Exit planning has long focused on three gaps: the Wealth Gap, the Value Gap, and the Profit Gap. But wealth advisors know the frustration of a fourth, unnamed gap—the one where a client agrees with sound advice, sees the plan, and then simply doesn't act. The numbers don't arrive. The valuation never starts. The estate documents go unsigned. The hard conversation never happens. The plan stalls, and so does the relationship.

This interactive workshop gives professional advisors a practical lens and a usable vocabulary for the clients who won't move. You'll learn to recognize owner dependence rather than mistake it for procrastination or disinterest, to reframe stalled clients with more precision and patience, and to resource the issue without becoming the business coach yourself. The workshop draws on Dr. John Fulwider's work helping 44 founding owners get out of the center of their businesses—including eight exits completed and seven companies named to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing American businesses.

At its heart is a hands-on assessment of owner dependence across four dimensions—roles, decisions, knowledge, and relationships—paired with a specific advisor "move" for each. You'll rate a real client, surface where your own planning work is most exposed to owner dependence, and leave with concrete language to use in your very next client conversation. This is a workshop, not a lecture: expect to participate, compare notes with peers, and work through a real client problem you bring with you.

The Fourth Gap is the Owner Freedom Gap—the distance between what your owner-client says they want and what their current role in the business actually allows them to decide, delegate, and do. When a founding owner is trapped in the center of everything, even your best advice becomes one more thing competing for their limited attention and decision-making capacity. The result is the Advisor Stall Loop: a recommendation made, agreement reached, action required, and then nothing. Nothing, that is, until you recognize, reframe, and resource the owner dependence behind the stall.