is “it’s complicated,” then it’s time for some clean-up.

You and your business need some space. And that space? John calls it legal hygiene. And if you take the time, you and your business can enjoy a long and fruitful relationship.

John shares three real-life examples of legal hygiene gone wrong, from newbies making mistakes to people who really should have known better. Kate adds her two cents on why you need to respect your containers and why, in the Venn diagram of your business, you should only overlap when you intend to.

Learn more about Kate Tyson:

Learn more about John Gerber:

Featuring Music by Billy Dufala:

@bdufala

BONUS - Building Solidarity in the Creator Economy

Kate Tyson And John Gerber — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 07:00:00 -0400

Today is a bonus episode featuring Kate, Charlie Gilkey, and Tara McMullin discussing the creator economy. It originally aired in the What Works feed—the first part of this conversation is here.

"How do I want to live?" Philosopher Rahel Jaeggi says this question is bound up in the concept of alienation. Our disconnection and dissatisfaction keep us from answering that question—but they also keep us from asking it in the first place.

So in this episode, Kate, Charlie, and I ask that question—and five more. We examine how work in the creator economy can reinforce competition and individualism when what we really need is solidarity and collective action. If you're curious what you can do to join with others for your own success and theirs, this episode has some ideas.

Footnotes:

Kate Tyson: Whiskey Fridays (podcast), Wanderings (on Substack) and Wanderwell Consulting
Charlie Gilkey: Productive Flourishing and Better Team Habits
Tara McMullin: What Works (podcast and newsletter)
"What the creator economy promises and what it actually does" by Kyla Chayka in The New Yorker
"Surplus populations are all around us" by Tara McMullin
Alienation by Rahel Jaeggi
"Metrics, Incentives, and the Seduction of Clarity" by Tara McMullin
Casey Newton on Decoder with Nilay Patel
"Algorithms at Work" (algoactivism) by Katherine Kellogg, Melissa Valentine, and Angéle Christin

As always, find an essay version of today's episode at whatworks.fyi

BONUS - 'The Creator Economy Is Eating Creative Acts'

Kate Tyson And John Gerber — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 09:00:00 -0400

Today is a bonus episode featuring Kate, Charlie Gilkey, and Tara McMullin discussing the creator economy. It originally aired in the What Works feed. Part 2 of this conversation will be available on Thursday!

***

It seems the creator economy is booming. Or is it?

And what even is the creator economy??

Platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and TechTalk are quite happy to advertise the ways they support creators with features and advice. Their aspirational creator hubs give the distinct impression that becoming a creator is akin to getting paid to be yourself.

But that said, when Kate told Tara that she doesn’t think the creator economy should exist but that she couldn’t put that in writing, Tara told her she was wrong—about not being able to put that in writing. Turns out, Kate and Tara's mutual friend Charlie Gilkey had told her the same thing. So Tara arranged a meeting of the minds.

Today's episode is Part 1 of 2 of that conversation. We get into who a creator is, how the creator economy really works, why we value what we value, and how platforms distort the market for our creative work.

You can also read an essay version of this episode here.

Footnotes:

Kate Tyson: Whiskey Fridays (podcast), Wanderings (on Substack) and Wanderwell Consulting
Charlie Gilkey: Productive Flourishing and Better Team Habits
Tara McMullin: What Works (newsletter and podcast)
"Millions work as content creators. In official records, they barely exist." by Taylor Lorenz and Drew Harwell on The Washington Post
"Digital sharecropping" by Nicholas Carr
"Preferential attachment" via Wikipedia
"You Gotta Be in it to Win It" by Collin Brooke
Capital Is Dead: Is This Something Worse? by McKenzie Wark
"'Wait, I think you're platform-pilled'" by Tara McMullin
Cory Doctorow on 'enshittification' and platforms being 'too big to care'
The Twittering Machine by Richard Seymour

Ep 15 – Boss Talks: Engaging Unionization with Access Matters CEO Melissa Weiler Gerber

Kate Tyson And John Gerber — Tue, 02 Apr 2024 03:00:00 -0400

If an organization is progressive and cares about its staff, then workers don’t need a union, right?

Employee survey says: Nope.

Unions are taking off in all sorts of mission-driven non-profits and small businesses.

Management can work with the union or against it, stagnate in defensive mode, or ultimately see it as an opportunity for the organization to get stronger.

That’s what Melissa Weiler Gerber, President and CEO of Access Matters, found out when some of her nonprofit’s employees announced their intent to unionize.

Melissa walks John through the unionization process—from the first announcement to the signed collective bargaining agreement. She shares how her thinking evolved and explains why it is important for leaders to be introspective rather than reactive so that they can approach each union request with curiosity and a solutions mindset.

Learn more about Melissa Weiler Gerber:

Access Matters
Confidential Access Matters Information Hotline: Call (215) 985-3300 or text (833) 667-3377

Learn more about John Gerber:

Featuring Music by Dan Matz:

Bandcamp

Ep 14 - Ditch the Bonus - Towards Transparent Profit Distribution

Kate Tyson And John Gerber — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 03:00:00 -0400

Should you reward your employees with performance-based bonuses? Kate says…

No! The more equitable move is transparent profit distribution.

Kate explains why performance-based bonuses make a false connection between hard work and profit, can’t be accurately measured, and lack transparency. Her thesis is that profit distribution ties additional compensation to the collective success of a company. Everyone gets to enjoy a bit of what they create together.

Plus, she offers an inside look at how profit-sharing works at Wanderwell.

Learn more about Kate Tyson:

Learn more about John Gerber:

Featuring Music by Billy Dufala:

@bdufala

Ep 13 – Employee Equity - Sharing the Pie

Kate Tyson And John Gerber — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 03:00:00 -0500

Employees are critical to business growth and success. So, shouldn’t they get a piece of the pie?

Well…maybe. Offering employee equity is a process. You’ve got to consider the whats, whys, whos, and hows to ensure it’s the right move for your business (and your employees!).

Kate interviews John about the finer points of two employee equity models–partnership vs participation– and they get real nerdy about profit distribution, tax ramifications, and ownership dilution.

Plus, a special guest appearance by CPA extraordinaire John Sullivan, explaining why no pie is ever free.

Listen to the bonus addendum to this episode - BONUS Addendum to Episode 13

Resources:

Incentives vs Caring: The Shifting Language of Labor

Learn more about John Sullivan, CPA

Sullivan Strategic

Learn more about Kate Tyson:

Learn more about John Gerber:

Featuring Music by Dan Matz:

Bandcamp

BONUS Addendum to Episode 13

Kate Tyson And John Gerber — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 03:00:00 -0500

Once you give an employee equity, does that mean you’re partners for better…and worse?

In this bonus addendum to Episode 13 – Employee Equity: Sharing the Pie – John talks through all the glorious nerdy technical details around ensuring you can buy back shares from employees.

Go and listen to the full episode here - Episode 13 - Employee Equity: Sharing the Pie

Resources:

Breaking Up is Hard to Do: Navigating Business Divorce

Learn more about Kate Tyson:

Learn more about John Gerber:

Featuring Music by Dan Matz:

Bandcamp

Ep 12 - What If Clients Won't Pay Me?!

Kate Tyson And John Gerber — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 03:00:00 -0500

Money shit is hard, even on a good day.

So, what should you do when a client refuses to pay you, even after you have fulfilled your end of the agreement? You’ve done your part, but the client is refusing to pony up?

Kate and John use two real-life examples of service-based businesses to explore payment structure, well-drafted contracts, and what you can do to ensure you get paid.

Hint: It’s all about relationships.

Learn more about Kate Tyson:

Learn more about John Gerber:

Featuring Music by Pete Angevine,

World Askew
Instagram: @pete_angevine

Ep 11 - Boss Talks: Fixing the Plane While We Fly It with Charlie Gilkey

Kate Tyson And John Gerber — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 03:00:00 -0500

“I want us to fix the plane while we fly it.”

Charlie Gilkey believes that dominant power structures need reforming – that we can change the way we relate to each other in our teams and at work. Kate and Charlie get into how cultural change is a long-term play and why better team habits are a critical component of the process.

Charlie is the CEO of Productive Flourishing, a bestselling author, advisor, podcaster, and speaker. His latest book is Team Habits.

Learn more about Charlie Gilkey:

Featuring Music by Charlie himself (!), & Billy Dufala, @bdufala

Mentioned:

The Tyranny of Stucturelessness

Learn more about Kate Tyson:

Ep 10 - Boss Talks: Staying with the Trouble with Sarah Ryhanen

Kate Tyson And John Gerber — Tue, 23 Jan 2024 03:00:00 -0500

How do we build worlds of interdependence, regeneration, and care?

Sarah Ryhanen, founder of Saipua and Worlds End School of Thought, Agriculture, and Craft joins Kate to talk about dreaming, and most importantly, doing the work of building new worlds when the ones we exist in no longer serve us.

Learn more about Sarah Ryhanen:

Saipua
Worlds End School of Thought, Agriculture and Craft
Instagram: @saipua

Featured Music by Billy Dufala:

Instagram: @bdufala

Thinkers and Books mentioned:

Learn more about Kate Tyson:

Ep 9 - Incentives vs Caring: The Shifting Language of Labor

Kate Tyson And John Gerber — Tue, 19 Dec 2023 03:00:00 -0500

Kate digs into the language of employment and teases out a shift she’s seeing that reimagines the employer-employee relationship.

Learn more about Kate Tyson:

Learn more about John Gerber:

Ep 8 - Boss Talks: The State of the Messy-Ass Restaurant Industry with Chef Jennifer Zavala

Kate Tyson And John Gerber — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 03:00:00 -0500

The rules of how we interact with restaurants and the service industry at large are changing. But not without significant confusion, pushback, and sometimes outright belligerence.

The restaurant industry as we know it is fundamentally broken and inequitable, a fact made all too clear during the pandemic when restaurant and service workers were hailed as essential, while simultaneously being chronically underpaid and overworked.

Jenny Zavala, chef-owner of Philly’s Juana Tamale, joins Kate to dig into the tricky territory of tipping, what it means to pay a true living wage, and why the restaurant industry’s infamously slim margins aren’t a reason for owners and chefs to resist changing the model.

Learn more about Jennifer Zavala:

Juana Tamale
Instagram: @jaunatamale

Learn more about Kate Tyson:

Ep 7 - Breaking Up is Hard to Do: Navigating Business Divorce

Kate Tyson And John Gerber — Tue, 07 Nov 2023 03:00:00 -0500

D-I-V-O-R-C-E.

In part three of this series on partnerships, Kate and John are talking breakups. John dives into why your partnership needs the business equivalent of a prenup, why your business lawyer can’t take sides, and the sticky math of valuation when it’s time to split up.

Resources:

Slicing Pie Handbook: Perfectly Fair Equity Splits for Bootstrapped Startups, Mike Moyer

Learn more about Kate Tyson:

Learn more about John Gerber:

Ep 6 - Shared Wonkiness: Navigating Partnership Changes

Kate Tyson, John Gerber — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 03:00:00 -0400

Business Partnerships change over time, whether you like it or not.

In part two of a series on business partnerships, Kate and John dig into the messy middle of partnerships and how we navigate change. They break down what drives change, what breeds resentment, and why being self-aware enough to see things going wonky is key to maintaining the business marriage. And Kate makes a radical proposal for a different way to deal with equity and profit.

Learn more about Kate Tyson:

Learn more about John Gerber:

Ep 5 - Boss Talks: Grief as a Portal with Sebene Selassie and Jennye Patterson

Kate Tyson And John Gerber — Tue, 10 Oct 2023 03:00:00 -0400

For so many of us, grief is a near constant companion in our lives. And that loss and accompanying grief show up whether we have the space to deal or not.

As I've been exploring failure, business closures, and endings during the Summer of Failure series I've been writing these past few months, I knew I wanted to close with a conversation about grief.

Today, I discuss navigating loss and grief with Sebene Selassie and Jennifer Patterson.

Sebene Selassie is a writer, teacher, and speaker who explores the themes of belonging, resilience and well-being through mindfulness, creativity and nature. Her first book, You Belong: A Call for Connection was published in 2020.

Jennifer Patterson is a grief worker who uses plants, breath, and words to explore survivorhood, body(ies) and healing. She is the author of LOVE WHAT SURVIVES Substack, The Power of Breathwork: Simple Practices to Promote Wellbeing, and editor of the anthology Queering Sexual Violence: Radical Voices from Within the Anti- Violence Movement.

Listen to the full episode to hear about:

Why processing and exploring grief requires an embodied approach
How community mourning practices help us move through grief
How grief creates a portal to a new self if we can sit with it
The tension of collective crisis and productivity culture
How erotic disruption can allow us to tune into a multiplicity of feeling when we’re in grief

Learn more about Jennifer Patterson:

Learn more about Sebene Selassie:

Learn more about Kate Tyson:

Wanderwell
Connect on LinkedIn
Read the Summer of Failure series on Kate’s Substack

Ep 4 - Creating a Better Business Partnership

Kate Tyson, John Gerber — Tue, 26 Sep 2023 09:03:25 -0400

In part one of an (at least!) three part series on business partnerships, Kate reveals her secrets to a better business marriage, which prompts John to rethink his approach to forming partnerships.

Learn more about Kate Tyson:

Learn more about John Garber:

Ep 3 - Boss Talks: Shutting It Down with Heather Thomason of Primal Supply Meats / Part 2

Kate Tyson And John Gerber — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 08:21:57 -0400

Part 2 of Kate's conversation with Heather Thomason of Primal Supply Meats.

You might want to listen to Part 1 of our conversation before you listen to this episode.
We left off with Heather finally coming to terms with her need to exit her business.

Part 2 is what happened next, including the weird double identity issues involved in orchestrating a graceful wind down, and the complicated answers to the questions “what happened?” and “what’s next?”

To learn more about Whiskey Fridays and read further essays by Kate on the topics we discuss go to katetyson.substack.com

Ep 2 - Boss Talks: Shutting It Down with Heather Thomason of Primal Supply Meats / Part 1

Kate Tyson And John Gerber — Tue, 15 Aug 2023 11:25:29 -0400

Part 1 of Kate's conversation with Heather Thomason, founder of Primal Supply Meats, the Philadelphia based butchery she closed in May of this year after seven years in business. This is Heather's first public conversation since the closure.

Heather and Kate talk about the past few years of pandemic turmoil, the toll leading the business took on her, and how she got to the point of realizing she couldn't do it anymore.

Show Notes:

Enough is Enough, a Summer of Failure on Kate's Substack
The Truth About Going Mega-Viral by Emily McDowell
about Wanderwell

To learn more about Whiskey Fridays and read further essays by Kate on the topics we discuss go to katetyson.substack.com

Ep 1 - Calling it Quits

Kate Tyson, John Gerber — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 14:59:19 -0400

Why do business owners decide to close down their businesses?

Since Kate is currently deep in the middle of a summer project about failure, she naturally wanted to talk about business closures.
In today's episode John and Kate discuss:

the number one reason they see business owners closing
what happens after you make that decision, and how to ensure a graceful wind down
the biggest pitfall they wish all business owners considered whether they are thinking about closing or not.

Show Notes:

Enough is Enough, a Summer of Failure on Kate's Substack
about Wanderwell
about Unlawyer

To learn more about Whiskey Fridays and read further essays by Kate on the topics we discuss go to katetyson.substack.com

Welcome to Whiskey Fridays

Kate Tyson And John Gerber — Fri, 14 Jul 2023 10:44:25 -0400

Whiskey Fridays is a collaboration between myself and my friend and colleague, John Garber. I, Kate, lead Wanderwell, an advisory and bookkeeping practice that supports thriving small businesses while investigating new ways of being in business. John is the principal of UnLawyer, where he provides legal counsel to small business owners at all stages, from startup to, as we'll talk about, wind down.

He and I share a deeply humanist view of business and work with many of the same clients from our complementary expertise and perspectives.

John and I started holding Whiskey Fridays as office neighbors a number of years ago, gathering to sip whiskey and talk business and life.

Our plan for now is to record a monthly episode to talk in depth on a theme. Between us, we have a few decades of experience and have worked with some thousands of small business clients. We want to share that experience with you, our listeners, and aim to be as helpful as we can along the way. I'll also be popping in for Boss Talks with other business leaders from time to time, usually as a complimentary conversation to whatever John and I are discussing.

This podcast is part of my newsletter and regular writing practice, which you can find at katetyson.substack.com.
Stay tuned and thanks for listening.