Ep. 295 — Mari Tautimes: The Visionary Who Left Before the Exit

5 min read

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Episode Summary

You scaled the business 30x. You signed the paperwork. The check cleared. And somewhere between the celebration dinner and the next Monday morning, you realize the version of you that built this thing isn’t the version of you that’s supposed to keep running it. Mari Tautimes lived that. Twin co-CEO with her brother, third partner her dad, family insurance agency stalled at $350K in revenue, then unlocked the levers and grew it to $10M, sold for $16M in October 2020. And she walked away before the transaction closed because her heart wasn’t in it anymore. We got into how the bison faces the storm, why she finally signed the equity document after a decade of “you’ll be owners someday,” what the visionary-integrator split actually feels like when your brother is the artist and you’re the entrepreneur, and the part nobody warns you about: the business meets your need for significance at a level your kids and spouse never will. We close on her definition of intentional, which is the cleanest one I’ve heard on this show.

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## Top 10 Takeaways
  1. Face the storm like the bison. The route through is shorter than the route around.
  2. Inside a family business, the Module 1 — Ownership Goals and the operator seat still need separate clarity.
  3. Your business meets your need for significance at a level home rarely will. That’s the void after the sale.
  4. Disagree and commit beats consensus. Consensus stalls. Commitment moves the team toward the basket.
  5. Lead by example on balance, not just work ethic. Your team mirrors both.
  6. Visionary, integrator, artist: one business, three different relationships with it. Know which one you are.
  7. Your psychology is the chokehold on the business. The game is 80% psychology, 20% skill.
  8. Until the equity is on paper, “you’ll be owners someday” means nothing.
  9. The need your business fills at a high level becomes the void after you sell. Plan for it.
  10. The first half of your life was written for you. The second half only counts if you take the pen.

Sound Bites

“A bison, when it’s facing a storm, will turn towards the storm and instinctively walk through it, knowing that if you do that, you’ll get to the other side faster.” (@TBD) — Mari Tautimes

“I have given you my life. I have put this business before my family, before my health. Until I signed a document, it means nothing.” (@TBD) — Mari Tautimes

“My brother is the Tony Robbins of what we were doing. He is the artist. And the way that an artist feels about their business is they feel like it’s their baby.” (@TBD) — Mari Tautimes

“The game of business is 20% skill and talent, 80% psychology, and you are the chokehold as the owner.” (@TBD) — Mari Tautimes

“Intentional means deliberate. It’s the difference between being like a plastic bag floating down the street and saying, I actually have control and I can actually take responsibility.” (@TBD) — Mari Tautimes

About This Episode

Mari Tautimes is the author of KeepGoing: From 15-Year-Old Mom to Successful CEO & Entrepreneur and a Certified EOS Implementer. She joined her family’s insurance agency as a teenage receptionist and eventually became co-CEO alongside her twin brother, growing the company from $350K to $10M in revenue before selling for $16M in 2020. She left the business prior to the transaction to start her own practice. Her story sits in the iBD library as a case in family-business dynamics: the owner-seat-vs-operator-seat question, the visionary-integrator split inside a family of three, and what it actually looks like to leave a business you built when the work no longer fits who you’ve become. Recorded in 2022 from a quiet corner of Phoenix Sky Harbor.

Resources Mentioned

  • KeepGoing by Mari Tautimes — Mari’s book on the journey from teen mom to CEO. — maritautimes.com
  • Mari Tautimes’ website — maritautimes.com
  • EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) — Gino Wickman’s operating system; Mari is a Certified Implementer.
  • Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman and Mark Winters — The visionary-integrator partnership framework.
  • The EOS Life by Gino Wickman — Doing work you love, with people you love, making a huge impact, appropriately compensated, with time for other passions.
  • Tony Robbins Business Mastery — Where Mari learned the entrepreneur / manager / artist framework and the six human needs model.
  • Scott Mann — Rooftop Leadership — Working with Mari on her upcoming TED Talk.
  • Shashin Shah and Barrett Kogan — Mari’s coaches.
  • HeartMath Institute, Dr. Joe Dispenza, Wim Hof — Morning routine and nervous-system practices.
  • Finish Big by Bo Burlingham — Ryan referenced; the post-sale identity gap.
  • Indra Nooyi on Freakonomics Radio — “When you go home at night, you can take your crown and leave it in the garage.”
  • Stephen Covey — The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People — “Begin with the end in mind.”
  • Ray Dalio on meditation — 30+ years of daily practice.

Connections

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