Mind the (Exit) Gap
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From laptop to lasting value - lessons from Carrie Kerpen’s The Whisper Way.
What The Whisper Way taught me about turning the
work in your head into assets that grow your business’s value.
Back in April of 2024, I joined a Riveter Expert Town Hall where Carrie Kerpen talked about creating systems for ongoing thought leadership. She also shared a bit about exiting her business, Likeable, and what was next.
I’d never heard a female founder talk about selling her business so candidly, especially one with such a successful exit (eight figures!). When I learned she was writing a book on the topic, it was mentally added to my TBR (to be read) list.
Fast forward to this summer when The Whisper Way finally made its way to the top of my TBR. It’s part business fable, part guide. Each chapter illustrates its point through the fable and then includes a guide and a real-life example so you can apply it to your business. Kerpen calls out the “exit gap”: “When women sell their companies, they’re selling them for significantly less than their male counterparts” (The Whisper Way, p. xiii).
I’m not always a fan of business fables, but this one works - the mix of story, guidance, and real-life examples made a topic that had intimidated me feel approachable.
Why Documented Value Matters (Even If You’re Not Selling)
Here’s the thing: The Whisper Way isn’t just valuable if you have a business you are looking to sell. I’m planning to apply it to Alchemy because it reminded me of something I knew in my corporate days but had forgotten in the rush of running my own business: documented value.
In my corporate life, I took on, and handed off, a lot of responsibilities over the years. I learned the importance of documenting processes the hard way… after being handed tasks (and whole jobs) with zero documentation. (Once or twice is a learning experience. More than that is a cautionary tale.) I quickly decided I didn’t want to be that colleague, so I tried to document everything.
That experience drilled home a truth Carrie puts simply: if it only lives in your head, it’s a liability. Now that I’m the one doing the work in my business, it’s tempting to skip documentation (and maybe I have so far😬…). But Carrie makes an excellent point - documenting your knowledge and processes turns them into assets.
Assets that, one day, could let your business run without you. Maybe that’s because you sell it. Or maybe it’s because you take a vacation and trust things won’t implode in your absence.
And, yes - clean, clear financials are part of that. As a finance person, I love good books (the accounting kind). But documenting your numbers isn’t just about tax season. It’s about being able to defend them if you sell… and making smarter, faster decisions because you actually trust and understand your data.
Don’t Forget the “Secret Sauce”
The other piece? Your value isn’t just what you do… It’s how you do it. My non-traditional finance background means I often approach things differently than the person sitting next to me, and that can be a real strength.
Carrie calls this your “secret sauce.” Documenting it means you can delegate, grow, or even sell your business without losing the things that make it uniquely yours.
From Brain to Blueprint
So, here’s where I’ve landed: too much lives in my head, in both my business and personal life. This August, I’m committed to documenting and streamlining what I can, so I spend less time reminding myself (and everyone else in this household) what needs to be done and how to do it.
As the school year chaos hits, having documented value - processes, numbers, ways of working - will help me steer through the noise and choose where I want to go next.
“That gap is real and it is true, and yet, we cannot and should not be defined by the fact that the cards are stacked against us.”
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About Me
I’m Tara, founder of Alchemy Advising, a consulting practice that helps small and mid-sized businesses grow with clarity, confidence, and a lot less chaos.
This blog is where I share reflections on entrepreneurship, ambition, motherhood, and the magic (and mess) of building something meaningful—one decision at a time.
Curious about working together? Reach out here—I’d love to hear more about your business.