This week the spotlight turns to co-host Jodi Laking, founder of Your Business Executor. Jodi has been an entrepreneur for more than 25 years and has helped hundreds of owners start, build, scale, sell, and close their businesses. After her dad died unexpectedly, she saw first-hand how disorganized the afterlife system in Canada really is. That led her to one question: what happens to a business when its owner suddenly can't show up?

Wendy and Jodi start with the "bus test," and not only the version where the bus kills you. Incapacity, surgery, and a six-to-nine-month treatment plan can all pull you out of your business. If you had to step away for 30 days, who would step in, and who would have the access and authority to do it? Jodi explains how continuity planning handles the trust question. You document the accounts, passwords, and authority now, but nobody gets access until a triggering event happens. She also shows how getting the knowledge out of your head pays off today. With documented processes and less reliance on the owner, a business can be worth more and need less of your time on-site after a sale.

They also cover why the most obvious executor, often your spouse, isn't always the right one. Other topics include what to check first if you already have a will and insurance, and why your lawyer, financial planner, and insurance broker are "islands" that someone has to connect. Jodi closes with her biggest piece of advice: start the uncomfortable conversation with your family now, while it's still easy.