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.

Most business owners assume their will has them covered. It probably doesn't. Ontario business lawyer Sonya, founder and managing lawyer of Zable Law, joins Wendy and Jodi. Zable Law is a flat-fee firm for Canadian business owners, and before law Sonia spent nearly a decade building and then selling a restaurant in the Picton area. She explains what actually protects your family and your business when you're gone.

The three start with the basics: what a will is, why it still needs a real "wet" signature, and why you can't wait until your deathbed. That's where capacity comes in, and once it's gone, some decisions (like beneficiary changes) are locked in. From there they get into business wills. Sonya explains how a separate business will works alongside a shareholders' agreement, what to do if your province doesn't allow secondary wills, and a scenario to keep you up at night: your 50% of the company goes to your son, and your cousin, who owns the other half, never agreed to work with him. They also cover trusts for young heirs, the difference between a sole proprietorship and a corporation when the owner dies, and the personal guarantees hiding in your business lease.

Then the myth-busting. Your lawyer won't run your estate. Your executor is the one who carries the responsibility. DIY templates and AI tools are risky, and for business owners Sonya's advice is "never, never." Common-law partners may not inherit what you assume they will. Sonia also shares a practical way to take the fear out of legal bills: ask for a flat fee.

Someday, someone is going to tap you on the shoulder and ask you to be their executor. Most people say yes without any idea what they're agreeing to. Special guest Gina Vliet, Certified Executor Advisor and death literacy educator, joins Wendy and Jodi to change that.

Gina breaks down what an executor really is (a project manager with legal and financial responsibility), the difference between an executor and an estate administrator, and what probate actually means in Canada. She explains why the person closest to you is often the wrong choice, grief has a way of hijacking the brain, and how to think in terms of A, B, and C choices instead of joint executors who'll never agree. The trio tackle the family conversation head-on ("open the door gently," start theoretical, use humour), what happens to a sole proprietorship versus a corporation when the owner dies, and why executor education is one of the most loving gifts you can give. Practical, occasionally hilarious, and genuinely eye-opening.

In this episode, Jodi turns the tables and interviews Wendy about what financial planning really is, and why an investment advisor and a financial planner are not the same thing. Wendy explains the Certified Financial Planner designation, the "cleaning out the closet" approach to bringing order to a messy financial life, and the money mindset we all absorbed as kids that quietly runs the show.

They dig into why people feel judged or "behind," why there's no such thing as too late (you can absolutely start a plan at 55), and why rules of thumb like "you'll need 70% of your income" can be dangerously wrong for owners. Wendy walks through reverse-engineering your "life after work" from the number you'll actually need, the role your business plays in funding it, and where AI falls short. Then Susie's story takes a turn and Wendy shows how key person insurance, corporate structure, and adequate coverage can be the difference between a grieving family that has time and one that's forced back to work too soon.

This one's about the numbers, and they're sobering. Half of all business transitions are involuntary, driven by one of the four Ds: death, divorce, disability, or disagreement. Roughly 76% of owners intend to sell or transition within seven to eight years, yet only about 9% have a plan. More than half of Canadians don't even have a will.

Wendy and Jodi unpack what that actually costs the people left behind: out-of-date beneficiaries, assets no one knew existed, common-law partners who may be entitled to nothing, and the tax traps hiding inside a "fair" 50/50 split. Jodi shares the personal loss that launched Your Business Executor and what her family learned the hard way about being locked out as non-executors. You'll also learn why your lawyer, accountant, and financial planner are four separate "islands", and why none of them holds the operational plan your family will desperately need. The episode ends with the simplest possible first step: start educating yourself tonight.

Welcome to the series about the two things nobody wants to talk about — and every business owner needs to. In this opening episode, hosts Wendy Brookhouse and Jodi Laking introduce themselves, the show, and the reason it exists: business owners are dangerously unprepared for the day they can't show up for their business, and the planning most of us avoid is exactly what protects our families and everything we've built.

Wendy shares her "bus" analogy for moving a spouse from back-seat passenger to ready-to-take-the-keys, and the pair introduce Susie — the fictional-but-familiar owner whose journey runs through the whole series. You'll hear why people plan their vacations more thoroughly than their estates, why that has to change, and how AI fits in (a helpful tool, never a replacement for the professionals who actually know you). Consider this your friendly on-ramp to the next 11 episodes.

This week Wendy and Jodi introduce Susie and Mark, a composite couple built from the business owners they work with every day. Susie is 48 and the sole owner of a six-person consulting firm. Mark has never been involved in the business. Their wills are 16 years old and predate the company. Neither has a power of attorney, and Susie is starting to care for a parent with early-stage dementia. Then the hosts ask the question Susie heard at a seminar: if something happened to her tomorrow, what would happen to the business?

From there they work through the myths that sound reasonable until someone dies. “Everything goes to my spouse” covers some tax deferral, but it doesn’t give Mark the knowledge or authority to run, sell, or wind down a company he’s never seen the inside of. “I have enough life insurance” often ignores lifestyle replacement, grieving time, and business debts that were personally guaranteed. Wendy explains why a TFSA should name a successor holder rather than a beneficiary, and shares a Nova Scotia case where an outdated RSP beneficiary kept the money while the estate paid the tax.

They also unpack why a family trust is a tool, not a solution, and why splitting assets 50/50 between kids can be anything but equal once capital gains enter the picture. Other topics include the hidden cost of DIY, template, and AI-built wills, and how a shareholders’ agreement can conflict with a will. The hosts close on the myth that ties the rest together: a plan is never one-and-done, and documents nobody knows about can’t protect anyone.