The Entrepreneur Imperative: Why 59% of Business Owners May Change Advisors — and What Credentialed CEPAs Can Do About It

Business owners are signaling — clearly and at scale — that they want a different kind of advisor relationship. In this 45-minute session, John Bowen shares findings from the CEG Insights Entrepreneur & Business Owner Study (n=3,108) and walks credentialed CEPAs through a practical conversation framework — the Credibility OS — for translating exit-planning expertise into higher-value business-owner conversations. The session closes with a clear next-step pathway into the Business-Owner Conversation Starter Kit and the new CEPA® FA Accelerator™ Founding Cohort — a joint program from the Exit Planning Institute® and CEG Worldwide built as the execution lane between CEPA® foundation and Mastery.

John Bowen

Interpret three independent signals from the CEG Insights Entrepreneur Study — advisor switching, the succession-planning expectation gap, and the virtual family office whitespace — and what each implies for their next 12 months of business-owner conversations.
Apply the four-step Credibility OS — Promise, Proof, Story, Bigger Promise — to structure a 25-minute business-owner meeting that ends with a specific next step.
Match opening language and proof points to one of four research-based business-owner personas: Confident Growth Leaders, Cautious Steady Operators, Resource-Hungry Digitals, and Expanding Pragmatists.
Identify the right next step from this session — the Business-Owner Conversation Starter Kit, a Fit Interview for the Founding Cohort, or independent application of the framework — and how the CEPA® FA Accelerator™ complements CEPA® and Mastery as a practical execution bridge.

2026 EXIT PLANNING SUMMIT AGENDA

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