Maximize your independence as a business owner
Independence by Design™ is the complete ownership framework for owner-operators who want to align their business operations with their personal goals. By designing a business that generates sustainable cash flow, you can grow the equity value of your business and free yourself from the day-to-day so you can have the independence to do more of what you love.
Understand the Game: Shift Your Mindset from Operator to Owner
Choose Your Game: Align the Business with Your Goals
Play the Game: Master the Game of Business Ownership
The Old Way of Owning a Company
Work as hard as you can, focus on growing revenue and net income, and hope that you are growing the value of your company and have more cash in your bank account when you want/need it.
There is a Better Way...
Confidently do more of what you love with your time because you know the company has sustainable cash flow, is growing equity value, and can provide you with the income you need without being stuck in the day–to–day.
Unlock the Power of Being a Business Owner
While countless systems help us "work in" the business, few focus on how to "work on" the business and truly “win” the game of ownership.
Independence by Design™ is an ownership framework for owner-operators who want a system to help them align operations with their ownership goals. IBD™ has three steps and an Ownership Roadmap™ that helps you maximize your independence through more sustainable cash flow, a higher equity valuation, and a business that allows you to do more of what you love.
01
Understand the Game
Shift your mindset from operator to owner, and master the art of business valuations so you can use your ownership to design a life of independence
02
Choose Your Game
Clarify your ownership goals and leverage an advisory team. Use a new set of common understandings to get ownership on the same page by clearly articulating what each business owner wants, why, and when.
03
Play the Game
Align the operations with ownership's goals and manage the business like a financial asset. The three financial statements should be used to create a strategic - and dynamic - financial roadmap that is tied to your goals and gives you visibility into the most important decisions you have to make.
Ways to Engage
There are multiple ways to engage with me and the Independence by Design™ ownership content, depending on what level of help you want. My philosophy is to put out as much of my material for free as possible and charge based on the level of access to me and specific resources. If you want more speed, implementation resources, and accountability, one of the IBD coaching programs might be right for you. Regardless of which option you pick, the goal is to help you get unstuck, align your operations with your ownership goals, and answer your most pressing questions so you can get you where you want to go faster.
Ownership Accelerator™ 🚀
$500 / Month
The Ownership Accelerator™ is a monthly program that is for owner–operators who want more access to resources, community, and accountability.
- 1-Day IBD Owner's Workshop
- IBD Owner's Playbook™
- Cash Flow & Valuation Gap Calculator
- Education and Content archive
- Weekly Ownership Accelerator Calls
- Access to Expert Guests & Speakers
- Three-Statement Financial Model
- Live IBD Workshops (3x per year)
The IBD Boardroom™ ✨
$1,500 / Month
I plan on working individually with 20 owner-operators. I currently have 16. Each client gets a monthly 1-on-1 where we review their financials and ownership goals as well as ongoing access to me and my calendar. Each Boardroom client has access to everything in the IBD Ownership Accelerator™ . Every month we have a virtual group Boardroom call and three in-person events the day after the !BD Owner's Workshop.
- 1-Day IBD Owner's Workshop
- IBD Owner's Playbook™
- Cash Flow & Valuation Gap Calculator
- Education and Content archive
- Weekly Ownership Accelerator Calls
- Access to Expert Guests & Speakers
- Three-Statement Financial Model
- Live IBD Workshops (3x per year)
- Live Boardroom Workshops (3x year)
- Monthly Virtual Boardroom Mastermind
- Monthly 1-on-1 Ownership Strategy Call with Ryan
Working with Ryan has been revolutionary. I have more clarity and less anxiety regarding the financial health of my business. I’m so grateful that I can now use my new mindset, tools and knowledge to grow my company’s equity value.
Steve Schaffer
Owner, Schaffer Manufacturing
The most concrete business practice I learned and adopted in Ryan's workshop was starting to think about our company as a financial asset and realizing we can forecast the business’s value into the future. We now understand that the future cash flow and equity value are the real metrics behind the health of the company.
Anne Dougherty
Owner, ILLUME Advising
As a business owner, I sometimes get into a rhythm or maybe a rut and do things in a certain way, almost methodically. Ryan's workshop allowed me to intentionally disrupt the rhythm and look at things through a different lens.”
Jamie Gmach
Owner, Evolving Solutions
An incredible resource for M&A pros
Ryan's podcast is a weekly ritual for my team. The insights and conversation topics. Ryan and his guests touch on issues that are highly relevant and actionable. We even find ourselves simply forwarding episodes to our clients to help them navigate the exit process. Thanks for the thought leadership!
Steve Gerten
Partner & Advisor, Paradise Capital LLC
Purposeful and Authentic
Ryan never fails to deliver excellent content that is useful and helpful. He asks questions that draw the best out of his guests. Ryan is motivated to help people achieve their purpose and his enthusiasm is tangible. He brings experience and authenticity to every episode.
Jenna Fromm
CEO, Palmer Bus Service
“Ryan Tansom walks the talk. He is incredibly dedicated to helping business owners and leaders ‘grow the value of their business with an end in mind’. My Vistage Members, EOS Clients and Coaching Clients leverage Ryan’s tools, education, workshops, and podcasts. My only regret about Ryan, is that I did not meet him earlier in my professional career.”
Katina Koller
Vistage Chair and EOS© Implementor
Working with Ryan has been revolutionary. I have more clarity and less anxiety regarding the financial health of my business. I’m so grateful that I can now use my new mindset, tools and knowledge to grow my company’s equity value.
Steve Schaffer
Owner, Schaffer Manufacturing
The most concrete business practice I learned and adopted in Ryan's workshop was starting to think about our company as a financial asset and realizing we can forecast the business’s value into the future. We now understand that the future cash flow and equity value are the real metrics behind the health of the company.
Anne Dougherty
Owner, ILLUME Advising
As a business owner, I sometimes get into a rhythm or maybe a rut and do things in a certain way, almost methodically. Ryan's workshop allowed me to intentionally disrupt the rhythm and look at things through a different lens.”
Jamie Gmach
Owner, Evolving Solutions
An incredible resource for M&A pros
Ryan's podcast is a weekly ritual for my team. The insights and conversation topics. Ryan and his guests touch on issues that are highly relevant and actionable. We even find ourselves simply forwarding episodes to our clients to help them navigate the exit process. Thanks for the thought leadership!
Steve Gerten
Partner & Advisor, Paradise Capital LLC
Purposeful and Authentic
Ryan never fails to deliver excellent content that is useful and helpful. He asks questions that draw the best out of his guests. Ryan is motivated to help people achieve their purpose and his enthusiasm is tangible. He brings experience and authenticity to every episode.
Jenna Fromm
CEO, Palmer Bus Service
“Ryan Tansom walks the talk. He is incredibly dedicated to helping business owners and leaders ‘grow the value of their business with an end in mind’. My Vistage Members, EOS Clients and Coaching Clients leverage Ryan’s tools, education, workshops, and podcasts. My only regret about Ryan, is that I did not meet him earlier in my professional career.”
Katina Koller
Vistage Chair and EOS© Implementor
The IBD Ownership Accelerator™
The IBD Ownership Accelerator™ is a monthly program specifically for owner-operators. Each weekly call is a combination of different formats (guest experts, live Q&A, breaks outs, etc.) and topics that bring you the best ownership education, resources, and experts. The difference with this program and other's like it is, all the content and material is coming at you from the lens of the owner first and how that specific topic or guest helps you create more independence of time, cash flow, or equity growth.
4.89 out of 5 (950 reviews)
What's Included:
The Ownership Accelerator™ is a monthly program that is for owner-operators who want more access to resources, community, and accountability. The goal is to get unstuck, align your operations with your ownership goals, answer your most pressing questions, and get where you want to go faster.
Ryan Tansom
Founder & Ownership Coach
Weekly iBD Ownership Accelerator™ Calls
The weekly Ownership Accelerator calls are devoted to ownership education and execution. We focus on topics that get you were you want to go faster. Every topic is viewed through the lens of what it means to be a business owner and how to align your operations with your ownership goals. Each week we have various formats for the call; guest experts, break outs, live Q&A, open office hours, etc. Some examples of topics are, business valuations, financial management, funding, executive compensation, mergers and aquisitions, exit options, creating an advisory team, and what it means to allocate capital.
Live iBD Owner's Workshops (3x per year)
I host three IBD Owner's workshops each year. The moring is the overview of the IBD Framework and where the IBD Owner's Journey starts. Each workshop thorughout the year has a different afternoon agenda and topic that we dive deeper into (e.g, valuations, ownership structures, financial forecasting, etc.). I bring in expert guests to partcipate in the afternoon session based on the topic.
Independence by Design™ Owner's Playbook
The IBD Owners Playbook is the guiding north star to help owner-operators get unstck from the day-today and design a business where the operations satisfy their ownership goals. By focusing on the levers that can generate more sustainable cash flow, while growing the equity value of their business, you can achieve the independence you deserve.
Three-Statement Financial Model
Each Ownership Accelerator™ member will get a strategic financial model template (provided by Tracy Bech from 60-Minute CFO) that they can use to customize to their own company. This financial model mathematically ties all three financial statements together (income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement). This allows you to run scenarios that show you the tradeoffs between reinvesting back into the business vs. taking distributions and how it impacts your future cash flow and equity valuation goals. This model allows you to forecast distributions, working capital, funding, CEO compensation plans, taxes, M&A, capital allocation, pricing, etc.
Access to Expert Guests and Resources
Over the past decade, I have synthesized everything I know into exercises, education, and resources to help business owners shortcut their way to their goals. The best part of the Ownership Accelerator™ is I don’t have to push one particular service offering. Every owner is in a different spot dealing with their specific issues; however, by using the Independence by Design™ and Ownership Roadmap™, we can make sure that you are getting the right information and advice at the right time from the right people to help you get unstuck so you can keep moving forward. I don't have all the answers, or I may not have a resource developed yet, which is when I lean on people who are experts in their field. Over the years, I have accumulated a lot of wonderful relationships with people I trust who are the best at what they do, don’t take advantage of owners who may not be experts in their field, and are not looking for a quick buck. They love working with owners who understand the Independence by Design™ Framework because they know they will stand out from the crowd of transactional advisors. These experts play the long game by providing education and resources to my members through the Ownership Strategy Calls, individual calls, or delivering access to their own education and resources, whether that is finance, banking, executive search, leadership development, banking, wealth, real estate, tax, investment banking, ESOPs, Private Equity, valuations, legal, etc.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below are some typical quetions people have. If you don't see the answers you need, please feel free to book a 30–Minute Ownership Strategy call or DM me on any of the social media channels!
When does the IBD Ownership Accelerator™ Go Live and What is the Onboarding Process?
The IBD Ownership Accelerator™ starts after the first IBD Workshop in 2025. The onboarding for the IBD Ownershop Accelerator is a IBD Owner's Workshop. After the workshop, if you determine that you want more and to continue to engage, you will get the price of the workshop ticket applied to the Ownership Accelerator™ membership. After the workshop, you will have access to the weekly calls and education/content arechive immediatly. There will be a kick off call and video explaining what you should accomplish in the 90-days to get the highest value possible.
What are the differences between the four IBD Owner's Workshops each year?
I host four IBD Owner's workshops each year. The moring is the overview of the IBD Framework and where the IBD Owner's Journey starts. Each workshop thorughout the year has a different afternoon agenda and topic that we dive deeper into (e.g, valuations, ownership structures, financial forecasting, etc.). This allows one timer's to get involved and allows the Ownership Accelerator™ and IBD Boardroom™ members to get a refresher and attend with a partner/key executive that they want to get on the same page with, or to show up in the afternoon to dive further into a subject they want to learn more about.
What are the differences between the Live IBD Owner's Workshop and Boardroom Workshop?
The IBD Boardroom workshops are the day after the standard IBD Owner's Workshop and exclusively for IBD Boardroom members. This allows the IBD Boardroom members to attend both day's (for a refresher, partner/executive alignment, or to dive into one of the topics more). The second day exclusive for IBD Boardroom members is a deeper dive workshop with member selected content and guest experts.
What are in the monthly 1-on-1 meetings with Ryan?
The monthly ownership meetings are a cornerstone of the coaching engagement. Each month, during these meetings, we should discuss your ownership goals, review your financials, and discuss how your company is tracking toward getting you there. This is a designated time and cadence for you to zoom out, work “on” the business, discuss ownership-specific things, and determine what is working and not working and what you need to prioritize to move the needle the most.
What are some of the outcomes other's have achieved?
Owner-operators have decouple themselves from their job whiel maintaining their income through distributions so they can focus on the things they love to do. Steve Schaffer hired a president and moved to Hawaii while maintaining ownership, Mike Spack turned his business around and sold it to a strategic buyer, and Dave Hoeffel scaled his company and sold his business to Private Equity.